Reds Report

When the Reds went on a that long winning stretch at home, I thought that this was it, all that young talent and a couple veterans have finally coalesced and we won't lose very much anymore until September. And they played well for a little longer, then they lost 2 of 3 to St. Louis, 2 of 3 to Boston, and got swept by the Dodgers. That did it for me. They would have to play almost perfectly to make any postseason this year. I guess there's always next year.

One thing to watch are all the young pitchers. Case in point, this weekend series with the Yankees, won by the Reds 2 games to 1. Starting pitchers in this series: the rookie Volquez, the rookie Thompson, and the rookie Cueto. Their lines:

• Reds win, 4-2. Volquez: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR, 1.71 ERA
• Reds win, 6-0. Thompson (ML debut): 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
• Reds lose, 4-1. Cueto: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR, 5.01 ERA

I'd say the future looks bright.

Photo by Bill Kostroun/AP

Speaking of Volquez, the Josh Hamilton trade may have been the most mutually beneficial trade in the history of baseball. That's my unofficial opinion.

• Hamilton: .316 AVG (7th), 19 HR (1st), 76 RBI (1st)
• Volquez: 10 W (tie 2nd), 1.71 ERA (1st), 110 SO (1st)

Each player is leading their respective league positions in two-thirds of the Triple Crown. Not much to complain about with that trade.

Speaking of positions, the Reds lost their fourth short stop of the season on Friday, losing Jolbert Cabrera (who was 4-for-4) to injury. This certainly has not helped their record, but the season's starting short stop, Gonzalez, was never supposed to hit much in this lineup. The two subsequent replacements, Keppinger and Hairston, Jr., were upgrades, IMO. So then who hasn't been hitting? How about the 3 and 5 hitters, bringing in averages of .249 and .219 respectively. Griffey, Dunn, WTF?