Reds Surprise No One, Move Into First Place in the Central, Reds 7-2

That folks, to the right, is a picture of Arroyo on his yacht, the Seaward, playing the guitar which is awesome in a number of ways. First, you know he's covering Jack Johnson. He just has such a mellow groove. Another reason I enjoy this photo is the fact that the pictures immediately proceeding this one on Google Images were entitled Bronson Arroyo Bikini Party. Finally, this photo is noteworthy is that it is appended to the article where Arroyo talks about his supplement usage and prior Adderall intake. "Shit, I'd be taking it now if it wasn't on the banned substance list." Today, Arroyo pitched like he was all hopped up on goofballs and channeled the strength of ten singer/songwriters in tossing up a wide selection of slow and slower breaking pitches in dominating the Cardinals for the full 9 innings. Sure the offense helped him out with 7 runs but Arroyo knocked in two of those with a two-out run scoring single in the 5th. The win pushed the Reds into first place in the Central.

After dropping game one Friday night when Harang made a couple of mistakes and the Reds opted not to drive in the tying runs in the 9th, the Reds rebounded Saturday with Leake on the hill. He looked real sharp and Coco was provided with just enough insurance to allow Cabrera to relay home the final out. Thom's near stroke following Hernandez's tag at the plate summed things up nicely. The offense even looks legitimate. If you look at the batter order you see a lot more .260 and .270 averages replacing the .220 and .230s we've come to expect. Dusty's new lineup with Cabrera leading things off and Stubbs re-acclimating with Major League pitching from the 7th spot appears to be a strong piece of strategy from Skip.

So, perhaps it's a bit early to become too excited but the Reds look like they might have a pretty good team. However, I've had this scenario presented to me in the past. Big wins are often followed by soul crushing defeats, so the Reds Rocket will be paying particular attention to the series at home with Milwaukee beginning tomorrow. For now, I will sleep soundly reliving the three complete games in the last week. Nice work team. Reds! Reds! Reds!