Reds Use Dynamite From Their Fishing Boat, Sweep Marlins Out of Town

Reds show that even with the poor performance in the St. Louis series, they are still the best team in the Central. The standings currently reflect this conclusion. The Marlins came into Cincinnati and the Reds politely beat them with a club once they dragged them into the boat.

Starting with Josh Johnson on Friday, the offense looked quite a bit better than they did against the Tardinal pitching. Johnson, maybe the best arm in the league, didn't last 4 and saw his ERA jump a half point. Tough break Josh. Volquez was the opposite, allowing few runs, one to be exact, on a Mike Stanton bomb. Stanton later hit another bomb but it was of no consequence as the Reds had already displayed their dominance.

Saturday was very similar. Leake re-transformed into an out machine, going six and picking up his 8th win of the year despite Coco's sabotage attempts. He, Coco, loaded the bases up no outs, but got a double play out of Gaby Sanchez and a pop-out from Uggla to end the game. The fanbase appears to be tiring of the excitement that Coco regularly brings to the 9th, as he got a rousing round of boos after walking out-factory Bonofacio. That guy doesn't know the first thing about getting on base or helping the offense. But, after everything, Coco got the save and everyone remained upbeat.

Today, we saw the return of Homeboy from shoulder-soreness exile and, in his first start in 3 months, looked real good. He went 6, walked no one and allowed only the three hits. The offense, in the form of Miguel Cairo's two-run bomb, was all that was needed. Votto got tossed for muttering something under his breath of to the home plate umpire, something about the ump maybe being a mongoloid. So, Edmonds took over at first and Stubbs got to be third in the order for the first time. He concluded Votto's at bat with a double off the wall. Pretty sweet, coming up cold and down 1-2. Skip to the 9th, Coco put runner on first and third again but got out of it. Ondrusek, an inning prior, loaded the bases with two-outs but the Marlins sent Chad Tracey to the plate. I don't think he's gotten a hit since 2005.

So, that brings us up to date. The team gets a travel day tomorrow as they head out to my area of the country to stomp on the snakes for three-games. Arroyo starts things off on Tuesday, Volquez Wednesday and to be determined Thursday. My calculations show that Johnny the Mule, or maybe Johnny the kangaroo since he was kicking forward, will be eligible to re-appear by Thursday. My math may be off since I'm not sure of the exact day that he was served with his medicine. Harangutan is also thinking it's about time for him to be reactivated. Dusty will then finally get to use that 7 man rotation he's been considering for some time.

Nice weekend Reds, that's the way to shove it up the Cardinals' ass. Reds! Reds! Reds!