Now That's a Haircut You Can Set Your Watch To, Reds 8-2

The Reds saw the return on Volquez yesterday from his brief sabbatical in Louisville. He was able to get some writing done during his time off and appeared to figure a thing or two out on the mound. He went 7 walked only two and got his first base hit of the season. He still wasn't throwing any first pitch strikes (only 11 of the 27 batters he faced) but the key was not throwing any fourth pitch balls, or balls which total four.

Yesterday, when I was looking around on the internet I found a couple of bits of information on Volquez which I either was at one time aware and have since forgotten or never knew. Initially, when he was first signed by the Rangers he went by the name Julio Reyes. Then, once they checked his birth certificate, he realized that, though he had gone by Edison before, he birth record actually named him Edinson, with the 'n'. So, prior to signing he went by his real name, which turned out to be a fake name. Then he changed his real/fake name to a fake name (Reyes) then finally back to his real name, Edinson. Also, apparently when Volquez had his big demotion to A ball with the Rangers' organization, they enacted the following:

•  Run on and off the field within 12 seconds.
•  On days he pitched, only speak to his catcher, manager and pitching coach.
•  Write down a plan for the nine hitters.
•  Use a No. 2 blade when shaving his head.
•  Throw 60 percent first-pitch strikes.
•  On 80 percent of 0-1, 0-2 counts, throw an action pitch, or quality purpose pitch.
•  Chart pitches on days he is not starting.
•  Always have his shirt tucked in, and his pants tidy.

That's a heavy-handed regime over there in Texas. While I didn't really judge the tidiness of his pants, I do see that he has a new haircut. Which looks sharp, though the Reds Rocket discourages attempts to limit the flair of the Reds players. Dusty gets to wear wrist bands, after all.

Now on to non-Volquez related topics. Offense was good yesterday albeit with Doug Davis on the mound. I was under the impression that battling back from cancer was good enough for him and he called it a career. At least he still has that long-strip of a bead and still throws about 80. The Reds can handle that. They put 4 on him before Cairo had the big blow, a grand slam off John Grabow. That took the load off Masset. Horst even got an inning of work during the garbage time 9th. Reds plan the sweep today, Arroyo's jacked up. Reds! Reds! Reds!