Reds Soaring to the Top

Recent events in Cincinnati have brought back life into a once subjugated Reds baseball team.  Dare I say, the Reds are winning – and, no, it isn’t the beginning of the season.  The past couple of weeks, everything has gone right for the Reds, even the injury to St. Louis Cardinals phenom Albert Pujols.  Below you will find everything that has gone right for the Reds at this point of the season.The Reds have hung onto the chance of winning their division by winning 6 of their last 10. The past couple of years, this is the time in Cincinnati’s season where all hope is lost and the goal is to finish above .500 and avoid the National League Central basement. Well, not this year. The Reds swept the series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium last week, but have recently lost 3 out of 4 to the Cubs and are now 2 games out of the division lead.

Coming into this year, the Reds were one of those teams who everyone picked to be last in their division. And as a Reds fan, believe me, I would have to agree with that preseason assessment given their seemingly sub par pitching staff. Honestly, no one in the world could look into your eyes and tell you that three of the five Reds pitchers would have winning records at this point in the season.

But they do. Led by surprises Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, you can tell why the Reds are winning their division. In fact, I think all the Reds need is one more quality pitcher then they will be in the playoffs come this fall.

The Reds hitting has also been phenomenal because of players like Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, and even Rich Aurilia. The Reds starting lineup so far has hit 70 homeruns, knocked in 247 runs, and are hitting .268. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise anyone with any baseball knowledge: Cincinnati has always been able to score runs; everyone knows they can hit for power. These are two major parts of the game that the Reds are doing just as well at as the teams currently leading their divisions.

Now that we have discussed both pitching and batting, here are two players who I feel have turned this organization around. The first one who should be given a lot of credit for the Reds season so far is Bronson Arroyo. He came over to Cincinnati from Boston in a trade that also involved outfielder Wily Mo Pena.

At the season’s onset, Arroyo came out firing on all cylinders, winning his first four and hitting like he was Mike Hampton. At one point in the season, he had more homeruns then Pena. So far, Arroyo is 8-2 with a 2.31 ERA and is third in the league in wins. He is one of the best acquisitions the organization has made since they acquired Ken Griffey Jr. from Seattle.

Junior is also very responsible for a lot of the Reds success this season. Though on the disabled list for most of the first two months, when he returned to the field he started soaring, making the Reds look like a brand new ball team. Griffey has hit .279 so far, which nicely compliments his 11 homeruns and 35 RBI – in only 36 games.

For a point of reference, that is 25 less games then Adam Dunn has played in and he has 3 less RBI’s. And yes, I know all about Junior’s history in Cincinnati with his hundreds of games missed, jeopardizing his chance of one day passing Hank Aaron on the all-time home run list.

Basically, everyone should never have counted out a team with this much talent. The Reds have some of the best players in the league; teamed with some top prospects, they are a formidable bunch. To assure future success, look for the Reds to make a couple minor deadline deals to help out the pitching staff a little bit.

In short, this team looks like it can be good for another couple years. I predict playoffs for this group, which they will earn after they win the NL Central. But I can wait the rest of the season to prove it to you. Oh, and for all of you bandwagon jumpers: the wagon broke a long time ago