Cincinnati Reds Weekly Review: Week 6

The Reds started off week six with a disappointing series loss to the Braves, although the middle game featured a 9th inning rally, which featured incredible back to back walk-off homers. The Reds bounced back though with an impressive sweep of the Brewers, outscoring them 22-11. The Reds finished the six game homestand with a 4-2 record.

The Reds now sit at 22-16, good for the third best record in the National League. The Reds run differential of +32 is second best in the league (only trailing the Cardinals), and the Reds 16 home wins in the most in the MLB. For a team highly criticized for their lack of offensive consistency, the Reds lead the NL with 180 runs scored. Here are some thoughts................

Tuesday night was awesome. I was in attendance Tuesday night, for what seemed like an absolute boring loss up until the Reds were down to their final strike. The Reds put forth one of the most improbable comebacks Tuesday night, as Devin Mesoraco hit a pinch-hit, solo home run, with two strikes, against one of the best closers in baseball, Craig Kimbrel. Then the next batter Shin-Soo Choo, followed by hitting his second homer of the game to win it. It was one of the best moments I can remember at GABP. The place went from what felt like a funeral to absolute pandemonium. It was incredible.

Then Saturday, the Reds gave me another masterpiece. This time the Reds beat the crap out of the Brewers in front of a sold-out crowd for Aroldis Chapman bobblehead night. The Reds scored 12 runs in innings two and three, in route to a 13-7 win. The Redlegs are now 5-1 with me in attendance. It may be safe to finally say the Kirby Curse has been broken. For those who aren't loyal readers of the blog, the Reds went 10-11 with myself in attendance in 2012 (including Game 4 and 5 of the NLDS), and were 5-16 in 2011. This is something to shout about.

For this weeks review, I want to look at where a few of the Reds key players are projected to finish the season stat wise, and my grade thus far.

Shin-Soo Choo: A+

.309/.451/.547, 30 HR, 72 RBI, 124 Runs

Choo has been incredible.

Joey Votto: A-

Votto has been good. Anyone on pace to walk 136 times is doing something right.

.310/.444/.465, 17 HR, 64 RBI, 136 BB

Jay Bruce: C-

.258/.306/.403, 13 HR, 90 RBI, 222 K

Bruce's .306 OBP is frustrating. He has to find a way to get better contact, or at least starting hitting bombs.

Brandon Phillips: A-

.276/.319/.462, 26 HR, 132 RBI, 171 Hits

Dat Dude gets it done, no matter where you put him in the lineup.

Todd Frazier: C+

.236/.327/.433, 26 HR, 107 RBI, 30 2B

Frazier .236 average is deceiving. His .327 OBP is higher than Bruce or Phillips. He has shown great power, played solid defense, and I think Todd will be just fine in his new starting role.

Zack Cozart: F

.207/.237/.343, 21 HR, 81 RBI, 30 BB

Cozart has been good defensively as you would expect. He has been absolutely terrible offensively. He MUST be dropped in the lineup.

Mat Latos: A-

18-0, 3.04 ERA, 1.27 WHIP

Outside of a poor start on Saturday, Latos has been very good. It's good to see him off to a great start after a disaster of a start in 2012.

Bronson Arroyo: A

13-17, 3.76 ERA, 1.14 WHIP

It has been vintage Arroyo. He hasn't got rocked bad yet this year, and has a very impressive 1.14 WHIP. His pitch counts have been ridiculously low.

Homer Bailey: B-

4-13, 3.83 ERA, 1.25 WHIP

Homer has been pretty good, but has received a lot of luck. Outside a really bad start in St. Louis, he has been dominate.

Mike Leake: C-

9-9, 4.32 ERA, 1.49 WHIP

Leake is Leake.

Arolids Chapman: A-

34 Saves, 2.65 ERA, 1.00 WHIP

Chapman is Chapman. His usage is still puzzling to say the least though.

Shin-Soo Choo's NL Ranks:

.451 OBP (1st), 36.0 Runs Created (1st), 29 Runs (t-1st), 25 BB (t-2nd), .998 OPS (4th), 18 Extra-Base Hits (t-5th), 10 Doubles (t-8th), 43 Hits (t-8th), .547 SLG (9th), 7 HR (t-12th).

Several of the Reds reserves have been really solid thus far:

Xavier Paul: .276/.391/.431, 2 HR, 10 RBI
Jack Hannahan: .258/.343/.323, 0 HR, 4 RBI
Derrick Robinson: .304/.448/.304, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Donald Lutz: .316/.316/.474, 1 HR, 5 RBI

Injury Report:

Ryan Hanigan returned from the DL on Friday, sending Corky Miller down.

Johnny Cueto made a rehab start for Dayton on Thursday, going: 3.0 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 50 pitches. Cueto is slated to make at least one more rehab start before joining the Reds rotation.

Chris Heisey will start a rehab stint with AA-Pensacola on Monday. He should be back to the majors soon.

Manny Parra will join Heisey in AA-Pensacola on Monday, and begin his own rehab stint.

Ryan Ludwick will still be out to around the All-Star break, borrowing any setbacks.

Nick Masset is on the 60 day DL now. He hasn't pitched since 2011.

The Reds will start a 9-game road trip on Tuesday, starting in Miami. This trip should however give the Reds a chance to improve on their 6-10 road record, as the Reds will face the three bottom-feeders in the NL East (Marlins, Phillies, and Mets).

Central	W	L	PCT	GB	WCGB	L10	STRK	HOME	ROAD	LAST GAME	NEXT GAME
St. Louis	23	13	.639	-	-	8-2	L1	9-6	14-7	5/12 vs COL, L 2-8	5/13 vs NYM, 7:05 PM
Cincinnati	22	16	.579	2.0	+0.5	7-3	W3	16-6	6-10	5/12 vs MIL, W 5-1	5/14 @ MIA, 7:10 PM
Pittsburgh	21	16	.568	2.5	-	6-4	W3	10-7	11-9	5/12 @ NYM, W 3-2	5/13 vs MIL, 7:05 PM
Milwaukee	15	20	.429	7.5	5.0	1-9	L4	10-11	5-9	5/12 @ CIN, L 1-5	5/13 @ PIT, 7:05 PM
Chi Cubs	15	22	.405	8.5	6.0	4-6	W2	7-11	8-11	5/12 @ WSH, W 2-1	5/13 vs COL, 8:05 PM

Wild Card Teams	W	L	PCT	WCGB	WCE #	L10	STRK	LAST GAME	NEXT GAME
Cincinnati	22	16	.579	+0.5	-	7-3	W3	5/12 vs MIL, W 5-1	5/14 @ MIA, 7:10 PM
Pittsburgh	21	16	.568	-	-	6-4	W3	5/12 @ NYM, W 3-2	5/13 vs MIL, 7:05 PM
Arizona	21	17	.553	0.5	125	6-4	L2	5/12 vs PHI, L 2-4	5/13 vs ATL, 9:40 PM
Colorado	20	17	.541	1.0	125	4-6	W1	5/12 @ STL, W 8-2	5/13 @ CHC, 8:05 PM
Washington	20	17	.541	1.0	125	7-3	L2	5/12 vs CHC, L 1-2	5/13 @ LAD, 10:10 PM
Philadelphia	18	21	.462	4.0	121	5-5	W2	5/12 @ ARI, W 4-2	5/14 vs CLE, 7:05 PM

Cincinnati Reds Weekly Review: Week 5

As week five began, the Reds road woes continued. The Reds lost two of three to the Cardinals, and left St. Louis with a 2-5 road trip, and were 3-10 on the road in 2013. The Reds offense was really struggling, scoring just 17 runs in the previous 9 games.

Thank God for the Cubs.

The Reds went to Chicago, and left with a series sweep. The Reds finished  the road trip at 5-5. That might not sound like much, but for a team that lost 10 of their first 13 games on the road, that is huge. The bats also finally came alive (mostly off the Cubs bullpen), scoring 19 runs in the 3-game series. Here are some thoughts on week five......

The Reds offense continues to be hit or miss. I don't want to harp on this too much, because the majority of teams in the MLB have significant hot and cold streaks. Look below at what the Reds have done in wins and losses this season:

Wins (18): .287 AVG, .375 OBP, 1.1 HR per game, 6.4 runs per game.
Losses (14): .188 AVG, .266 OBP, 0.5 HR per game, 2.2 runs per game.

Those are pretty dramatic splits. Here is the MLB league average:

Wins: .289 AVG, .359 OBP, 1.4 HR per game, 6.0 runs per game
Losses: .213 AVG, .294 OBP, 0.7 HR per game, 2.6 runs per game

Joey Votto and Shin-Soo Choo continue to battle for the league lead in OBP. Votto is first at .464, Choo is second at .463. That is a beautiful thing.

For a guy that is struggling, look at Joseph Daniel Votto's NL Ranks:

.464 OBP (1st), 29 BB (1st), 27.9 Runs Created (2nd), 1.9 WAR (t-4th), 38 Hits (t-5th), 22 Runs (t-8th), .995 OPS (11th), .322 AVG (12th).

Here is what your Reds batters have done in the last week:

BATTING
NAME	GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OWAR
Jay Bruce	6	27	4	6	2	1	0	4	10	0	11	0	.222	.222	.370	.593	0.0
Shin-Soo Choo	6	25	6	7	3	0	1	3	13	2	7	1	.280	.333	.520	.853	0.0
Joey Votto	6	23	5	11	3	0	0	2	14	3	3	0	.478	.556	.609	1.164	0.0
Zack Cozart	6	22	2	3	0	0	0	3	3	3	3	0	.136	.231	.136	.367	0.0
Todd Frazier	6	20	1	4	2	0	0	4	6	2	3	0	.200	.292	.300	.592	0.0
Brandon Phillips	5	18	3	6	1	0	1	3	10	1	3	0	.333	.381	.556	.937	0.0
Devin Mesoraco	5	14	0	3	1	0	0	2	4	1	2	0	.214	.250	.286	.536	0.0
Xavier Paul	4	11	1	2	2	0	0	1	4	5	2	0	.182	.438	.364	.801	0.0
Donald Lutz	4	8	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	.125	.125	.125	.250	0.0
Cesar Izturis	3	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	.333	.000	.333	0.0
Corky Miller	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	.000	.333	.000	.333	0.0

Here is what your Reds starting pitchers have done in the last week:

PITCHING
NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	K/9	P/GS	WHIP	ERA
Mat Latos	2	2	2	0	0	0	11.0	11	3	0	6	10	8.18	350.5	1.55	2.45
Bronson Arroyo	1	1	0	1	0	0	7.0	6	2	1	1	0	0.00	533.0	1.00	2.57
Tony Cingrani	1	1	0	0	0	0	6.0	3	4	2	1	5	7.50	408.0	0.67	6.00
Mike Leake	1	1	1	0	0	0	5.2	9	2	0	0	3	4.76	547.0	1.59	3.18
Homer Bailey	1	1	0	1	0	0	5.1	9	4	1	1	3	5.06	549.0	1.88	6.75

Here is what your Reds bullpen did in the last week:

NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	K/9	P/GS	WHIP	ERA
Logan Ondrusek	3	0	1	0	0	1	4.0	1	0	0	1	2	4.50	0.0	0.50	0.00
Sam LeCure	3	0	0	0	0	2	3.2	3	1	0	1	1	2.45	0.0	1.09	2.45
Jonathan Broxton	3	0	0	0	0	2	3.0	2	1	0	0	1	3.00	0.0	0.67	3.00
Aroldis Chapman	3	0	0	0	2	0	2.2	4	3	0	3	1	3.38	0.0	2.63	10.13
J.J. Hoover	3	0	0	0	2	0	2.0	1	0	0	0	1	4.50	0.0	0.50	0.00
Sean Marshall	2	0	0	0	0	2	1.2	1	0	0	1	1	5.40	0.0	1.20	0.00

The Reds will come back home for a tough 6-game homestand between the Braves and Brewers. The Braves come in at 18-12, and have been one of the hottest teams in baseball to start the year. That should be a fun series.

Central	W	L	PCT	GB	WCGB	L10	STRK	HOME	ROAD	LAST GAME	NEXT GAME
St. Louis	20	11	.645	-	-	7-3	W6	7-5	13-6	5/5 @ MIL, W 10-1	5/7 @ CHC, 8:05 PM
Cincinnati	18	14	.563	2.5	-	5-5	W3	12-4	6-10	5/5 @ CHC, W 7-4	5/6 vs ATL, 7:10 PM
Pittsburgh	17	14	.548	3.0	0.5	5-5	L2	9-6	8-8	5/5 vs WSH, L 2-6	5/7 vs SEA, 7:05 PM
Milwaukee	14	16	.467	5.5	3.0	3-7	L5	9-10	5-6	5/5 vs STL, L 1-10	5/7 vs TEX, 8:10 PM
Chi Cubs	11	20	.355	9.0	6.5	4-6	L4	5-10	6-10	5/5 vs CIN, L 4-7	5/6 vs TEX, 8:05 PM

Wild Card Teams	W	L	PCT	WCGB	WCE #	L10	STRK	LAST GAME	NEXT GAME
Colorado	18	13	.581	+0.5	-	4-6	L1	5/5 vs TB, L 3-8	5/7 vs NYY, 8:40 PM
Cincinnati	18	14	.563	-	-	5-5	W3	5/5 @ CHC, W 7-4	5/6 vs ATL, 7:10 PM
Pittsburgh	17	14	.548	0.5	131	5-5	L2	5/5 vs WSH, L 2-6	5/7 vs SEA, 7:05 PM
Washington	17	15	.531	1.0	130	6-4	W2	5/5 @ PIT, W 6-2	5/7 vs DET, 7:05 PM
Arizona	16	15	.516	1.5	130	4-6	L1	5/5 @ SD, L 1-5	5/6 @ LAD, 10:10 PM
Milwaukee	14	16	.467	3.0	129	3-7	L5	5/5 vs STL, L 1-10	5/7 vs TEX, 8:10 PM
Philadelphia	14	18	.438	4.0	127	5-5	L2	5/5 vs MIA, L 2-14	5/6 @ SF, 10:15 PM
LA Dodgers	13	17	.433	4.0	128	4-6	L4	5/5 @ SF, L 3-4	5/6 vs ARI, 10:10 PM