Swept by the Cardinals

Ouch that was probably one of the worst series for the Reds this year. Probably even worse than they sweep by the Phillies even though that was a four gamer.

This sweep by the Cards put the Reds one game back of first place and their first series loss after the All-star break. I think the Cardinals were sparked by remarks from Brandon Phillips, and they put a beat down on the them. The Reds were outscored 21-8 in the series and were out pitched. It looked pretty ugly. I watched the first two games and you could tell the Cardinals were bringing their A game.

It looks like the Reds bounced back pretty well with a sweep of the Marlins in their next series. It's a good thing baseball has a long season, or this series with the Cardinals could have done the Reds in. This year they seem really resiliant every time they have been knocked down in a series they step up their game and work even harder.

Edinson Volquez

Watching Volquez pitch is like pulling teeth it is so slow and agonizing. It seems that he isn't all the way back yet. Chris Welsh keeps commenting on his problems with his release point, but I don't really know if that is his only problem or not.

The problem with watching Volquez pitch is, he is so slow coming to the plate he seems to really take his time between pitches and it really slows down the pace of the game. At least today against the Cubs he went six plus innings and was able to only surrender one run. It amazes me that in the last two starts he has only given up two earned runs over eleven innings and he has so many walks.

His last starts have been a lot worse than his first start back from the disabled list. His first start back was great, and I was hoping he would be back to his all-star form in 2008, but so far he hasn't. At least Volquez at 75% is still pretty good.

Reds Win Series Against Braves

What a great home series that was against the Atlanta Braves. This is probably one of the few times the Reds have beaten the Braves in a three game series in maybe even a decade. They even had a chance to sweep them but lost the first game in extra innings. The Reds looked pretty good playing against them.

The pitching is what really won these games. They did have some timely hitting but the pitching is what kept them in the game. I still can't believe the Reds are leading the league in many battling categories. It is pretty amazing how this team turned around from last year, and they didn't even have Volquez for half the year.

I think the Cincinnati team has won every series since the all-star break except the series against the Nationals in which each team won two games. Hopefully they will continue to win deep into the post season, but it is still a really tight race for both the Central division and wild card.