Seven Weeks In...

Sweet meat pies (Rowengartner's going to bat)! It's almost the end of May, and the Redlegs are vying with the Redbirds for 1st place at an impressive 25-19 record. Since April 24, a month ago to date, the Reds have managed to pull off a careeered record of 18-8. Despite one of the biggest heartbreaks since Ron Lewis' dagger, the Reds are rollin, and I'm loving every second. With the Bucos and Astronomicals (Fordham-esque dormats) coming to town this week, it's only safe to think the tear will continue. Regardless, Harang's ugly ass will be on the bump tonight to try to get the homestand off on the right foot, and from here, allow me to take a look at what the Redstockings have done so well to get where they are.

Coming into this year, you had to like what this team looked like on paper, and to this point, it's hard to find very many disappointments. From a hitting perspective, it seems everybody's aboard except for Stubbs, aka White Lightning, but it's hard to imagine him continuing to hover around the Mendoza line for much longer as he's really just adjusting to the big league speed. There has also been slight concern over B-Phils lack of RBI production, but after taking a step back, his batting out of the 2-hole, roping 2Bs like a fiend and leading the team in runs should silence the doubters.

The hit parade begins with Broey Votto who is taking a figurative crap on fellow NL 1st basemen such as Albert P-jols, Queen Fielder, and the Reds killer himself, Lance Berkman, when it comes to offensive output. Bottom line, the Reds haven't seen a hitter like this since the great Scott Hatteberg. Rolen also appears to be wearing his spray goggles as of late as he continues to prove why the front office pulled the trigger for this invaluable seasoned vet at last year's trade line.


Then of course there are your surprises. Speaking of which, here's one for you: the Reds' Left Field combo of Laynce Nix and Jonny 3-run Gome(r)s have thus far combined to be the most productive LF of any team in the league. Heck, Cincinnati hasn't seen a 1-2 punch like this since the glory days of Jason LaRue and Javy Valentin. Considering these two gentlemen alone cost Big Robert Castellini a mere $1.4 mil as compared to the $17 mil+ that the Cards, Cubs, and 'Stros each dish out to fund their left field is simply remarkable. It looked like Nix was crushin watermelons last week, and Gomes has been punishing fastballs all year long. Gotta love these guys rising to the occasion, and it'll be interesting if they can still be putting up these kind of numbers when the Reds are vying for playoff contention en Septiembre.

For the most part, the pitching staff has yielded similar success stories. Leake has obviously been lights out in his rookie campaign, and it appears Johnny Cueto and Bronson are following his lead as each have notched 4 Ws in as many decisions. Homer seemed to be doing the same until yesterday's injury threw a solid 12-6 breaking ball into the mix, and it's fairly to partly safe to say Harangatang is as washed up as Chet "I ain't the rocket anymore kid" Steadman.


You can't say bullpen without thinking Arthur Rhodes. The crafty lefty vet is still doing his thang, and better than ever. The man has not given up a run since the colonial times (44 days ago to be exact) and is nails in just about every situation he gets tossed into. Other than Art, look no further than last Thursday's 9th inning meltdown to get a good idea of how things are going in the bullpen. If you feel like you've seen the aforementioned heartbreak before, you very well might have. Look no further than former closer Danny "Fear the Mullet" Graves and a contest vs. the Cardinals on the eve of May 2nd, 2005 when the pen managed to surrender 7 runs in the 9th to fall to the all familiar score of 9-10. While Cordero may not have exited the game with his middle finger to world that Mr. Graves did on that fateful evening, it is becoming more and more evident CoCo isn't exactly money in the bank.

Successes and struggles aside, this Reds team has shown the baseball world what they are capable of with an impressive start thus far, but the remainder of the season is far from settled. The injury bug has yet to punish the Reds, and with a few cupcakes upcoming on the schedule, look for the men in red to cash in these next few weeks. Between now and the post World Series riots in October that are sure to pervade through the streets of Mack, questions marks are sure to arise, and time will only tell how resilient the 2010 Redlegs really are. Until then, I'm off to prepare for Jack Bauer's last go round of take names and slashin throats. Burnside, gone.