Joey Votto off injured

Hopefully not for too long. Can cope without him up to the All-Star break but need him after that especially as he was hitting MVP form again. He's running with a .476 OBP and was hitting over .400 with RISP recently (not sure what the latest is). They were talking about how his hasn't had an infield pop up this year yet too. Phenomenal player and certainly one of the best two or three in the NL at the moment.

In case you haven't seen either play. The Trout catch is brilliant. espn.go.com/video/clip?id=811521 ... id=2378529

In case you haven't seen either play. The Trout catch is brilliant. espn.go.com/video/clip?id=811521 ... id=2378529

listverse.com/2009/07/26/10-grea ... e-history/

listverse.com/2009/07/26/10-grea ... e-history/

All-Star line-ups announced. mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... b&c_id=mlb

All-Star line-ups announced. mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... b&c_id=mlb

Rays beat the Yankees 4-3

Best record in the majors at the mo, great considering we have had Gardner out basically all season and lost pettite and cc to the the DL.

You lost CC cause the big guy wanted a rest.

What about Mike Trout though? .352, 14HR, 45rbi and 30sb. Incredible season. He's still classed as a rookie I think too. One to look out for coming through our ranks is [url=http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/19534561/billy-hamilton-gunning-for-vince-colemans-minorleague-steals-recordBilly Hamilton who had stolen 100 bases in the minor leagues before the All Star break.[/url Could see him get called up in September to do some base running. His stealing rates are phenemonal and he's on course to break the minor league record I believe, which was set by Vince Coleman. cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2012/0 ... 8-seconds/ Also Blue Jays swap seven players for three pitchers. mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... b&c_id=mlb

What about Mike Trout though? .352, 14HR, 45rbi and 30sb. Incredible season. He's still classed as a rookie I think too. One to look out for coming through our ranks is [url=http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/19534561/billy-hamilton-gunning-for-vince-colemans-minorleague-steals-recordBilly Hamilton who had stolen 100 bases in the minor leagues before the All Star break.[/url Could see him get called up in September to do some base running. His stealing rates are phenemonal and he's on course to break the minor league record I believe, which was set by Vince Coleman. cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2012/0 ... 8-seconds/ Also Blue Jays swap seven players for three pitchers. mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... b&c_id=mlb

Quote ="McClennan"What about Mike Trout though? .352, 14HR, 45rbi and 30sb. Incredible season. He's still classed as a rookie I think too. One to look out for coming through our ranks is [url=http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/19534561/billy-hamilton-gunning-for-vince-colemans-minorleague-steals-recordBilly Hamilton who had stolen 100 bases in the minor leagues before the All Star break.[/url Could see him get called up in September to do some base running. His stealing rates are phenemonal and he's on course to break the minor league record I believe, which was set by Vince Coleman. cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2012/0 ... 8-seconds/ Also Blue Jays swap seven players for three pitchers. mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... b&c_id=mlb'" Got trout in three of my fantasy leagues. Do you see the Pirates staying in the race

Quote ="McClennan"What about Mike Trout though? .352, 14HR, 45rbi and 30sb. Incredible season. He's still classed as a rookie I think too. One to look out for coming through our ranks is [url=http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/19534561/billy-hamilton-gunning-for-vince-colemans-minorleague-steals-recordBilly Hamilton who had stolen 100 bases in the minor leagues before the All Star break.[/url Could see him get called up in September to do some base running. His stealing rates are phenemonal and he's on course to break the minor league record I believe, which was set by Vince Coleman. cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2012/0 ... 8-seconds/ Also Blue Jays swap seven players for three pitchers. mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... b&c_id=mlb'" Got trout in three of my fantasy leagues. Do you see the Pirates staying in the race

I was umming and ahhing over Trout at the beginning of the season and passed on picking him up after the draft because of that stint in the big leagues last year. I'm sure I'd be sailing now if I had him lol. Although I'd probably have done okay if Matt Kemp had stayed fit too.

As for the Pirates, yeah, I don't know how long they'll hang in there but they're doing a great job so far. Clint Hurdle and McCutcheon are early favourites for end of season nods. We're scraping a lot of wins at the moment thanks to our pitching. Barring a collapse we should be in the wild card hunt at least given our schedule isn't incredibly tough in the final few months. We've got a six game road trip at the Pirates and Cards to end the season but before that all our remaining games are against teams with a less than .500 record i.e. no Giants, Dodgers, Nats, Braves. Before we go to the Pirates though we have six games at GABP including three in the first week of next month and their schedule is similar to ours so it might go down to that last road trip...

Welcome to Hanleywood

A great pickup for next to nothing by the Dodgers, we eat all of the salary but we gave up virtually nothing to get a big bat in the 5th spot. Gives Kemp and Ethier alot better looks and more options at the plate. We are in play for Dempster as well, we have said we won't give up Zach Lee(No 1 prospect) unless it is for an ace already under contract, we douln't trade him in a rental situation.

Rumours around last night that the Reds might be looking to pass Scott Rolen on to the Yankees for platoon hitting. Rolen is in a slump and Todd Frazier is doing a more than adequate job so I'd be happy letting him go even though I love his attitude and how it's rubbed off on the youngsters. www.nypost.com/p/blogs/hardball/ ... x2ctwfOJMN

Rumours around last night that the Reds might be looking to pass Scott Rolen on to the Yankees for platoon hitting. Rolen is in a slump and Todd Frazier is doing a more than adequate job so I'd be happy letting him go even though I love his attitude and how it's rubbed off on the youngsters. www.nypost.com/p/blogs/hardball/ ... x2ctwfOJMN

Hamels getting a HUGE contract.

Hmm..

The top three in the NL Central, Reds, Pirates and Cards are a combined 45-21 this month. Incredible record for one of the weakest divisions in the comp.

Isn't the fact that it's a weak division a big reason why there is such a good record?

It certainly contributes e.g. we had sweeps of the Cards, Brewers and Astros during July, although the Bucs won series with the Giants, Marlins and Rockies whilst losing to the Cubs (the Bucs were 7-0 vs the Astros in July), the Cards were 8-3 vs the Dodgers, Marlins and Rockies. Interestingly, the top three have the following records;

Reds 13-8 v NL East, 14-9 v NL West, 7-8 interleague play
Bucs 14-10 v NL East, 9-9 v NL West, 10-8 interleague
Cards 8-13 v NL East, 13-6 v NL West, 8-7 interleague

The Reds are second in the league in ERA with a first ranked bullpen.
The Bucs are third in the league in ERA with a second ranked bullpen.
The Cardinals are second in hitting, first in RBIs, third in runs scored, lead the league in walks,

The Bucs and Cards are third and fourth in the league hitting when on a full count.

I think the Bucs also have something like 19 come from behind wins with 11 being on the road, which is as many as they have had combined in the previous three seasons.

Both the Reds (17-16 in one run games) and Bucs (23-16 in one run games, which is also a league leading figure) are performing ahead of their expected W/L record whilst the Cards are six games behind their's (12-18 in one run games). The Cards do have the highest rated WAR in the league as well.

I can't speak for the other two teams but I know we've been relatively fortunate by keeping our rotation healthy. All five have, so far, started every game and I believe we are one of only two teams which has managed that this season. We're currently on our longest winning streak in 22 years too and the Pirates season is their strongest in twenty years as well too lol. Throw the current World Series champions in and that makes three teams who, if they can keep it up, should be hard to beat in October. At the moment I'm very confident with our pitching and we've seen the past few years that if you can pitch you can win it e.g. Giants, Phillies, Cardinals (last year's No.1 bullpen IIRC).

The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired Shane Victorino. Good luck to the rest of the National League.

Victorino
Ellis
Kemp
Ethier
Hanley

Great line-up and even better outfield.

Nice lineup but everybody knows you win the world series with pitching not with hitting.

Big series coming up tomorrow for us at home against the Pirates. Hopefully Phillips will be back. Think we'll need it because Cueto is hitting a bit of a wall which the ever excellent Tom Verducci pointed out might happen. He's hit a couple of rough spots earlier this year but has pulled himself back pretty much every next start. In July we were first in the league in wins and second or third in ERA which probably explains our MLB best record.

Quote ="Wollyhood"Isn't the fact that it's a weak division a big reason why there is such a good record?'" An article by Tom Verducci on this very subject sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... mlb_t11_a0

Quote ="Wollyhood"Isn't the fact that it's a weak division a big reason why there is such a good record?'" An article by Tom Verducci on this very subject sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... mlb_t11_a0

Great news. Votto starts his rehab on Tuesday in Dayton. When he went on the DL we had a one game lead, now it's seven games. Both Bailey and Leake are into career high innnings and that's a concern for me. Can't see us going all the way through to the playoffs with the same five guys. I'm actually a bit surprised that Baker hasn't rested any of them but I can understand why he wouldn't want to disrupt our groove. We're having a great season though and this was the fastest Reds team to win 70 games since The Big Red Machine in 1976.

Interesting with the Red Sox offloading a couple of mega contracts to the Dodgers. Makes the NL even harder now. I don't really follow the AL that much so not sure what it means for the Red Sox.

I'm informed that if we go 15-15 (.500) rest way (95-67):Cards must go 24-8 to tie. If Reds go 13-17 (.433) rest way (93-69): Cards must go 22-10 to tie. With a series down in Houston coming up this weekend I'm quietly confident that we can take our second division crown in three years or fifteen if you prefer lol.

www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball ... 57591386/1

www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball ... 57591386/1

A few unpromising stats about the Reds.

2010 Reds were 11 for 89 vs Phils in playoffs (.124 BA/.160 OBP).

Leadoff spot in order for Reds....BA: .206 (30th), MLB average .261, Seattle is 29th at .230

Reds leadoff spot....OBP: .248 (30th), MLB average .323, Seattle 29th at .281

And a nicer bit of history.

On this date 1975, the Reds, leading by 20.5 games, clinched the NL West with 8-4 win over Giants. The earliest clinching date in MLB history.