Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (77-82)	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	5	11	1
Pirates (71-88)	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	4	1

Boxscore

As has been well documented, Dontrelle Willis has been searching for a win for a long time.

And in his last start for the Cincinnati Reds in the 2011 season, he finally got it, with very little thanks to closer Francisco Cordero.

Willis turned in his customary 6 innings, 3 runs start, and this time it was enough.

The Reds scoring started in the 1st, when Jay Bruce drove in Brandon Phillips. In the 2nd, Devin Mesoraco drove in Juan Francisco. And then Paul Janish sacrificed a fly to plate Mesoraco.

Willis struggled in the bottom of the 2nd, allowing the Pittsburgh Pirates to tie it 3-3, but he soon took matters into his own hands. In the 6th, Mesoraco singled. Janish doubled. And Willis added his own double to bring both runners in, making it 5-3.

Cordero was brought in to close out the game in the 9th. Like so many previous times, the bullpen allowed some runs. Cordero allowed a run-scoring double to Neil Walker, and with a runner on second base, it looked like Willis’ win was in jeopardy. But Cordero was able to strike out the final two batters to end the game.

The win makes Willis’ record 1-6 on the season, over 13 starts.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Bats	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	12	2
Indians	3	2	0	0	0	0	3	9	0	8	11	0

Boxscore

Over the Labor Day weekend on Saturday, we made it out to the final home game for Pittsburgh Pirates AAA affiliate the Indianapolis Indians. And the Cincinnati Reds AAA affiliate the Louisville Bats were in town.

It was an exciting game, with the teams combining for 10 runs in just the first two innings–two innings that take well more than an hour to play. It was looking like a long game, but both teams settled down after that, until the Indians took the lead for good in the 7th.

We sat in the Captain’s Cove, an excellent bar with comfy chairs in left field. I can’t recommend this place highly enough.

Former Cardinal Ryan Ludwick was manning left field for the Indians and had a solid game, going 3-4 with 2 RBI.

Travis Wood pitched for the Bats.

Now that Devin Mesoraco has been called up, the Reds new catcher of the future is in AAA: Yasmani Grandal.

Matt Hague, winner of the Indians 2011 MVP, at the plate.

The Indians players exchanging high-fives after the win.

After every home win, the Indians ring the Victory Bell. This was the last time this season.

The final scoreboard of 2011 at Victory Field.

And with that, the 2011 home season for the Indians was over. It passed by way too quickly. At least there’s almost a month left of major league ball to enjoy.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Bats	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	9	0
Indians	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	10	0

Boxscore

As RHM mentioned, we headed to Victory Field to catch as much of the game between the Louisville Bats and Indianapolis Indians as a school-night would allow. Thankfully, we saw a little bit of offense in the hour and 30 we were there.

Chad Reineke started for the Bats and had decent results. In 5 innings, he allowed 2 runs and struck out 5. Of course, he also allowed 7 hits, which indicates either goof luck in not allowing more runs or bad luck in the defense behind him. And since most of the Reds’ best infield prospects are with the major league club or injured, I’m leaning towards the latter.

The offense was provided by lots of Bats batters, but none was more impressive than power-hitter Juan Francisco.

Francisco had what appeared to be either an accidental swing, or at least a half-hearted one, and sent a ball over the right field berm area. It was a power shot, and it looked like he barely swung. It’s the best display of his power I’ve seen. He’s almost always looked over-matched in the majors.

The rosters are set to expand for the Cincinnati Reds at the beginning of next month, but it’s hard to see who might be called up. Francisco, sure. But the only other position player who seems likely is catcher Devin Mesoraco. He went 1 for 4 on the night, but that one hit did lead to the eventual run scoring. Considering, he’s got a .291 average, a 37% on-base percentage, and is slugging .484, he might not have much left to prove in AAA, anyway.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (47-50)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
Pirates (51-44)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	1	4	0

Boxscore

In fact, one win in a row would be pretty good at this point. I’m going ahead and predicting a shutout series. After two straight times of being shutout against the once lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, I’m feeling confident.

Last night, the Pirates overtook first place in the division. A series in July between first and fourth place in the NLC, the Pirates and Reds: you might have predicted that at the beginning of the season, though you might have been thinking about it a little differently.

Tonight, both the expected standings and the expected outcome were flipped, as the Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0.

Mike Leake started for the Reds and allowed 1 run over 6 innings, clearly a terrible outing that deserves the loss he received.

Maybe the Reds won’t be swept tomorrow. But given their lifeless offense–even the might Zack Cozart had his hitting streak snapped at 6–nobody except the Pirates’ pitchers should feel optimistic.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pirates (20-23)	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	0	5	9	0
Reds (25-19)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	9	1

Boxscore

Now, I’m Free! Free-falling!

The Pittsburgh Pirates continued their domination of the Cincinnati Reds today. Behind the pitching of James McDonald, the Pirates cruised to a 5-3 victory.

Reds’ starter Johnny Cueto encountered troubles in his 3rd start, lasting just 5 innings. In that time, he allowed 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 5. He was back to his pitch-inefficient ways as it took him 94 pitches to go those 5 innings.

The offense for the Reds was provided by Jay Bruce, who had two homers on the day. He was clearly missed in yesterday’s shutout, when he sat out for flu-like symptoms.

The loss drops the Reds to 1-4 against the Pirates on the year. And thanks to a St. Louis Cardinals win, the Reds are no longer in first place. That was quick.

Of course, I’d rather dominate the Cardinals and be owned by the Pirates than the other way around. I think the former will play out better over the course of the season.

The USA Today released the opening day payrolls for all major league baseball clubs today. The Cincinnati Reds’ payroll of $75,947,134 sits comfortably at 19th (out of 32), one spot up from 20th last year.

As John Fay notes, the Reds have set a club record this year.

The Reds’ overall payroll is $75.9 million, the most in club history. The previous high was $74.1 million in 2008.

The Reds place in their own division is also in the bottom half at 4th. The Chicago Cubs are first with $125,047,329, while the Pittsburgh Pirates are last with $45,047,000.

The NL Central table is below.

#	Team	Payroll	Avg. Salary
1	Chicago Cubs	$125,047,329	$5,001,893
2	St. Louis Cardinals	$105,433,572	$3,904,947
3	Milwaukee Brewers	$85,497,333	$2,849,911
4	Cincinnati Reds	$75,947,134	$2,531,571
5	Houston Astros	$70,694,000	$2,437,724
6	Pittsburgh Pirates	$45,047,000	$1,553,344

All right, gang, the 2011 baseball season is underway, and it’s high time to start predicting how teams and players will perform.

First off, the whole Cincinnati Reds team. They can easily be projected to finish the season at 162-0, a historic, never-before-done feat. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh Pirates are on pace for the same mark.

Strangely, the Reds don’t project to have any starter win a single one of those 162 games, as the bullpen will get every single win. On the plus side, at least none of the starters are projected to have any losses.

As for players, Joey Votto looks to be even better this year than last. Based on his performance so far, we can expect a whopping 162 home runs from him and 324 runs batted in. He’d seem like a shoo-in for MVP were it not for teammate Ramon Hernandez who, in addition to those 162 home runs, is on track for an unbelievable 486 RBI. Votto will have a better slugging percentage, at 2.6 to Hernandez’s 2.2, so it’ll be up to the voters to decide.

Perhaps the best projection, though, comes from that of the St. Louis Cardinals. The 2010 MVP runner-up, Albert Pujols looks like he’ll have the worst contract year in the history of contract years. Based on his performance, we can predict a batting average of .000, and, in what will surely break the record, he will ground into 486 double plays.

The Cardinals are on pace to go winless on the season and also to lose 162 players to the disabled list. It’s going to be a rough year in St. Louis.

Opening Day for the 2011 season is finally here! I’m pretty excited about it, and for the first time in a long time, I have legitimate hopes of the Cincinnati Reds doing well. (I wasn’t nearly so optimistic about them last year.)

Without further rambling, here’s my guesses about the finishing places of each of the teams in the 2011 National League Central. Let’s hope I’m more accurate than I was in my NCAA bracket, where I predicted 0 of the Final Four.

6th: Houston Astros
It looks to me like the Astros gave up on this season as last season was winding up. I see nothing from them: not pitching, not batting, not fielding, and not promising rookies. Their minor league system is consistently ranked as one of the worst in the majors, and the owner is trying to sell the team. Mark this as another lost year.

5th: Pittsburgh Pirates
There’s a lot I like about the Pirates. Every year they try. It’s usually misdirected–I’m looking at you Dave Littlefield–but it’s an attempt. And unlike the Astros this year, the Pirates are trying, and a bit more intelligently these days. Between Andrew McCutcheon and Jose Tabata, they have two young players that people outside of the organization think will be good ball players. And there are more with promise.

The team still doesn’t have enough to be competitive, but it feels like they’re closer than they’ve been in a long time. The Pirates have actually accumulated real talent since Neal Huntington took over, and if the players reach their potential, a competent year might not be a ridiculous pipe dream.

It won’t happen in 2011. They’ll have another losing season. What will that be? 19? Ouch. But they’ll be better than the Astros.

4th: Chicago Cubs
The Cubs owe too much money to too many old players who can’t come close to producing enough to make it worthwhile. Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukdome, etc. The list of bad contracts is long, and the Cubs now seem to be waiting until some of them end. (They’ll be waiting a long time for Soriano’s.)

The club has a new manager and did show some new moves, letting Carlos Silva go after a mediocre spring training. Silva also got into a dugout fight with his teammates, like Zambrano last year. Apparently, the Cubs don’t want to put up with that any more. That’s probably a good thing. It’s hard to be a lovable loser when your team is covered in self-inflicted bruises. No one loves cutters.

The Cubs should be the best of the bottom half of the Central. Unfortunately, as I know from the Reds achieving that a time or two, there’s no trophy for that.

3rd: St. Louis Cardinals
How the mighty have fallen. The Cardinals are hard to predict. Sure, they have Albert Pujols, but there’s so little around him. Outside of Matt Holliday, the team has no real offense. Sure, they signed Lance Berkman to serve as protection, but I don’t think that’s going to work. Plus, the addition of him–and Ryan Theriot at short–gives them a bad defense.

Losing Adam Wainwright was a huge blow. His absence will place a lot more strain or an already fragile Chris Carpenter, and the young Jaime Garcia. The team will win more than it loses, but it doesn’t have the depth to last the grueling 162-game marathon.

2nd: Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers made the biggest splash this off-season, getting Zach Greinke and Shaun Marcum to instantly upgrade their starting rotation. It was quite an upgrade. Unfortunately, Greinke hurt a rib playing basketball and will miss a couple weeks at the start of the season. Also, Marcum had some health issues during Spring Training.

Still, those guys the Brewers emptied their farm system for will pitch a lot of games. And the offense, lead by Prince Fielder, will score a lot of runs. But the primary reason I’m not picking the Brewers for first place is because of their defense. I think it’s bad enough that it’ll make the studs in the rotation that much more ineffective. And I’ve seen firsthand how much worse pitching can be when the defense behind it is unstable.

1st: Cincinnati Reds
Like there was ever any doubt. The Reds are the defending Central division champions, and I don’t think anything has changed to unseat them. They have one of the best offenses in the majors, lead by the 2010 Most Valuable Player Joey Votto. Behind him, Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs seem set to have excellent years, themselves. They also have one of the best defenses in the majors. New this year is a competent glove at shortstop in Paul Janish.

That makes one of the deepest pitching staffs all the better. While the team doesn’t have any starters in the true ace mold–and they did have their share of injuries in the final week of spring training–they do make up for it in numbers. And unlike the Jim Bowden garbage years, these pitchers are good and can be expected to keep the team in the game.

This is a good team. Unlike the 2000s, the ifs surrounding this team would take them from good to great. The Reds have a lot to play for. They were embarrassed in the 2010 playoffs. The only way to change that is to get back there. Granted, no Reds team has made the playoffs in back-to-back years since the 1975-76 Reds, but I’m predicting that this is the year it happens again.

And it starts today.

Pitches and catchers reported today.

The Chicago Cubs beat all the other National League Central teams to the start of Spring Training by having pitchers and catchers report today.

The Pittsburgh Pirates start tomorrow, but I somehow doubt that the extra day or two will help either team all that much. Although I do expect the Pirates to win more than 57 games this year.

But this is the week it all begins. And in just two weeks, the Cincinnati Reds will play their first exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians.

So I summarize them.

Yahoo! Sports has an ongoing feature showcasing what each baseball team has done in the off-season and how they look for the upcoming season, plus a silly haiku at the end of each article. They wrapped up their last National League Central division team yesterday, so I thought now would be a good time to run through their opinions and analysis.

Chicago Cubs
The Cubs review summarizes the off-season activities, and there weren’t many. Basically, the team signed Carlos Peña to a one-year deal, hoping he’ll bounce back and post better than a .198 batting average.

Yahoo! summarizes the 2010 Cubs season beautifully.

Take a below average pitching staff, supported by a below average offense, backed by a well below average defense, prop it up with the game’s fourth-highest payroll, and what the House of Ricketts received in return was another lost baseball season on the North Side.

Unfortunately, with the huge, inflexible contracts the team gave years ago to the likes of Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano, and Kosuke Fukdome, 2011 isn’t likely to be any better or different. Several contracts do come off the books after this season, so the team is basically asking its players to “live up to their contracts, to return to their means, and to come to their senses.”

Cincinnati Reds
The Reds review focuses largely on the amount of guaranteed cash the team threw at its young players this off-season.

Despite the spending frenzy, the Reds reduced their payroll. They spent 13.4 percent more in 2010 than 2009, but this season it will roll back to about $73 million, a nifty sleight of hand accomplished through deferred salary and bonuses spread over several years like frosting on a cake.

That payroll will grow over the next few years, and it’s imperative that the team continue to win and increase attendance to keep the winning rolling. Considering the Reds’ recent losing history and the fact that the team is banking on nothing but home-grown players, is this probable?

Optimism is grounded in a fertile farm system that for the first time in many years is producing major leaguers at nearly every position. Votto is homegrown. So are dynamic outfielders Bruce and Drew Stubbs. Bubbling just below the big leagues are legitimate prospects at third base (Juan Francisco and Todd Frazier, shortstop (Zack Cozart), first base (Yonder Alonso) and catcher (Devin Mesoraco and Yasmani Grandal).

Things definitely look good down on the farm. And, if the Reds feel they have a hole to fill mid-season and fans are packing Great American Ballpark, all those good young players should make some great trade-bait.

Houston Astros
The Astros review starts with the news that owner Drayton McLane has put the team up for sale. I wasn’t aware of that happening, but until the sale happens, I doubt the future holds good things for the club. As the Cubs and the Reds have both seen, ownership change can be a rocky affair.

As it stands, the Astros have neither the offense nor pitching to stay with the NL Central’s three lead dogs – Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers – but are capable of making the Chicago Cubs feel bad about themselves again.

Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers review reads like a worship-fest of Brewers general manager Doug Melvin.

Part of what makes Doug Melvin such a gem of a general manager, aside from the resplendent mustache left over from the prop room of a Tom Selleck movie, is his strict adherence to nobody’s philosophy but his own. The impunity with which Melvin gutted his farm system this offseason was spectacular. Teams hoard prospects like kids used to Pokemon cards, and to that practice, Melvin slowly raised a finger. Which finger is rather easy to guess.

Melvin traded away his best prospects for Zach Greinke and Shawn Marcum for the last year that the team will have Prince Fielder. It makes them an early favorite to win the division, but will it be enough to turn a team that lost eight more than it won last year all the way into a contender?

Yes, the Brewers’ offseason was most excellent. Now that they’ve done well in the paper championship chase comes their quest for an actual one, and much of that will depend on their first two months.

If the Brewers start poorly, the team will have to decide whether to trade Fielder, and that would be a huge off-the-field distraction. To keep that from happening, the Brewers need their best starters to “start the year in midseason form.”

Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates review looks at their off-season moves in a mocking way. After 18 years of losing, who has the team turned to to turn things around?

Kevin Correia, Matt Diaz and Lyle Overbay, of course! Since the end of the 2010 season, the Pirates have committed nearly $12 million – around 40 percent of their projected payroll – to a starter who mustered a 5.40 ERA in baseball’s best pitchers’ park last year, a part-time outfielder with a heavy platoon split and a meek-hitting first baseman. Tack on a catcher with a $3.2 million salary and slugging percentage below .300 with the Pirates last year (Chris Snyder), and the Pirates are repeating the mistakes of yore.

I think the Pirates are spending some of that money because Major League Baseball told them they had to, but it does seem odd. Of course, many of the Pirates’ prospects aren’t ready for the big show yet, and they have to send someone out there. I believe all of the free agents signed one-year deals, so it’s not a long-term bad decision.

There is a minor amount of hope.

There are pieces. Not enough to win this year, and probably not enough to win next year, but if the Pirates can ever muster a couple starting pitchers out of their farm system to complement what’s coming on offense, there’s a chance that the streak may end at 20.

Wow. In just two more years, if things fall perfectly, the Pirates may win 82 games. Ouch. It’s gotta be tough to be a Pirates fan.

St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals review, like all Cardinals news this off-season, is all about Pujols. Pujols! PUJOLS!

The uncertainty surrounding negotiations for an extension that could give the slugging first baseman the most lucrative contract in baseball history casts a cloud over every other roster decision, every dime the team spends or won’t spend.

There were many moves the Cardinals could have made to improve the offense and defense, but were prevented from doing so because Albert Pujols’ contract extension was up-in-the air. Instead, the team rearranged some Titanic deck chairs, and replaced Brendan Ryan with Ryan Theriot.

Several things have to go the team’s way to win the division. The bullpen will have to outperform expectations and Colby Rasmus will have to not piss off Tony LaRussa and Pujols. Also, third baseman David Freese will have to be healthy and productive, while Kyle Lohse and Skip Schumaker need to have productive years, unlike they did last year.

That’s a lot of what-ifs, but they all pale in comparison to the one the St. Louis faithful are fixated on: What if Pujols doesn’t sign an extension, becomes a free agent after the 2011 season and leaves? Worse yet, what if he signs with the reviled Chicago Cubs?

Until the answer is clear, the Cardinals’ future is cloudy because general manager John Mozeliak can’t spend money earmarked for Pujols. And that might mean sacrificing another season.

As a Reds fan, I’d definitely love another off-year from the Cardinals. They’re due.