FOX Sports Ohio Picks Up June 8th Reds Game

ESPN has selected the June 12th Cincinnati Reds game for their Sunday night exclusive game, which means FOX Sports Ohio can no longer air the game.

As replacement, FOX Sports Ohio will televise in HD:
REDS VS. CUBS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8

The game will begin at 12:30pm and will be preceded by Reds Live Pregame Show at 12 noon.

Geez, the Reds will be playing the Cubs again so soon? I’ll miss them if there aren’t any more Cubs games left after the All-Star break.

Last Game
The Cincinnati Reds completed their sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday. The series was entertaining every night and especially enjoyable for Reds fans, thanks to the great performances by players the Cardinals have come to hate: Johnny Cueto and Brandon Phillips. Cueto dominated in the second game of the series, going longer than any Reds starter this year in his win. And Phillips was on fire, going 5-10 with a home run and 6 RBI. The sweep would not have happened without those two.

Next Game
The Reds face another division opponent when the Chicago Cubs come to town tonight. Homer Bailey will start for Cincinnati while Matt Garza has the honors for Chicago. Game-time is 7:10pm EDT, and the game is televised on Fox Sports Ohio.

Gomes’ Mohawk Missing in Action
This weekend saw the end of struggling Jonny Gomes’ trademark mohawk.

Gomes had little to say about the new look.

“I just got a haircut,” he said.

Just a coincidence? Or just time for a haircut?

“You could argue that,” Gomes said.

Gomes started off the season well, but has been wretched lately. He’s had just 5 hits this month and hasn’t had a home run since April 17. We’ll see if his reverse-Samson works.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
The Reds’ sweep of the Cardinals in Cincinnati was the first time such a thing had been done since September 11-13, 2007.

I wasn’t able to watch the game today, what with being busy going through the commencement ceremony for my MBA program (YAYYY!), but I still felt the need to take a quick moment tonight to express the fantabulocity of the Reds sweeping the Cardinals. Last season, I took the Reds’ inability to beat the Cards in those emotionally charged games as foreshadowing of their inability to master their nerves in the postseason. Does this mark a change in the fortunes of the team? Either way, it was awesome sauce.

Boxscore

How sweep it is!

The Cincinnati Reds completed their sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals today, winning 9-7. And they finally tagged a loss on Chris Carpenter, too boot.

The win completes the division flip-flop. Coming into the series, the Cardinals had a 1.5 game lead on the Reds. Leaving it, the Reds were the on with the 1.5 game lead.

Carpenter started for St. Louis, and while always a loser, he was so officially today. In 6 1/3 innings, he allowed 8 runs–7 earned. That offense for the Reds was provided by homers from Ramon Hernandez and Chris Heisey; Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce also drove in a pair each.

The Cardinals took an early lead but lost it and didn’t put up much of a fight until the 9th inning when the Reds bullpen flirted with giving the game away–and raising the blood pressure of all Reds fans.

Instead, closer Francisco Cordero came in and finished things off, but not without a little whiny bitching from the St. Louis bench. On an 0-2 count on Albert Pujols, Cordero went inside and hit Pujols on the wrist.

“Just a little fun,” Cordero said. “I think it was because I hit Pujols 0-2, Gerald Laird was all loud in the dugout. He was yelling at me and pointing at me and saying a whole bunch of stuff. Out of all the guys that are great hitters, great players, Gerald Laird doesn’t even play. He’s the one yelling at me because I hit Pujols 0-2. 0-2! I wasn’t trying to him.

“I’ve got to face Holliday next, who can take the lead with one swing, one of the best hitters in the NL, and he’s yelling at me. All I know is he was loud, so I say something back to him.

“I’ve got nothing against the Cardinals. I’ve been in this game a long time and I won’t disrespect anybody. I look in the duout, Pujols was sitting down, he was quiet, because he knows I wasn’t trying to hit him. This stuff happens.”

Always fun when these two teams play. It’s nice to see the Reds take a series and a lead in the season schedule at 4-2.

There’ve been a few moves that the Cincinnati Reds have made in the last two days that it feels like I haven’t had enough time to comment on.

First, before yesterday’s amazing baseball game, the Reds decided Scott Rolen was ready and activated him from the disabled list. Backup infielder Chris Valaika was optioned to AAA to the Louisville Bats to make room. Clearly, they were right. Rolen went 3-5 and drove in a run, injecting further life into the offense. I hope he can stay healthy this time. His absence is painful to the team’s winning.

Before today’s game, the Reds made another move. This time, they activated reliever Jose Arredondo. Arredondo has never pitched for the Reds before and hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2009. The Reds signed him just before he had Tommy John surgery last year, and he’s been rehabbing ever since. His rehabilitation stats have been very promising. And if he’s back to the form he was before the injury, the Reds’ bullpen just got a lot stronger.

“He was one of top pitchers in the American League before he got hurt,” Baker said. “He can make (Nick) Masset and (Logan) Ondrusek better. He can throw a lot. He can go two innings. Hopefully, he’ll make us better.”

To make room for Arredondo, struggling pitcher Mike Leake was optioned to Louisville. This will be Leake’s first time spent in the minors, but it is needed. As I ranted about recently, Leake has no experience as a reliever. He’s been a starter, and having him learn to be a reliever at the major league level was failing miserably. Him relieving isn’t the plan, though.

Leake will be used as a starter at Triple-A.

“He’ll continue to do that for a while for a couple of reasons,” Jocketty said. “In case, we have a need for a starter. There are still some things he has to work on to get back to what he did last year.”

That makes sense. Leake’s been solid as a starter, and injuries do–and have–happened. I have a feeling that pitching on a regular basis again will do wonders for his control.