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.

John Fay and Lance McAlister both touched on the Cuban missile crisis that is Aroldis Chapman right now in posts today.

First up, McAlister posted these stats attesting to Chapman’s recent innefectiveness.

April 30: K, BB, WP, BB, BB, 2B, K, K
May 5: BB, BB, 1B
May 10: BB, HBP, BB, BB
He’s faced 14 batters with 11 getting on base.
He has not retired any of the 7 batters faced in his last two appearances.
He’s thrown 69 pitches with only 28 for strikes.
Total: 1.0 inning, 2 H, 8 BB, 3 K, 6 ER, WP, HBP

Clearly, that’s not getting it done. I mean, Chapman came in with a 7-0 lead against the Astros and had to be removed because there was a chance he’d blow the game. What’s going on? He was so dominant early in the year.

Fay reports that manager Dusty Baker’s not worried.

“Chapman struggling some to find the plate,” Dusty Baker said. “We’ve got to find a way to get his mechanics back in the sync. He’s throwing the ball great. It’s a matter of throwing strikes.”

Baker said Chapman will not be sent to minors to get straightened out.

Well, that’s an odd response. How can someone who has bad mechanics and isn’t throwing strikes be “throwing the ball great”? And what’s wrong with sending him to the minors to sort things out. The Reds aren’t AAA. It’s not a place to teach people.

The bullpen is a bit of a mess right now, with pitchers in roles they don’t belong in. Chapman, in particular.

Chapman needs to be pitching every 5th day in the Louisville rotation. He’s very uneven still and needs a lot of work at repeating his delivery. Plus, he’d make a much better starter than a reliever.

And speaking of starters, what exactly was Mike Leake doing pitching the 9th inning today? He’s a starter with one year of professional baseball on his resume. He’s never relieved at this level like that. It would make far more sense for Leake to also be in the minors pitching in the Louisville rotation. Jose Arredondo needs to be activated from the disabled list.

Have him replace Leake and let Leake get back to working on being a more consistent starter. And do the same for Chapman. I don’t want the big league club losing games they would have won because of people learning on the job.

Boxscore

Walks Will Haunt!

The Cincinnati Reds failed to sweep the Houston Astros in their 3-game series finale this afternoon. Despite the team scoring just 3 runs, this loss wasn’t really the offense’s fault.

No, the blame can easily be laid at the feet of “ace” starter Edinson Volquez, who was wild in his 4 inning start. Yes, I said 4 innings. In that wholly inadequate length of time for a start, Volquez walked 5 and allowed 3 runs.

The loss actually ended up being blamed on Mike Leake, though. For some bizarre reason, he was pitching in relief in the 9th inning of a tied ball game. You know, the role he’s been training for his whole professional life. A walk was his undoing, as well, as he walked J. R. Towles who later scored the winning run.

The Reds were losing early, but the offense did manage to make it close again. They scored one run in the 4th, and then tied it in the 7th thanks to back-to-back home runs from Chris Heisey and Drew Stubbs.