After yesterday’s workout at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, manager Dusty Baker and game 3 starter Homer Bailey both sat down to answer questions from the assembled media.

Dusty Baker
Baker went first, and the topic turned, of course, to injured ace Johnny Cueto. Baker was optimistic, but was clear in placing the health of Cueto ahead of the team’s desire to win.

“We’re going to do what’s best for him. I just hope that’s good for us, too.”

The growth of Brandon Phillips as a leader during Baker’s tenure was touched on, as well. I remember when Baker came to the team, there were often instances of Phillips loafing and not running hard to first. I remember one instance where Phillips not running hard out of the box turned what would have been a double into a single.

But the “B” is the “B.” I’ve seen him grow big time since I’ve been here. When I first got here I was having to spank him once a month, do you know what I mean? Now it’s probably once every three months.

Phillips has grown a lot, as has Baker. He’s a much better manager now than he was with the Chicago Cubs and when he arrived in Cincinnati. There’s a lot more to tide you over until today’s game and distract you from working here.

Homer Bailey
Bailey also faced the press and fielded questions about his start of game three this evening, including when he learned he would be moved up one game.

“I found out about the middle of the first game. After that I asked if I could fly home early so I wasn’t quite as jet lagged. Actually worked out good. I threw a regular bullpen that day and stayed on my regular rest anyways, so no excuses, right?”

I like the confidence. After the gutsy performances by both Mat Latos and Bronson Arroyo, tonight it will be Bailey’s turn. If he turns in a comparable performance, the Reds are likely advancing to the next round. What is Bailey’s strategy?

“Try to get strike one hitter on Angel Pagan and then we’ll go from there. That’s what I’m thinking.”

I like that plan. If he wants to throw another no-hitter, I’ll be on board, too. You can read the rest of the interview here.

On the night the Cincinnati Reds clinched the National League Central division, you may have seen some images of players with a brass cup during the celebration, including Alfredo Simon and Bronson Arroyo. Everyone was gathered around it at some point.

At first, I thought it was an official trophy for winning first place. While I didn’t remember ever seeing anything like that in past years, I assumed it was something new. Until yesterday’s article from Mark Sheldon about the cup. The cup is the player’s own invention and sprung from not winning the Ohio Cup against the Cleveland Indians.

“We were 3-0 in Cincinnati. Each day we came to the ballpark in Cleveland, we were trying to get the Ohio Cup,” Reds left fielder Ryan Ludwick explained on Friday. “Day 1, we didn’t get it. Day 2, we didn’t get it. And Day 3, we had three chances and we didn’t get the cup. There were some people upset we didn’t get the cup, me being one of them.

“A couple of us came up with the idea of having a cup for every series.”

And from that, an imaginary cup for each series was created.

In Chicago, it was called the “Windy City Cup.” In Philadelphia, players battled for the “Cheesesteak Cup.” A series against St. Louis was the “Gateway Cup.”

Eventually, though, the players wanted a physical object. Rookie catcher Devin Mesoraco went searching for one.

Mesoraco found the trophy at an antique shop in Bellevue, Ky., and snagged it for $50. “I just went in and it was sitting right there and it took me two minutes to pick it out,” Mesoraco said.

When Mesoraco returned to Great American Ball Park with his find, he deposited in the locker of the guy who started the idea — Ludwick.

The base of the award reads “Pine Cup,” which means nothing to anybody. But whatever it was called, now the Reds had something to really play for.

And play they did. The baseball season is a long marathon, and motivation can sometimes be hard to come by. The cup has certainly helped. Hopefully, it can help long enough to get a real trophy. Seeing all the players on the field around the World Series trophy would be so much more awesome.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Erardi has another nice article today, this one about the rookie duo of Zack Cozart and Todd Frazier on the 2012 team.

Todd Frazier and Zack Cozart have not only been one of the best combination of first-year players on any team this season, they qualify as the greatest pairing of Reds rookie position players since Bernie Carbo and Davey Concepcion in 1970.

Frazier and Cozart are, by the numbers, the highest impact rookie Reds position players to break in together since Kal Daniels and Paul O’Neill in 1987 and Chris Sabo and Jeff Treadway in 1988.

The case Erardi goes on to make is that when rookie duos like that come along in Reds’ history, good things follow, like the 1990 World Series.

For the nine straight losing years that the Reds saw throughout the 2000s, this influx of young, home-grown talent never arrived. But since Joey Votto and Jay Bruce arrived full-time in 2008, it has.
Votto and Bruce saw the team to the division win in 2010. Sure, the team exited the playoffs early, but that experience is invaluable. Now those two are returning to the playoffs with something to prove. And that experience and attitude is likely to rub off on Cozart and Frazier.

Losing begets losing, and winning begets winning. The prime examples of that can be found just looking within the Reds’ division. The Pittsburgh Pirates just completed their 20th losing season in a row, and the St. Louis Cardinals made the playoffs again, without Albert Pujols.

The Reds had been stuck in that losing cycle for so long. It’s very nice to see them coming out of it and having a good store of minor league talent ready to come up. When they do, they’re expected to contribute and win right away.

And since this time the offensive burden won’t rely solely on Votto and Bruce, maybe this team can advance further into the playoffs.

Hall of Fame reporter Hal McCoy had the chance to sit down and chat with Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker when he was in the office yesterday, and it sounds like Baker is very close to returning.

Baker was upbeat, enthusiastic and effervescent during my short visit.

He looked fit and trim and the smile on his face was as wide as the room. His handshake was bone-shattering, as it always is.

Baker had a good attitude about the mini-stroke, feeling a little lucky to have it happen while he was still in the hospital. And he’s planning on returning for the final series of the regular season against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I’m OK, I’m fine,” he said. “I haven’t felt this good in a long time. I can’t remember the last time I felt this good.”

That’s encouraging news. While Baker has been making appearances before each of the last several games at the ball park, his actual presence with what is his team during the games will be very important for the playoffs.

Besides, it would be a shame for him to miss any post-season celebration.

I wore my Reds tweet-up shirt to Best Buy yesterday to buy a couple discount DVDs, and the guy at the checkout counter was telling me how he hoped the Reds could win 100 games. That *would* be cool, but, yeah, probably not. For one thing, they’d have to win 80% of the remaining games. For another thing, they’re going to be resting up a bit, waiting for all the other divisions to get won.

Keep your edge, guys.