Alright…my observations have shed a little light on what kind of team the Cincinnati Reds are at this moment… here we go.

1. In a season, where at the beginning, we were supposed to have pitching depth out the ass and an offense to back them up…both of those are still true. We have one of the best offensive teams in the NL and our pitching depth is still really good… although we just got to D. Willis in the last start before the all-star game. I still believe that this team has enough talent to start meshing and winning some ball games (in a row)

2. We are, right now, good enough to keep in games till the end. We might lose by one run but were getting beat at one point by 5…or…we’d be winning by 3 and give up the lead in the last AB. 13-21 is the Reds record in 1-run games…that is the most losses in 1-run games in MLB…but the second most is 20…so that could change quickly.

3. The reds have stopped the Janish/Renteria SS project. Zack Cozart has stepped in to take over…and to be honest with you…he fits right in. That is not the only line-up change that has happened this year…Stubbs (strike out king) has been removed from full time lead off duties. I’d mix and match Heisey and Cozart between the 1 and 2 holes for the rest of the year…if it were my team. Lewis and Heisey has taken over Gomes spot in left (even though Gomes is hitting a lot better these days)….great move by management to do so. Gomes is too streaky for me.

So…first half bucket goes to…

Edinson Volquez.

he blamed losing on not scoring runs.

he’s been inconsistent like none other.

he’s suppose to be an ACE.

he no longer looks like Predator.

he has been demoted to AAA.

Who wasn’t even thought of for being on bucket this season?

Joey and Jay…

Oh, and PS…I don’t know if this is surprising or if I should have known this was gonna happen…BUT the Reds 2,3,4,5 hitters are All-Stars. That is what we call an extremely meaty part of the line-up. Way to go playas!

High Fives are free!

Gotta give props to two players that have been doing their job all year…

Ramon and @datdudebp have been doing it all season long. Ramon is on FIYYYAAAAHHHHH and BP is just plain great at 2B…

Ok, I’m done.

Why you ask? Well…even though I went to Atlanta and saw the reds get beat 2 out of three times…they played hard and aggressive…and that’s my style so I’ll sacrifice my pretend time this week to the pretend bucket that I write about….and it’s the least I can do for making my weekend great.

Also, how can I not take bucket after this weekend produced these items for me. a signed Brandon Phillips hat, a Joey Votto batting glove, and…wait for it….a BARRY LARKIN autograph ball (the ball was a Ramon Hernandez BP home run ball that i caught barehanded…Jonny Gomes said “that was awesome man” after i caught it…yes it was one handed and yes it left a bruise)

Now to give you a little bit of what I noticed by being there in person this weekend. 

Joey Votto…literally….asks Scott Rolen a question every two seconds during the game.

Brandon Phillips is THAT good at defense.

Drew Stubbs made a sick catch right in front of me Friday night…and I show my reds passion by clapping so hard it hurt my Ramon Hernandez bruise. (Im the guy in the Reds shirt above the X)

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15247341&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_15247341

PS I want to thank my girlfriend for being the bait to get all of these amazing pieces of memorabilia …for some reason players don’t want to give autographs to bearded 27 year olds…vveeiirrrrdddd.

Edinson Volquez, you’re on bucket son!

This is the best picture I could find of Edinson…all the others were of some alien that Arnold killed in the 80’s. Ok…lets get down to business. Why does “Voltron” (thats what i call him when he is killing it) get bucket this week? Easy…he put the blame on somebody other than himself. he blamed the team for not scoring enough runs when in all actuality..he is the person to blame because of his ability to give up runs…especially in the first inning. He is to be sent down to AAA just in time for my trip to ATL this weekend to see the Reds and Braves series. So…in saying that…hopefully whoever starts fridee night will not have the problems that Volquez has had to begin the season.

Whats going on with the Reds?

After sweeping the Cards we have fallen off the “right track” a little. How do we get back on track? i say we go back to the old Phillips in the two hole/Rolen in the 4 hole days. Those were fun!

Who am I pleased with right now?

Jay Bruce has stepped his game up during this little team drought. I’m pretty excited about the things to come from him.

Will I be in ATL for the Braves/Reds series?

Yes. I’ll try and take three worthy pictures to put up here…just for your view pleasure.

Aroldis Chapman, You’ve got bucket!

If you are a true Reds fan…there isnt much I have to say about the decision. Chapman is by far the worst of the week (Jonny Gomes is lucky) because of lets see…him almost blowing two for sure victories for the Reds.

When you are single handedly giving games away (or on the verge of) you need to go somewhere and get your crap together. Louisville has two left handers that I wouldn’t mind jumping up to the bigs (Willis and Maloney) to take the Cuban Missile CRISIS’ place while he gets right.

In a dreamworld…he goes down there and becomes a starter. They actually give him the chance to perform every 5th day and become the Cuban Randy Johnson that we all believe he can be…or could be…(I’m up and down with that notion right now).

On a positive note…

Jonny Gomes isn’t on bucket…but he’s still not on the right track…

Fred Lewis looks like he could get some significant playing time in LF…and I think that is a pretty good idea…let him and Heisey sort it out

Ramon “I hit 23 HRs last time I played 135 games” Hernandez is absolutely raking. Hanigan’s 3 year contract might be pretty appealing at the trade deadline if Devin Mesoraco is killin AAA by then…

Oh yeah, we have been playing very well…winning 9 of our last 11. It feels good to have our starters pitching well…now lets get the bullpen right.

My dream line-up for this coming week…

Stubbs 8, Phillips 4, Votto 3, Hernandez 2, Bruce 9, Rolen 5, Lewis 7, Janish 6, Pitcher 1

tell me that’s not a balanced line-up and i’ll punch you in the face.

P.S. Didn’t i say Votto needed a day off…didn’t I say he’d mash afterwards…didn’t I toot my own horn in this little post script blurb. haaaaaaaaa

In a week where, suprisingly, my attitude for the Reds has gotten more positive…Jonny “I will murder your face” Gomes is on bucket. 

My man needs to step it up in the “contact” department. More than not, he swings and misses at awful pitches. He is the right-handed Adam Dunn right now. Sadly, the best thing about Jonny right now is his defense…he has actually played a great LF this year. If Jonny doesn’t pick it up this next week he will probably lose his starting role to Chris “I play hard as F” Heisey…

On some positive notes…

The rotation is back.

Bruce is starting to stroke it…wait till he is protecting Votto and Phillips is back in the 2 hole. 

Suggestion box…

Give Votto a day off…he is starting to hack right now…from my experience watching the Reds…after a day off he becomes a murderer of pearls.

Tune in next Montag (yeah i’m a quarter German) to find out who has bucket!

Ok, so I missed the first month of the season.

Chill. 

I’m a huge Reds fan and I literally try and watch every out, hit, pitch, run, win, and loss that the Reds are involved in. I have MLB.TV (product placement) and use it like it should be used…everywhere. Phone, ps3, and computers allow me to watch every second of Reds baseball; all whilst living in North Carolina.

For the first month of the season…I’m giving it to the Reds in general. We are sitting at 16-15 6 days into the second month of the season. Don’t get me wrong; I’ll take it. BUT-these Reds are uber-talented and I believe should pick it up a little more than what they are doing right now. They are a “never say quit type” of team, and I love that about them, but they are gonna have to stop giving up 40 runs in the 1st inning every game. There is something that I am looking forward to…We have become healthy lately; Bailey, Cueto, Lewis, Rolen (soon)…and that makes us a threat to make a good run on some wins here in May.

SO….

REDS, You’ve got bucket! Pick it up son! I believe in you!

P.S. I’ll update this bad boy erry Monday.