Game 29: Cardinals 5, Reds 2

Jeff Suppan
Paul Maholm
Ian Snell
Tom Gorzelanny
Ryan Dempster
Jeff Suppan
Yovanni Gallardo
Chris Sampson
Jack Cassell
Jonathan Sanchez
Joel Piniero
Braden Looper

All of the above pitchers have made the Reds' offense look helpless so far this season. This is just a poor offensive club. It's a team based on hitting three-run homers, and none of the home run hitters are hitting them right now. The Griffey-Phillips-Dunn triumverate is just killing them in the middle of the order. Dusty has to find a way to move Votto and Encarnacion up in the order until the big three above start hitting. Baker was supposed to be the guy to finally stand up to Griffey's pride, but it sure hasn't happened so far. Cincinnati (12-17) jumped out to a 2-0 lead Wednesday afternoon but that unfortunately was all they would get for a typically solid Aaron Harang. What a hard-luck year his 2008 is turning into. It's got to be even more frustrating for him to live as it is for us to watch. The Cardinals whittled away at the lead while the Reds' offense was snoozing and that was that.

This loss wasn't a total embarassment like Tuesday night, with the horror of Cueto leaving every 2-strike pitch up and over the middle, that ridiculous Keppinger rundown and Dunn throwing the ball behind his head trying to get the ball home. But even the positives are clouded by the spectre of more of the same lurking just around the corner. Yes, they put up two runs early... but Looper's just the kind of mediocre starter the Reds love to fall asleep against. Griffey just feels like an automatic routine out right now. He really isn't hitting the ball hard to any direction, just lazy flyballs to mid-range outfield spots. Brandon Phillips' freeswinging works great when he's golfing balls into the front row in right field, but when he's strking out on pitches that start low and break into the dirt, as a fan you just want to pull your hair out. Save for Votto, Encarnacion and (gulp) Bako there is no bright light offensively, just a bunch of dim bulbs. No one at the top of the order can consistently get on base and score runs. Leadoff continues to be a joke. What was a good start to the series has been pissed away.

The shame of it is this team has the makings of a very good pitching staff. Harang and Volquez have been fantastic all year. Cueto's stuff continues to be electric even when he has location issues. Everyone knew he would be up and down anyway. Arroyo looked like he was really getting it together his last start, and Belisle has the ability to be a servicable fifth starter, even if he hasn't shown it at the major league level in his two starts. The bullpen has been very good, Mercker's poor outing today notwithstanding. With Coffey gone there are no arms in that bullpen where you write "game over" when they come into the game. Bill Bray was fine Tuesday night in mopup duty. Mike Lincoln and Jeremy Affeldt have been solid in middle relief, Burton has been up and down but overall good and Cordero has looked to be worth the money despite his lack of chances.

The offense, however, has been so bad it's hard to not scream for a move just for the sake of doing something different. Adam Dunn hasn't been hitting for two months if you factor in the spring. Could someone so laid-back and already rich be feeling contract year pressure? Reds fans have said a lot of things about him but "thoughtful" isn't a word I've seen applied to a guy nicknamed "Donkey." This lack of production out of Phillips, Griffey and Dunn can't continue. It won't continue... will it?

As far as leadoff/center field goes, it's hard not to scream for Jay Bruce when they keep throwing Ryan Freel and Corey Patterson out there. All I know about Bruce is the hype, but he can't be a worse major leaguer than Ryan Freel at this point in his career. It's an old baseball saying that you can't steal first. Dusty Baker had best be learning that.

From here, the Reds go to Atlanta to face the Braves. It's Matt Belisle's scheduled turn Friday but he's been moved to Saturday to keep Volquez and Cueto pitching every five days. Volquez faces Tim Hudson in the opener Friday night. First pitch is listed on MLB.com as 7:30, which is weird. But that would be 4:30 here in Padreland. Peace.