First, the phenom Jay Bruce was called up from Louisville, taking the place of the designated-for-assignment Scott Hatteberg. Bruce proceeded to go three-for-three in Tuesday's win over the Pirates, walking twice, and one-for-three in Wednesday's game, picking up another RBI and walking two more times. (Joe from Florence Yall says, "Looks like we got another Dunn to me! Gotta swing the bat to make things happen!" Listening in his office at GABP, Dusty Baker nods sagely.)
Anyway, Bruce has been just sensational so far. He made some awkward swings on one of his outs tonight but overall has been fantastic. He's shown plate discipline with the walks but the ability to lash out at good pitches to hit as well, and this is when he's coming up for his first plate appearances in the bigs. Got to be hard to keep it together and be patient in that situation. Bringing up Bruce was the only move to make and it really shows that Walt Jocketty is finally trying to do something to shake things up. Obviously he was just waiting to be done with the west coast trip to make the moves.
I'm sorry to see Hatteberg go. He's been far more useful than I ever thought he would be over the last couple of years, but really didn't have a place on this current team, being an older, no-power lefthanded first baseman. He really didn't take to the pinch-hitting role at all and really didn't seem happy. The handwriting was really on the wall when Javier Valentin was getting to play on Votto's days off; if Hatteberg wasn't going to get at-bats then, he was never going to play. Votto-Hatteberg was just a platoon that never made much sense. Hopefully he can latch up with someone else and play the rest of the year.
Initially the DFA of Hatteberg didn't seem to be a complimentary move to the Bruce callup; it left the Reds with one less infielder and one outfielder too many. The Corey Patterson demotion seemed like the more natural move (I've already written enough about how awful Patterson has been; just see the post below entitled "Corey Patterson" and you'll pretty much see the extent of my thoughts on him). It only took a day for Patterson to go, with infielder Andy Phillips coming up from Louisville to take his place. Phillips has played for the Yankees on and off, was hitting well in Louisville and has played at first, second and third in his career. Looks like Freel is mostly going to be an outfielder with this callup, and between Hairston, Freel and A.Phil 2.0 (there wasn't a 1.0, but he seems better with 2.0 on the end) the Reds have lots of versatility off the bench. Hopefully he can hit a little, too.
Last night the Reds jumped out to a big lead and held on to beat the Pirates 9-6 (Adam Dunn had the big blow, pushing the Reds ahead in what was a close game with a three-run dinger), while tonight they jumped ahead 6-0 after one, knocking LHwaP Tom Gorzelanny out of the box after two-thirds of an inning. The team really does seem energized by the recent moves and just feels much... fresher, overall, maybe? Turning a minus in the lineup into a plus at center, combined with Dunn killing the ball really makes this offense tick. Fan freaking tastic!
Another factor in this turnaround over the last two: starting pitching, dummy! Why didn't you think of that? Taco Filling pitched for the second time in four games and was admirable. The way he pitched wasn't admirable; he was admirable in general. Six innings, three hits, six whiffs. I love it. Tuesday night, Johnny Greato was okayish; it wasn't a disaster, anyway. He again only went five innings, which is frustrating. He just can't get deep into games and just leaves too many pitches in the hitting zone, not to a Belisle extent but still he needs some work. And you know he will work, and work hard. Every fifth day.
So anyway, it's been a good couple of days in Reds Land. They're even getting withing spitting distance of .500, at 25-28, and have moved ahead of the Bucs and out of last. They're just a game back of the Crew of Brew at this point, and from there it's a rocket to the moon. Tomorrow they go for the sweep as Aaron "Son of Beast" Harang takes on the Thin White Duke for the Tri-Rivers Buccaneers. I have to admit I was worried about this series after the Bucs took the last two of the Cubs series last weekend in dramatic fashion but they've rolled over and died so far. Why would tomorrow be any different? Famous last words, I know... but the Reds have the power on their side...
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