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Tim Wakefield looks to knuckle the Reds.

Assessing the Situation -- (6/14) -- Sorry loyal readers, been busy with other things, but here's the return of Reds Rap. It's still a long season ahead of us. The good news is that attendance has been rising, especially with the promotion of CF Jay Bruce and his MLB introductory tear of .382, 4 HR and 12 RBI to start off. Plus the Red Sox are in town this weekend -- last night 38,885 saw a 3-1 Reds win. Over RedSoxNation nonetheless!!  The Reds have managed to squeak towards .500, not quite there yet but they're sitting at 33-36, have won two in a row, and get aging knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.  Here's the Bad News -- Wakefield's knuckleball historically has done better in hotter, humid weather than say in April or May. He's coming off a 6 strikeout victory and is holding firm at 4-4 and a semi-respectable 1.35 WHIP and 4.33 ERA, which incidentally are almost exactly at his career numbers, which includes all those dud, cold months and a few dud, cold years. Therefore, with the Reds general hitting struggles, maybe we shouldn't be salivating about the knuckler. Update 6/16 -- Wakefield pitched well and held the Reds to 2 runs, though they scored two more to send it to extra innings before losing 6-4. Boston then proceeded to punk the Reds 9-0 yesterday behind a homer and 4 RBI from Coco Crisp, who is about to start serving a seven game suspension stemming from the infamous Takedown in Tampa. What timing! Crisp also homered in the tenth during Saturday's Red Sox win over the Reds. More bad news for the season -- the now 33-38 record is good only for last place in the NL Central, which is being dominated by the Chicago Cubs at 43-25. Of course, thay have their own problems with Alfonso Soriano now out for an extended period. Such problems the Reds know ...

Jerry Hairston, Jr. joins the injury list.

Injured Reserves -- The Reds injury list is of constant note, and the middle infield is bearing the brunt. Alex Gonzalez is still not back and has actually been transferred to the 60 day DL. Jeff Keppinger is on the DL with a broken kneecap. To add insult to all of the injuries, Jerry Hairston, Jr. has broken his thumb and was placed on the 15 day DL last Wednesday. That leaves the Reds very thin up the middle in the infield. Brandon Phillips is back in the lineup, fortunately, and will hold down second. The shortstop duties will have to rest with rookie Paul Janish for a number of week at least. Former Tribe fan favorite Jolbert Cabrera was promoted from Louisville to help fill the gaps and could see some playing time. Janish is struggling with a .204 average, no homers and only 2 runs scored in 49 at bats but wields a wicked glove.    Harangin' in There -- Aaron Harang finally got out of his funk against Boston Friday night, and though he didn't get much run support again, it was just enough for a 3-1 victory. Harang has a team high 101 innings pitched and also 9 losses, but is holding down a 4.10 ERA, which will never get a pitcher demoted or sent to the 'pen these days. However, Harang had allowed 30 hits in his last three starts, but held steady over seven innings, walking none and striking out seven (now 89 on the year). So maybe there's still hope, fans. Numbers Lie? -- So the team is below .500 and in last place, big deal. The Moneyball folks like the way we look. Take a look at it -- Edinson Volquez is 9-2 with a 1.56 ERA and 96 K's. The team as a whole has almost a 3:1 K to BB ratio, which ain't bad. Brandon Phillips is turning things around and is up to 13 homers and 12 steals, but has a long way to go to equal last year. Adam Dunn, despite much criticism, has 18 homers after his recent tear, and has a .400 OBA. Griffey's OBA is .364, and he's crept up to 7 homers and 30 RBI. I know, I know, he hit his 600th as well. If you read this site you'll know that I already posted a full separate article on that topic, so don't look here for any more than "congratulations, kid". Jay Bruce has a .468 OBA in addition ot the numbers listed above, and we know Jeff Keppinger was hot before his injury. It just proves that you can pick and choose stats for any argument or situation, but the intangibles and team chemistry often dictate the wins and losses despite what the numbers say. 

Tags: baseball, cincinnati reds, mlb, reds