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Paul Janish, now wearing No. 7, looks to score more for the Reds.

Shortstop Solutions? (5/14) -- Reds fans watched in disbelief as new fan favorite and club BA (.324) and RBI (21) leader Jeff Keppinger fouled a ball off his left kneecap Tuesday night at Great American Park against Florida. The shortstop actually stayed in for two innings and drew another walk at the plate before coming out of the game in pain. Initial reports were of a kneecap fracture, later confirmed by MRI. Kepppinger may miss some very significant time. SS Alex Gonzalez has not yet returned from a fracture near his left knee and now word is that he has no real timetabe set. This left the Reds in a bit of a predicament Tuesday night, so the call went down to improving Louisville SS Paul Janish (pronounced like a "y" not a "j"). Janish is known for his stellar defense, but had also brought his hitting up to 4 homers and a .293 average thus far for the Bats. This is his first MLB promotion. However, the Reds look to start Jerry Hairston, Jr for the most part at SS. Hairston came up at the position and wields a bigger stick. There appears to be little thought of moving 2B Brandon Phillips over, though Phillips played SS throughout the minors. Roller Coaster Ride -- The spiraling losses have now turned into a 3 game winning streak as the Reds (18-23) took games from the NL East leading Marlins (23-17) Tuesday and Wednesday as well. Edinson Volquez dominated Tuesday's 5-3 win with 5 K's and 1 earned run over 6 innings, moving to 6-1 on the year while still holding down a 1.12 ERA. Joey Votto hit his eighth homer and Hairston was 2-3 with 2 runs and a steal. Hairston added another steal (again of third) as well as a double and a triple in Wedesday's crazy 7-6 ten inning win. Hairston indeed started at SS as predicted, but it was the newcomer Paul Janish who stole the show with a game winning hit down the first base line, being his first MLB hit and RBI. Janish had come into the game at SS in the seventh as Hairston moved to the outfield, and that may be a developing pattern. Bronson Arroyo had a shutout through seven and the Reds led 6-0 before Mike Lincoln and Francisco Cordero allowed 6 Marlin runs in the ninth for the tie, including a three run bomb by brief former Red Cody Ross, who raised his average to .191. Janish's teammates mobbed him after the game winning hit, but he seemed to come away from the assault kneecaps intact . . . Farm Boys  -- In other Louisville Bat news, Jay Bruce is lighting it up game after game. He has not struck out in the last 4 games and has 12 hits in his last 18 at bats, but more incredibly is 22 for his last 36. He leads the International League with a .366 BA and is also patiently taking some walks now. He has been playing all three outfield positions as well. He was 3-3 and a single from the cycle on Wednesday. Bruce has 8 homers, 33 RBI's and 7 steals as well on the year. . . For those still following P Homer Bailey in Louisville, he is 4-3 and has kept his ERA down to 3.55 and WHIP to 1.22 while striking out 40 in 52 innings. Both look to spend time with the Reds later this year, probably Bruce before Bailey, though. Incidentally, Columbus native and local favorite journeyman P Tom Shearn, who had fleeting big league fame in 2007, is 6-1 for the Bats.

Jeff Keppinger's future was bright before his broken kneecap.

Fish Food - (5/12) -- Finally, the runs poured from the sky Monday night and there were barely enough on Cincinnati's side to give Aaron Harang a long deserved 8-7 win over Florida. Harang had been 0-4 in his last 5 starts despite keeping a yearly ERA of 3.09. Harang struck out 4 to keep himself in the NL top five K leaders along with teammate Edinson Volquez. Jeff Keppinger and Brandon Phillips each hit 2 run homers to power the Reds. Corey Patterson was 4-5 in the leadoff position, where Dusty Baker says he will stay. Keppinger Conundrum (5/12)-- Ostensible SS starter Alex Gonzalez may be set to return shortly, but Jeff Keppinger has proven himself MLB starter material thus far. Speculation is that Gonzalez, super-sub Ryan Freel or even Keppinger himself could be traded shortly for pitching help. I predict none of the above, and see Gonzalez returning as mainly a defensive sub and pitcher pinchhitter. Keppinger carries a .320 batting average with walks pushing his OBA to .370.  He's struck out only 8 times in 145 AB's and has 20 RBI. Gonzalez typically struggles to hit .270 and walks rarely, but has some pop (16 HR in 2007, 23 HR in 2004). UPDATE LATE 5/13 - Jeff Keppinger has broken his kneecap on a foul ball against the Marlins.

Joey Votto pounds his way to 7 homers.

So Many Doubts -- (5/11) -- The hoopla over Johnny Cueto may now be waning. Sunday afternoon, in the setting twilight of forgettable Shea Stadium, the Reds' 22 year years young (specific age?) Dominican hurler faced a grim MLB reality as the Mets pounded eight hits (five extra bases) and six runs over 4 2/3 innings before 50,000 Big Apple fans who mouth bemoanment to the fall of Shea but anxiously await the opening of much fancier digs for 2009. Carlos Beltran had an RBI double and a two run homer in the Mets' 8-3 victory. Cincinnati is in last place in the NL Central at 16-23. The Mets had pounded the Reds 12-6 in Saturday's rainout makeup behind 5 Beltran RBI's and a pounding of Reds pitchers Matt Belisle, Bill Bray and Mike Lincoln before the Reds salvaged a nightcap win  7-1 surfing Bronson Arroyo's long awaited eight inning, one run and nine strikeout gem. Arroyo still sits with a 7.14 ERA for the year. Jeff Keppinger went 5-5 and is batting .317 while veteran catching addition Paul Bako had two hits and two RBI, lifting his average to .319. Pound Salt --  Even in misery there must be glory,and that happened Wednesday night (5/7) as the Reds jettisoned their frustration 9-0 on the Chicago Cubs. Edinson Volquez pitched 7 innings of 10 strikeout no run ball to move to 5-1. One win does little for the standings (now 16-23 through 5/12) but much for the stats. Volquez is in the midst of a Cy Young season were he on a winner, with 52 k's in 42 innings, 5-1 in 7 starts a 1.06 ERA and only 1 HR allowed. Joey Votto was 3-4 with 3 runs and 4 RBI on 3 home runs. He now has 7 homers and 19 RBI on the year, which at this point would translate roughly into a 40 HR 105 RBI season.  Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips each hit their 6th dingers, and Jerry Hairston, Jr popped his first while playing SS and still hitting .345. The Reds were off Thursday and rained out Friday.

Adam Dunn belts the struggling Reds to a rare win.

Doom Redeemed -- (5/5) -- Johnny Cueto and Adam Dunn pulled Cincinnati out of the deep doldrums Monday night with a 5-3 victory over Dusty Baker's former Chicago Cub squad. The Reds gave young phenom Cueto a 5-1 cushion through four innings. Closer Francisco Cordero escaped a dangerous bases loaded ninth for his fifth save. All 5 Reds runs were unearned as to Cubs starter Ryan Dempster, who also had under a 1.00 WHIP and 7 K's through six innings. The great fantasy stats equated only to a loss for Dempster, however, as errors by Mike Fontenot and Mark DeRosa allowed Reds rallies to continue, culminating in Adam Dunn's third inning two run bomb, his fifth. Dunn was still just 1-4 with 2K's and 3 runners LOB, but at least for once his production was instrumental in a win. Geovany Soto of the Cubs continued his amazing year at catcher, going 3-3 with his 6th homer. Soto carried a .333 BA and .430 OBA into the game and improved on both, but he was essentially the sole offensive highlight for Chicago.The Reds snapped a five game losing streak and stand at a disappointing 13-20. Pitching by Numbers -- Cueto won Monday for just his first time in five starts. He struck out 8 to give him 41 K's in 41 innings, and he's walked only nine. The great K/BB ratio belies an unhealthy 5.27 ERA for Cueto, though, which we hope will improve with innings eaten in the weeks to come. The truly outrageous pitching stats belong to Aaron Harang. The Reds' ace has 41 K's as well, and only 11 BB in 48 innings. Harang's ERA is an impressive 2.98 but low run support leaves him at a surprising 1-4. Meanwhile, Texas transfer Edinson Volquez mirrors over to 4-1 and bosts a miniscule 1.27 ERA with 42 K's in 35 innings. Do you see a trend here?!? The Reds are not walking batters, but the over the plate strikeout mentality may also be unwittingly playing into the dismal 13-20 start as Bronson Arroyo contributes an 8.63 ERA while having close to a 3/1 K/BB ratio. Volquez and Harang are obviously the stars and Cueto has generally held his own, but the anemic offense at times has killed them in run support despite some modest and even impressive personal offensive numbers, such as OBAs -- Keppinger .343,  Encarnacion .369, Dunn .371, Bako .382, Freel .357 and Hairston .360.  The main on base disappointment is Corey Patterson (.263), but he's contributed 4 homers, 5 steals and 15 runs. Whence the problem, fans? It just looks like the Reds have some good NL fantasy players, but not much actual chance. The current 13-20 mark may represent too big of a hole in a season that is increasingly losing its youth. 

Tags: baseball, cincinnati reds, mlb