Its been a minute since the last Reds Report and the season has had its ups and downs. From back to back sweeps to a bullpen disaster in Pittsburgh that prevented a Reds sweep. But things are still looking up for the Reds even as they deal with injuries and are ford to ask their young players to step up and fill major roles on the ball club. As young stars in the making wait in the wings (Hamilton and Corcino) it has been the Reds mid level talent who has stepped up especially in left field as Xavier Paul, Donald Lutz, and D-Rob have all filled in nicely for Ryan Ludwick since opening day.
As the season rolls on, a major series is upon us at GABP this weekend against the St. Louis Cardinals. The remainder of the series became even more important to the Redlegs last night after a 9-2 spanking in the opening game of the three game tilt. Tonight the Reds ace Mat Latos takes the mound against Tyler Lyons in the second game of the clash. If the Reds want to win this series they must forget all about last night and score a few runs tonight for the young ace on the mound who will undoubtedly put the entire team on his shoulders when he takes the ball tonight. Mat will carry them and keep them in the game but it will fall on the Reds offense to give him some breathing room to work with and to assure that he exits tonight with a lead, and hopefully to a standing ovation from a sellout crowd at GABP.
As I mentioned before the Reds have had to deal with more than their fair share of injuries in 2013 and the biggest loss is arguably the loss of their ace, Johnny Cueto. After returning from the DL in late May and destroying all Pirates batters in his path in his last start, Cueto again felt pain in his lat and was scratched from his last start. The same night Cueto was placed on the 15-day DL and once again Mat Latos has become the ace in Cincinnati. Along with Latos, Cincinnati fans will have to place more of their playoff hopes of the young left arm of Tony Cingrani. It's likely that Cingrani will be recalled from Louisville to take Cueto's spot in the rotation against the Cubs and if he can repeat the success of his last MLB stint, then the Reds don't have anything to worry about. With Cingrani available to fill a rotation spot I see no reason to rush Johnny back. Let him fully recover so that this problem doesn't linger throughout the summer, and in the meantime Mat Latos will be the general of this pitching staff.
The biggest problem on the minds of Reds fans recently has been the struggles of the bullpen. Aside from a few pitchers in Lecure and Chapman who have been lights out and almost untouchable all year, the bullpen in the Queen City has been less than advertised. Logan Ondrusek has completely fallen off the table as he looks like a shell of his former self from two years ago, not to mention the struggles of the man with the big contract, Jonathan Broxton. He was signed to be the closer and has now been placed in the eighth inning role where he has struggled in key moments and with Sean Marshall on and off the DL has left Dusty Baker with very few options. Broxton needs to be moved out of the setup role in favor of Sam Lecure who has more than earned it, and I wouldn't mind seeing Alfredo Simon take over the sixth or seventh inning duties as he has been able to hold his own all year even when called upon in tough spots.
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