Four shutouts in the past six games. Reds pitching is the best it's been since that 1990 wire to wire season. No lie. The Reds staff had a grand total of six shutouts all of 2008. They equaled that last night when Edison Volquez and Nick Masset teamed up to blank the Marlins. Volquez hasn't allowed a run in 16.1 innings. His change up completely mesmerized the Marlins. And as much as he struggled early this season, he was that good, in taking his record to 4-2 on Wednesday night.
I like the pitching on this team. Who doesn't? But I believe the Reds still need to address the offensive deficiencies they have have. Ok, Ok, they put seven up on the Marlins last night. They put six up on Pittsburgh and lost Saturday and five up on the Pirates Sunday and won. But, one more solid bat in the line-up (preferably playing left field) will protect the young bats of Votto, Bruce and Phillips. Votto will go into a swoon. It happens to every hitter every season. Who then carries the load when that happens? If Bob Castellini is waiting until mid season to see if his team is in contention before OK'ing a deal, he's making a grave error. Wins in May count as much as wins in August and September. He and his GM, Walt Jocketty, missed the boat this winter, when they passed on bringing in a legit left fielder. Maybe it was the economy. Maybe is was over-estimating the talent they had in house. Whatever. The time is now to be proactive.
Big kudos to University of Connecticut womens basketball coach, Geno Auriemma for flying in to Cincinnati to attend the news conference announcing his assistant, Jamelle Elliott as the new UC womens basketball coach. Never saw that before. Auriemma is a different bird. He got as many enemies as friends. But the man can coach. And even though he's losing his top recruiter (who brought most of the talent to him on the teams that won five national titles) to a Big East rival, Auriemma honored Elliott's request to attend her news conference. Good stuff.
Mark December 13th on your calendar. That's the day the Bengals play the Minnesota Vikings. And if you believe the reports coming out of Minneapolis, the Vikings are about to sign Brett Favre and lure him out of yet another retirement. Guess that tells you all you need to know about Sage Rosenfels. The Vikings have some nice weapons. But you wonder if they had done a deal with Favre six weeks ago, if TJ Houshmandzadeh would've signed with Minnesota. No deal yet between the Vikes and Favre. But the smoke is thick. And the fire might only be a few days away.
The Bengals had eleven draft picks in this year's NFL player draft. So how many will make the roster? Here are my definites: Andre Smith and Rey Maualuga (no brainers). More than likelies: Michael Johnson and Kevin Huber. Fairly certain: Jonathan Luigs.
Smith and Maualuga will start. Smith had better start at left tackle, because the next option is moving Andrew Whitworth from guard to left tackle. That would be a bad move. Whitworth could be an All Pro for years, if they leave him inside. Maualuga will be everything that Odell Thurman wasn't: a sober, solid citizen who can make plays at linebacker.
Michael Johnson is squeaky clean too. His problem has been intensity from down to down and a seeming lack of desire to take on the run. He could be a third down pass rushing specialist. At almost 6'7" he'll be a handful to block IF he can stay 'low', a problem for his at Georgia Tech.
Jonathan Luigs has the inside track to be the starting center. He's stout. But the Bengals would be well served to test Bobbie Williams at center. They gave it all of a quarter and a half in pre season last summer. And what happened? Nobody laid a hand on the Bengals quarterback. If Williams moves, it'll give Luigs to slide into the mix at guard.
Kevin Huber has no competition at this point for punting. Surely, someone will be brought in for training camp to contest for the job, if for no other reason than to keep Huber's left leg from falling off. But if his career at UC is any indication, Huber will have a job in Bengal stripes for a long time.
The song I can't get out of my head today. The Queen Of Soul
Whatever Miss Aretha is singing, I'm buying.
University of Tennessee basketball coach, Bruce Pearl is getting married again. That's Bruce on the left.
This has nothing to do with anything in Tri-State sports, unless you're a UK fans and this gives you yet another reason to player hate Pearl.
Personally, I've always like the guy, back to his days at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. And listening to him on some of the national radio sports talk shows, he seems to be a fun guest. His intended? Brandy Miller. Brandy, she's a fine, what a good wife should would be. Don't bother researching. "The Looking Glass' sang the song. Went all the way to #1 in 1972 on the Epic label.
That's it for now. Maybe more later today. I'm at GABP (Great American Ball Park for you non-Cincinnatians) tonight at 6p, weather permitting. The Redlegs are back home. I don't know if that's good or not. They're 14-12 overall, but just 4-7 in Cincinnati.
