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(Sports Network) – Chris Carpenter has enjoyed pitching against the Cincinnati
Reds in his career and St. Louis’ veteran right-hander gets a chance to add to
that tonight in the opener of a three-game series.

Carpenter is 2-1 in four meetings with the Reds this season and 14-4 with a
2.23 earned run average in 22 career starts. He delivered eight innings of
one-run ball in a 4-1 win at Cincinnati on July 16. Carpenter prevailed in
three of four decisions after that stint at Great American Ball Park, but is
just 0-1 over his previous three outings.

The 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner was roughed up for six runs and nine hits in
five innings of a 7-0 setback versus Pittsburgh on Saturday and fell to 8-9
with a 3.76 ERA in 28 overall starts. Carpenter is 3-3 in 14 trips to the
Busch Stadium mound this season and hitters are batting .274 against him.

St. Louis is 7 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central standings and
recorded its fourth straight win with Thursday’s 8-4 victory over the Brewers.
Albert Pujols had a monster day at the plate and helped the Cardinals trim the
division deficit by hitting two homers, one of which was a grand slam, and
finishing with five RBI. He went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, while Matt
Holliday and Rafael Furcal both went deep.

“As many games as we have left, if we keep playing the way we did here, then
we still have a pretty good chance,” said Pujols of the team’s playoff
prospects.

Pujols is now tied with Dave Kingman for 37th on the career home runs list
with 442 after recording his 42nd career multi-home run game. Brandon Dickson
allowed three runs on six hits in his first major-league start, but lasted
just 3 1/3 innings. Octavio Dotel struck out five in 2 2/3 frames of scoreless
relief to secure the win.

Cincinnati was swept in four games by Philadelphia at home for the first time
since 1916 and dropped a 6-4 decision Thursday afternoon.

Reds starter Mike Leake gave up four runs in six innings to take the loss,
while Jared Burton allowed the other two runs.

“I wasn’t attacking them,” Leake said. “I needed to go after them and not
worry about them nickel-and-diming or getting the big hit.”

Chris Heisey hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in the seventh inning for the
Reds, who will begin a nine-game road trip tonight against the Cardinals, Cubs
and Rockies.

Dominican right-hander Johnny Cueto draws the start for the Reds this evening
and he’s 9-5 with a 2.05 earned run average in 21 starts. He is 2-0 in his
last four starts and has posted consecutive no-decisions, including a 5-4 win
over Washington on Sunday. He held the Nationals to a pair of runs on a
season-high nine hits with a career-best 11 strikeouts over seven innings.

Cueto, who is 5-3 in 12 starts away from home this season, is 1-1 with a 1.19
ERA in three starts against St. Louis in 2011. For his career, Cueto owns a
4-4 mark and a 4.64 ERA in 12 career matchups — all starts — with the
Cardinals.

The Reds have won seven of 12 meetings with St. Louis this season.

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Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips was still energized over his game-ending homer when he got home, turned on the television and got to see his ecstatic trot again.

He savored it all over again.

Phillips’ two-out, two-run homer sent the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night and provided one of his best moments in the majors.

“It was with me until I went to sleep,” Phillips said Saturday, before the second game of the series. “All I could see was myself on SportsCenter acting like a fool, clowning. It was good reason to really clown like that. I still think about it, but it’s in the past right now.”

The dramatic win was significant — a loss would have dropped the Reds five games behind the Cardinals. The fact that Phillips pulled it off was significant, too.

Last year, the second baseman angered the Cardinals by calling them whiners, using a demeaning term. His comments ignited a brawl the next game. Since then, Phillips has been careful when talking about opponents, especially St. Louis.

After he hit the second pitch from Fernando Salas for the game-winning homer, Phillips leaped in celebration and waved his arms before reaching first base. He rounded second and third, making a celebratory gesture toward third base coach Mark Berry. Then, he paused before wading into the scrum of teammates at home plate.

Phillips considered making a bigger show of the moment, perhaps carrying his bat all the way around the bases. He decided against it.

His manager was glad. Dusty Baker didn’t see Phillips’ entire round-the-bases celebration until he caught it on television later that night.

His reaction? He thought it was acceptable.

“I’ve seen a couple worse antics against us,” Baker said.

Baker thinks celebrations should be respectful.

“You’ve already accomplished the goal and beat the opposition,” Baker said. “The goal’s not to show ‘em up. The goal’s the beat them.”

Regardless what they felt about it, the Cardinals weren’t in position to say much about Phillips’ joyful trot. Manager Tony La Russa said on Saturday that he didn’t object to Phillips’ celebration as he rounded the bases.

“It’s a release of pressure,” La Russa said. “It’s a happy time — a real happy time. You have to do something really extravagant to cross the line.”

Baker counsels his players to be careful about rubbing it in.

“I’m old school,” Baker said. “I’m from the Hank Aaron school, which I think is one of the best schools around. He’d beat you and they’d ask him what did you hit, and he’d say, ‘I was just lucky.’ Then the next time — boom — he’d do it again.”

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By Dan Moore

– Managing Editor

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Jul 7, 2011 – After roaring back from an eight-run deficit the St. Louis Cardinals couldn’t quite complete the comeback or the sweep, falling 9-8 to the Cincinnati Reds in extra innings. Matt Holliday homered in the seventh inning to key a five-run rally, Daniel Descalso had four hits, and Jon Jay homered off of Francisco Cordero in the ninth inning to tie a game that began with Jake Westbrook allowing five runs in a brutal first inning. Albert Pujols went 1-6 with a single and an RBI in his incredibly swift return to the lineup following a wrist fracture.

The Reds got on top early with a first-pitch home run from leadoff hitter Chris Heisey, and it looked like the game was over when Scott Rolen hit his fifth home run of the year off Trever Miller to extend the lead to 8-0. But the Cardinals picked up two in the sixth off a Descalso double and five more in the seventh to get within a run, whereupon Jay pulled his seventh home run of the season deep to right field.

But after seven scoreless innings the Cardinals’ stretched bullpen finally broke; Ramon Hernandez’s ground-rule double drove in a run and Aroldis Chapman sealed the deal for his first career save.

Read More: Jake Westbrook (P – STL), Matt Holliday (LF – STL), Francisco Cordero (P – CIN), Jon Jay (RF – STL), Daniel Descalso (2B – STL), St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds

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The St. Louis Cardinals nearly pulled off their biggest come from behind win in nine years Wednesday night, but couldn’t plate a run in extra frames as the Cincinnati Reds won 9-8 in 13 innings.

Pinch hitter Ramon Hernandez, the last player left on the Reds’ bench, hit a ground rule double down the left field line in the top of the 13th, plating Jay Bruce with the eventual winning run.

St. Louis got a one out hit by former Springfield Cardinal catcher Tony Cruz in the bottom of the 13th, but Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay struck out against Cincinnati flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman to end the game. Chapman, who was the last available relief pitcher for the Reds, earned his first career save.

The Cards tied the game in dramatic fashion on Jay’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the 9th that turned an eight run deficit into an 8-8 tie.

The Reds jumped out to an 8-0 lead after five innings, scoring five of those runs in the 1st off Cards’ starter Jake Westbrook.  The sinker ball pitcher was centering the ball down the middle of the plate, and the Reds hitters were connecting. Chris Heisey hit the first pitch of the game over the left field wall to start it. Bruce later had a two run homer to make it 5-0.

Cincinnati’s Fred Lewis homered in the 4th to increase the lead to 6-0, then former Cardinal Scott Rolen got into the act, connecting off reliever Trever Miller in the 5th, putting the Reds ahead 8-0.

But the Cardinals wouldn’t give in on this night. After Descalso’s two run double in the 6th made the score 8-1, shortstop Ryan Theriot’s RBI groundout pulled the Redbirds within six runs, 8-2.

The big damage came in the 7th as St. Louis sent ten hitters to the plate. Matt Holliday hit his 13th home run of the season in that inning, but one of the biggest highlights was rookie reliever Brandon Dickson’s first major league hit. The Cards banged out six hits in the inning to make a game of it, 8-7, before Jay’s 9th inning dramatics sent the game late into the night.

Jose Arredondo (1-3) gets the win in relief for Cincinnati, while Raul Valdes (0-1) suffers the loss for St. Louis. 

Cards’ slugger Albert Pujols, playing in his first game since being activated from the disabled list, had one hit in six plate appearances and drove in a run.

The game marked the longest at Busch Stadium this season, lasting four hours and 11 minutes. 

The Cardinals drop to 47-41 on the season, one game ahead of Milwaukee in the National League Central. 

St. Louis will open a four game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks Thursday night at Busch Stadium. Kyle McClellan (6-5) goes to the mound for the Cardinals against Arizona’s Joe Saunders (5-7).  

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(Sports Network) – Starter-turned-reliever-turned-starter Ryan Dempster meets
the Cincinnati Reds for the 39th time in his 13-year major-league career today
when the Chicago Cubs visit Great American Ball Park to close out a three-game
series.

The British Columbia native, who appeared in 37 games for the Reds during a
brief stint in 2002-03, has started 14 times and relieved 24 against
Cincinnati – racking up a 5-7 record with five saves and a 4.10 earned run
average across 112 innings.

It’s the 499th major-league appearance and 274th start for Dempster, who began
his career as a starter with Florida, became a reliever with the Reds and
early on with Chicago, then re-joined the rotation full-time in 2008.

The most recent matchup in his career series with Cincinnati came May 8 at
Wrigley Field, when the 34-year-old was beaten, 2-0, after allowing five hits
and two runs with four strikeouts in seven innings.

Dempster is 3-1 in five starts since the loss, but things have not gone as
well for the Cubs, whose losing streak reached eight games on Tuesday when
Cincinnati’s Edinson Volquez overcame a shaky start to pitch seven innings of
one-run ball in an 8-2 win.

Volquez (4-2), who was recalled from Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday after
being sent down on May 23, allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out
five.

Miguel Cairo added his second career grand slam for the Reds, who won for the
fifth time in eight games.

Chicago’s Doug Davis (0-5) took the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits and
three walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Cincinnati is third in the National League’s Central Division, five games
behind first-place St. Louis. The Cubs are fifth in the six-team division, 12
1/2 games behind the Cardinals and just a game up on the last-place Houston
Astros.

The Reds will send 34-year-old Bronson Arroyo to the mound for his 13th start
of the season and second against the Cubs. Arroyo got a no-decision in a 3-2
Reds loss on May 7 at Wrigley Field, allowing just a run on seven hits in 7
1/3 innings.

That start came amid a winless run of six straight for the Key West, Fla.
native, who broke through with a victory on June 3 when he allowed a run on
five hits in six innings of a 2-1 defeat of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Arroyo is 9-7 lifetime against Chicago with a 2.72 ERA in 139 innings.

Cincinnati has won six of seven over Chicago this year and is 18-5 in this
series since the start of the 2010 season. The Reds are 10-3 at home versus
the Cubs in that span.

The Sports Network

Not much else going on in the MLB planet today.

By Kris Willis

– College Hoops Editor

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May 27, 2011 – Fresh off of a two game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves (28-23) open a Memorial Day weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds Friday night at Turner Field. Atlanta finds itself 3.5 games behind the first place Phillies and 2.5 behind the second place Marlins in the National League East. Atlanta comes into the series with two thirds of its regular outfield on the disabled list. Nate McLouth is out of the lineup with an oblique injury while Jason Heyward is out with a shoulder injury. 

Cincinnati (26-25) comes into the series scuffling of late having won just two of its last 10 games. The Reds are 11-14 on the road this season and four games behind the Cardinals in the National League’s Central division. The Reds Jay Bruce has been red hot in the month of May hitting .344 with 10 homers and 27 RBI’s.  

Pitching match ups

Friday, May 27 – 7:35 p.m.

Tommy Hanson (5-3, 2.72 ERA, 61 strikeouts)

Vs.

Mike Leake (3-2, 5.70 ERA, 32 strikeouts)

Saturday, May 28 – 7:10 p.m.

Derek Lowe (3-4, 3.53 ERA, 56 strikeouts)

Vs.

Bronson Arroyo (3-5, 5.28 ERA, 42 strikeouts)

Sunday, May 29 – 8 p.m.

Jair Jurrjens (6-1, 1.56 ERA, 33 strikeouts)

Vs. 

Johnny Cueto (2-1, 2.19 ERA, 15 strikeouts)

For more on the Braves and this series, be sure and check out Talking Chop  

Read More: Bronson Arroyo (P – CIN), Nate McLouth (CF – ATL), Derek Lowe (P – ATL), Jair Jurrjens (P – ATL), Johnny Cueto (P – CIN), Jason Heyward (RF – ATL), Tommy Hanson (P – ATL), Mike Leake (P – CIN), Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves

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In the punchy, slap-happy Phillies clubhouse early yesterday morning, it was easy enough to believe that an improbable, 19-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds affirmed that they are still the team to beat in the National League.

Now, it’s true that sometimes Lady Luck smiles on a team from wire to wire. Everything goes right. Its bloops fall in. The other team’s line drives are caught. Borderline calls go their way. This breeds confidence which, in turn, breeds more success.

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ST. LOUIS — With the rain falling and the forecast calling for more behind it, the sixth inning Sunday night felt like the eighth.

So Yadier Molina’s three-run home run off Edinson Volquez felt like a game-winner.

The rain never fell hard enough to stop the game. But Molina’s two-out homer was the game-winner anyway. The Cardinals beat the Reds 3-0 before a crowd of 38,101 on another rainy night at Busch Stadium.

The Reds lost their 11th straight series at Busch. They haven’t won a series here since they swept the Cardinals in three games June 5-7, 2006. The Reds are 2-18-2 in series at Busch since 2003.

Volquez had avoided the big mistake until the pitch to Molina.

Volquez, 2-1, went 5 2/3 innings and allowed the three runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out seven.

“He threw ball better than he has in a couple of years – under control, throwing strikes, excellent change-up,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “I thought he was going to get out of the inning. The pitch was supposed to be inside. He got too much of the plate.”

Volquez took full blame. He shook off catcher Ryan Hanigan.

“It was my call,” he said. “Ryan wanted to throw a change-up. I made a mistake – a fastball in.”

It was Molina’s seventh homer against the Reds.

“He’s an aggressive hitter with runners on base,” Volquez said, “especially deep in the game. He’s always trying to hit the ball the other way. I think he was looking for that pitch inside. He put a good swing on it.”

The Reds’ offense got nothing going against right-hander Jake Westbrook, who came into the game 1-2 with a 9.82 ERA, and three relievers.

“They told me he was struggling,” Baker said. “He threw the ball excellent. He was cutting it, sinking it. We didn’t center it too much.”

The Reds had only four hits. They were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

The Cardinals walked Joey Votto once unintentionally, once intentionally after a Brandon Phillips’ double. Jonny Gomes, in the cleanup role with Scott Rolen out, was 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

The Reds scored seven runs in the series. It sounds as if Baker will consider shaking things up.

“I haven’t had time to think about it,” he said. “We just had a tough loss. We’ll go back to the drawing board.”

Phillips and Votto continue to swing hot bats. “Hopefully, we can get some other guys in on the act,” Baker said. “We will.”

Moving Phillips to fourth is a possibility.

Volquez avoided allowing a run in the first for the first time in his five starts. He allowed a two-out single to Albert Pujols. Pujols stole second, but Volquez struck out Matt Holliday.

“It’s a new beginning,” Volquez said.

Volquez gave up leadoff singles in the second and third, but avoided damage.

Through three innings, the Reds only had one base runner. Phillips doubled with one out in the fourth for the Reds’ first hit. Votto followed with a walk, but Gomes and Jay Bruce flied out.

Miguel Cairo led off the fifth with a single, but Ryan Hanigan hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

The Reds threatened again in the sixth. Phillips doubled again with one out. The Cards intentionally walked Votto but Gomes bounced into a fielder’s choice.
Volquez was rolling by then. He retired 10 of 11 batters from the third to the sixth.

But Matt Holliday doubled into the right field corner with one out. The Reds intentionally walked Lance Berkman and Daniel Descalso popped out to first.

But Molina hit the first pitch of his at-bat out to left-center to make it 3-0. It was Molina’s first home run of the year.

Molina came up in the eighth against Aroldis Chapman. Chapman’s first pitch nearly hit Molina. Home plate umpire John Hirschbeck warned the benches.
Molina grounded into a double play on the next pitch.

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Apr 25, 2011 - In the rubber match of a three-game series between NL Central Division hopefuls, the St. Louis Cardinals knocked off the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 with some outstanding pitching and one really long hit.

Edinson Volquez took the ball Sunday night for Cincinnati and shook off some early-season first-inning struggles to keep the Cardinals blanked for quite some time. The only problem? His opponent, Jake Westbrook, was hurling zeroes of his own. Through five-and-a-half innings, this was a scoreless contest.

Then came the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Matt Holliday smacked a double off Volquez, and Lance Berkman followed with an intentional walk. After Volquez retired Daniel Descalso, he made a mistake that Yadier Molina punished, sending a long fly ball in the other direction for a home run to put the Cardinals up 3-0.

It was Molina’s first homer of the year, and it was also all the support that Westbrook and the Cardinals bullpen would need. Westbrook’s night ended after six scoreless innings. The ball then went to Fernando Salas, Eduardo Sanchez, and finally Mitchell Boggs in relief, and the three combined to finish the shutout, with Boggs picking up his third save in as many chances since taking over as closer from Ryan Franklin.

With the win, the Cardinals moved to 12-10 and assumed first place in the NL Central. The Reds fell to 11-11, although they have to be encouraged by what they saw from Volquez.

Albert Pujols was removed from the game for precautionary purposes with mild tightness in his hamstring.

The Reds will now travel to MIlwaukee, while the Cardinals are off to Houston.

For more on the Reds and Cardinals, please check out team blogs Red Reporter and Viva El Birdos.

Read More: Jake Westbrook (P – STL), Edinson Volquez (P – CIN), St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds

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POSTED: 7:18 am EDT April 25, 2011
UPDATED: 7:23 am EDT April 25, 2011

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Edinson Volquez took the blame for the pitch that ruined his start.

The Cincinnati Reds right-hander said he shook off catcher Ryan Hanigan on the first-pitch fastball that Yadier Molina hit for a three-run homer in the sixth inning of a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night. Though it was his 100th pitch, Volquez said fatigue was not a factor.

“No, no, I was good,” Volquez said. “I just made a mistake. I just threw the wrong pitch. That was my call, too.”

Jake Westbrook threw six innings of three-hit ball in his first career start on three days’ rest for the Cardinals. The outing was the longest of the season for Westbrook (2-2), who entered with a 9.82 ERA and was strafed for seven runs in three innings Wednesday against the Nationals. The early hook after 68 pitches perhaps allowed Westbrook to rebound and help the Cardinals take two of three, break a tie with Cincinnati for first place in the NL Central and go to 11-0-1 in home series against the Reds since 2006.

The Cardinals had two men on with two out, both on pop-ups, before Molina’s homer.

“That pitch was supposed to be inside, but it got a little too much of the plate and Molina is a smart hitter,” manager Dusty Baker said. “Most of the time, in that situation he’s going to shoot you into right field, but that time it looked like he was looking for it in there.”

Baker said Volquez would have been done for the night after the sixth.

“What are you going to do, are you going to take him out right there?” Baker said. “The way he had manipulated his way through the inning, do you give him a chance to get out of that or do you bring somebody else in to take a chance of losing this game?

“That was his game and his pitch count wasn’t that high and he was throwing the ball great, he just barely missed on that location.”

Albert Pujols was removed for precautionary reasons after seven innings with mild tightness in right hamstring.

Brandon Phillips had a pair of doubles for the Reds, who were shut out for the first time and have lost nine of 11.

Volquez (2-1), who warmed up but did not pitch in a rain-delayed game Friday, had all seven of his strikeouts in the first four innings and limited the Cardinals to four hits in the first five before fading. Matt Holliday doubled with one out, followed by an intentional walk to Lance Berkman, and Daniel Descalso fouled out before Molina jumped on a first-pitch fastball for his first homer.

Volquez has allowed seven home runs, one off the league lead.

Phillips doubled with one out in the fourth for the first hit off Westbrook and doubled again in the sixth, both times ignoring boos from fans who can’t forget his role in a brawl last August in Cincinnati. Umpires presumably can’t forget either, with plate umpire John Hirshbeck warning both benches after Aroldis Chapman threw well inside against Molina in the eighth inning.

Volquez replaced Sam LeCure in the series finale, with LeCure the probable pitcher Monday night in Milwaukee.

Westbrook struck out four and walked three while throwing 87 pitches. He’s 8-18 with a 5.00 ERA for his career in April, by far his worst month, even after mastering the Reds. His previous outing, on six days’ rest due to a rainout, was his shortest in nearly four seasons.

Mitchell Boggs worked the ninth for his third save in as many chances since replacing Ryan Franklin at the beginning of a 4-2 homestand and relievers combined for six strikeouts in three innings. The Cardinals have won 10 of 14 overall.

Notes: Tony La Russa is much improved from a virus leaving the right side of his face swollen and eye nearly closed earlier in the homestand. … Molina threw out a runner attempting to steal and homered in the same game for the fifth time in his career, according to STATS LLC. … Reds RHP Homer Bailey (shoulder) worked 5 1-3 scoreless innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Indianapolis, allowing three hits with six strikeouts and a walk, and the team will decide Monday whether he will need another start. … Joey Votto has reached base safely in all 22 games. … Chapman has not allowed an earned run in 10 appearances covering 9 2-3 innings.

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