Published 1:13am Thursday, November 3, 2011

By ROB BUTCHER

The Cincinnati Reds

 

CINCINNATI — Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips is a three-time Gold Glover, a two-time All-Star and now he’s a Silver Slugger, too.

Phillips won the honor from the makers of Louisville Slugger bats on Wednesday as the top offensive second baseman in the National League. It’s the first such honor for the 30-year-old.

Phillips led NL players at the position with a .300 batting average, 183 hits, 279 total bases, 94 runs scored and 38 doubles. Cincinnati shifted Phillips to the leadoff spot on Aug. 17, and he batted .350 over his final 38 games to seal the deal.

CINCINNATI (AP)—Left-hander Dontrelle Willis(notes) of the Cincinnati Reds has
been scratched from his start against the Milwaukee Brewers because of back
spasms.

Lefty Matt Maloney(notes) was moved up in the rotation to take Willis’ spot on
Sunday. Maloney had been scheduled to start Monday against Houston.

Willis (0-6), the 2003 NL Rookie of the Year and a two-time All-Star, has
made 12 starts since being called from Triple-A Louisville on July 10. He’d been
the victim of three blown saves and had allowed three runs or fewer in nine of
his starts.

Maloney opened the season with the Reds and was 0-2 with a 6.88 ERA in six
appearances before going on the disabled on May 26 with a cracked rib that kept
him out until Aug. 16.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds placed right-handed pitcher Logan Ondrusek on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right forearm, and recalled left-hander Travis Wood from Triple-A Louisville.

Ondrusek was 4-4 with a 2.63 earned run average in 56 games, but he had a 14.53 ERA over his last seven appearances. He was placed on the DL Tuesday, retroactive to Monday.

Wood began the season with the Reds and went 5-5 with a 5.11 ERA in 16 starts before he was optioned to Louisville on June 22. He went 8-8 with a 4.17 ERA in eight starts for the Bats.

CINCINNATI (AP)—The Cincinnati Reds placed right-handed pitcher Logan
Ondrusek(notes) on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right forearm, and recalled
left-hander Travis Wood(notes) from Triple-A Louisville.

Ondrusek was 4-4 with a 2.63 earned run average in 56 games, but he had a
14.53 ERA over his last seven appearances. He was placed on the DL Tuesday,
retroactive to Monday.

Wood began the season with the Reds and went 5-5 with a 5.11 ERA in 16
starts before he was optioned to Louisville on June 22. He went 8-8 with a 4.17
ERA in eight starts for the Bats.

CINCINNATI — Was it the forced exile to Triple-A Louisville or was it the Reverse Samson, the shearing of his dreadlocks?

Edinson Volquez, the Opening Day pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, suffered the embarrassment of a demotion to the minors to search for his lost command of the strike zone.

When he returned, Volquez had the curls removed from his head, which reduced the size of his cap and made him look like a new man — on and off the mound.

“I love my hair and I still have it at home, but it was too hot,” he said. “And it has been three years and it was too much work. Time to cut it off.”

Volquez came into a game Tuesday night against the Chicago Cubs with a 3-2 record, a 6.35 ERA and a penchant for giving up runs in the first inning like John D. Rockefeller passing out dimes to little kids.

In seven of his 10 starts, Volquez allowed at least one run in the first inning. His first-inning ERA was 18.00.

In his first start since his recall from Louisville, his new-man appearance suited him well in the first inning — no runs, one hit, two strikeouts, 14 pitches.

He teetered in the second inning, but didn’t totter. He gave up a run and three hits, but left the bases loaded.

From there, it was a breeze on a 91-degree night that had no breeze — seven innings, one run, seven hits, two walks (just two walks), five strikeouts, 105 pitches, 61 strikes and he won, 8-2.

For the Reds, it was a glass of champagne when all they asked for was a drink of water.

Fans have been upset with the lack of offensive production from left fielder Jonny Gomes and shortstop Paul Janish, laying heavy blame on those two for a slow start that has the Reds in third place, five games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

Those are false charges.

It starts and ends with pitching. As manager Dusty Baker said, “We are first or second in the league in nearly all offensive categories, so it isn’t our left fielder or shortstop who is hurting us. It is pitching. We need good starting pitchers, pitchers to take us deeper into games.”

For example, the Reds scored eight runs Saturday and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 innings, 11-8. They scored six runs Sunday against the Dodgers and lost 9-6.

It is the pitching, the lack of consistent starting pitching that has put the Reds in the discomfort zone.

Injuries and bad pitching are a bad combination.

Before Volquez’s beauty Tuesday, the starters owned a 4.96 ERA, 13th in the National League, better than only the Cubs.

It started on a downward turn the last week of spring training when the Reds lost two-fifths of the starting rotation when both Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey were injured.

Both missed the first six weeks of the season. Bailey came back to go 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA in five starts then relapsed to the DL, where he now resides. Cueto is 2-2 with a 2.27 ERA in his six starts.

The Reds have had nine pitchers start at least one game, and the litany of injuries to all their pitchers is baffling.

Matt Maloney: on the DL with a cracked rib, sustained by a sneeze.

Johnny Cueto: biceps/triceps injury.

Homer Bailey: shoulder inflammation (twice).

Sam LeCure: forearm stiffness.

Jose Arredondo: right shoulder injury.

Jared Burton: right shoulder injury.

Aroldis Chapman: left shoulder injury.

It is reminiscent of what former manager Jack McKeon once said: “We’re more concerned right now with MRIs than ERAs.”

The Reds have a daily shuttle of pitchers between Cincinnati, Louisville and Carolina; during one seven-day period, they made a pitching roster change every day. They’ve used 19 pitchers.

So what Volquez did, even against the moribund Cubs, was an intake of fresh oxygen.

While in Louisville, Volquez worked five straight days with roving pitching instructor and former major league pitcher Mario Soto, a man Volquez admires so much he wears his No. 36 on his back.

“I knew I needed to go down there,” Volquez said. “I know I needed to work on things so I was cool with it, not mad at anybody. I knew I was struggling in the big leagues and I had to do something at Triple A to make the adjustments.

“Seven innings, two walks tonight — that’s what I was trying to stay away from, the walks,” said Volquez, who had walked 38 in his first 51 innings. “I worked on staying tall in my windup and in my stretch. I tried being more compact.”

Manager Dusty Baker noticed two things about Volquez — “He’s a lot more handsome without that hair that was the Volquez we knew from before,” Baker said. “He looked real good, on his head and on the mound. Brandon Phillips has been on him all spring about getting rid of that mess off his head, as my mother would call it.

“He threw one pitch that was perfectly executed – nice and easy, nice and fluid, came out of his hand real nice and it was 96 miles an hour. It’s all about fluidity and timing of your windup and delivery, and that’s where he was having problems.”

Of Volquez’s strong return, Baker said, “We know we need him and that’s why we sent him down. Sending him down for a short period was a long-term deal – to get his stuff together. He worked and studied himself on film and, of course, we need him. I didn’t have him as our Opening Day starter for nothing. We know what he can do.”

CINCINNATI — Miguel Cairo hit a grand slam to help make Edinson Volquez’s return to the majors a success and the Cincinnati Reds continued their dominance of the Chicago Cubs with an 8-2 win Tuesday night.

Volquez (4-2), recalled earlier Tuesday from Triple-A Louisville, lasted a season-high seven innings. He allowed one run and seven hits while walking two and striking out five. He improved his career record against Chicago to 4-0 in six starts.

He also contributed two sacrifice bunts and a rally starting single as Cincinnati sent the Cubs to their eighth consecutive loss — their longest skid since losing eight in a row from May 15 through May 25 of last season.

The Reds are 6-1 this season against Chicago, including 4-0 in Cincinnati, and 16-5 over the last two seasons, 10-3 in Cincinnati.

The Reds were up 4-1 in the seventh when Cairo hit his second career grand slam — a 406-foot shot to left on a 1-1 pitch from John Grabow — and first since Aug. 12, 2004, for the New York Yankees at Texas.

Volquez, who cut his familiar dreadlocks, turned in a scoreless first inning for just the fourth time in his 11 starts this season, but the Cubs got back-to-back doubles by Aramis Ramirez and Blake DeWitt starting the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. They loaded the bases as Volquez threw 30 pitches, just 13 for strikes, before Darwin Barney grounded out to end the threat.

Volquez helped the Reds tie the game in the third, following Paul Janish’s leadoff single off of Cubs left-hander Doug Davis with a sacrifice that set up Drew Stubbs’ RBI double.

In the fourth, Jay Bruce led off by grounding a single up the middle and eventually scored on Ramon Hernandez’s sacrifice fly.

Volquez helped generate some insurance in the fifth, leading off with a ground single through the hole into left field. Stubbs followed with a single, and Davis walked Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto to force in Cincinnati’s third run. Jonny Gomes added a sacrifice fly off reliever Rodrigo Lopez Davis, who’s lost all five of his starts since being called up on May 14 from Triple-A Iowa, allowed seven hits and four runs — all earned — with three walks and four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

Notes: The Reds optioned RHP Daryl Thompson to Triple-A Louisville to make room for Volquez. … LHP Aroldis Chapman’s rehab assignment was switched to Double-Carolina, mainly because of convenience with Louisville on the road. “The competition doesn’t matter as much as getting on the mound,” manager Dusty Baker said. “Right now, his competition is himself.” … Cubs left fielder Blake DeWitt had three hits for the second consecutive night and third time in his last eight games. Since May 31, he is 13-for-30 (.433), raising his overall average from .239 to .316.