The Battle of Ohio.....Round 1

The eyes of major league baseball are defintely on the Buckeye state this weekend as the suddenly hot Cincinnati Reds take on the white hot pitching staff of the Cleveland Indians. The Reds come into this series with a modest three game winning streak and Cleveland comes into this fresh off a six game home winning streak where their starters ERA was less than 1.00, yes I said less than 1.00

The marquee match up for the weekend includes both the NL and Al league leaders in ERA squaring off on Sunday afternoon at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. Edinson Volquez, with a 6-1 record and an ERA of 1.12 with 57 K's will battle Cliff Lee, the most suprising pitcher in baseball so far. Lee's stats are also off the charts with a 6-0 record, along with 44 K's and the aformentioned ERA of 0.67
If you own either of these guys in your league you gotta be in the money right now.

Friday night, (round 1) went to the good guys with the Reds winning 4-3. The game was as exciting a game as I have watched this season. Johnny Cueto started for the Reds and struck out the side in the fifth ininng to keep his no hitter intact. After Brandon Phillips hit a two run shot against his former team to give my Reds a 2-0 lead, Adam Dunn added a solo shot in the bottom of the second inning to make it 3-0 after two. The game stayed this way until the the top of the sixth when the Indians got their only three hits off of Cueto, he also had 7 K's. The bad thing about it was all three hits were home runs and that tied it 3-3 and it stayed that way until Adam Dunn walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning, sending it to the ninth where Francisco Cordero finished the Indians off by striking out the side to earn his eighth save of the year. The bullpen was one of the weak spots in the Reds armor this time last year but I do believe they have a top five closer in Cordero and as a fan you feel so much better seeing the game in the bullpens hand with a late inning lead. The Reds still are having problems scoring runs with runners in scoring position with less than two outs. But I think Dunn and Jr. Griffey will heat up as the tempature does, so if you have either keep the faith. Dunn still has time to hit his 40 home runs and get his 100 RBI's, Griffey needs to get his 600th HR soon so he can stop thinking about it and get his game where it should be.

On Saturday afternoon on Fox Round 2 kicks off with a match up close to what we might expect on Sunday. Aaron Harang, the most under rated pitcher in the NL with an unwarranted 2-5 record to go with his very nice 3.32 ERA will go for the Reds. Harang has had no run support at all this season and his ERA proves his record should be better. Don't even consider trading this guy because he will win!!!!
The Indians will counter with Fausto Carmona and his 4-2 record to go with an ERA of 2.40, I love this guy and just hope he isn't on his game on Saturday.

With round 1 in the books and the Reds now with a four game winning streak, it's shaping up as a great weekend to be a Reds fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!