Shut 'em Down, Shut 'em Out!

The Reds improve to 11-10 to finish the month of April on the back of Edinson Volquez.  Volquez looked great tonight. He mowed down the Astros through eight innings of one-hit, shutout baseball. That’s his career high in innings pitched. CoCo Cordero came in and finished em off in the ninth, picking up his seventh save and the combined one-hitter.

Adam “Pete” Rosales had an awesome night. He came through in a big way in his second AB scoring Laynce Nix, who led off the inning with a three-bagger. Rosales went 1-2 with a walk, a sac fly, and two RBI. This is what I like to see: the Reds playing guys who are hungry to make an impact in the big leagues. 

You gotta love the way Rosales plays the game, even though he looks kinda goofy doing so. He hustles, he hits the ball, he works hard, he brings outstanding energy, and he wears his socks up to his knees. I think the rest of the Reds should take notes. When I see Rosales run down to first base after a walk, I can’t help but think of Pete Rose. If he keeps up this type of hustle and production, he’ll be a super-star in Cincinnati. Did I mention he has a cannon of an arm?

I have to admit that it didn’t hurt that Lance Berkman sat this one out tonight (for some reason).  He kills the Reds at GABP. 

The Reds will hit the road tonight and spend their off-day in Pittsburgh before kicking off a five-game road trip that includes a visit to Florida. A two-game visit to Florida, I might add. How screwed up are the schedules nowadays? Thank you Bud Selig and your brilliant Inter-League Play. Usually I would be pretty excited to go play Pittsburgh. But with the way they’re playing right now, I’m not so sure. They are getting some outstanding pitching as of late. Maybe the Reds can bring them back down to reality this weekend.

These are the kind of wins the Reds are going to have to have in order to be successful this season. The team isn’t going to score a ton of runs, everyone knows that. They need their pitchers to go deep into games, bring their gloves to the ballpark, and hustle, hustle, hustle.