Owings Does It with His Arm this Time: Reds Top Diamondbacks 3-1

First of all, it looks like Joey Votto is going to be fine.  All tests were negative.  He left the game in the fourth inning with dizziness.  Votto missed three games at the end of last week because of the flu. 

Now, on to the game...

Brandon Phillips struggled through the month of April.  He was not hitting.  Even worse, he was not hustling.  Bad move when playing in the town that produced Pete Rose.  It got to the point that Dusty Baker "addressed" the situation with Phillips.

He must have gotten the message.

Not only has Phillips started to hit, but he is playing hard, playing smart, and showing that he is capable of being a leader.  Last night, he had two hits, two RBI, and scored two runs.  One of the hits was a 452-foot blast off the facing of the second deck.

The most important play of the game came in the fourth inning when Phillips went from first to third on a Jay Bruce single up the middle.  It was an aggressive decision that paid off for the Reds.  Phillips came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Ramon Hernandez.

Micah Owings pitched his best game as a Red, improving his record to 3-3.  He gave up just four hits and a run in seven strong innings.  Arthur Rhodes, David Weathers, and Francisco Cordero finished it off.  Cordero earned his tenth save.

The Reds (19-14) are five games over .500 for the first time since the point in 2006 when they were 67-62.

Already securing another winning series, the Reds go for the sweep tonight.  Cincinnati will send Johnny Cueto (3-1) to the mound.  Arizona will counter with Bryan Augenstein (0-0), who is making his Major League debut.

Other notes:

Alex Gonzalez says he is ready to come back.  Dusty Baker doesn't appear to be in a rush.  The team is winning and Jerry Hairston is playing well at shortstop.

I love his enthusiasm and style of play.  It evens seems to be rubbing off on some teammates.  However, Adam Rosales just needs to relax a little bit when he is playing third base.