Spring Cleaning: Cincinnati Reds Sweep St. Louis Cardinals to Reclaim Division

This past weekend, we witnessed something that had not happened since 2007: The Cincinnati Reds brought out the brooms and swept the St. Louis Cardinals.

It was by no means an easy task—the Reds came from behind in two of those three games, including an extra inning affair on Friday night.  It was definitely a situation the Reds had to take advantage of after going 6-12 against their Central division foes in 2010. 

How did they do it?  To start, there was some decent pitching—yes, not GOOD, but decent.  If we talk about just Saturday, then pitching was incredible.  If we're looking at the weekend combined, then we can only call the pitching decent.

I give Bronson Arroyo credit for being the pitcher he is, but he lasted six innings on Friday night, allowing four runs—three earned—and Bray pitched a third of an inning allowing one. Overall, a five run pitching performance is respectable, but in true Reds' fashion, the offense didn't get going until around the sixth inning.  It would be the offense that made the difference Friday night, as the Reds pounded 13 hits, capped off by Joey Votto's RBI single in the bottom of the 10 inning, giving the Reds the 6-5 win.

On Saturday, we saw a masterful performance by Johnny Cueto.  It's amazing to see, as Reds fans couldn't predict what we would see from Cueto after his stint on the DL.  What we saw in his second start of the year was a seven and two-thirds inning, three run performance—masterful since none of those runs were earned; Errors by Paul Janish and Scott Rolen in the eighth inning allowed those runs to score. 

Sunday's 9-7 win was led by a six inning, two run performance by Travis Wood, and this one looked to be a laugher, seeing as the Reds took a 9-2 lead into the ninth.  This was the part of the series that left a small sour taste in the mouths of Reds fans. Cuban Missile Aroldis Chapman continued his abysmal streaking, lasting only a third of an inning, walking four batters, all of whom scored.  He threw only five strikes out of 23 pitches. 

So what did we learn from this series? 

Firstly, Chapman needs to go down to AAA Louisville.  There is no doubt that he has more potential than most athletes, but until his control becomes an asset and not a liability, he needs more work. 

Secondly, choosing not to pitch to Joey Votto may be bright, but to intentionally walk him in order to pitch to Brandon Phillips instead?  Not a good decision.  In the series, that happened three times, and Brandon Phillips seized the opportunities, knocking in four runs on a double and a home run. 

Also, these teams HATE each other. 

After Sunday's game, Francisco Cordero was seen yelling at the Cardinals' dugout.  There is speculation about what was happening, but a lot of it had to do with the bench yelling at Cordero for hitting Pujols in his ninth inning at-bat.

Let's get two things straight. Pujols was in no way involved in the confrontation.  And if the yelling was with the thought that Cordero did that on purpose, well that doesn't make much sense.  Pujols represented the tying run, so why would Cordero put him on to face Matt Holliday?

Finally, we know that the Reds CAN beat the Cardinals!  All last year, during the Reds' playoff run, we had to put an asterisk by their division run because they couldn't beat the mighty Cardinals.  Now we know for sure: The Reds are the real deal, and another playoff run is imminent.