Reds win 2-0 and take the series. Nice rebound from Saturday and the blown save loss.

Really nice to have Cueto back.

Cubs, Dempster lose to Reds 2-0


M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune / May 8, 2011
Ryan Dempster is out at home as Cincinnati catcher Ramon Hernandez makes the tag in the third inning. Dempster tried to score on Starlin Castro's hit.

Even though Ryan Dempster had won only one of his first five starts, Cubs manager Mike Quade was confident in his Opening Day starter.

"He's confirmed many times over who he is," Quade said.

Dempster tried for second straight victory on a sunny Sunday at Wrigley Field in the rubber game of the series against the Reds, but his offense let him down in a 2-0 loss.

Like most managers, Quade believes that starting pitching "really is where things start and finish in this game."

Dempster got out of the first inning without trouble but gave the Reds a run in the second on line drives by Jay Bruce and Ramon Hernandez. The Reds made it 2-0 in the fifth inning on a homer by Drew Stubbs.

Cub bats were stifled for the first six innings by Reds starter Johnny Cueto, who was taken off the season--long disabled list before the game. cue to allowed a leadoff single in the seventh inning before being removed. His bullpen got out of the inning without a run when Starlin Castro bounced into bases-loaded force play.

dvandyck@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bas...1873.story

Quick take: Reds 2, Cubs 0
May, 8, 2011

By Sahadev Sharma
CHICAGO -- A quick look at how the Chicago Cubs lost the series finale against the Cincinnati Reds 2-0 on Sunday.

The good: Ryan Dempster delivered his second straight strong outing for the Cubs, going seven innings and giving up two runs on five hits while striking out four and walking none.

The bad: Starlin Castro is mired in the worst slump of his short career with only seven hits in his last 51 at-bats. Castro grounded out to third with the bases loaded to end the seventh.

Beyond the box score: The Cubs struggled all series with men on base, stranding 25 runners and going 4-for-25 with runners in scoring position.

Up next: The Cubs have a day off before starting a three-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, when Carlos Zambrano (4-1, 4.23 ERA) takes on Chris Carpenter (0-2, 4.19) in a 7:05 start at Wrigley Field.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/pos...s-2-cubs-0

Reds blank Cubs in Johnny Cueto's strong season debut

Associated Press

CHICAGO -- Johnny Cueto was strong in his season debut Sunday, allowing five hits and pitching into the seventh Sunday as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 2-0.

Drew Stubbs hit his sixth homer for the Reds and Cueto (1-0), who was activated off the disabled list before the game, won a pitcher's duel with Ryan Dempster.

Four Reds' relievers completed the shutout. Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his sixth save in seven chances, one day after giving up two ninth-inning runs in a 3-2 loss.

Cueto began the season on the DL with irritation in his right biceps/triceps. He left Sunday's outing after giving up Alfonso Soriano's leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh. During his 102-pitch outing, he walked one and struck out four.

Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto went 0 for 4 and had his season-opening string of reaching base stopped at 33 straight games, one shy of Dave Collins' modern club record set at the beginning of the 1981 season.

Jay Bruce's single, an infield out and RBI single from Ramon Hernandez put the Reds up 1-0 in the second. Stubbs hit a two-out homer in the fifth, a line drive over the wall in left-center.

Dempster (1-4) allowed five hits and two runs with no walks and four strikeouts in seven innings.

The Cubs loaded the bases in the seventh. After Soriano's leadoff single finished Cueto, reliever Sam LeCure plunked pinch-hitter Reed Johnson and walked Kosuke Fukudome with two outs before retiring Starlin Castro on a grounder to third.

Chicago also threatened in the third when Dempster singled and made it to third on an error on shortstop Edgar Renteria, who made an errant flip to second after fielding Fukudome's grounder. But moments later, Dempster was tagged out trying to score on a grounder to third baseman Miguel Cairo. Marlon Byrd then reached on an infield single to load the bases before Aramis Ramirez flied out.

Game notes
Votto's career-best streak for reaching base safely at any point in the season is 41 games established last year from May 15-July 3. That streak was snapped when he was ejected in the first inning of a game at Wrigley Field. ... Reds INF Paul Janish missed his second straight game with a right ankle injury he got rounding third base in Friday's series opener. ... Virginia Commonwealth basketball coach Shaka Smart, who led the Rams to the Final Four this year, threw out the first pitch to Cubs' reliever Sean Marshall. Marshall attended VCU. Smart also sang during the seventh inning stretch. ... Some players used pink bats, while others and home plate umpire Bob Davidson sported pink wristbands to raise breast cancer awareness on Mother's Day. Cubs' left fielder Soriano wore pink colored shoes to honor his mother, who died in January of an apparent heart attack. ... Castro was 0 for 4 and is 2 for 25 in his last six games. ...Cubs reliever Jeff Samardzija pitched a perfect eighth and now has 14 straight scoreless innings. ... Reds pitchers were called for two balks, Cueto in the fourth and Nick Masset in the eighth.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=310508116

EDIT: Isn't it amazing the quality of the Cincinnati reporting versus the reporting of every other National League Central town?

Final: Reds 2, Cubs 0
4:56 pm, May 8, 2011 | Written by jfay


(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Drew Stubbs catches a fly ball by Carlos Pena during the ninth inning.

Johnny Cueto pitched six strong innings in his return to the rotation. Cueto went six innings and allowed five hits, a walk and struck out four.

Drew Stubbs catches a fly ball by Carlos Pena during the ninth inning. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

The Reds took two of three in the series. They’ve won four of five.

The Reds offense was limited to an RBI single by Ramon Hernandez in the second and a solo home run by Drew Stubbs in the fifth.

After Cueto left, Billy Bray, Sam LeCure, Nick Masset and Francisco Cordero closed it out. Cordero pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save.

It was the Reds’ first shutout of the season.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2011/05...-cubs-0-3/

McClellan blanks Brewers for eight in 3-1 win

By RICK HUMMEL | Posted: Sunday, May 8, 2011 10:52 am


(AP Photo/Bill Boyce)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle McClellan throws against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning in a baseball game Sunday, May 8, 2011, in St. Louis.

Cardinals righthander Kyle McClellan retired the last 13 men he faced today, good for 14 outs, as he turned in the best -- and longest -- start of his brief tenure as a big-league starter. McClellan worked eight scoreless innings before being lifted with nobody out in the ninth after a single by Milwaukee's Prince Fielder.

Rookie Eduardo Sanchez struggled in the ninth, walking two and allowing a run-scoring infield hit on a 13-pitch at-bat by Craig Counsell. Righthander Fernando Salas then entered with the bases loaded to fan Rickie Weeks on three pitches to preserve a 3-1 win for the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The save was the third in three tries for Salas.

McClellan (5-0) held the Brewers to four hits, one after the fourth inning, as the Cardinals won the three-game series two games to one.

The Brewers loaded the bases with two out against McClellan in the first before he escaped trouble as second baseman Tyler Greene finally latched onto a pop fly that appeared if it might drop among three fielders into the Bermuda Triangle in short center field.

In the fourth, the Brewers had runners at first and third with one out when opposing pitcher Chris Narveson grounded to Greene. Greene wanted to tag baserunner Carlos Gomez approaching from first but Gomez stopped. Greene threw to first for the second out of the inning and then first baseman Albert Pujols alertly looked up to see slow-running catcher Jonathan Lucroy trying to come home from third and threw to catcher Yadier Molina for the out to complete the double play and end the inning.

Colby Rasmus, hitting .324 against lefthanded pitching, doubled home two runs in the fifth to break a scoreless tie. The other run scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Punto, who delivered Lance Berkman in the sixth after Berkman had reached on an error.

Greene had a strong game with three hits in three at-bats and played well in the field, save for a first-inning boot.

*****

Colby Rasmus, hitting better against lefthanders than he ever has, broke up a 0-0 tie with a two-run, two-out double to right off Milwaukee lefthander Chris Narveson today at Busch Stadium.

The inning stated with singles by Nick Punto and Tyler Greene, who got his second hit of the day. Pitcher Kyle McClellan tried to sacrifice and popped the bunt to Narveson at the mound. Narveson tried to drop the ball, but too late, according to the umpires. The potential for at least a double play was there but Narveson had to settle for the popup out.

Both runners moved up on Ryan Theriot's tap and then Rasmus, batting .324 against lefthanders, doubled home the two runs.

*****

There won't be any no-hit drama today at Busch Stadium after the last two days in which a pitcher from each side took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. The Milwaukee Brewers and Cardinals both got a hit in the two innings but there again is a lack of scoring.

After three innings, the game is scoreless between the Cardinals' Kyle McClellan and former Cardinals lefthander Chris Narveson.

McClellan escaped a bases-loaded spot in the first when second baseman Tyler Greene, who earlier had commmitted an error, grabbed a popup in short center that seemed destined to drop among three fielders

The Brewers took another run at McClellan in the second but shortstop Ryan Theriot snared a liner hit by Rickie Weeks with a man at second.

The Cardinals had a man in scoring position in both the second at third. Nick Punto fanned with a runner at second to end the second. And Theriot and Colby Rasmus both grounded out with a runner in scoring position in the third.

*****

Theriot, hit in the lower left shin by a pitch in the first inning Friday night and then forced out of the game, is back in today as the Cardinals try for their seventh series win of the season when facing former Cardinals lefthander Chris Narveson of Milwaukee.

Manager Tony La Russa has an all righthanded-hitting lineup against Narveson except for center fielder Colby Rasmus and Rasmus is hitting lefthanders at a .324 clip, compared to .298 against righthanders.

Righthanders are batting .267 against Narveson and lefthanders .231.

Righthander Kyle McClellan, who has had a couple of so-so outings lately, will seek his fifth straight victory for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals have not lost a series since dropping their first three of the season. They put together six straight series wins before dividing a four-game series here with Florida earlier this week.

With Milwaukee and the Cardinals at 1-1 in this series, today's outcome will dictate whether the Cardinals have a winning home stand.

You'll see plenty of pink shoes, bats and batting gloves today on Mother's Day and Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Among those who have pink bats are Theriot, Rasmus, Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman. Berkman also has pink shoes.

The lineups:

Cardinals:

Theriot ss

Rasmus cf

Pujols 1b

Holliday lf

Berkman rf

Molina c

Punto 3b

Greene 2b

McClellan p

Milwaukee:

Weeks 2b

Kotsay rf

Braun lf

Fielder 1b

McGehee 3b

Betancourt ss

Lucroy c

Gomez cf

Narveson p

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/...0f31a.html

Frustrated Pujols is being tested

BY JOE STRAUSS • jstrauss@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8371 | Posted: Sunday, May 8, 2011 12:30 am


(David Carson dcarson@post-dispatch.com)
May 7, 2011--Albert Pujols faces Brewers pitcher John Axford in the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. Pujols would strike out in the at bat.

His first baseman has been called a machine but rarely an enigma. Now Tony La Russa ponders what six weeks of hitting discontent means when discussing Albert Pujols.

"He's getting closer," La Russa said Friday, "but I never believe he's that far away."

For most, what Pujols is experiencing would be called a grinding start tinged by spasms of production. But given his credentials, 10 years of remarkable consistency and a confluence of events that will shape the rest of a Hall of Fame career, Pujols receives heavier scrutiny.

"He is so good," hitting coach Mark McGwire said. "He knows himself so well. He has set himself apart."

For 10 years, Pujols' talent has put him on an island that many can see but none within the game can approach. Now he is being consistently challenged.

"Am I a little concerned? Yes, because I want to come through all the time," Pujols said after contributing a two-run single in Friday night's win over the Milwaukee Brewers. ""But there are going to be many times I come through and some times when I fail. I remember success. That's not being cocky. But when you have success in those situation, you build confidence in yourself."

Pujols entered the weekend batting .252 -- 79 points below his career average -- in 123 at-bats. If he attained his career average of 573 at-bats, Pujols would have to hit .353 for the rest of the season to reach his career .331 figure. He must hit .327 during the last 4½ months to reach last season's .312. For the first time in recent memory, manager La Russa describes Pujols as "toughing it out." Pujols admits being tested.

"He's still the same guy," center fielder Colby Rasmus noted Thursday. "You can chalk it up to baseball. He's just been kind of human this year."

Pujols entered Saturday's game without an extra base in his last 11 games, tying his career-long drought.

Perhaps the most alarming variation within Pujols's statistical line is an absence of doubles. Pujols averaged more than 42 doubles in his first 10 seasons but produced only one in this season's first six weeks.

McGwire emphasizes the role patience plays. Before last Sunday, Pujols had walked 10 times in 27 games, a pace that would leave a player who has averaged 106 walks the last three seasons with only 60. Of course, opposing managers intentionally walked Pujols an average 38 times over the span. Pujols was intentionally passed just once in the Cardinals' first 33 games, recognition of the damage being exacted behind him by Holliday and Berkman and the strange vulnerability exhibited by the game's best hitter. McGwire saw a positive sign in Pujols accepting five walks in the four games leading up to this weekend's series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

While many thought they saw a confused, off-balance hitter in Atlanta, La Russa and McGwire noted he fought one of the league's top staffs while also battling a flu that swept through the clubhouse. Pujols' case was acute.

Pitcher-friendly hitting conditions, especially at Busch Stadium, have stoked Pujols' frustration. He counts at least seven balls he believed were home runs that became outs. "When you're hitting .240, it stinks," he said. "When you're hitting .350, you hang with it."

Pujols is universally considered his own hitting coach. He possesses total recall of those he has faced and an ability to quickly divine the weaknesses of those he has just encountered. He always has been keeper of his own swing.

"It comes down to the feeling. He is one of the hardest workers, the most diligent guys I know. He has broken hitting and pitching down to a science," McGwire said. "Sure, people aren't used to see him where is average-wise. You go through something like this at some point in your career, I don't care who you are. There is no question in my mind — and more important, no question in his mind — that when everything is said and done he will be right where he's been for the first 10 years of his career."

However, the last six weeks have challenged him more than any other time in his previous 10 seasons. McGwire committed much of the home stand to firming Pujols' balance. Thursday's three singles against Florida Marlins ace Josh Johnson offered a promising return. It was also Pujols' first three-hit game since April 12. His .252 average entering this weekend's series was close to his high point for the season.

"It can come down to one pitch in one at-bat," said McGwire, repeating a mantra given Pujols for much of the last two weeks. "Thursday he had three excellent at-bats."

Just as he has maintained his own swing, Pujols rarely has gone beyond generalities when discussing its components. However, those paid to get him out — or at least to contain him — have noticed a rare vulnerability to breaking pitches and a different hand position that leaves his bat wrapped. Some scouts theorize that the different bat angle affects his swing plane.

Discussing such details is verboten within the Cardinals clubhouse. McGwire refers such questions to Pujols.

"Maybe I've chased some pitches like I haven't in the past," Pujols said. "It's part of the game. If you struggle like this in May or June, nobody cares. But since it's the first few weeks of the season it's a bigger deal. If I'm hitting .300 or .400 at the end of the season nobody cares."

"The bottom line: Hitting comes down to pitch selection," McGwire said. "Albert sees very few pitches to hit during a game. If he gets one and misses it, he knows it's going to be a battle."

Pujols says he has made recent adjustments. Many trace a frustrating start to heightened sensitivity to inside pitches. The most testing periods have seen Pujols willing to offer at pitches off the plate inside while leaving himself exposed to others over the plate's outer third. The byproduct is a higher percentage of ground balls that left him with 10 double plays in his first 30 games and few balls punished to the opposite field.

Pujols has heard similar whispers before and responded defiantly:

After reaching last May 30 with two home runs in his previous 111 at-bats — a lull that dropped his overall slugging percentage from .662 to .516 — he responded that day with three home runs in as many at-bats against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He would finish the season leading the major leagues with 42 homers. Pujols also led the NL in RBI (118) despite suffering two of his career's six longest RBI droughts.

Pujols endured a career-most 78 consecutive at-bats without a home run in 2009 but won his third NL MVP.

Pujols' 2007 season offers the closest comparison to this one. His average didn't climb above .270 to stay until May 23 and didn't clear .300 for good until June 13. He hit his 10th home run on June 3 and endured a career-most 90 at-bats without a double. The season ended with career lows in home runs (32), RBIs (103) and runs (99) in addition to a .327 average and a league-most 27 double plays.

Pujols has never spent a single September day with an average below .300. Watching him labor in May offers a contrast but, according to a suddenly prominent support staff, also screams for perspective. McGwire, assistant hitting coach Mike Aldrete and video coordinator Chad Blair provide a safety net that Pujols now embraces.

"There is nobody besides myself who knows my swing as well as Chad Blair. Mac has been great. Aldrete is awesome. I trust these three guys more than I trust myself sometimes," Pujols said.

This may be one of those rare times.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/...baead.html

Doumit homer lifts Pirates to 5-4 win and .500 mark
Sunday, May 08, 2011

By Colin Dunlap, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Catcher Ryan Doumit, who for so long has gone through the ebb and flow -- more often the down times -- with this franchise, saw to it the club was going to reach .500.

Doumit hit an eighth-inning, three run home run today to lift the club to a 5-4 victory against the Houston Astros and to a season record of 17-17.

Doumit came to the top step of the dugout for a curtain call soon thereafter at the behest of the cheering crowd.

With the win, the Pirates reached the .500 mark at the deepest point in any season since June 11, 2005 when they were 30-30.

Also with the win, the club earned its seventh series victory in a season that is just six weeks old.

Last season, they won 16 series in the entire six-month trudge through the schedule.

Starting pitcher James McDonald was outstanding. He worked six innings, gave up just three hits and struck out eight, which tied a career high.

But, the bullpen -- uncharacteristically unsteady the past few days -- couldn't hold the 2-0 lead McDonald had built when he exited.

Reliever Chris Resop failed to get anyone out for the second consecutive appearance, as he stumbled through his outing today on the heels of a blown save -- and loss -- on Friday night. Today, Resop came into the game with a 2-0 lead to start the seventh, and in the span of 15 pitches, Resop had given up a home run, a sharp single and a double that drove in another run.

Before Resop came in, the score was 2-0.

When he exited, it was tied, 2-2.

And, just after he left and Joe Beimel came in with no one out in the seventh, the Astros took a 3-2 lead when catcher Humberto Quintero took off from second on a steal attempt of third. But, on the play, pinch-hitter Angel Sanchez bunted the ball between the mound and third. Pirates third baseman Brandon Wood fielded the ball and threw to first, but not in time to get Sanchez -- and on the play Quintero never stopped running and was safe at the plate.

The Astros scored -- and it was a bit controversial -- in the eighth.

Carlos Lee led off the inning with a double to center.

Or did he?

On the play, center fielder Andrew McCutchen made a diving attempt and television replays appeared to show McCutchen catch the ball. Nonetheless, second base umpire Jeff Nelson ruled it hit the ground.

Later in the inning Brett Wallace had a sacrifice fly to lift the Astros to a 4-2 lead.

But then came the Doumit home run.

The Pirates scored first, doing so in the bottom of the first when they capitalized on singles from McCutchen and Matt Diaz to get a sacrifice fly from Steve Pearce, who got his fourth start of the season at first base.

The lead stretched to 2-0 in the fourth, but, truth be told, it probably should have been wider. The Pirates loaded the bases with no one out and got a run on a Ronny Cedeno single to right with one out.

From there, though, McDonald grounded into an inning-ending double play, leaving three stranded.

Colin Dunlap: cdunlap@post-gazette.com.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11128/1145148-100.stm

Reds need to acquire a quality hitter to bat behind Votto.

You have rather forcefully brought out that point in the last two Coco postings and this one. I think most of us understand your point.

(05-08-2011 04:58 PM)ctipton Wrote:  EDIT: Isn't it amazing the quality of the Cincinnati reporting versus the reporting of every other National League Central town?

Couldn't agree more.

Joey Votto's on-base streak comes to an end
REDS NOTEBOOK
6:28 PM, May. 8, 2011


AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Ryan Dempster is safe at second as second baseman Brandon Phillips can't make the catch on the 5th error by Edgar Renteria.

Written by
John Fay
jfay@enquirer.com

CHICAGO -- Joey Votto doesn’t think Wrigley Field has anything to do with it, i.e, it’s just a weird coincidence that his long on-base streaks have both ended there.

Votto failed to reach base Sunday for the first time this year. It ended his streak at 33 games, one short of the club record for the start of the season. Votto had his 41-game on base streak end here last year.

"I don’t think it has anything to do with it," he said. "It just so happens that I ended it here."

Last year’s streak ended when Votto was ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes. He argued briefly with home plate umpire Bob Davidson Sunday after a check-swing strikeout. But he said he wasn’t in danger of getting ejected.

"Not even close from my perspective," he said.

Votto’s average is down to .333. But he went into Sunday with a National League-leading 29 walks -- seven more than anyone else.


AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Joey Votto reacts after striking out during the first inning against the Cubs on Sunday. Votto went 0 for 4 and had his season-opening string of reaching base stopped at 33 straight games, one shy of Dave Collins' modern club record set during the 1981 season.

"Joey’s better than he’s playing right now," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "They’re pitching him tough."

Votto is 3-for-his-last-21.

"You go through stretches where you miss," he said. "I’ve been missing lately. It’ll pass."

JANISH UPDATE: Shortstop Paul Janish is shooting for Houston. His sprained ankle improved from Saturday to Sunday.

"It’s significantly better today," Janish said, "which is good because usually it takes three or four days to turn the corner. It’s still bruised and sore. But I can walk pretty normal. It’s getting better faster than I thought.

"Hopefully, I’ll be able to play in Houston."

FISHER OPTIONED: RHP Carlos Fisher was optioned back to Triple-A Louisville to make room for Johnny Cueto on the roster.

Fisher pitched well in his three appearances with the Reds. He did not allow a run over 4 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

FRANCISCO REHAB: Third baseman Juan Francisco will join Triple-A Louisville in Rochester to begin his rehab. Francisco, on the disabled list since April 18 with strained calf, will be used as designated hitter for a few days.

ROLEN TO HIT: The plan is for third baseman Scott Rolen to begin hitting Monday when he rejoins the team in Houston. Rolen has not hit since going on DL April 24 with a strained left shoulder.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110...t|Sports|s

Who's Eric Campbell?
Reds insider notebook
10:04 PM, May. 8, 2011


Enquirer file/Cara Owsley
Reliever Bill Bray (left), consulting with catcher Ramon Hernandez, has retired the first batter he's faced 16 of 17 times.

Written by
John Fay
jfay@enquirer.com

The hottest hitter in the Reds' organization? It has to be Eric Campbell.

Campbell is hitting .421 with seven home runs and 33 RBI for the Bakersfield Blaze. Don't be alarmed if you've never heard of Campbell.

The Reds signed him last year after he spent a year playing independent ball after being released by the Atlanta Braves. He was a second-round pick for the Braves in 2004. He had big seasons in independent baseball in 2005 and '06. He's 25, but he's worth keeping an eye on.

Cy Bray

The best Reds' pitcher so far? Bill Bray.

He's retired the first batter he's faced 16 of 17 times. He's stranded seven of eight inherited runners. Opponents are hitting .146 off him and his ERA is 0.73.

Bray is the only player on the active roster left from the infamous 2006 midseason trade with the Washington Nationals.

Now that he's healthy after "Tommy John" surgery, he's a very effective late-inning option. Left-handers are 1-for-17 against him.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110...t|Sports|s

Fill in the blanks ... Ron Oester
9:56 PM, May. 8, 2011

Written by
Tom Groeschen
tgroeschen@enquirer.com

CINCINNATI -- Ron Oester was the ultimate competitor as a Reds second baseman from 1978-90. Known for his hustling style of play, Oester hit .265 for his career and won a World Series ring in his final Cincinnati season.

Oester, 55, a Withrow High School product, has held several coaching jobs since retiring as a player. Oester has coached for the Reds, Tigers and Phillies, and he once managed the Cincinnati Steam amateur team. The past two years, Oester coached in the Chicago White Sox organization.

The Enquirer interviewed Oester recently and asked him to "Fill in the blanks."

We know you were with the White Sox recently. And these days... I was an infield instructor for the White Sox the last two years, but I'm not with anyone right now. I've decided to try to get a job with the Reds, hopefully next year, maybe as a minor league infield instructor.

Your son (Jake) is playing in the minors. The latest on him is... He's with their Winston-Salem team, High A. He's playing some second base and some third base for them, and he's doing really well. He just loves the game, and if it doesn't work out as player, he wants to coach someday. (Jake Oester was hitting .361 through Saturday for Winston-Salem this season).

Your thoughts on the 2011 Reds... I think they're going to do well, once they get (Scott) Rolen back and get their pitching straightened out.

I get down to (Great American) ballpark... I usually just listen to them on the radio or watch them on TV, for now. My youngest son and my daughters go down to watch.

I think we know the highlight of your career, but share that with us again... Winning the (1990) World Series in my last year, that was certainly the most memorable year of my life. It doesn't seem like it's that long ago, really. I can't believe it is 20-some years. It's just good to see the team back now where they can compete, hopefully for bigger things like that.

The current Reds regime ... They've made the right decisions, from the Castellinis on down. They've got the right people in there. It's a good, solid organization again, and they've really turned things around.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110...t|Sports|s

‘That’s the boost we were looking for’
6:42 pm, May 8, 2011 | Written by jfay

Johnny Cueto’s return, like Homer Bailey’s, was much welcomed by the Reds.

“That’s the boost we were looking for,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “Both of them saved my bullpen. I got to matchup guys. We’ve got a fresh bullpen. You can match up how you want to. It may not work all the time, but the odds were in our favor.

The Reds good start to the season glossed over the fact that Cueto and Bailey started the season on the disabled list.

“That’s 40 percent of your staff,” Baker said. “That’s big. Bronson (Arroyo) gave us a great game (Saturday). Hopefully, (Travis Wood) can get back on track. Confidence and success breed off each other. Hopefully, we can get on a pitching roll now.”

In last full turn of the rotation, Reds’ starters have gone 30 1/3 innings and seven runs. That’s a 2.07 ERA.

Cueto, pitching on Mother Day’s with a fresh tattoo on his left arm honoring his mother Cristina, was good from the start. He allowed no runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out four.

“We was outstanding,” Joey Votto said. “It might have been one of the best games I’ve even seen him throw. He threw his breaking ball really well. It seemed like they were off balance the entire game.”

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2011/05...oking-for/