Bronson’s Battles Continue

It’s getting to be old hat with Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo. Another game, another outing where opponents beat him almost into oblivion. Sure, he held the Padres to only a couple of runs in his six innings, but this is getting to the point where you can almost feel the result before he even takes the mound.

Those six innings? Arroyo threw 120 pitches. The positive spin here is that 74 were for strikes. Another positive is that will go in the books as a quality start. One last positive was Arroyo lowered his ERA from 5.48 to 5.31. Got to find the positives, right?

The negatives. One was yet another homer surrendered. This one to recently activated Nick Hundley. That leaves Arroyo with 33 homers served for the season. Pretty soon and he will have served more homers than McDonald’s has served burgers. He also constantly pitched out of trouble. And he didn’t help himself in the field either committing two errors. Arroyo exited with the Reds trailing 2-1.

Reds Honor Harang

Prior to the beginning of tonight’s Reds-Padres tilt, the Cincinnati Reds honored former Reds pitcher Aaron Harang for his service while he was a member of the Reds organization. During his time in Cincinnati, Harang was instrumental in the “Miracle Field Project”, a complex constructed so those that have disabilities are able to play and enjoy the game of baseball.

Another effort created by Harang was “Aaron’s Aces”. Harang provided tickets and other Reds items for families of military personnel that were serving abroad. “Aaron’s Aces” is now under the wing of Jay Bruce.

One thing Harang said sums it all up.

“That’s the thing about Cincinnati,” Harang said. “People care.”

For the Reds to honor a former player is show of class for a player who exudes class. Congrat to Aaron and his family. We do miss you!

Cozart Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

Shortstop Zack Cozart‘s season officially ended today with having Tommy John surgey being performed on his left (non-throwing) elbow. The injury which led to the surgery came when Cozart attempted to field an arrant throw from first baseman Joey Votto. With Cozart having the procedure done today, he will be ready to go for spring training next year.

As far as Cozart being the front-runner for the starting shortstop job next season, Reds skipper Dusty Baker was not saying yes, but not saying no either.

“[The position] was his,” Baker said. “He looked good. He looked very good. You don’t pay too much attention, though, to short runs. At least I don’t. He’s going to have every opportunity. When a guy gets the opportunity, that stuff’s on you. Of all the young guys who have come up, he looks the most ready to play winning baseball in all phases of the game.”

In a true definition of irony, today is also Cozart’s birthday.