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Reds take over 1st

By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted May 16, 2010 6:04 PM ET

For the first time since July 31, 2009, the St. Louis Cardinals are not leading the National League Central.

With the Reds 7-2 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday, Cincinnati moved to the top of the standings. Just minutes after Bronson Arroyo finished off his complete game, the standings video board in right field switched the Reds logo above the Cardinals and the crowd of 26,712 at Great American Ball Park cheered.

"If it had been the last game of the season and we fell out of first place, it would be a big deal," said Albert Pujols, who was held without a hit on the day. "It's a big deal losing the series. We don't care about first place because first place is a long way from now."

But to the Reds, it is a big deal. Cincinnati spent all of one day last season tied for first, hadn't been alone in first since April 17, 2007, and hadn't been in first place this "late" since June 8, 2006.

Before the game, Reds manager Dusty Baker acknowledged this game -- and the series that was in the balance -- was important enough that Scott Rolen was not given a day off for a night game after a day game -- and Rolen rewarded him with a home run and an RBI single in his first two at-bats. After the game, Baker tried to downplay the first place spot a little, but it's still obvious that no matter the date on the calendar, the place in the standing is important.

"It means more to this club than if we did have a winning club the last few years, just because the confidence and keeping the ball rolling," Arroyo said. "We can't really fall back on us coming back from big deficits like the Astros have the last couple of years. We've got to stay in it the whole time because things have fallen apart over the last four years. It's big for us if we can stay in arms-reach or in first place, it's big for the guys in here who haven't been in the big leagues that long, that haven't been on a championship team or winning team, the (Joey) Vottos, Jay Bruces, Paul Janishes."

Arroyo is one of just three players who were Reds the last time they were alone in first, along with Aaron Harang and Brandon Phillips.

Although Arroyo was brought in before former Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty took over the club, he's a lot like several other current Reds who were brought in to compliment the young talent such as Votto, Bruce, Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey and Mike Leake - with a pedigree of winning.

Arroyo won a World Series with Boston in 2004, Orlando Cabrera was on that team as well, and has been in the postseason five of the last six years. Scott Rolen was part of the Cardinals' 2006 title and Ramon Hernandez played in the postseason with both Oakland and San Diego.

But when Bruce was asked Sunday when the last time he was on a team alone in first place, he had to go back to Class AAA Louisville, which is a bit different than where the Reds are today.

"I'm not going to put too much weight on first place right now, but it's better than not being in first place," said Bruce, who was 2-for-4 on Sunday. "We just have to keep the same approach and mentality we've had, because it is cool to be in first place and the team that everyone's gunning after. It's a different atmosphere on the field and in the stands."

The Reds were able to ascend to the top spot in large part to their starting pitching, which was supposed to be a strength going into spring training, faltered early in the season and has come back to lead the team to a 14 wins in their last 19 games. The Reds have now won seven of their last eight with the starters going 7-1 with a 2.11 ERA with 38 hits, 14 runs, 11 walks and 45 strikeouts in 59.2 innings. Those numbers include Sunday's complete-game performance in which Arroyo allowed seven hits and two runs and didn't give up a hit to Albert Pujols or Matt Holliday until the eighth inning when the Holliday doubled and the Reds already held a 7-2 lead.

Arroyo got into trouble in the first two innings - but got double plays to end both. In the first, Holliday grounded into a double play after Jon Jay's double and an intentional walk to Pujols, and Brad Penny's sacrifice bunt in the second was turned into the second inning-ending double play.

After that, Arroyo cruised with the exception of a run in the fifth on two hits and Jason LaRue's seventh-inning homer.

Arroyo also got it done with the bat, with a two-run single in the fifth after an intentional walk to Ryan Hanigan to load the bases.

Penny entered Sunday's game 5-0 in six career starts at Great American Ball Park, allowing just eight runs combined in those games. He allowed one fewer Sunday, as well as 13 hits, one fewer than his career-high.

The Cardinals have now dropped nine of their last 12 games and find themselves in an unfamiliar spot in the standings.

"Those guys have been in the playoffs so many years, they're not panicking over there, it's not a big deal to them," Arroyo said. "It's definitely a bigger deal on this side."

Categories: Cincinnati Reds, Featured Stories

Tags: Albert Pujols, Brad Penny, Bronson Arroyo, Dusty Baker, Jay Bruce, Matt Holliday, Scott Rolen