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The Reds received a game-changing grand slam in the sixth inning to take a 5-2 lead against the Braves on Thursday night, leading to their sixth consecutive victory and their first sweep of the Braves since 1980. It wasn’t superstar Joey Votto who provided the knockout punch, nor was it mainstays Brandon Phillips or Jay Bruce. The home run came off the bat of one of the Reds’ many unheralded young players: 23-year-old rookie catcher Devin Mesoraco.

The blast also marked Cincinnati’s 10th home run of the series, leading to 14 of its 16 runs in the series. Winning with home runs is nothing new for this Reds squad, not at Great American Ball Park and certainly not in the Joey Votto era. But Votto didn’t hit a single homer in the series. Neither did Bruce. Phillips hit two. Instead of the three stalwarts on this Reds squad, it was the supporting cast leading the way: Mesoraco (1), Drew Stubbs (3), Zack Cozart (2), Todd Frazier (1) and Mike Leake (1).

Leake’s homer backed up a quality start on Monday, and the other home runs backed up quality starts from Mat Latos (Tuesday), Bronson Arroyo (Wednesday) and Homer Bailey (Thursday). The Reds saw scoreless outings from five different relievers and saves converted by three. To accomplish this in any series is excellent; to do so against the second-highest-scoring team in the league in one of the best hitters’ parks in all of baseball is another.

Depth and pitching have set this year’s Reds squad apart from last year’s version, a preseason favorite for the National League Central crown that was eventually lapped by both the Brewers and Cardinals. The 2011 season saw a 156 OPS+ from Votto and 119 OPS+ marks from both Phillips and Bruce. No other full-time starters came close; only part-time players Chris Heisey (113), Ramon Hernandez (113) and Miguel Cairo (101) even mustered an above average mark.

This season has seen the likes of Paul Janish, Edgar Renteria and Jonny Gomes excised in favor of Cozart (.727 OPS) and Frazier (.887). It has seen Stubbs come to life after three horrible series to open the year -- he owns a .266/.324/.430 line since April 17 to go with his typical fantastic defense. It’s seen Ryan Hanigan pick up his game as well, with a .794 OPS in 27 games as the starting catcher.

Johnny Cueto owns a phenomenal 2.22 ERA over 33 starts dating back to May 2011, but it was the other four Cincinnati starters who held down the Braves this week. Latos started out cold, but has a 2.35 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 23 innings in May. Arroyo has a 121 ERA+ after allowing a near-record 46 home runs last season, owning an absurd 44-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first 58.2 innings. Bailey and Leake have had their rough spots, but they fit well in the back of the Reds’ rotation -- a tough job with half of their starts coming in the bandbox in Cincinnati.

The bullpen has established itself as one of the league’s best. Regardless of what one thinks Aroldis Chapman’s role should be, it is undeniable that he is the league’s best reliever. In the four-game sweep of the Braves, he pitched two more scoreless innings. Chapman fronts a bullpen full of talented pitchers: Jose Arredondo, Logan Ondrusek and Alfredo Simon all own ERA+ marks of 137 or higher. Sean Marshall shouldn’t be counted out either despite a rough start -- he was one of the best relievers in baseball over the past two seasons.

The Reds currently sit atop the NL Central, with a half-game lead over the Cardinals. As usual, Votto, Phillips, Cueto and Bruce lead the way. But if the Reds maintain their current success and carry it through to a playoff run, it will be because this year they didn’t have to do it all themselves.

• Austin Jackson scored a run in each of the Tigers' first six games this season. That was the longest streak by a Detroit batter to start a season since Darrell Evans crossed the plate in each of the first eight contests in 1986. And it's the longest streak by a Tigers leadoff hitter since 1939, when one of Jackson's center field predecessors, Barney McCosky, also scored in the first eight games of the season. In game seven on Friday, however, Jackson was on base only once (he walked in the eighth) and was stranded at third.
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  Duane Burleson/AP PhotoAustin Jackson is having a solid season for the Tigers early on.
  The Red Sox managed to blow a three-run lead in the ninth and a two-run lead in the 11th in losing a wild one to Detroit on Sunday, 13-12. It was the first time Boston had scored a dozen runs and lost since May 31, 1970, when they were on the wrong end of a 22-13 slugfest with the White Sox at Fenway.
• Alfredo Aceves gave up all three ninth-inning runs in Sunday’s game without retiring a batter, making him just the second Red Sox pitcher in the live-ball era to work zero innings pitched in each of his first two appearances of the year. Guido Grilli faced one batter each in the first two games of the 1966 season, and didn't get either of them out.
• The Tigers used eight pitchers in that 13-12, come-from-behind win over the Red Sox. It marked just the second time in 70 years that Detroit had come back to win a game in which their starter surrendered seven-plus runs without getting through the third inning. Omar Olivares was the starter in 1997 when the Tigers rallied to beat Baltimore 11-8.
• On Sunday, the Yankees managed just three hits -- all doubles. That same day, the Twins had just two hits as Jason Hammel posted the longest no-hit bid of the year so far. Both Minnesota knocks were doubles. It's the first time in almost three years that two teams have done that on the same day. But then … the Royals did it against Oakland (three hits, three doubles) on Monday … and the Athletics did it against Kansas City (one hit) on Tuesday.It's the first time since at least 1917 that there have been three straight days where a team had every hit be a double.
• On Sunday, Jeff Samardzija (making just his sixth career start) was afforded the chance at a complete game. He had to be pulled after giving up a two-out homer that pulled the Nationals to within a run. Four days later, Matt Garza was en route to a shutout against Milwaukee, but was pulled after committing a two-out error that allowed the inning to continue. So the Cubs had two pitchers this week leave the game after 8.2 innings pitched.The Cubs hadn't had two pitchers work exactly 8.2 innings in the same season since 1995 (Jaime Navarro and Frank Castillo).
• In Sunday's Cardinals-Brewers game, you could say the teams spread it around. In the 9-3 Milwaukee victory, the 12 runs were charged to eight different pitchers. In fact, every hurler who appeared in the game ended up with at least one earned run on his record.It's the first game in eight seasons where the teams combined to use eight or more pitchers, and every single one of them got charged with at least one earned run. The last time that happened was on Sept. 9, 2004, when the Royals erupted for a 26-5 victory over the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader.
• James Shields got called for a balk Wednesday on an illegal pickoff throw to third. That was in the bottom of the fifth -- after Justin Verlander had been called for his own balk in the top of the fifth.It was the first MLB game to feature balks by both teams in the same inning since Aug. 16, 2004, when the Rangers' Mickey Callaway and then-Indian CC Sabathia committed them in the fourth inning of a 5-2 Texas win.
• In that same game, Verlander threw eight shutout innings before getting tagged for four runs and the loss in the top of the ninth. He became the first pitcher to throw eight scoreless innings, then surrender four (or more) runs in the ninth to take a loss since Tim Hudson did it for the Braves on Sept. 22, 2005. Hudson allowed a three-run homer to Shane Victorino of the Phillies for most of that damage before Macay McBride had to come in and get the final out.
• In Monday's Yankees-Orioles game, Derek Jeter went a perfect 4-for-4 for the visitors, while Matt Wieters went a perfect 4-for-4 in the home dugout. It was the first game this year to feature two players with four-hit games.Since the start of 2010, there's been only one other MLB game where a player for each team went a perfect 4-for-4 or better -- and it was between the Orioles and Yankees. On July 30, 2011, Vladimir Guerrero’s 4-for-4 was the bright spot for Baltimore as the Yankees -- led by Robinson Cano's 5-for-5 -- demolished them 17-3.
• In Yu Darvish's much-anticipated major league debut on Monday, he allowed five earned runs, four walks, hit a batter, threw one wild pitch -- and won the game because the Rangers spotted him eight runs.He's the first pitcher in the live-ball era to win his major league debut while giving up all of those stats (or worse). Even take away the wild pitch, and only one other hurler has hit five earned runs, four walks, one HBP and a win in his debut. That was the Blue Jays' Matt Williams on Aug. 2, 1983.
• Jeff Gray of the Twins earned the first one-pitch victory of the season on Wednesday. Gray threw his one and only pitch to Peter Bourjos to end the top of the seventh, after which the Twins took the lead in the bottom of the inning. The Twins, conveniently, recorded the last one-pitch win last season, by Matt Capps on Sept. 23.
• Speaking of pitching oddities, the Royals-Athletics game was finally called in the top of the eighth inning on Tuesday after its second rain delay. Aaron Crow, who had pitched the seventh for the Royals, was credited with his first career save. Technically, he does meet the save criteria set forth in the rule book, notably that of being the "finishing pitcher" in a game his team won.The last player to be credited with a save prior to the ninth inning was Tony Sipp of the Indians, who received one in a rain-shortened affair with Tampa Bay on July 23, 2010. That also remains Sipp's only career save.
• On Tuesday, Freddy Garcia of the Yankees famously threw five wild pitches to tie the single-game American League record for such a thing. He was also the first pitcher to throw five-plus wild pitches in an outing of less than five innings. But two of those wild pitches scored runs for Baltimore. Another run scored on an error. That made the Orioles the first team in two years to score four-plus runs with one or fewer RBI. (The one RBI they did get came on a home run.)For the Orioles, it was just the second time since moving to Baltimore that they scored four runs on one or zero RBI. The other was in their inaugural year: On June 27, 1954, they scored three times on errors by the Athletics before finally walking off on an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th.
• Oakland "walked off" in unusual fashion on Wednesday when Jonathan Broxton plunked Yoenis Cespedes and Jonny Gomes to force in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th. It was the first game to end with back-to-back hit batters since Sept. 2, 1966, when Stu Miller of the Orioles hit Al Weis and Tommie Agee of the White Sox in the bottom of the 11th. (I admit that Elias found this a lot quicker than I would have.) However, Gomes became the first Athletics batter to get hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in extra innings since at least 1947. (It had never happened in the Baseball Reference "play index" era.) It's also noteworthy that Oakland scored its two runs in the 12th without a base hit. The three runners ahead of Cespedes reached on two walks and an error.
• Before Friday, there had been 36 double-digit strikeout games by teams this week (including seven games where both teams did it) but not one by a single pitcher. Max Scherzer's 11-strikeout outing on Friday afternoon broke that string.
• In Wednesday's 17-8 eruption between the Giants and Rockies, there were four pitchers (Tim Lincecum, Jeremy Guthrie, Guillermo Mota, Jeremy Affeldt)who all gave up at least six hits and at least five runs. It's the first time that that has happened since July 17, 1998, when Seattle dropped an 18-5 score on the Royals at the Kingdome.(It is also very intriguing that, in that game, both teams posted a seven-run inning. Except I don't know of a good way to search line scores.)
  
  By the way, on their next two games on Thursday and Friday, the Giants promptly had two pitchers (Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain)carry no-hit bids into the sixth inning. The only team to have bids in consecutive games last season was also the Giants. That happened on May 8 and 10 by Ryan Vogelsong and Lincecum.
• The Orioles and Blue Jays combined to hit seven home runs in Baltimore's 7-5 victory on Friday. All were solo shots. It's the first game with seven-plus home runs that were all solo since a July 20, 2010 game at Camden Yards between the Rays and Orioles.
• There's always one guy left out.In the 10-9 "pitchers’ duel" between the Twins and Angels on Thursday, 17 of the 18 starters recorded at least one base hit. Howard Kendrick was the lone collar, going 0-for-4 plus a walk.
  
  It's the first nine-inning game this season to have 17 different starters record a base hit. There were three games last season where all 18 did.
• Minnesota got a four-hit game from Denard Span and three-hit games from Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham and Danny Valencia. It's the first time the Twins have had four players with three hits, including at least one with four, since they dropped a 20-1 score on the White Sox on May 21, 2009.

First: Take your base! You figure when kids dream about winning the game, they don’t dream about doing it by getting beaned, right? Nobody does that, right? Well, the A’s won on Wednesday in the bottom of the 12th on a bases-loaded hit by pitch when the Royals’ Jonathan Broxton plunked Jonny Gomes.

Unusual? Of course. While Broxton’s pretty wild on his career, he’s not even in MLB’s top 1000 pitchers ever when it comes to plunking people. Yet according to ESPN Stats & Info, Broxton became the first pitcher to lose a game by hitting consecutive batters since Stu Miller achieved the feat in 1966 for the Orioles. I’m sure that’s one he’ll tell the grandkids.

Gomes may not be Carlos Quentin or Ron Hunt or the immortal Hughie Jennings when it comes to taking one for the team, but he does rate 58th all-time among batters with 1,200 or more career plate appearances by getting hit by a pitch 2.2 percent of the time. So maybe, if anyone dreamed the impossible dream of being a winner by taking one for the team, it might just be the transiently heroic Jonny Gomes.

Second: C’mon blue! Need a reason to beat the replay drum? Wednesday night’s Phillies-Marlins game gave us something avoidable yet dumb: Juan Pierre was out trying to steal second in the bottom of the third, but the fallible human charged with making the call blew it, giving the Phillies a shot to do some damage. They exploited that in full when Placido Polanco hit a ball that deflected off Josh Johnson to head into the hole at short, a hole emptied out because Reyes was moving to where the ball should have gone while Hanley Ramirez was covering third -- because Pierre had been ruled safe. Pierre scored on that infield single, and that combination of events -- umpire error plus a changed set of defensive responsibilities -- opened the floodgates.

Third: Box score confusion. Nothing beats a baseball bloodbath, and the 17-8 slugfest between the Giants and Rockies in Denver was a nice bit of mile-high mayhem as far as that goes. But the ugliest part came in a blown rundown in the bottom of the fifth, when Ramon Hernandez belted a single that plated Todd Helton, advanced Michael Cuddyer, who got hung up between home and third in a rundown. But Brett Pill committed two errors on the same play -- first with a wild throw home and then again in a flubbed rundown. Who do you think had a worse night of it in the aftermath: Pill, Giants manager Bruce Bochy or the official scorer?

Home: Tweet(s) of the Day. Because smart teams have a play book and they use it ... and smart people like Sam Miller noticed:

Tampa Bay Rays baseball i.imgur.com/O34IJ.gif

-- Sam Miller (@SamMillerBP) April 11, 2012

@cistulli RJ tells me that's just a thing they're always doing

-- Sam Miller (@SamMillerBP) April 11, 2012

@cistulli Some sort of defense chart, yeah

-- Sam Miller (@SamMillerBP) April 11, 2012

Christina Kahrl covers baseball for ESPN.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

Diane over at the Value Over Replacement Grit blog needs your help: She's putting together a bracket of the 64 best names in major league history. Click here for details on submitting your suggestions to her. Great idea, Diane. Can't wait to see the bracket.

OK, some other good stuff from the network:

• I just wrote about the Edwin Jackson signing, which opens up the possibility of the Nationals trading John Lannan. Our Nationals Baseball blog says: Don't do it!
• Now that it appears he'll be back with the Braves, Ben Duronio takes a look at Jair Jurrjens and how he can be expected to perform in 2012.
• Alex Convery asks: Who should hit leadoff for the Red Sox?
• Logan Burdine attemps to sort through the Rockies' rotation options.
• Why Jake Westbrook has led to a series of unfortunate events for the Cardinals.
• It's not usually a good sign when you have five guys in your rotation that are dangerous gambles. Unfortunately, that's the case with the Twins.
• A good wrap-up from the A's FanFest from Jason Wojciechowski. It's too bad the A's probably won't be that good this year, because they may lead the majors in cumulative VAIR -- Value Above Interview Replacement. Guys like Brandon McCarthy, Dallas Braden and Jonny Gomes are some of the smartest/most entertaining guys in the game.
• Joe Janish is running down spring training questions and issues for the Mets. Here's an interesting one: Jason Bay's batting stance. Bay has hit .251/.337/.386 in his two seasons since joining the Mets. Even if he does play better, the Mets have a tough situation: If Bay accumulates 500 PAs in both 2012 and 2013 he gets a $17 million vesting option for 2014. Ouch.
• Chris Quick on whether the Giants overreacted to the reliever market.
• A look at the Cubs' non-roster invitees.
• Jon Shepherd of Camden Depot looks at cities MLB could expand to. I agree with Jon's assessment Charlotte would be the most likely, although I do wonder if the rapidly growing Austin area would be a consideration.
• Jose Reyes will have to cut his hair ... and he'll do it live on the MLB Network on Friday.

On Thursday's Baseball Today podcast , Keith Law explains his problems with North Carolina barbeque. But there is plenty of excellent baseball talk as well, including:

1. How good is Chris Heisey and should Dusty Baker be playing him every day? Plus, the moves the Reds should be looking to make.

2. Shaun Marcum leaves another start early... and other issues with the Brewers.

3. Is Bryce Harper's strikeout a problem?

4. Are the Orioles underachieving? Some talk about the O's and the disappointing years from Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis.

5. Should the Mariners be careful with how many innings they give Michael Pineda?

Plus: Emails, Ricky Romero, College World Series talk and more! Check it all our podcasts at the Baseball Today podcast page.

One popular notion in some sabermetric circles these days is that defense in the outfield corners is getting better, proof positive that teams are taking defense much more seriously. It’s an interesting theory, and fits with the preconceived notion that certain defensive metrics have descriptive value. Accept the data and you can accept the result.

That’s all easy enough to believe, especially if you want to discover a new trend, but what if the data isn’t reliably reflected across the various defensive metrics? And what if it flies in the face of what we see in terms of who it is that teams are actually playing in left field?

Consider who was playing in left field last season in the National League. To belabor the obvious, the NL doesn’t have the DH, so there’s an automatic incentive to take a defensive hit and get a bopper’s bat in the lineup from the position that winds up seeing fewer chances than infielders or center fielders do. Looking at everyone who played 500 or more innings in left last season, do these sound like the “better fielders” that have been advertised?

• Six plain-old outfielders who were and are outfielders: Jason Bay, Mets; Matt Holliday, Cardinals; Lastings Milledge, Pirates; Gerardo Parra, D’backs; Seth Smith, Rockies; Jose Tabata, Pirates
• Four ex-infielders (non-first base position): Ryan Braun, Brewers (3B); Chris Coghlan, Marlins (2B); Carlos Lee, Astros (3B); Alfonso Soriano, Cubs (2B)
• Two ex-DHs: Pat Burrell, Giants; Jonny Gomes, Reds
• Two ex-catchers: Raul Ibanez, Phillies; Josh Willingham, Nationals
• One ex-first baseman: Logan Morrison, Marlins

Not that there’s a direct-causal relationship, but it’s more than a little amusing to note that three of the league’s playoff teams last year were starting Burrell, Ibanez, and Gomes -- players not usually associated with their defensive contributions, and three guys who have had to spend good chunks of time as designated hitters after moving away from their initial positions as prospects.

Admittedly, the outfielders who stayed as outfielders make for an interesting crew. Milledge, Parra, Smith, Tabata and Bay all got chances as center fielders early on in their careers, either in the minors or even briefly in the majors. But none of them were ever expected to stick in center and were corner-bound early on. They’re also not all good outfielders, mind you; Bay hasn’t graded out as any better than mediocre in any of several venues via several metrics. But Parra, Holliday and Tabata all offer positive value afield, and Parra and Tabata are recent enough arrivals to represent some form of validation for a “recent defensive improvement” theory.

Among the ex-infielders, Braun, however athletic he was as a college shortstop once upon a time, proved to be a bad third baseman, had a rough first year in left in 2008, but seems to have become a better left fielder in the past season-plus, at least according to Total Zone, Plus/Minus and Fielding Runs.

It’s everyone else where you start running into problems. Ibanez, Lee and Soriano would probably be DHs in the AL if their contracts didn’t keep them planted in left field for their respective ballclubs. All three provide awful defense. Willingham grades reliably poorly, as does Gomes. Morrison is a big galoot and giving left field his best shot, but it would be hard to call him an obvious success. If you want to be generous, you can compare his move to left to Willingham’s, or perhaps to the Rockies’ success with their decision to move Brad Hawpe to right field to get his bat in the lineup earlier in the decade. That was a defensive hit the Rockies were willing to take for the offensive boost; it was an idea that helped get them a pennant, but that doesn’t sound much like a better brand of defense getting played in the outfield.

If you want to get really skeptical about the data, you might note that Burrell has done extremely well for the Giants according to several metrics, which probably seems strange after three bad years in left for the Phillies, which preceded the Rays’ signing him to DH. To my way of thinking, that just goes toward how much confidence we can invest in any interpretive defensive metric -- the information is suggestive, but not conclusive. What is incontrovertible is that one of the so-called “smart” teams, the Rays, as performance analysis-aided as anybody in the industry, took one look at Burrell and said “DH.” Does this mean the Rays were dumb? Of course it doesn’t, especially when the Rays get -- and deserve -- credit for doing so much to improve their defense between 2007 and 2008 to aid their massive turnaround as a franchise.

So, maybe things changed for the better in 2011, right? Coghlan moved to center, while Milledge moved to the International League. You can add Ryan Ludwick of the Padres to the latest list of regulars -- he fits into the outfielders-playing-outfield group, and does it well. The Braves moved Martin Prado out of the infield because of his bad glove; according to Total Zone and Fielding Runs he remains a liability as a left fielder, while UZR and Plus/Minus think he’s just fine out there. That doesn’t sound conclusive one way or another, but it’s early yet. Maybe he’ll be the next Braun, or the next Soriano.

In the absence of any compelling trend, what might be especially interesting is that for all the talk of improvement, one thing has been damnably consistent over the past decade. Per Baseball-Reference.com, in 1990, left fielders were catching 48 percent of all fly balls. In 2000, they were catching 47 percent of all fly balls, and in 2009 they were catching 47 percent of all fly balls. Last year, with all this improving going on, left fielders caught 46 percent of all fly balls hit in their direction. So far this year it’s at 49 percent. And all of this while there are fewer balls in play as the strikeout rates keep going higher. Maybe it’s just me, but maybe the teams like the Giants and Reds and Phillies and Marlins, and perhaps now the Braves, have gone for a bat in left field, maybe they’re the ones onto something elegant and classic: putting boppers in a bopper’s slot.

Like more than a few teams, the Reds are nearing the season’s one-third mark mucking around .500, They’re closer to fifth place than first in the NL Central, but in today’s parity party, half the league is within single three-game series of the Reds.

But the Reds can’t afford to be sanguine about their lot, not when the roster has been an unsettled mess. What started off on paper as a nicely crowded selection of starting pitching options has been undermined by equal doses of injury and ineffectiveness. Homer Bailey is back on the DL with a shoulder injury, this just a few short days after Edinson Volquez was optioned to Triple-A Louisville. There’s also the problem with what their rotation will actually amount to, even in better-case scenarios. Volquez, Bailey, Mike Leake, Bronson Arroyo and Travis Wood can all be useful starting pitchers in the major leagues, but if everything goes right, aren’t they all just potentially threes and fours in a big-league rotation?

Then there’s Aroldis Chapman, on so many short lists for best candidates for the National League Rookie of the Year in March. He’s also in Louisville at the moment, and is also on the DL for shoulder trouble. Pitching coach Bryan Price is being credited with fixing a flaw in Chapman’s delivery, but a third of the way through the season the most notable thing about Chapman’s season is that he put more than a third of all batters faced on base via walks or hit batsmen.

The lineup has its own issues. Scott Rolen is off to a slow start, and neither of the shortstops is hitting. Starting left fielder Jonny Gomes has been riding pine for the past week and a half, purportedly getting the benefit of plenty of hands-on instruction from his manager. Maybe that’s so, maybe it’s window dressing, but the simple fact is their starting left fielder has been benched for some combination of Fred Lewis and Chris Heisey.

So Walt Jocketty and Dusty Baker haven’t been sitting on their hands, but the Reds should be thinking in terms of what other moves they can make to exploit their depth on the big-league roster as well as within a farm system that provides them with good alternatives. The danger of doing nothing is that they might wind up watching as the Cardinals get out too far ahead, and waiting until July to seriously reconsider their roster could only add to the challenge.

• 1. Stop messing around with Paul Janish as the starting shortstop. Last year, Janish hit .260/.338/.385 in sporadic playing time. Not shabby for a shortstop, right? Sadly, his minor-league track record suggests that isn’t what he’d do as an everyday player, and both PECOTA and ZiPS expected an OPS around .660. That’s a lot better than his extra-weak .500, but do you really want to wait on a guy who’s expected offensive output is still bad? Happily for the Reds, there’s an in-house upgrade in prospect Zack Cozart, ranked eighth among all Reds prospects before the season by Baseball America. Like Janish, Cozart gets good marks for his fielding, but also happens to bring some power to the plate, having delivered at a .282/.327/.436 clip for Louisville already, while belting 16 doubles and four homers. Power plays well in the Gap, which suggests the payoff of playing the better batter. It beats punting a lineup slot in the DH-less league by playing Janish. Just because Janish had to wait his turn to start doesn’t mean he deserves it indefinitely; these might be the Reds, but this ain’t the Politburo.
• 2. Stick with Lewis and Heisey in left, but not in a straight platoon -- if Heisey wins the job, let him. Gomes was a nice patch while he lasted and a nifty pickup off the scrap heap, but his comeback from his disappointment with the Rays was overwhelmingly a product of the league’s best home-run park after Coors Field, his defense is ghastly, and last year he hit just .257/.301/.407 vs. right-handers. The Reds don’t need a platoon DH. If they want to swap in some additional lefty power to split time with Heisey, they can always call Juan Francisco back up.
• 3. Shop a catcher, either catcher. Between Ramon Hernandez’s impending free agency after 2011 or the marketability of Ryan Hanigan’s cheap three-year, $4 million deal that still leaves him a year shy of free agency, the Reds have receivers who can interest needy shoppers at any price point. Before the year’s out, one of them is going to be in danger of losing his job to top prospect Devin Mesoraco (.296/.383/.480 at Louisville), and if the Giants had the courage to contend with a rookie catcher last year, why not the Reds this year? Admittedly, most buyers understand that Hernandez’s power will probably stay in the Gap’s cozy confines, but this is catcher we’re talking about. The Giants are the obvious match (for Hernandez in particular) in the wake of Buster Posey’s tragedy, of course, but that doesn’t make them Jocketty’s mark. Because the real objective should be …
• 4. Deal from depth to get what they need: an ace starter. Admittedly, these are few and far between, but face it, if you want to go up against the Phillies or Giants in a short series, do you want to repeat last year's rollover? Bailey is now in his fifth year on or around the big-league team, and he still hasn’t broken through. Volquez? His big year was 2008, and whether you feel he was rushed back from rehab or not, it doesn’t look like he’s about to get back to that form any time soon. Arroyo is just a variation on a theme the team already listened to with Aaron Harang -- a nice mid-rotation guy, but just that.The question is who they might be able to get. Chasing after Chad Billingsley -- and definitely not homer-prone Ted Lilly -- to exploit the Dodgers’ cash crunch might make sense, because the $35 million he’s due from 2012-2014 might look like a bargain relative to market pricing. Waiting on the White Sox to fall out or stay in the AL Central race makes sense if you rate Edwin Jackson's upside as highly as so many of his former employers have in the past. John Danks would be the better target, but he won’t come loose easily. If you want to live dangerously, pick up the phone and ask how badly the Mets would like to take some of Johan Santana’s salary off their overhead.
  
  However, assuming recent news about his shoulder is a passing concern, the Reds’ best available target could be Francisco Liriano of the Twins. Given that the Twins need a little bit of everything, perhaps offering Janish (because they don’t have a shortstop who can play shortstop), Hanigan (because he’s cheap and Joe Mauer has got to come out from behind the plate), one of the kid starters, and something talented from the low minors -- and not on the 40-man -- gets this done. If the Twins don’t bite on that, turn the conversation to Todd Frazier, and make it happen.

Christina Kahrl covers baseball for ESPN.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

Step aside, Yankees-Red Sox and Giants-Dodgers. There is a new most-heated rivalry in baseball. The Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals are no longer just NL Central rivals: They are officially blood enemies.

In closing out the Reds' 9-7 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday -- completing Cincinnati's first three-game sweep over St. Louis since 2007 -- Francisco Cordero hit Albert Pujols with an 0-2 fastball that rode a little far in. Now, the pitch wasn't that far off the plate ... maybe a couple inches. But like so many hitters these days, Pujols crowds the plate, his hands hanging over the black like a couple sides of beef. It was good purpose pitch; and as Cordero said after the game, he wasn't trying to put Pujols on base, not since he represented the tying run ... and Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman were on deck.

But in typical Tony La Russa fashion, the Cardinals starting barking. La Russa wasn't at the game as he was dealing with an eye infection, but his longtime pitching coach Dave Duncan, acting manager Joe Pettini and players on the bench didn't like their star getting hit and started yelling at Cordero. So after Cordero struck out Berkman to end it, he yelled back and pointed to the St. Louis dugout.

"They took offense to it, we took offense to it, and the soap opera continues between these guys," Pettini said. "It's always something when you come in here."

Pujols acknowledged after the game that Cordero wasn't trying to hit him, but this incident comes on the heels of last August's brawl in Cincinnati, when Brandon Phillips and Yadier Molina exchanged pleasantries that led to a bench-clearing brawl in the first inning, a brawl that led St. Louis backup catcher Jason LaRue suffering a severe concussion after getting kicked in the head by Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto.

"I know our guys," La Russa said after that game. "This is not the first time that we've been challenged. You just go up and down our roster -- we've got a bunch of guys that are very tough characters. Like I say, there's times that you beat us, we're not good enough. But you're never going to scare us and we're never going to back down."

That's definitely a typical La Russa response, and a reason his teams are often in the middle of these conflicts. La Russa does seem to believe in a certain code of conduct when it comes to pitching inside -- not that he necessarily follows that code too religiously himself. The Cardinals are second in the NL in hit batters, and while they ranked 13th last season, they're usually in the top half of the league: 13th, 8th, 8th, 3rd, 2nd, 9th, 6th, 7th, 5th and 2nd, going back to 2001.

As for the Reds and Cardinals, the sweep pushed the Reds past St. Louis and into first place. They're 9-2 over their past 11 games as they allowed more than four runs just twice over those 11 games. Scott Rolen returned to the lineup this weekend and went 7-for-15. Drew Stubbs is playing like an All-Star center fielder, hitting .282/.371/.468, with 31 runs and 13 steals in 14 attempts. Their catching duo of Ramon Hernandez and Ryan Hanigan continue to be a secret weapon, combining for eight home runs and 27 RBIs. Reds mananger Dusty Baker seems reluctant to pull the plug on Jonny Gomes, who is down to .186 and doesn't play good defense, in place of Chris Heisey, a solid defender with an .847 OPS so far in 57 at-bats.

As for the rivalry, I think it's the best in baseball. Sure, Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez aren't going to dinner together, but the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry has cooled down from its 2003-05 peak. The hate seems to come from the fans than it does the players. The Dodgers and Giants haven't been in a pennant race against each other since 2004. Those two just don't have the animosity and dislike that fuels every Reds-Cardinals game these days.

The Reds and Cardinals next meet July 4 in St. Louis. Think there may be some fireworks?

SERIES OF THE WEEK

Cubs at Red Sox, Friday-Sunday

Friday: Carlos Zambrano (4-1, 4.35) vs. Jon Lester (4-1, 3.28)
Saturday: Matt Garza (2-4, 4.17) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-3,4.64)
Sunday: Casey Coleman (1-3, 7.22) vs. John Lackey (2-5, 8.01)

The series everyone wanted to see in 2003 will finally happen as the Cubs visit Fenway Park for the first time since the 1918 World Series. The Red Sox won in six games despite hitting .186, as Babe Ruth won two games.

By one measure, Matt Garza has been the third-best pitcher in baseball this season. FanGraphs rates him third in WAR (behind Roy Halladay and Dan Haren), thanks to his 1.61 FIP, which factors in his walk rate (2.9 per nine innings), strikeout rate (11.8 per nine, best in the majors among starting pitchers) and home run rate (one in 49 2/3 innings). What Garza hasn't been doing is eliminating base hits: his .382 average on balls in play is worst in the majors. Has he been unlucky or the victim of bad defense? The Cubs do rank 29th in Defensive Efficiency and 21st in UZR, so he's not getting backed by Gold Glove-caliber defense.

After last Thursday's start, John Lackey uttered the infamous "Everything in my life sucks right now" quote in reference to his bad start and his wife's battle with breast cancer. A disappointment a year ago, Lackey's strikeout/walk ratio has deteriorated to 19/18. His ground ball percentage is a career-low 34 percent (compared to 46 percent over his career). So he's giving fewer ground balls, walking more and striking out fewer. The Red Sox will soon need to consider other rotation options.

PITCHING MATCHUP OF THE WEEK

Thursday: Justin Verlander (4-3, 2.91) vs. Josh Beckett (3-1, 1.75), Tigers at Red Sox

Beckett has allowed 10 runs in eight starts (none in his past three, although one of those was rain-shortened) and opponents are hitting .175 off him. Verlander has not struck out 10 batters in a game this season, but his opponents are batting just .175 off him. Also pay attention to this: Roy Oswalt returns from the DL to face red-hot Jaime Garcia, who is 5-0 with a 1.89 ERA for the Cardinals.

THREE SWINGS

1. One of the biggest disappointments this season has been Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman. He's been so bad that Baker brought him in for mop-up duty with a 9-2 lead in the ninth on Sunday. Chapman walked four of the five hitters he faced, giving him 20 walks in 13 innings. He may throw hard, but right now the Reds need to send him down to Triple-A to see if he can find the strike zone.

2. On a similar note, when do the Marlins pull the plug on Javier Vazquez? He's had a nice career (154 wins), but after another bad start Sunday he's 2-4 with a 7.55 ERA and looks near the end of the road. He has 24 walks and 20 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings. He's allowed 17 first-inning runs, most in the majors. The Marlins have a good team -- Logan Morrison returned this weekend and showed no ill effects from his DL stint -- but they need more production from the back of their rotation (Vazquez and Chris Volstad). How they replace Vazquez could go a long way towards them staying in the NL East race.

3. Jose Bautista is crazy awesome right now. After hitting three home runs Sunday, he's hitting an insane .368/.520/.868. "It's ridiculous, it feels like a dream right now," Bautista said after his three-homer barrage, which gives him 16 in just 32 games he's played. "Sometimes I can't really believe it myself, but I keep seeing the good pitches." His OPS+ entering Sunday's game was 266 ... which is Barry Bonds territory. Bonds holds the three best OPS+ seasons of all time, led by a 268 mark in 2002. Bautista is the best player in baseball right now.

RANT OF THE WEEK

My editor Nick Pietruszkiewicz makes a guest appearance: "I swear I watched the entire fourth quarter of the Heat-Bulls game in the time it took the Red Sox and Yankees to play a half-inning." And that's saying something since the usual NBA playoff game consists of eight timeouts in the final two minutes. (Of course, that game wasn't close, so I'm guessing the timeouts were avoided.) But that's always the problem with Yankees-Red Sox: Their. Games. Take. Way. Too. Long. Their six games this season have gone 3:07, 3:26, 2:58, 3:35, 3:26 and 3:41. And that's worth ranting about.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

The SweetSpot blog network weighs in with April's best surprises ...

Atlanta Braves
Simply put, the Braves' most pleasant surprise has been Brandon Beachy. At this time last year, Beachy was a virtually unknown prospect at Double-A Mississippi. Now he's leading the Atlanta starting staff in strikeout per nine innings (9.51) and is a prime candidate for the NL Rookie of the Month award for April. At this pace, it's going to be impossible for Mike Minor to unseat him for the fifth-starter role, regardless of his dominance in Triple-A.
--Kevin Orris. Capitol Avenue Club

Florida Marlins
It is absolutely amazing that the Marlins are just a half-game out of first place, especially considering the rough start of Hanley Ramirez (.197/.299/.250). In another amazing twist, given the shaky outfield defense that was expected of them, the Fish have the best defensive efficiency in the National League, turning almost 73 percent of balls in play into outs, and understandably have given up the fewest runs in the Senior Circuit.
--The Common Man, The Platoon Advantage

New York Mets
Though the hot starts of Ike Davis and Jose Reyes have been greatly appreciated by Mets fans, they are not necessarily surprises -- at least, not compared to Pedro Beato. A Rule 5 pick, the hard-throwing Beato began the season as the last man out of the bullpen but has quickly emerged as arguably the Mets' most reliable reliever. Through 12 innings, Beato has yet to allow an earned run, has struck out eight and boasts a 0.75 WHIP. Perhaps most impressive, the youngster is now being called upon in high-leverage, late-inning situations.
--Joe Janish, Mets Today

Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies' most pleasant surprise has been Antonio Bastardo. As Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero and Jose Contreras succumbed to injury, Bastardo emerged as a legitimate late-innings option, striking out 15 and allowing just one run in 10 1/3 innings.
--Bill Baer, Crashburn Alley

Washington Nationals
Wilson Ramos has been the Nats' pleasant (yet probably unsustainable) surprise. He is hitting a cool .375/.426/.563, while playing acceptably behind the plate, gunning down three of eight attempted base stealers. Given that he has a batting average on balls in play of around .450, he's sure to cool off a lot, but we're grateful for each additional day he keeps the corpse of Pudge Rodriguez from getting up to bat.
--Harper Gordek, Nationals Baseball

Chicago Cubs
Darwin Barney came into spring training fighting to make the roster. One month into the season, he’s a viable No. 2 hitter in the lineup and deserving of the spot on the All-Star ballot Blake DeWitt is hoarding.
--Joe Aiello, View from the Bleachers

Cincinnati Reds
The plate discipline shown by Jonny Gomes has been the most pleasant surprise, by far. Gomes has drawn 19 walks in the first month (second in the league, behind teammate Joey Votto), after walking only 39 times in the entire 2010 season. Because of Gomes' patience, his OPS remains over .900, despite a batting average hovering around the Mendoza line.
--Chad Dotson, Redleg Nation

Houston Astros
As the last-place team in the NL Central, there's been very little for the Astros to be pleasantly surprised about. But for the team that won one series in April (a distinction the Mets would rather forget), its lone pleasant surprise is Brett Wallace, who is hitting great despite having the unfortunate situation of being sandwiched between Carlos Lee and Bill Hall. He leads the team in batting average (.373), on-base percentage (.441) and slugging (.518).
--Austin Swafford, Austin's Astros 290 Blog

Milwaukee Brewers
The best surprise for the Brewers is they're 12-12 despite Zack Greinke not making a start, Corey Hart missing nearly the entire month and the bullpen leading the majors with seven losses. They can thank the hot starts of Ryan Braun (.356/.454/.689), Prince Fielder (leading the NL with 23 RBIs) and Rickie Weeks (21 runs scored).
--David Schoenfield

Pittsburgh Pirates
In five starts, Charlie Morton already has as many wins as he did in 2010, and his ERA is 60 percent lower. Don't buy into it, though. His 18:18 strikeout-to-walk ratio is highly troubling, and his .253 BABIP is completely unsustainable, even though he's getting 2.25 grounders for every fly ball so far. The Pirates will have to hope the coming regression is accompanied by a return to form for James McDonald, who has been terrible.
--The Common Man, The Platoon Advantage

St. Louis Cardinals
When the Cardinals lost ace Adam Wainwright for the season, the pressure suddenly shifted to their starting rotation. In particular, to Kyle Lohse, the righty who made only 40 starts in the two seasons since signing a hefty 4-year, $41 million contract extension. Given that from 2009-10 his ERA was indistinguishable from his strikeout rate (though, to be fair, his expected Fielding Independent Pitching was much lower), expectations were tempered. So his 2011 campaign thus far -- five Wainwright-like starts with an ERA of 1.64 -- has been the most pleasant surprise for the Cardinals. He is inducing ground balls like never before (48.6 percent) and limiting self-inflicted damage with a walk rate (1.17 walks per nine innings) that Cliff Lee would be proud of. And he's tied for fourth among NL pitchers in Wins Above Replacement.
--Matt Philip, Fungoes.net

Arizona Diamondbacks
Bright spots are fairly few and far between for the D-backs. The starting pitching has been atrocious, but the hitters have proven solid. The most shocking performance has been from Ryan Roberts, a minor league lifer who has seemingly taken over the third-base job by hitting .311/.408/.607 through 20 games. It's not a mirage. Roberts is a legitimate hitter, and as long as his defense holds up, he'll be a very productive and cheap option for the near future.
--The Common Man, The Platoon Advantage

Colorado Rockies
Where in the world did Jonathan Herrera (.317/.442/.429) come from? The 26-year-old has never really done anything like this before and is a good bet to regress. Still, he's done a terrific job of making up for the disappointing, but totally predictable, performances of Ty Wigginton (.233/.309/.383) and Jose Lopez (.143/.169/.254).
--The Common Man, The Platoon Advantage

Los Angeles Dodgers
The return -- and then some -- of Matt Kemp has been the biggest surprise. Even though he has tapered off in his past 10 games, going 10-for-41 with 15 strikeouts, he still has walked six times in that stretch and has had a superb start overall (1.072 OPS). One question is whether his walks reflect better plate discipline or the horrors of the Dodgers lineup after his spot in the order.
--Jon Weisman, Dodger Thoughts

San Diego Padres
In a month of unpleasant surprises, one exception for San Diego has been the performance of catcher Nick Hundley. After splitting duties with veterans Henry Blanco and Yorvit Torrealba the past two seasons, Hundley has assumed a larger role this year and responded. He is hitting .286/.356/.481 and providing the bulk of what little offense the Padres have been able to muster.
--Geoff Young, Ducksnorts

San Francisco Giants
The Giants' most pleasant surprise is this: They're still around .500 despite going through a month bereft of actual pleasant surprises. That's not to say the Giants haven't had good performances, but what's been good hasn't been surprising and what's been surprising hasn't been good. Pablo Sandoval shouldn't surprise anyone when he hits .330 in a month; he'll do that. Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum have played well, yes. They're good, you know. The bad surprises on the other hand: a bushel of injuries, month-long slumps from key regulars and defense that has had fans saying to each other, "You know, I don't think that fellow can really play that position."
--Otis Anderson, Bay City Ball

One of the fun aspects of the first week of the season is the quirky results we see. No, the Royals are not better than the Red Sox, but you gotta love the Royals playing exciting baseball and going 4-1.

So, here's a random scroll through some of the numbers -- mostly meaningless, of course -- that we've seen so far. All stats are entering Wednesday's games.

• Jonny Gomes leads the majors with seven walks. Gomes walked just 39 times in 573 plate appearances in 2010 (with 123 strikeouts), so I'm not sure where this plate discipline is suddenly coming from. He drew three walks off Shaun Marcum, a pitcher who had the fourth-best walk rate in the AL last season.

HOT AND COLD

Are the Red Sox this bad? Are the Rangers this good? What do you think of the Orioles and Reds?

• Go vote at SportsNation.

• Ryan Howard is hitting .412, but has zero walks. The year he hit 58 home runs (2006), Howard drew 108 walks. He drew 107 the following season, giving him a career high 17.5 percent walk rate. That fell all the way to 9.5 percent last season. His OBP, once as high as .425, was only .353 in 2010. Do pitchers simply not fear him as much anymore?
• Colby Rasmus has five walks, two strikeouts. Sticking with the plate discipline theme, Rasmus has shown positive improvement so far. He had a 148/63 SO/BB ratio last season, striking out 27.7 percent of the time. If he cuts down the strikeouts, he's going to be a big-time weapon.
• Nick Hundley leads the majors with a .533 average. Hundley actually isn't that bad of a hitter for a catcher. His 2010 line of .249/.308/.418 was pretty good for Petco Park and gave him an above-average adjusted OPS. He could be a 15-homer guy if the Padres make him an everyday catcher.
• Alex Gordon is hitting .375 with a 1.067 OPS. The former No. 2 overall pick has fizzled at the major league level and this is probably his last chance in a K.C. uniform. It's unlikely everything has suddenly clicked, but it's nice to see him off to a good start.
• The Royals lead the majors with 32 walks. In 2009, the Royals were next-to-last in walks drawn in the AL. In 2010, under new hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, they climbed to ninth. So far in 2011, Seitzer has them showing continued patience. This is good news for Royals fans, especially with more talented hitters soon arriving.
• Royals have four wins, all in their final at-bat. According to Elias, the Royals are the third team in 20 years to win their first four games in such fashion, joining the 2010 Reds and 2003 Reds. The 2010 Reds actually won their first six in their final at-bat. Hope, Royals fans, hope.
• Starlin Castro has yet to swing and miss at a pitch. He has 34 swings, according to ESPN Stats and Information. Next-best: Alberto Callaspo with 23.
• There have been 20 blown saves. That's all blown saves, not just ninth-inning ones. There have been 61 games played, so we're averaging a blown save every three games. There have been 34 saves, a ratio of 1.7 saves for every blown save. In 2010, we had 2.2 saves for every blown save, so the bullpens have been shaky early on.
• The Dodgers have hit one home run in five games. Now, four of those games came against the Giants (and the Dodgers won three of them anyway), but L.A. was 15th in the NL in homers a year ago.
• The Rays are hitting .138. They have 17 hits and have scored six runs in four losses. Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are a combined 2-for-27.
• Orioles pitchers have allowed a .152 batting average. Well, duh, they played Tampa Bay.
• The Phillies are 21st in the majors in ERA. Greatest rotation ever? Absurd. (Just kidding, Phillies fans! Just a joke. Take it easy. Your team is 3-1. They're fine. The rotation is superb.)

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter at @dschoenfield. Follow the SweetSpot blog at @espn_sweet_spot.