Jay Bruce's Career Night

By TheNaturalMevs on August 28, 2010

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As a sports fan, it gets no better than last night. To think that not only did our favorite player CRUSH three long home runs into the Moondeck in right field (all three off a left-handed pitcher), but the Reds won again convincingly and got a performance on the mound from a guy who is our supposed ace. There’s about a month to go, but the stars just may be aligning for the Reds. At least for right now, that’s what it feels like. Not to mention, Aroldis Chapman hit 105 MPH on the gun last night in Louisville and Chris Valaika hit his first career home run batting second in the order behind Jay Bruce.

Jay Bruce has been on the brink all season. While it’s been so frustrating at points, it all came to a head last night and you saw the results. Jay Bruce joins a storied list of baseball’s history. This is the equivalent of a pitcher throwing a no-hitter, and if you’re a guy who pays to see home runs like I am; this is even better.

The Reds have basically gotten to where they’re at this season without Jay Bruce ever truly heating up. He hit over .300 in the month of June, but we’ve said all along that if he ever truly gets torrid, it could be all over as far as the Cardinals chances in the NL Central race are concerned.

If Jay Bruce never hits another home run, this goes down as probably the sweetest memory in his Reds career; I’d rank it a close second to the home run he hit off Roy Halladay on June 30th to beat the Phillies. On second thought, it’s probably a coin flip towards which event was more special.

Bruce was hitting in the leadoff spot last night for the 23rd time in his big league career, and the 1st time since 2008. I think that he kept a simple approach and reacted to seeing more fastballs. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this finally be what gets Dusty baker to change his ways. It’s scary to think what might have happened if Dusty would have allowed Bruce to hit 2nd in the lineup or towards the top earlier in the season rather than using the likes of Laynce Nix, Paul Janish, and Drew Stubbs (you can throw Orlando Cabrera in there as well).

It’s simple, Bruce got pitches to hit last night and kept a simple approach. He drew a walk to lead off the game, and then hit three balls that are still flying into the right field seats.

In front of a sold out house, this was a sports zenith for Reds fan. It gets no better than last night so we hope you soaked it in.