“I’ve been workin’ all night, man What’s a young kid gotta do to blow up

Jay Bruce hit his 7th home run of the season yesterday, a game-winning drive to the seats in right center. The home run was his fourth in four games. He’s the first Red to do that since Adam Dunn in 2008. The Reds come from behind to beat Houston 6-5, winning the must-have series and heading into a Monday day-off.

I found a great read after the game yesterday while listening to the postgame. It’s good to hear Bruce acknowledge that we’ve been here before with one of Bruce’s “rare-air moments” as Paul Daughterty refers to Bruce’s unbelievable hot streak.

“I’m feeling now like I’m ready to make the right move on the right pitch,’’ Bruce said Sunday. “In years past, if I hit home runs, I did. If I didn’t, I didn’t. I didn’t know why.’’

“Earlier in my career, I never really knew anything but that I was good at baseball,’’ he said. “Up here. everyone’s good at baseball. Still, no matter what I did, I expected more.’’ Problem was, Bruce said Sunday, he didn’t do the work needed to satisfy his expectations. He’d been good his whole life without it.

Bruce goes on to talk about a refined approach and some of the other ideologies that have made him successful thus far this year. In fact, he speaks like a ten-year veteran with one quote in the story.

“Always remember,’’ he said, “that the game doesn’t owe you anything.’’

If Bruce can keep up anything close to this production, he’ll be mentioned in conversations with the game’s elite. That’s been the hope and expectation for him all along.

It’s funny to hear Joey Votto in the post-game show talking about how he hopes that Jay Bruce has figured it out. To be honest, if he truly has his ceiling is higher than that of Votto. And it won’t even be close. And the Reds will go running away with the NL Central.