Johnny Cueto is the Question & the Answer

By TheNaturalMevs on July 2, 2009

Johnny Cueto threw six shutout innings last night, striking out 8 Arizona hitters in improving his record to 8-4. Cueto has been so good in the first half that he is almost a lock to be the Reds lone All-Star, that is if Coco Cordero (who locked down save 19) doesn’t get a selection.

Bottom line: Cueto has Cy Young stuff on most nights. Last year he had it on some days. But he’s putting it all together this year. And teams aren’t able to hit him much. He’s got a 2.69 ERA which puts him in Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter territory.

The Reds mustered only 9 hits on the night, and the only scoring blow was a Joey Votto bloop job that scored the suddenly torrid Chris Dickerson. Dickerson’s average is up to .283 on the year; and he and Votto were the only Reds to collect multiple hits in the game.

Jerry Hairston made the play of the game at shortstop, diving in the hole and flipping to Brandon Phillips at second base to take away a hit and end an inning. And for what seems like the 100th time on the year, the Reds are back to .500 at 38-38, good enough for three games back in the NL Central.