The Reds Clinch Its First Winning Season Since 2000

Jay Bruce turned 13 the year the Reds last had a winning record.  The Reds won for the 82nd time.

"Everybody wants to go to the World Series right away but you have to have a winning season first." Dusty Baker said.  "We have that.  The next step is win the division.  After that its the playoffs."

His two home-run, four RBI performance sealed it for the Reds, backing up Bronson Arroyo, who won his 15th game for the third straight year.  He is just 2 1/3 innings shy of 200 innings.

"One of the things that I'm most proud of in my career is taking the ball every fifth day," said Arroyo.  "I don't have C. C. Sabathia stuff."

Maybe not but the slightly built Arroyo has the equivalent of a 20 win year.  The old benchmark for wins by a starting pitcher used to be 20 but that was when managers used a four man rotation.  Since going to a fifth man the number of wins is logical.  Very few pitchers win 20 games now.  There aren't a whole lot that win 15 either. Arroyo mentions Sabathia, who has 19 wins now.  He has a chance to win 20 for the first time in his career but he doesn't have a string of five straight 200 inning seasons that Arroyo has.

"He'll get 200 innings this year," Dusty Baker said.  "Fifteen wins is the model of consistency.  I'll take that."

Bruce's injury may have helped him lead the team in its five home run assault of the Diamondbacks.

Joey Votto hit his 34th of the season.  Drew Stubbs added his 17th in the second inning following Bruce.  Orlando Cabrera hit his fourth.

"The injury may have helped Bruce," Baker stated.  "Actually it made him a little calmer and slower.  Chris Heisey came in and said he was the MVP because he got hurt."

There was a young fan who was in a wheel chair before the game.  Several players including Bruce gave him a bat and was asked to hit a home run.

"It is a humbling experience to meet someone like him," Bruce said.  "It's always good to hit home runs but everytime out there, I'm trying to have an impact.  This game is humbling."

The Reds win and St. Louis 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs puts the Reds back on top of the Division by seven games.  The Cubs are mathematically eliminated by the Reds win.  The magic number is now 13.