Reds' big weekend doesn't change plan

Friday night - after he had his little talk with Bryce Harper, after the Reds had come back to beat the Washington Nationals, after he had likened losing his swing to losing his wallet - that great baseball philosopher Joey Votto talked about what the Reds had to do to get back in the race.

"We have to be competitive when we're down," Votto said. "We have to always be on the attack. We need to come out with more wins. It hasn't been a very good month for us. The only way we do that is having games like tonight, over and over and over again.

"That's the only chance we have."

The Reds did it again Saturday and Sunday, competing the three-game sweep of the Nationals. The sweep came immediately after the Reds had lost 10 of 11.

The general consensus was that the Reds were a fire sale waiting to happen. Then they played probably their best three games of the season.

So does the recent surge mean anything?

Reds general manager Walt Jocketty says it doesn't change the plans short-term.

"Our plan is to be competitive as we can for as long as we can," Jocketty said. "But we're still looking at all the different alternatives. Our scouts are out looking at the other clubs. We're looking for players who might help us as well as prospects."

The Reds, off Monday, go into the three-game series in Philadelphia 22-27 and 10 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. Catching the Cardinals looks out of reach, but with the second Wild Card in each league, the Reds are five games out as far as the playoffs - with 113 games to play.

Getting back into the race is not out of the realm of possibility.

"If you look at our schedule — particularly after the All-Star break — we have a lot of games in our division and a lot of games at home," Jocketty said. "I feel confident if we play the way we're capable of, the schedule works in our favor."

For the Reds to play like they're capable, the veteran regulars — Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce — are going to have to hit. They did in the series against the Nationals.

No one was better than Todd Frazier, who hit .500 with four home runs, four doubles and seven RBI over the last week. Bruce is hitting .377 with two home runs and seven RBI in his last 13 games. Billy Hamilton and Zack Cozart contributed big hits with runners in the scoring position.

"We felt offensively we were better than our numbers," Jocketty said.

One of the things the Reds did is go all in with youth as far as pitching. Three rookies — Anthony DeSclafani, Raisel Iglesias and Michael Lorenzen — are in the rotation. For the Reds to have any hope of being competitive, all three of the above are going to have to pitch well.

The other two pitchers in the rotation, Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake, are free-agents-to-be. The Reds have to be entertaining offers for both.

But nothing is likely to happen with either anytime soon. Cueto returns to the rotation Tuesday after missing two starts with a sore elbow. Leake went 1-3 with a 6.75 ERA in May.

So it's not ideal for the team to sell in either case.

But a couple more runs like they had this past weekend and Cueto and Leake could remain for the long run.

"We think we can be competitive," Jocketty said. "Injuries took a toll on us. But we think we have talent to play better than we have."