Brewers bring out the brooms, but Ortiz is still happy

[CincyRedsFan30]

Bring out the brooms
Brewers bash stumbling Reds to complete sweep

By Sean McClelland

Dayton Daily News

MILWAUKEE | Ramon Ortiz said he was ready. The doctors agreed.

But the only ones who liked what they saw from the Cincinnati Reds righthander Sunday afternoon were the Milwaukee Brewers.

No, it wasn't pretty in Miller Park and Ortiz, activated from the disabled list to take the start, now may have neck strain to accompany his groin pain after watching the Brewers rocket his offerings to every nook and cranny of the yard.

Ortiz, it seemed, brought little more than his glove to the mound as the Reds were swept out of town, 13-3, by a team that had entered the three-game series without even a two-game winning streak to its credit since the season's opening week.

"Just a bad game," Ortiz said through a pained smile. "I make a bad pitch, they hit it. A good pitch, they hit it. I don't want to think about this game right now."

With the torrid Lyle Overbay going 5 for 5 with a double and three-run homer, the Brewers also jostled Matt Belisle, Ben Weber and Joe Valentine during a 19-hit uprising that made it easy for lefty Doug Davis to go the distance and even his record (3-3).

Davis played the role of frontrunner to perfection, holding the Reds to one hit — Wily Mo Pena's pinch-hit homer in the fifth — from the second inning through the eighth.

"If he's hitting spots, he's pretty good," outfielder Adam Dunn said. "When people get him, he's leaving it over the plate. He didn't do much of that today."

So the Reds, now 3-11 on the road, ended a 2-7, three-city trip on a four-game losing streak. And they won't even have a day to lick their wounds, getting right back to work tonight in Great American Ball Park against the NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals and ace Chris Carpenter.

"The good thing about baseball is you always have tomorrow," manager Dave Miley said, reaching into his bag of bromides. "Long day out there today and this is a tough stretch, but you just have to keep playing and hope things start going our way."

But the frustration is mounting.

"We're not hitting and we're not pitching," Dunn said after going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. "It's definitely a team deal right now."

The Brewers had not scored 13 runs or pounded out 19 hits since June, 27, 2003, when they did both.

As for Overbay, it might be time to add the young Milwaukee first baseman to the list of hitters against whom a new approach is needed. With three homers, three doubles and seven RBI, he reached base in 12 of 14 plate appearances in the series.

Ortiz set the tone. Staked to a 1-0 lead, he gave up a two-run homer to Geoff Jenkins in the first, then fell apart completely in the third when six batters in a row reached base before Belisle worked out of a bases-loaded jam.

In two-plus innings, Ortiz yielded six earned runs on seven hits, walked one, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter with the bases loaded.

The good news? Ortiz, supposedly a key offseason acquisition, said his arm and legs felt fine. He had made one start for the Reds before going on the disabled list.

"I'm happy and I feel good," Ortiz said. "Everybody will be fine. This team will bounce back."

Contact Sean McClelland at 225-2408.

[redsrbetter]

"We're not hitting and we're not pitching," Dunn said after going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. "It's definitely a team deal right now."

Best quote of the year so far. At least they see it. Straight up!

[NEILYNG]

"We're not hitting and we're not pitching," Dunn said after going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. "It's definitely a team deal right now."

Best quote of the year so far. At least they see it. Straight up!

I wish moderators could see things as clearly.