It could be a fluke, but maybe the Reds' bats are finally starting to awaken. Perhaps they have started to complete the formula for winning which was drawn up in the offseason: bash the ball and hope the pitching is good enough.
Through the first couple of weeks, when the teams hovered around respectability, the pitching was decent most of the time but the hitting was for the most part poor. The Reds were losing games in which they were allowing 3-5 runs, which is something I don't think they should ever have expected to be able to do often and keep any hope of being successful for the season.
Then, of course, the team went into a tailspin in which the pitching was completely abysmal and the hitting was at times just as bad but never really good. Night after night for about a month it was easy to watch and wonder honestly, "How will this team ever win? They can't stop anyone from scoring, they can't manufacture runs and they don't hit consistently enough to keep up with the crooked numbers on the other side of the scoreboard."
However, during this last week (it was, of course, just one week) the team has actually shown some offensive spark. They've been knocking the ball around and out of the park (in the win Sunday they not only hit a pair of homeruns but also had 16 hits) at a high rate. Sunday it was even high enough to overcome four early Oriole runs (six total).
If the team can somehow keep mashing, perhaps they can actually finish the season in some sort of remotely respectable manner.
