…because he doesn’t keep me awake at night like the other Reds relievers. Coffey helps me sleep better.

Great outing tonight by the guy that should be this team’s full-time closer. The JavaMan’s ERA is now down to 1.20. Awesome first two months of the season for the big guy.

UPDATE: Jerry Narron has confirmed that Coffey is now the Reds’ closer. Great news, and a good decision by Narron.

Is anyone else glad that, after tonight, May will be just a bad memory?

Is anyone else concerned that Eric Milton is pitching tonight? Let’s hope that he matches his last outing.

Game time is 8:05. Discuss it here.

In his blog entry from last night:

Bob Castellini was at the game, having flown in this afternoon, and he did not look real pleased when John Fay and I encountered him walking through the stands on our way to the clubhouse. Also, Wayne Krivsky was reportedly on the phone to Jerry Narron shortly after the game ended.

All that said, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if there are multiple moves made Wednesday. I don’t think it’ll measure up to the San Juan massacre of April ‘03, which saw the legendary Jimmy Anderson and Josias Manzanillo DFA’d and Brandon Larson optioned out, but it just feels like something bigger than simply optioning out Shackelford, for instance, needs to be done

So far, Shackelford is the only move made. We’ll see if there are more.

From the Enquirer:

Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall was in stable condition Tuesday night after being admitted to Mercy Hospital Fairfield earlier in the day.

Greg Ossmann, the hospital’s director of public relations and marketing, said Joe Nuxhall was admitted around 11 a.m. Tuesday. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, Nuxhall was in stable condition, Ossmann said.

Kim Nuxhall told the Hamilton Journal News that his father has double pneumonia.

All of us here at RN wish the “Old Lefthander” a speedy recovery.

Update: 6/1/06: From the Hamilton Journal. Joe will be in the hospital for a few days being treated for the pneumonia and the reoccurance of cancer, which was found on his tonsil.

AAA

Louisville 12, Scranton Wilkes-Barre 0

27 year-old Jesse Gutierrez went 2 for 5 with a 2B, and 3 RBI. The 20th round pick from the 2001 draft is now hitting .286/.367/.449 in 164 plate appearances.

28 year-old Tom Shearn pitched 5 stellar innings allowing just 1 H, 2 BB, and 0 ER. Shearn, from Briggs High School in Columbus Ohio, now has a 1.80 ERA with 26 Ks in 30 IP.

AA

Mississippi 7, Chattanooga 4

25 year-old Noochie Varner went 3 for 4 with a 2B, a HR, 3 R, and an RBI. Varner, from God’s country, Cynthiana, KY, is now hitting .321/.376/.513.

HIGH A

Fort Myers 5, Sarasota 0

20 year-old Homer Bailey had another rough outing. The 1st round pick in the 2004 Draft gave up 7 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, while striking out 3. Bailey, from La Grange, TX, now has a 3.97 ERA with 64 Ks, 21 BB, and 45 H in 56.2 IP.

LOW A

West Michigan 9, Dayton 3

20 year-old Johnny Cueto pitched 6 innings giving up 6 H, 3 ER, and 1 BB. Cueto, who signed as a undrafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2004, now has a 2.72 ERA with 31 H, 7 BB, 63 Ks, in 53 IP.

JD went to a minor league game, and saw some familiar faces — including our old friend Danny Graves. Wish I had been there.

Brandon Claussen vs. Greg Maddux. I don’t know what to make of this matchup.

I don’t want to give up on this team, because there is so much to be optimistic about. If the offense could turn it back on, the pitching has been quite good enough to make this a decent team. They just can’t put it together.

Unfortunately, it’s starting to look like the Reds are in the midst of the descent we all feared. Perhaps today is the day that they start another big winning streak.

Keep those fingers crossed, and discuss the game here. And if you’re looking to be optimistic, Red Hot Mama has ten reasons why the Reds will win tonight.

Someone explain this one to me:

The Reds have acquired veteran reliever Esteban Yan and cash from the Angels for minor league pitcher Kyle Edens.

Yan, who turns 31 next month, was designated for assignment by the Angels on Friday. He has compiled a 6.85 ERA in 13 appearances this year and is making $1.25 million.

Jerry Narron said the Reds will use Yan, who can throw in the mid-90s, as a short reliever. That means it won’t necessarily be Justin Germano getting the ax when Yan gets here tomorrow.

Edens is a non-prospect, so losing him is no big deal. Yan, on the other hand…why? He’ll be 32 next month, and his career stats are not encouraging. With that 6+ ERA, he should fit right in down there in the ‘pen.

This is a nothing deal, unless the Reds waste a ton of major league innings on Yan, and he performs as we expect. Color me concerned about that.

Marc notes that Matt Belisle has been officially placed on the 15-day DL. Justin Germano has been recalled to take his place and is available for tonight’s game. Belisle has a strained lower back.

And the bullpen gets even thinner.

UPDATE: Marc’s permalink isn’t working, for whatever reason. Here’s the link to his blog; scroll down for the Belisle post.

By Brian over at Baseball Minutia:

The mammoth bone I’m holding in my hands today is one that doesn’t get looked at often, if the skull of a mammoth was found in the dirt it could be seen as the equal to all the batting records in baseball history. The shape and the structure of the massive visage put a face on the beast, as the rate stats and counting stats do to a season and a career.

My bone is a much simpler piece, it’s not often examined, but it’s a major support piece that holds the game up.

Today’s bone is Fielding Assists for pitchers, a somewhat useless statistic, one that you won’t find in the Sunday paper or on the back of a baseball card. But nonetheless an interesting stat.

It’s not really “Reds related”, but as usual with Brian’s stuff, you’ll learn something about baseball or you’ll consider something you’ve probably never thought about before.

AAA

Louisville 9, Scranton Wilkes-Barre 1

30 year-old Earl Snyder went 3 for 4 with 2 2B, a HR, a BB, and 3 RBI. Unfortunately the 3rd baseman is now only hitting .221/.289./.429 in 178 plate appearances. 23 year-old William Bergolla went 4 for 6 with a 2B. Bergolla is now hitting a hollow .275/.297/.375. Bergolla’s problem is still poor strikezone judgement, in 157 plate appearances he has just 4 walks. Sorry Billy until you learn to walk you will remain a minor leaguer.

26 year-old Michael Gosling pitched 6 Innings giving up just 3 H, but 4 BB. Gosling did strike out 6. His ERA now sits at 4.34 with 32 Ks 47 IP with 27 BB.

AA

Mississippi 4, Chattanooga 3

27 year-old Javier Colina had a perfect day going 4 for 4 with 2 RBI. For the season he is only hitting .232/.276/.390.

22 year-old Tyler Pelland gave up just 1 ER, but 4 H and 4 BB. Pelland struck out 6. For the year he has a 3.63 ERA with 38 Ks, 32 BBs, in 58 IP.

HIGH A

Sarasota DNP

LOW A

West Michigan 6, Dayton 5

19 year-old Jay Bruce, the 1st round pick of 2005 draft went 1 for 4 with a 2B. Bruce has slumped a bit lately, for the season he is hitting .263/.315/.541. An .856 OPS is nothing to sneeze at, but the DOTF would like to see some more plate discipline to go with the extraordinary power.

From an AP Report:

Indians third baseman Aaron Boone was forced to leave the game Monday after he tumbled headfirst into the photographer’s area while chasing a flyball.

The foul pop hit by Chicago’s Juan Uribe in the third inning glanced off the edge of the dugout as Boone teetered on a railing for an instant before falling head over heels onto the concrete.

Boone’s teammates gathered around him and play was stopped for several minutes while trainer Lonnie Soloff attended to Boone, who eventually got up and walked to the dugout. He was rubbing the left side of his head and wasn’t bleeding.

Those of us here at RN hope this is nothing serious and that Aaron Boone returns to action quickly.

Here’s a game thread, but I’d bet most of you will be enjoying Memorial Day with family and friends. If you are watching the game, discuss it here.

UPDATE: I’ve updated the title of the post. Sorry about that; that’s what happens when you try to post a game thread from your Blackberry while standing on the 16th fairway.

AAA

Louisville 8, Scranton W/B 5

Chris Denorfia went 1-4 with a 3 run homer in the 5th inning giving him 5 on the season. Chris is now hitting .345/.411/.482 on the year with the Bats.

The recently acquired Joe Mays went 6 innings, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits and a walk. Joe struck out 4. His ERA is now 5.25.

AA

Mississippi 3, Chattanooga 5

The first place Lookouts got back on the winning track after dropping two straight to Tennessee following a 7-game winning streak. CF Chris Dickerson went 3-4 with 3 runs scored in the contest. He also scored 3 runs and added a double. Chattanooga’s best name, Noochie Varner also had a big night. Varner went 3-3 with a homerun and 4 runs batted in. Noochie is now hitting .311/.367/.480 with 5 homeruns and 33 rbis.

Josh Hall pitched well to move his record to a perfect 1-0 with Chattanooga (recently sent down from Louisville). Josh went 8, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits while whiffing 8.

High A

Fort Myers 5, Sarasota 0

Marland Williams went 2-3 on the day and is hitting .333 in his short tenure with the Reds farm club. He was hitting .185 in 10 games with the Tucson Sidewinders.

The strangest line of the game comes from Jim Paduch who pitched 3.2 innings, giving up 5 runs on 4 hits, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, and a homer. The odd part being that all 5 runs were unearned thanks to 3 Sarasota errors.

Low A

Dayton 3, South Bend 4

Jay Bruce belted his 10th homerun of the season during a 2-5 night that saw the Dragons give up an 8th inning run to drop yet another game. It appears Jay may warrant a move up at some point in the near future.

I wanted to point out something that JinAZ said about Edwin Encarnacion that bears repeating:

I won’t apologize for his errors, but the kid has a great future defensively. A few years from now, we’ll be singing his defensive praises.

Read the entire post, as JinAZ makes a lot of sense (as usual). Yes, Encarnacion has had some errors, but he’s also made some outstanding defensive plays this season. That’s what young players do. They’re inconsistent.

But everyone associated with the Reds says that Encarnacion is the first player on the field to work on defense, and that EdE’s work ethic is great. He’s only 23 years old! To say that the Reds should move him to 1B — as some people have suggested — is among the most foolish things ever said in the comments section here at RN.

Encarnacion will be an all-star third baseman. No question about it. People need to be patient.