The Reds have gone through many surprises in the first two months of the season. Starting with the poor offensive play of the two main aquisitions of the offseason. Starting with Ken Griffey Jr: Jr's average has hovered around the .220 mark for most of the season. Jr has the most RBI's and homers on the team, but a .220 average for a superstar of his caliber is unexceptable. Next there is Dante Bichette: As of late Dante has made a great improvement offensivly, but defensively Dante is still struggleing. Dantes struggles have given the aray of talented outfielders for the Reds an opportunity to play. Michael Tucker has benefitted greatly through the poor play of Bichette. Tucker is hitting around .300 and is faster than Bichette in the outfield, which makes you wonder why he doesnt start everyday. Another bug surprise has been the great offensive start by Barry Larkin. Barry is still hitting around a .320 even after an early injury.

So far pitching has been the problem for the Reds. The play of Steve Parris and Ron Villone has dropped off a lot since last year. The pitching all around has been terrible. The only solid pitching has been Denny Neagle and Danny Graves. Neagle had a great start and Danney Graves has continued to be solid. Graves already has 8 wins and leads the team, all out of the bullpen. With the team hovering around .500 there is some room for improvement. A trade soon by Jim Bowden would not be a surprise. Andy Ashby has been a name mentioned in the pitching department.