David Bell talks about the Reds' 12-11 loss to the Cardinals after they had a 7-run lead in the 6th inning and Ryan Lavarnway's big debut. Bobby Nightengale, Cincinnati Enquirer
Back in February when we were evaluating the Reds' chances this season, we put together a list of things that had to happen for the club to contend.
One of them was "Joey Votto has to be Joey Votto." I wrote it. My point was Votto didn't have to be to the 2017 version of Votto. But he couldn't be the 2018 version of Votto.
So far, he's been a lot more like 2018 than 2017.