This Move, That Move, Whatever Move . . .

As the vaunted Redlegs prepared to play the Redbirds today, the team announced that Gimpy Griffey would not make the trip to Colorado, that Cody Ross's injured pinky will be stuck in ice for 15 days, and that Chris Denorfia was recalled from Lullville.

Naturally, this move has piqued the conspiracy theorists in Redlegville, and the denizens are pretty sure they saw smoke coming from the grassy knoll.

Say wha?

In the big picture this is a penny-ante move to give the team some badly needed outfield depth. All of a sudden the team is down to four roamers--Dunn, Freel, Kearns and McCracken. Two of those four (Dunn, Freel) really need a blow and McCracken's bat frightens women, children and animals . . . never mind the Redlegville denizens.

Remember: the brass wants Denorfia to get regular at-bats, which is why he was Lullville all along instead of plucking ass splinters like McCracken and Ross. But now, with slumps, fatigue and lack of depth, the timing of the move was right to bring in Denorfia because he will play--for now. By the time they head to Arizona and if Gimpy Griffey is ready, Denorfia might be sent back to Lullville.

Just because you saw smoke doesn't mean there's fire.

Yet.

A New Month, a New Mission

Mr. Redlegs had the great displeasure of watching one F. Lopez--no, it's NOT Felix Lopez, as a dumbass Washington Post scribe wrote during the Nats' series--hit into a killer DP with two-on, no-out in the series wrapper against the Astronomicals two pitches before Adam Dunn pipelined one into the right-field seats.

Losing is so infectious with the organization since 1996 that we're all gun shy, and dropping the final game of a series before entering another against a good team like the Redbirds always makes Mr. Redlegs edgy. Is a skid on the way? Back to reality? Earth to pitching staff: all members of the 1940 world champions' rotation are dead?

The good news is after a shockingly successful April, it's now a new month and a new mission.

The great Wheeler wrote a good piece in the Cincy Post late last week about the staying power of the boys but you have to wonder what will happen once they go around the league once. But May could be a very critical month. The boys play 14 at home, 14 away but look at the sked: Being 9 games over, the boys have a chance to open up some space on the plus-side of .500:

Three vs. Washington
Three vs. Pittsburgh
Six vs. Arizona
Two against Colorado
And what now seems like winnable matchups against the Philberts, Teegers and Bear Cubs.

The real donnybrook might be a bloodletting against the pesky Brewers, and avoding a nasty sweep at the hands of the Redbirds to start the month.

Anyway, without injuries, inconsistency or the return of Jim Bowden to frig up the roster trying to land another washed-up 5-tool nobody, the boys have a shot at another 17-win month, a 34-19 record going into the summer and a lot of people's mouths agape.