Stubbs showing why he was drafted No. 1

CINCINNATI The sampling is miniscule, only two games, but Drew Stubbs suddenly looks as if he is sipping from the Fountain of Aggression. For most of the season it appeared as if Stubbs wanted to inherit the earth by being meek. The swift-legged Cincinnati Reds center fielder was en route to a major-league strikeout record and the frustrating part was that he so often stood gaping at a pitch that was begging to be knocked lopsided for a called strike three. He didn't utilize his staggering speed by bunting or hitting the ball on the ground and beating out hits. Even though other than speed he is not a prototypical leadoff hitter, out of necessity because he has no other options, manager Dusty Baker uses Stubbs as his leadoff hitter. Fans screamed bloody homicide. Bench him. Send him to the minors. Trade him for a box of new baseballs and a couple of cracked bats. Suddenly, as if his twin brother showed up, Stubbs transformed himself into what the Reds hoped they would see when they drafted him no. 1 in 2006. In two games against the Atlanta Braves over the weekend, he laid down two textbook bunts, one so good that he beat it for a hit. He made two super-sensational catches, one that saved Sunday's game in the ninth inning. And he stole bases. Then on Sunday night, he turned on the first pitch of a tie game in the bottom of the ninth and sent it about 12 rows deep for a game-winning walk-off home run. While Stubbs struggled at the plate 130 strikeouts in his first 98 games he didn't take his offensive miseries to center field and made catch after catch after long runs and after the game Baker would say, "That's why he is my center fielder. What people forget is that Stubbs is only in his second full year in the majors." Stubbs shrugs off the high expectations and the lethal criticism. "It comes with the territory and I'm aware of that," he said. "I just try to do what I can to help the team win." Stubbs said he may look different at the plate, may seem more aggressive and tuned in, but that isn't the case. "I haven't changed anything," he said. "Things look easier and things look different when you have success. When you are seeing the ball and everything is moving pretty slow in the box, that's when you can put your A' swings on things. "The last few days that's been the case," he said. "When you struggle, you get a little reticent. I don't want to say you abandon your approach, because that's not the case, but you lose a little confidence and don't see the ball as well. You get away from the things that you do well when you are swinging the ball well." But Baker notices a few things, especially the two photogenic bunts he put down in one game. "He works on bunting every day. (Coach) Billy Hatcher works hard with him. It's too bad you have to work on things like that at this level, but it is something he was not asked to do in the minors." Stubbs agreed with that and said, "I was never asked to bunt much in college (Texas) or in the minors because I was more of a powr hitter." Stubbs was talking about the Reds, but he could have been talking about himself, too, when he said, "We know we haven't played our best baseball so far this year. We definitely have the pieces to the puzzle to make a run and maybe by winning two of three from Atlanta over the weekend that can be a spark for us to get hot. "We're right where we need to be and it'll be a great run to the end because I don't think anybody is going to run away with the National League Central. If we an stay right where we are, close to the top, we'll be fine at the end," he said. Baker, of course, sees the difference in Stubbs and is highly appreciative. "Stubby is really playing, on both sides of the ball," he said. "It looks as if he is feeling it and playing better and he seems to be a second-half player. Perhaps down the stretch he can play the way we've seen him play in good stretches. He is being aggressive, that's No. 1. "When you are aggressive, when you see a good pitch to hit, then good things happen and it looks as if they're starting to happen for him," added Baker. What makes Stubbs a different and difficult case to categorize is that the 6-4, 200-pound Texan has not only speed in his legs, but power in his legs and arms. With 22 homers and 30 stolen bases last year he is only the ninth player in Reds history to combine more than 20 homers with 30 or more stolen bases. And he was the only National League center fielder to do it last year and only one of two in the majors. A late force? In his last 24 games last year, when the Reds were putting away the National League Central title, Stubbs hit .350 with seven homers and 19 RBI. Those are numbers the Reds certainly could not only live with, but numbers with which they can thrive and survive.