Votto's personal breakthrough leads to breakout season

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dusty Baker always does get a warm welcome upon returning to the place where he made his managerial name, and with streaking Cincinnati atop the NL Central, Monday's was even warmer than usual.

Reporters crowded into his office, asking all about Reds turning points, chemistry and secrets. Every television camera in town seemed to find him. Well-wishers called out to him from the stands during batting practice.

After enduring emotional and physical woes in 2009, Joey Votto has good reason to smile this season. (AP)

All the while, the masses were missing the man who really deserves all of the attention.

Joey Votto, the quiet first baseman who, six weeks from the finish line, has moved into position as the leading National League MVP candidate.

"If we can just get into the playoffs," Reds starter Bronson Arroyo says. "He's the NL MVP, hands down.

"His numbers are comparable to anybody, including Albert [Pujols]. He deserves it on merit no matter what team he's on, whether it wins or not. But if we can beat those guys [the Cardinals] down the stretch, I think Joey deserves it. If they come back and beat us, maybe it's a different story.

"But we're trying not to let that happen."

Scott Rolen provides these Reds with steely veteran leadership and, to borrow a basketball term, court sense. Brandon Phillips, who sparked the recent brawl by calling the Cardinals "whiny little bitches," gives them youthful energy and an edge. Jonny Gomes, Jay Bruce, Ramon Hernandez and many others set the tone with the way they grind.

But it is Votto, fast growing into the game's next superstar at 26, who provides the brawn.

Hitting third in the lineup, just ahead of Rolen, the left-handed Votto began the week positioned to make a serious run at becoming the NL's first Triple Crown winner since St. Louis' Ducky Medwick in 1937. He led the NL in batting at .323, ranked second with 86 RBI and third with 29 home runs.

He also led the NL in on-base percentage (.422) and slugging percentage (.592).

So far in 2010, he's a one-man Big Red Machine.

And what makes his story all the more remarkable is that his breakout season comes after an emotional 2009 in which he missed 31 games -- 21 from May 30-June 22 when he was disabled with depression and anxiety related to the death of his father in August 2008, and another 11 later with dizziness brought on by a respiratory infection.

Votto (as in "lotto") does not like to talk about it, which figures. He doesn't enjoy talking about himself, period.

One of his favorite things this year, aside from the winning?

"I feel like this is the hardest working team I've ever played on," he says. "We have a lot of grinders, a lot of guys who put in extra work and then sit around and talk baseball.

"I feel, as a group, we're a very hard-working team. We have a few blue-collar personalities."

For too long last year, Votto was simply blue.

"It was difficult," he says. "I was in the middle of playing well, and we were doing well when I left. The team had a good direction."

But directions change quickly in baseball. First in '09, Votto's did. Then, for a variety of reasons, the Reds' did, too. They finished 78-84, their ninth consecutive losing season.

"It was tough," Arroyo says. "For a long time, we didn't know what was going on with him. They didn't say what the reason was.

"I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, and I didn't understand how a guy can hit two home runs in a game and then go inside and start crying. It was hard for the team to understand. We didn't know about his father's death.

"You play the game like little kids -- you don't think about tragedy while you're out there. That made it hard for all of us. We depend on him. It was hard for us because we relied on him. He's such a big load, and then we weren't going to have him."

A native of Toronto and the Reds' second-round pick in the 2002 draft, Votto finished second to the Cubs' Geovany Soto in the 2008 NL Rookie of the Year balloting on the basis of hitting .297 with 24 home runs and 84 RBI in 151 games.

Despite the personal turmoil and time missed in '09, Votto still hit .322 and led the Reds in runs scored (82), total bases (266), doubles (38) and home runs (25).

But in a tough game heavy in testosterone and low on sympathy, missing time with an injury is one thing. Taking a sabbatical for some other reason? Go ask Zack Greinke or Khalil Greene about that. There is no ice pack or hot tub that will ease an aching mind. Which can leave little common ground in the clubhouse among teammates, isolating even those with a bat-rack full of talent.

"I think all of us went into this offseason worried about Joey," Arroyo says. "Can he make it through 162 games staying upbeat and be the guy we thought he could be, the guy he was?"

Happily for the Reds, that answer is being driven home with each Votto plate appearance this summer, and with each come-from-behind victory (with 35, the Fabulous Baker Boys rank third in the majors).

"We're enjoying our success this year, and we're enjoying the happier person he is," Arroyo says. "None of us know to what degree."

Maybe it's because Votto's perspective is so grounded that he was able to step back into the groove so quickly.

"The thing about Joey that's refreshing is, he's putting up numbers but he's not just filling up a stat sheet, you know what I mean?" Rolen says. "He wants to learn the game. He wants to play the game right. Run the bases. Play defense.

"There are guys who can fill the stat sheet with the best of them. He's not one of those guys."

Case in point: Votto, 6-3 and 229 pounds, also leads the NL in batting average against right-handed pitchers (.341). Yet do you know what impresses his manager the most?

"The way he approaches left-handed pitchers, the way he studies them," Baker says. "He has a great idea. I see a lot of guys look at what they're doing wrong on the video they watch. He studies what the pitchers are doing. That's what Greg Maddux did. He didn't look at what he was doing. He looked at what the hitters were doing."

Rare is the player who can combine top-shelf talent with the nimble mind of a cat burglar -- a combination that, in the right hands, can be lethal.

His final at-bat Sunday in Los Angeles, still a topic of conversation when the Reds landed here Monday, is another perfect example. With Cincinnati clinging to a 3-2 lead, the bases loaded and two outs, Votto fought back from an 0-2 hole in a 10-pitch, suitable-for-framing at-bat against Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton that climaxed with him slapping an opposite-field, two-run single.

After, of course, he went from trying to drive the ball with his first two swings (and misses) and downshifted into two-strike mode. Swinging more defensively, he tortured Broxton with four foul balls before finding a hole in left with a full-count pitch.

"I really appreciated the moment," Votto says. "I like that stuff. I don't ignore it. You only get a handful of those opportunities in a season.

"Shoot, you might only get a handful of those opportunities in your career."

Full speed ahead now, Votto is thriving in the spotlight, and the Reds are thriving with Votto. Seven of the past nine NL MVP awards have been won by Barry Bonds (four) and Albert Pujols (three). The only two exceptions since 2001 have been Philadelphia's Ryan Howard (2006) and Jimmy Rollins (2007).

Votto isn't willing to go there right now, at least not while the season is still being played and the Reds are trying to give Cincinnati its first winner in ages.

"The attention is difficult because it comes with people's expectations," Votto says. "Which isn't fair because, first of all, nobody's me. I have my own potential, my own expectations, my own goals. That's probably the downside to it. It's way too premature. It's unfair to the other candidates and it's unfair to my teammates when the focus is on one player.

"Anybody in my position would enjoy that accomplishment at the end of the season."

In the visitors' dugout, the only man aside from Roger Craig and Alvin Dark to manage San Francisco into a World Series appearance pulled the levers and pushed the buttons Monday night. Things didn't go so well, with Edinson Volquez turning in a clunker and the Reds getting stuffed 11-2.

But Baker's Reds still have won eight of their past 10 games, and the Reds are coming off their first winning series in Los Angeles since May 2004. If that continues, maybe one distant day when Baker is finished in the dugout, the welcome back he'll receive in Cincinnati will be every bit as warm as what he receives in this often chilly city by the bay.

The earnest Votto would like that very much.

"They deserve better than what we've given them," Votto says of his hometown Cincinnati fans, whose per-game average of 25,585 ranks 12th in the NL. "I'm hopeful going forward the fans will come out and support us. I think they will because I feel they think we're a different team. I think they feel we're worth watching.

"They're such a devoted fan base. I don't blame them for not coming out, because I think they're afraid of getting their heart broken again. You can only take that for so long. It's been 10 straight years.

"Hopefully this is the year we'll bring Cincinnati back to the ballpark."