"Joey Votto lined a game-winning home run to left field in his last at-bat Wednesday night, then roped a double to the top of the left field wall in his first appearance Thursday afternoon. Vintage-Votto power to the opposite field. For now at least, the technician is back on top of his game.

In a year of glaring, shrieking, five-alarm inconsistency, the Reds best player has maintained the most level head. He has been frustrated by a lack of hit-worthy pitches. He has toiled most of the summer without a bona fide slugger hitting behind him.

Brandon Phillips does noble duty at cleanup. He's not a cleanup hitter.

He has learned what it's like to receive the Reigning MVP Treatment. Votto sees lots of pitches he wouldn't feed his dog. And yet, he leads the NL in walks and on-base percentage, and is Top 10 in RBI, batting average and runs scored. It's not an MVP season. It's still very good.

Ask him to describe his season, Votto says "Improved. Frustrated. Pretty irritated at times. But I'm a better player overall.'' "