"Obviously no one in the Milwaukee Brewers' clubhouse was complaining about Zack Greinke's last start, which resulted in a 7-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park.

After all, any win at that virtual house of horrors is one to be savored for the Brewers.

Still, there was a definite sense among those who have seen Greinke at his best that, more than two months into the season and six starts into his tenure with Milwaukee, the right-hander hasn't come close to being that top-of-the-rotation starter he's been in the past.

He has shown glimpses - most notably in his seven-inning, 10-strikeout start against Washington on May 25, a game in which he also hit a home run. And Greinke's 4-1 record is nothing to dismiss for someone who has yet to consistently throw his best stuff.

Until he starts stringing together dominating performances, though, observers both inside and outside the organization will continue to keep their fingers crossed that the Greinke who went 16-8 with a 2.16 earned-run average and 242 strikeouts in winning the Cy Young Award in 2009 will eventually emerge.

"He's still not that guy . Not the guy that I've seen," manager Ron Roenicke said after the win over the Reds. He watched Greinke regularly when Roenicke was coaching in Anaheim.

"I thought the (Washington game) he was. But when he's right, we're going to see consistent performances from him over a long stretch of time."

That's what the Brewers were expecting from the outset, when they traded young prospects - most notably shortstop Alcides Escobar and centerfielder Lorenzo Cain - to the Kansas City Royals for Greinke and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt last December.

That deal, combined with the trade that sent Milwaukee's top minor-leaguer, infielder Brett Lawrie, to Toronto for starter Shaun Marcum, was expected to transform what had been a subpar starting rotation into one of the best in the National League."