Votto bats over .400 in stellar 2nd half

CINCINNATI — By batting .408 in the second half, Reds first baseman Joey Votto achieved something that hadn’t been done in Major League Baseball for 12 years. The last to bat .400 after the All-Star break was Ichiro Suzuki for the Mariners in 2004.

What did achieving the feat mean to Votto? Not a whole lot.

“It means the exact same thing as hitting .200 in the first half,” Votto said. “It’s like, boy, that’s kind of confusing, and I’m glad that’s over with — both sides of it. I don’t expect to hit .400. I don’t expect to hit .200. I feel like, kind of, regress back to where I feel like is a little bit more realistic for me.”

By going 1-for-4 with a fifth-inning single in Sunday’s 7-4 loss to the Cubs, Votto finished the season batting .326/.434/.550 with 29 home runs and 97 RBIs. He led the league in on-base percentage, and he was second in OPS and walks.

Remarkably, Votto was batting a paltry .213 on May 31 before returning to production levels more typical for the 2010 National League Most Valuable Player Award winner.

“I didn’t doubt that I would come back from the start,” Votto said. “I was frustrated and I was in disbelief, but I knew that physically I felt good. My mind didn’t waver. I stayed put, and I really wanted to come back from it. The only way I could have done that …

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