Joey Votto is out of the Reds lineup 3 or 4 weeks

The Reds who are battling the Pirates for the division in the NL Central but will have to do it without their slugger Joey Votto for 3 or 4 weeks after he slide into third base trying to stretch a double into a triple but will have to go under the knife for surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee. The 2010 NL MVP he continued to keep a steady pace over the last three seasons and this season he has a better average with .340 and is close to bettering his doubles high as he has 36 in 86 games and his career high is 40 but is homers are down as he had 37 in 2010 and 29 in 2011 and now has 14 this season in 2012. It will be a tough time for the Reds to keep pace with the Pirates and they will be extremely lucky if they ate within three or four games of them when Votto gets back in the lineup Tom Mehegam