Damn it’s been painful watching these Reds lately. It’s about to the point that you pray for rain, except that if you’re in the tri-state area you probably already have a couple inches of water in your basement and any more water in your yard will mean you’ll have to stop playing catch with your kid and instead start playing water polo.

So, what the hell is wrong with this team? Here’s a little info about the team’s losses this season:

An average of 3.14 runs per game, featuring only three games where the Reds scored fewer than two runs. It ain’t the offense that’s the problem here, folks.

Not that we didn’t know there’d be problems with the pitching when a third of the rotation wound up on the DL. It just hurts when pitching seemed to be such a strength of this team. Alas, it’s a big difference between Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake, and a big difference between Homer Bailey and Sam LeCure.

But take heart, Reds fans: they’re coming back. Bailey is scheduled to start on Thursday, and Leake will take the mound on Sunday. No word yet on whether they’ll be playing baseball or Marco Polo.