While the Reds were visiting the Washington Nationals this week, the Nationals were planning a tribute to the armed forces by wearing armed forces hats through batting practice and the game on Tuesday. They got to wear them for the BP, but MLB prohibited them for the actual game. From a story on The Post Game:

This was the Nats’ first home game since 30 soldiers riding in a helicopter were killed in Afghanistan on August 6th. But Commissioner Bud Selig’s top executives stopped it from happening.

MLB says that they reserve special hat days for nation-wide tributes when all of the teams wear the same (ugly) tribute caps. Myself, I’m not exactly outraged but kind of mystified as to why MLB would go out of their way to put a stop to this recognition of the armed forces. Is there some slippery slope here that I’m not seeing? If they allowed this, would it be just a matter of time till the players were all wearing beer helmets on the field or something?

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (60-63)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	9	2
Nationals (58-63)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	7	0

Boxscore

Johnny Cueto pitched another great game Wednesday night, further cementing his status as the team’s ace pitcher. That extension he signed in the off-season is looking mighty fine right now!

Cueto pitched 8 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 5. His lone run actually came in the bottom of the 9th, after which he was promptly removed for Francisco Cordero, who got the shaky save he’s patented in his time with the Reds.

The Reds’ offense in the 2-1 win was provided by Joey Votto’s 20th home run and an RBI groundout from Ramon Hernandez. And that was enough. Cueto picked up his 9th win and his ERA now stands at 1.89. That’s right: 1.89. Not too shabby.

The Reds and the Nationals are now tied in the series and go for the series win Thursday.

I am so glad that Jay Bruce has had two weeks this season where he has been the best of the best, earning himself the Player of the Week award. From Reds.com:

Bruce, the 12th overall selection in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, led all Major League players in RBIs (15), total bases (28) and slugging percentage (1.120) last week. The 24-year-old also tied for the lead in home runs (five) and in runs scored (nine).

And his standout week didn’t end there. Bruce also ranked in the top five among NL hitters in batting average (.440), hits (11) and on-base percentage (.481). Bruce homered and drove in four runs last Monday, and he came back to hit another home run in Wednesday’s victory.

Now what I’d like from him is to hear the Player of the Season Award. Hopefully that’s what we have to look forward to in 2012.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Bats	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	9	0
Indians	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	10	0

Boxscore

As RHM mentioned, we headed to Victory Field to catch as much of the game between the Louisville Bats and Indianapolis Indians as a school-night would allow. Thankfully, we saw a little bit of offense in the hour and 30 we were there.

Chad Reineke started for the Bats and had decent results. In 5 innings, he allowed 2 runs and struck out 5. Of course, he also allowed 7 hits, which indicates either goof luck in not allowing more runs or bad luck in the defense behind him. And since most of the Reds’ best infield prospects are with the major league club or injured, I’m leaning towards the latter.

The offense was provided by lots of Bats batters, but none was more impressive than power-hitter Juan Francisco.

Francisco had what appeared to be either an accidental swing, or at least a half-hearted one, and sent a ball over the right field berm area. It was a power shot, and it looked like he barely swung. It’s the best display of his power I’ve seen. He’s almost always looked over-matched in the majors.

The rosters are set to expand for the Cincinnati Reds at the beginning of next month, but it’s hard to see who might be called up. Francisco, sure. But the only other position player who seems likely is catcher Devin Mesoraco. He went 1 for 4 on the night, but that one hit did lead to the eventual run scoring. Considering, he’s got a .291 average, a 37% on-base percentage, and is slugging .484, he might not have much left to prove in AAA, anyway.

We headed down to Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis tonight to take in a few innings of the Indians hosting the Louisville Bats and make a dinner out of ballpark food. They’ve got some pretty darn good food there, too. I recommend the rib sandwich.

Artery clogging aside, this is the view we were treated to when we first walked in to the stadium and looked straight up:

Later on we got a somewhat less rare view of Juan Francisco slapping one out of the park, and no joke, it was a slap. He hardly looked like he was trying. But the Crack Photography Staff has that photo, so I’ll let him tell the story.