It’s happened again. The Cincinnati Reds have sent Edinson Volquez back to the minors.

Last year, after returning from Tommy John surgery, Volquez struggled with his command and was eventually sent down to the minors to sort things out. This year is very similar to last year, although this year’s frustrations seem to be isolated primarily to the first inning. And while I prefer my idea of just having a reliever pitch the first inning and having Volquez “relieve” in the second, I guess sending him down to AAA Louisville might help, too.

The Reds made some other moves, too.

Today the Reds recalled from Louisville IF/OF Todd Frazier (#21) and LHP Matt Maloney (#56) and optioned to Louisville RHP Jordan Smith and RHP Edinson Volquez.

Frazier will be making his major league debut when he first makes an appearance.

How did Volquez take his demotion after failing to get through 3 innings in his last start?

“He took it like a man,” Baker said. “[H]e needs to go down there and get himself right. That’s why we’re doing it. It’s going to be hard to go all the way and win, if we don’t have him, a sharp Volquez. This is a temporary setback. Sometimes in this game or life period, you’ve got to take a step back to go two or three steps forward. It’s tough to take that step back. The time is now. You still got 3 1/2 months when he comes back. There are a lot of ballgames left.

There is a lot of time left, and the Reds do need their number one pitcher. But with this move and the way they’ve played recently, my confidence in their ability to repeat as NL Central champs is shaken. They’re making the road harder for themselves.

And not just a quick rinse like Mr. Redlegs, but the full 15 seconds. Pay attention kids: that’s how you avoid the dreaded flu-like symptoms.

On Monday, the Reds put Aroldis Chapman on the 15-day disabled list (well, there’s a big duh) with inflammation in his left shoulder, and replaced him by recalling Jordan Smith. A day later, they optioned third baseman Juan Francisco to AAA Louisville.

Chapman and Francisco, it turns out, were not the problem, as the Reds extended their losing streak to five tonight, getting swept by both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Indians. At least not the whole problem. They also sat Jonny Gomes today to try to get his mohawked head together, but that didn’t do it either.

So what *is* the problem? It appears to be a little of everything. One night the office can’t muster a lousy two runs, the next time the starting pitching can’t muster a lousy two innings. Here’s some bullets for ya:

• Joey “treadmill” Votto – No one beats our reigning MVP when it comes to OBP; dude’s on pace for 128 walks this season (making him a bit of a walk machine, hence the “treadmill” comment). Unfortunately, many people, including one Jonny Gomes, beat his six homers so far this year. While that’s more of a problem for his All-Star chances than an indictment of his contribution, I had to find a way to talk about Votto in this post somehow, and now didn’t seem to be the time to go into detail about his smoldering eyes.
• Bronson “Voice of Experience?” Arroyo – Say what you will about all the other stupid peripheral stuff about Arroyo (cornrows, leg kick, grunge music, supplements, Guitar Hero) the guy eats innings. He’s put away 57 of them in his nine games so far this season, which is good since the bullpen invariably needs a rest by the time his turn comes around. He’s also given up 10 home runs so far this year, which is pretty impressive in the bad way. Though not as noteworthy as the 38 bases on balls surrendered by Edinson Volquez in 51 innings pitched: now that is something special.
• The Future’s So Bright – The good news is that, after leaving the home of the team with the best record in the entirety of the majors, the Reds move on to the home of the team with the second best record in the entirety of the majors (best in the NL, but who’s counting?), so that ought to be a little easier at least.

Less than three weeks to go until Blog Jog 2011, and we’ve just hit the two mile mark in one of our training sessions. Of course, I walked more than I ran of that, but you take your victories where you can get them. Just one more mile to get to full 5k scope.

I’ve done entirely too much talking about this training regimen lately, but on weeks like these, when the team feels the need to counteract its five-game win streak, it’s nice to have something else to talk about for a minute.

If you, too, think this might be a fun diversion (though heaven help us if we’re still needing it in three weeks), you can jog, too. Go to http://reds.com/5k to register for the Redlegs Run, then email blogjog@reds.com to say you’ll be at the Blog Jog events before and/or after the run. You have to pay to be in the run, but you don’t have to pay any extra to hang with the blogging community. Cuz that’s just how we roll.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (25-21)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	0
Indians (28-15)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	-	2	5	0

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds dropped their fourth game in a row today. I don’t know about you, but it feels like at least one more than that. I mean, it feels like the Reds have equaled their previous winning streak. But if they do lose in the final game with the Cleveland Indians tomorrow, at least we’ll know they’re assured of another five-game winning streak next.

Homer Bailey was the starter for the Reds and turned in a very good outing–one more than good enough for a win. He went 7 innings, allowed just 2 runs, and struck out 4. However, the Indians have been able to completely shut down the Reds’ offense.

Joey Votto’s power outage continues, as he was 0-3 with a walk on the day. Unfortunately, he only had one at-bat with a runner on base the entire day.

Jonny Gomes also continues to struggle. He was 0-4 with three strikeouts, and he looked lost. His stint as the designated hitter for this series–ostensibly letting him focus on only hitting for a change–is turning out to be a failure. He’s swinging at terrible pitches and has no feel for the ball. His average has fallen to .171 and the Reds need him to find his bat again soon.

The sole offense came from an RBI off the bat of Scott Rolen. It gave the Reds the first lead, but most of the time, you need more than one run to win. Today, the Reds would’ve needed 3. Getting that many with a total of 4 hits is very difficult.

As mentioned above, the Reds have now lost four in a row, mirroring the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2010 drop-off after sweeping the Reds. Tomorrow, they attempt to make the Ohio Cup series respectable.