Last Game
Last night’s game was a good ol’ fashioned blow out, the likes of which the Reds have not been the victims of the whole season. The offense managed 5 runs against Roy Halladay, which is nothing to sneeze at, but Mike Leake could do nothing to restrain the Phillies, who touched him for 7 runs in 4.1 innings.

To be fair to Leake, the Phillies line-up also got to the bullpen for another 5 runs before it was all over. In fact, there was only one inning where the Phillies didn’t score, and it was one of Leake’s. So there’s that. For those who have lost track, the final score was Reds 5, Phillies 12.

Next Game
Things don’t get too much better tonight as the series continues. The pitcher for the Phillies, Cliff Lee (LHP, 2-7, 3.83 ERA), gave up 3 home runs in his last start. Unfortunately the pitcher for the Reds, Homer Bailey (RHP, 10-8, 4.16 ERA), has been having a pretty rough time of it lately. According to the Gameday Probables page, Bailey is 1-2 with an 8.24 ERA since July 31. In that span, he’s allowed 35 hits.

Hopefully the Phillies’ batters will be tired after yesterday.

What’s Eating Homer Bailey?
Bailey had an exceptionally great July, which puts his not-so-steller August in sharp relief. Maybe if he’d been mediocre the whole way through, no one would be asking not about whether he’s hurt or fatigued. But he wasn’t, and now people are asking.

There’s an article about possible Bailey fatigue on Cincinnati.com today. Dusty Baker has been saying that he doesn’t think anything is wrong with Bailey physically because his velocity is still high. In this article, pitching coach Bryan Price agrees:

As with all the guys, we keep our fingers crossed that they stay all year. But we don’t see any signs that there’s a health issue with Homer.

Rather, he says they’re working on a “glitch” that is affecting Bailey’s release point. I guess he knows what he’s talking about, but I’d rather have an excuse to hold on to understand why Bailey is suddenly so unreliable.

To that end, I’m trying to decide whether a person could actually be fatigued without feeling bad or losing velocity. I suppose it could sneak up on you and you wouldn’t feel the difference, but what about the pitch speed? Maybe his speed *is* down. Maybe, if Bailey were 100%, he’d be throwing 98. OK, probably not.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
The Phillies are 57-65, but the Reds have lost their last 7 games to them. They’ve just had the Reds’ number. It’s kind of a relief that the Phillies are 10 games back on the wildcard.

Last Game
The Reds won walk-off style yesterday afternoon. The Cubs tied up the score at 4s in the top of the eighth, but there’s no need for extras when Xavier Paul leads off the bottom of the ninth with a triple and Ryan Hanigan singles him in.

I wonder if this made Dusty Baker feel even more justified in having Hanigan bat eighth.

The win gave the Reds 3-of-4 over the Cubs. Meanwhile, the Cardinals and Pirates were battling it out for second place. The Pirates came out the victors and now trail the Reds by 6.5.

Next Game
Tonight the Reds visit the Phillies. Mike Leake (RHP, 5-7, 4.29 ERA) is coming off that awesome complete game against the Mets, but he’s got his work cut out for him. Taking the mound for the Phillies will be Roy Halladay (RHP, 6-7, 3.80 ERA), who was injured earlier in the year and is recently doing better than his numbers indicate. First pitch at 7:05 p.m.

Still No Date for Votto’s Return
It seems like we used to have some really big star on the team, but I’ve been looking at the box scores for the last month and I can’t find anyone. Weird.

Joey Votto is participating in baseball activity again, at last, according to Reds.com. It’s been 5 weeks since the arthroscopic meniscus surgery was supposed to keep him out for 3-4 weeks. Myself, I thought he’d make it back sooner, until he suddenly ripped yet more of the cartilage and needed a follow-up procedure.

Votto is not going on the trip to Philadelphia, and no one’s prepared to say he’ll be playing in the series against the Cardinals this weekend, though that’s the early side of when he might be ready to play.

The rest of the team has been really great in his absence, and some guys who might not have gotten much attention otherwise have proven themselves. But it’s Votto whose ABs you stop anything to watch. It’s sort of sad that we’re still without them.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
The Reds had 6 errors by 6 different players in this series against the Cubs. Todd Redmond, Todd Frazier, Wilson Valdez, Jay Bruce, Zack Cozart, and Drew Stubbs each flubbed something.