This video is actually 2 years old, but it still pretty much sums up the experience of watching the Home Run Derby.

Kudos to you if you got through the whole minute and a half. I was annoyed after 15 seconds. Plus, I have this sudden craving for chicken…

For those of you who actually enjoyed your day off of baseball yesterday by doing non-baseball things, the Home Run Derby happened. In each corner of the Derby octagon you had:

• David Wright (Mets)
• Pedro Alvarez (Pirates)
• Bryce Harper (Nationals)
• Michael Cuddyer (Rockies)
• Robinson Cano (Yankees)
• Yoenis Céspedes (Athletics)
• Prince Fielder (Tigers)
• Chris Davis (Orioles)

After round 1, we were down to Céspedes, Davis, Harper, and Cuddyer. After round 2, it was just Céspedes and Harper. I suppose I should have been rooting for Harper, seeing as I’m an NL fan, but I just can’t quite make myself get on board with someone with such an over-inflated ego. Maybe its my Midwestern sensibilities, or maybe it’s just my own over-inflated ego getting in the way. Either way, the A’s own Cuban immigrant put the hurt on young Harper in the last round, overtaking his home run total with still 5 outs to go.

Yet again this year, there was no Adam Dunn in the line-up. Dunn has more home runs so far this year than three of the four AL contenders (all but Chris Davis, who’s leading the majors with 37). He has more home runs already this year than Céspedes had all of last year. Dunn’s continued exclusion from the Home Run Derby is as unexplainable as Weird Al Yankovic never having been the musical guest on SNL. Someone in charge must not like their irreverent tone and curly hair.

Of course there weren’t any Reds, which doesn’t surprise anyone. There aren’t any home run hitters on the Reds, except for Jay Bruce. And Bruce would just hit 25 in round one only to get shut out in round two. Wouldn’t be much of a show.

Anyway, congratulations to Céspedes, and I wonder whether his win has raised his trade value. The Reds could use a left fielders with some power, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is acting on my idea to bring back Dunn.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
REds (53-42)	0	0	4	0	1	0	0	0	3	8	11	1
Braves (54-41)	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	9	0

Boxscore

After the way the Cincinnati Reds have been playing of late, it sure was nice to see them end the unofficial first half of the season with a win. The win over the Atlanta Braves also earned them a split in the series against one of the major’s best teams.

It wasn’t always a sure thing, though. Tony Cingrani started and pitched fairly well, but his defense let him down and cost him the win. Thanks to Todd Frazier losing a pop-up in the sun in the second, Cingrani ended up throwing 24 more pitches to end the inning. What should’ve been the final out to the inning resulted in a run scoring and Cingrani blowing his pitch count. He was removed after the fourth.

The bullpen held the lead. They allowed a few runs, but the lead was never in jeopardy. Speaking of, it sure was nice to see the offense create a lead and then add to it as the game continued. So often they’ve scored early and then never again. But not Sunday.

After the fiasco with Frazier allowed the Braves the early lead in the second, the Reds came right back in the third. Joey Votto doubled in Cingrani, who’d reached on a bunt. Brandon Phillips grounded out, scoring Shin-Soo Choo. And then Jay Bruce brought Votto home with his 19th home run.

Later in the game, Choo provided needed insurance runs with his 13th home run. Also, Phillips and Frazier each drove in runs in the 9th.

All in all, it was a nice last game before the All Star break. Hopefully, the offense that showed up yesterday won’t get lost driving around during the break. It’d be nice to see that Reds team from May again.

When I was doing what passes for research around here for a post a couple days ago, I noted that the Reds’ winning percentage has been getting worse, but that it was still better than the winning percentage of the first place teams of two of the divisions. Factoids like that make it kind of hard to keep perspective, so I got curious to see how the progression of the Reds’ record looked over the course of the season.

There’s a definite downward trend since May 28, but it actually wasn’t as dramatic an image as I expected. Lucky for the Reds, it takes a long time to completely undo the kind of good they did through most of May. There may still be hope for this season. Even so, I think we’re all looking forward to a relaxing All-Star Break where the Reds can’t do any more harm than they’ve already done.

UPDATE: 4:30 p.m. Just saw that the Reds disabled Ryan Hanigan (sprained left wrist), retroactive to yesterday, and promoted Corky Miller (#37). Long live the ‘stache!

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Ryan Hanigan is suffering from a sore left wrist that was so bad the other day that he couldn’t close his hand. It’s a little hard to catch a pitch without that particular skill.

Meanwhile, Devin Mesoraco is suffering from back spasms that are bad enough that he’s obviously cringing on the field. He wasn’t exactly great at throwing runners out anyway; try stopping the running game with your back locking up.

Ironically, the team that never used to think twice about wasting a roster spot on a third catcher, even when the first two were in fine shape, is reluctant to bring in a third catcher now, when one is clearly needed. I don’t even know who the emergency catcher is, and that emergency seems like a real possibility about now.

I hope it’s Joey Votto, because I think that would be amazing to see. Votto was a catcher earlier in his career, so he probably still has the skills in there somewhere. That would be a pretty damn expensive backstop, though, especially if he got hurt, as everyone is apparently doing these days.

Much more realistic is for the team to bring Corky Miller back onto the scene. The 37-year old with the signature facial hair has bailed the Reds out more than once. The only trouble is, he’s not on the 40-man roster.

So to make room, the Reds would either have to put someone on the 60-day DL (Devin and Hani are in pain, but it’s not 2-months off kind of pain) or take someone else off the 40-man roster. There are probably some guys on this list who have options, especially one of the pitchers. Pitchers currently take up 22 of the spots; the team could probably spare one, especially considering the great work Miller has done in relief for the Bats.

On the other hand, it’s been the offense, not the defense, that’s been letting the team down lately, and Corky doesn’t add much of that. Besides, that lengthy list of pitching prospects on the 40-man may need to stay there to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.

So, it’s probably the case that our two current catchers are just going to have to gut it out in the short term. It’s still nice to put up a picture of the ‘stache, though.

Two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Reds down 0-2 to the Brewers: Joey Votto takes the first pitch for a ball and sends the second pitch into center field where it is caught by Carlos Gomez.

“I guess the Reds are losing the series to the Brewers,” I say.
“No, they’re getting swept,” replies my husband.

Now, we won’t know whether the Reds actually get swept by the worst team in the NLC for another seven hours or so, but this conversation is indicative of what it feels like to be a Reds fan right now. It just feels hopeless.

It’s a strange way to feel. The Reds are still 10 games over .500. Their 50-40 record would still give them first place in the NLW and the ALC. They’ve just gotten two infielders elected starters in the All-Star games. And yet.

One reason that Reds fandom feels so bad is that, while the overall team record is still in the positive, that is mostly thanks to an outrageously good month of May. Lately the win-loss record has been heavily tipped toward the loss side. Since June 15 the team has gone just 9-13 (.409).

That kind of record over the whole season would lead to 66 wins. It’s not as bad as the Marlins, but the team we Reds fans have been watching for the last month has been a pretty stark contrast to the 18-8 (.692) team we saw in May.

Another reason that failing now feels so bad is because it’s been failure at the hands of bad teams. Before losing this series to the Brewers (37-52), they lost one to the Mariners (40-50). But losing to bad teams doesn’t entirely capture it. After all, it didn’t feel any better to lose to the Texans (53-37), Diamondbacks (47-43), or Pirates (53-36). Even beating up on the Giants (40-49) felt like it was the least they could do.

But I think the biggest reason that it feels like we’re watching a terrible team right now is because we’ve anticipated so much from the beginning. These are the defending division champs, with a highly talented, dedicated, and durable roster players in the prime of their careers. Against all odds, their manager has stopped hating walks and the Cardinals have lost all but one or two of the guys who having standing deals with the devil. This ought to be our year.

And it still could be, I guess, but it’s going to take a change in momentum. Taking one from the Brewers this afternoon wouldn’t be a bad start.