By this time, Reds fans have heard that injured first baseman Joey Votto made another rehab appearance today, this time in the season-ending game for the AAA Louisville Bats.

Votto went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts, in case you were wondering. He is still expected to rejoin the Reds on Tuesday, which makes sense. The season is over for the minor leagues, so there’s not anywhere else for Votto to go.

Of course, he might be with the team, but there’s still no news on when he might be activated from the disabled list. And really, that’s all that fans care about.

On the one hand, I’m very happy with how the Reds have responded to Votto’s absence.

The Reds are 32-15 since Votto last played. That is the second best record in the majors in that span.

But on the other hand, I really miss him in the lineup. At this point it seems like the team is ready to have him back whenever, but Votto doesn’t feel like he’s comfortable returning. I do want him confident in his ability to help the team, and I’d hate to see him hurt himself returning before he felt ready. Manager Dusty Baker has an excellent point on that.

“We don’t want a (Lance) Berkman situation like in St. Louis, where he goes back on the DL or something happens. We want him right, and we have a bit of a luxury the way guys are playing now where we don’t have to rush him back.”

Everybody wants him back in the lineup as soon as he’s ready, but the most important thing is to have him back, healthy and ready to dominate in the playoffs. That and seeing the fastest ascension of a player ever from A-ball to AAA to the majors.

It’s September, and the rosters have expanded. This year, the Cincinnati Reds called up reliever Logan Ondrusek, infielders Didi Gregorius and Henry Rodriguez, outfielder Denis Phipps, and catcher Devin Mesoraco. In addition, on Tuesday the team will activate left-handed pitcher Tony Cingrani.

With the exception of Ondrusek and Mesoraco, though, don’t expect the other guys to get much playing time.

“It’s a great time to learn how to play, where to play and notice mistakes,” Baker said. “If you pay attention, you learn a lot. They’re all pretty attentive young men. I explained to them some of the perils of being in the big leagues versus in the Minor Leagues.”

All four will be in the majors for the first time. And with the Reds working on wrapping up both a division title and home field advantage in the playoffs, it would be wise to use the rookies prudently. Once the Reds do clinch, I imagine the rookies will give the veterans some time off to rest up for the playoffs. Of course, all the additional players will free manager Dusty Baker up to meddle in the game more in the later innings.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (81-52)	0	0	2	0	4	0	1	2	0	9	13	1
Astros (40-92)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	9	1

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds continued their winning ways in the first game against the Houston Astros last night, beating the bottom-dwelling team 9-3.

Mike Leake started for the Reds and turned in a quality start, going 6 innings and allowing just 2 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. His good outing netted him his 7th win on the season, giving him a slight chance at joining the rest of the members of the starting rotation with at least 10 wins.

The offense took a few innings to get going against the Astros, but once they started, they didn’t stop. In the 3rd, Zack Cozart broke the scoreless tie with his 15th home run, a 2-run shot that drove in Dioner Navarro. In the 5th, Jay Bruce broke the game open with his 28th home run on the season, driving in Chris Heisey and Ryan Ludwick to make the game 6-2.

The scoring continued in the 7th inning when Brandon Phillips singled in Chris Heisey. And in the 8th, Miguel Cairo had a rare hit to drive in Scott Rolen and advance Navarro to 2nd. A couple batters later, Heisey hit a grounder that scored Navarro.

It was a game that I expected the Reds to win, even with a pitcher in Leake who has struggled at times. Really, I almost expect the Reds to sweep this series. The Astros are that bad of a team. In fact, with this win in Houston, Cincinnati now has more wins at Minute Maid Park since the All Star Break than Houston does: 4-3. That’s some ineptitude that I hope the Reds can take advantage of.

The second game of the series tonight will feature Homer Bailey going against Lucas Harrell. Harrell, who has a record of 10-9, possesses 25% of the Astros’ wins. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm EDT.

The day of Joey Votto’s return to the Cincinnati Reds may be this next week.

The Reds plan to have Joey Votto play rehab games at Single-A Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday. If all goes well, Votto will rejoin the Reds and be activated next weekend when the club plays in Houston.

Votto hasn’t played since July 15. Since then, he’s had two procedures on his knee to deal with loose cartilage. And I can’t write any more about the procedure because it starts making me a little queasy.

For the last few days, Votto has been doing baseball activities at Great American Ball Park. However, he doesn’t feel that’s enough to jump right back into the major league lineup and would like a couple games in the minors.

“Hopefully two (games), depending on how I’m feeling,” Votto said. “I’m a little apprehensive because I haven’t played in such a long time, but once I get going I’ll feel fine.”

I understand his apprehension, but I also miss seeing him in the lineup. It has been nice that the team has gone 27-13 in his absence, but there’s no player I enjoy watching more than him. His return is getting closer, though. I just hope he lays off the sliding.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cardinals (69-57)	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	11	0
Reds (77-51)	0	0	1	0	0	3	4	0	-	8	12	0

Boxscore

Eight is the magic number of runs to score to win so far in this Reds-Cardinals series. St. Louis scored 8 and won the first game, and the Cincinnati Reds scored 8 yesterday to win the second of the three-game series.

Mike Leake started for the Reds against Jaime Garcia, in what looked like a wild mis-match in favor of the Cardinals. It didn’t turn out that way.

Leake wasn’t at his best, getting hit pretty hard, but he had a stellar defense behind him and was able to limit any damage from the 10 hits he allowed. He picked up his 6th win, pitching 6 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 10 hits, walked none, and struck out 3.

By the time Leake left the game, the offense had the game well in hand. The bullpen did their part, too, though with Jonathan Broxton and J. J. Hoover both pitching scoreless innings. It may have been Broxton’s best outing as a Red, as he struck out 2 of the 4 batters he faced. He might be settling in to that 8th inning set-up role.

On the offense, the main heroes were Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce. Phillips went 3-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Bruce went 1-3 with a walk, but that one hit was big. Just seconds after Marty Brennaman complained on the radio about Bruce’s inability to hit left-handed pitchers, Bruce launched a no-doubt home run off of left-handed pitcher Garcia to give the Reds a 3-run lead they would not relinquish.

The Reds go for the series win today when Homer Bailey goes against at Adam Wainwright 1:10pom EDT.