Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Cardinals (46-42)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	8	1
Reds (49-38)	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	10	1

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds finally won a 1-run game, and they did it in dramatic, walk-off fashion, thanks to left-fielder Ryan Ludwick and his just-barely home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

The journey to that exciting ending was entertaining, too. Mike Leake started and did very well, shutting out the Cardinals for the first six innings of the game. The offense had given the team the lead, too, with Jay Bruce doubling in Brandon Phillips in the 5th inning to plate the first run. Then in the next inning, Scott Rolen singled to start the inning, moved to third thanks to a single from Devin Mesoraco and a sacrifice by Mike Leake, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Zack Cozart.

When Leake went back out for the 7th, though he was suddenly not as effective. He was unable to retire anyone, giving up a solo home run to Yadier Molina and a couple other hits. Sean Marshall relieved him, but couldn’t keep the Cardinals from tying the game thanks to a safety-squeeze bunt from Rafael Furcal. Leake’s final line: 6 innings, 7 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. His 5th straight quality start.

From then on, the bullpen pitched scoreless baseball. Lodan Ondrusek, Bill Bray, Aroldis Chapman, and Sam LeCure combined for 3 shutout innings, sending the game to extras and giving the offense enough time to come back. Ludwick provided that with a solo home run on the 9th pitch of his at-bat against Victor Marte to lead off the 10th inning.

The win returns the Reds to 11 games over .500 and keeps them tied for first place with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who beat the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday.

Today, the Reds will be nationally televised again, as a part of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Jake Westbrook will start for the Cardinals, while the Reds will send out Homer Bailey to start in place of Johnny Cueto, who has a blister on his right finger. The Reds will be going for the sweep at 8:00pm EDT.

He got a chance to be the Cincinnati Reds’ full-time shortstop in 2011, but he’s spent all of 2012 in AAA. And today the Cincinnati Reds traded Paul Janish to the Atlanta Braves for some starting rotation depth.

In parts of four seasons with the Reds, from 2008-2011, Janish hit .221 with 7 homers and 70 RBIs. His fielding percentage at shortstop in 2009 was .991; in 2010, it was .981; and in 2011, it was .974. He also pitched in two games in 2009, allowing 11 earned runs in two innings, walking two and striking out three.

Janish was a fifth-round pick of the Reds in June of 2004. He’s 29 years old. He was hitting .237 this season for the Bats at the time of the trade.

How could we ever forget Janish’s pitching performance in 2009? Over the course of 2 innings, he allowed 11 runs, all earned. He struck out 3 and finished the year with a 49.50 ERA. There’s just something so awesome about position players pitching, and I greatly enjoyed Janish bullpen-saving effort.

Janish had a solid year in 2009 and finally got his chance to be a starter in 2010, but was unable to grab hold of that opportunity. I always liked the guy, and enjoyed watching his defensive prowess. My son has an autographed ball of his from the final year of Spring Training in Sarasota, Florida. Hopefully, Janish will get a chance to succeed in Atlanta.

For him, the Reds received Todd Redmond, a 27 year-old right-handed pitcher. He’s never appeared in the majors, but this year in AAA, he’s 6-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 18 starts. And he strikes out about one batter an inning, with 96 strikeouts in 105 2/3.

The Reds have used just 5 starters to this point in the 2012 season, but the odds are that is unlikely to continue. At this point, I’d be hard pressed to say who they could call up to cover for a starter out for a few starts. This trade will help that. And with shortstops Didi Gregorious and Billy Hamilton getting closer to the majors and Zack Cozart doing very well in the majors, dealing Janish was dealing from a position of strength. Overall, it seems like a trade that could benefit both teams.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cardinals (46-41)	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	9	1
Reds (48-38)	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	1	-	5	7	0

Boxscore

For the first baseball game after the All Star break, the Cincinnati Reds started their first series at home in more than two weeks and took on the St. Louis Cardinals. After that wretchedly late West Coast trip before the break, it was really nice to have baseball back.

A decent pitching duel seemed possible, with Adam Wainwright going against Mat Latos. Unfortunately, Mr. April showed up for the Reds. Latos allowed 2 runs, 4 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 5. After 5 innings, his pitch count was at 97, and he was done.

Wainwright was better than he’s been in the past, but he’s clearly not fully recovered from his Tommy John surgery. Not everybody returns to 100% from that, and his inconsistent year, coupled with Chris Carpenter out for the year and Jaime Garcia out for who knows how long, that can’t have the Cardinals feeling too good about their rotation.

The wagon-maker was strong early, allowing just 1 run and 2 hits over the first six innings, but his wheels fell off in the 7th. Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce both singled to start the inning. Ryan Ludwick bunted both runners over first the first out–a play I’m convinced was a stupid waste of an out. Then Ryan Hanigan swung at the first pitch he saw and beat out a poor underhand toss from the first baseman to Wainwright covering at first base. Both Phillips and Bruce scored on the play, giving the Reds a 1-run lead. Zack Cozart finished the scoring in the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Alfredo Simon was the pitching savior for the Reds, pitching two scoreless innings and allowing the offense time to come back. Jose Arredondo struggled to get through the 8th, having to be relieved by Sean Marshall, but the two got the job done. And Aroldis Chapman closed it out for his 12th save. Sadly, there were no somersaults afterwards.

Today, the Reds and Cardinals will go at it again, with Cincinnati sending out Mike Leake to face off against former Red Kyle Lohse. The first pitch is at 4:05pm EDT.

I missed this somehow during the All Star break, but last Friday, Rawlings filed suit against Wilson in Federal Court. This is all because of the gold on the glove that Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips uses.

Rawlings Sporting Goods created the Gold Glove Award in 1957 to give to excellent defensive baseball players. It is awarded each year to one player per position in the National and American Leagues. The trophy is a golden glove.

Gold Glove winners also get a special Rawlings baseball glove “that includes metallic gold indicia on the glove itself,” according to the federal complaint.

Phillips has a contract with Wilson to provide his gloves, and they have made a special one for him that has some gold trim on it. Obviously, this is an allusion to the Gold Glove Awards that Phillips has won. And that has angered Rawlings.

“Not only is Mr. Phillips using the infringing Wilson glove in the field during games, warm-ups, and practices, but defendant and Mr. Phillips also have promoted the very existence of the glove (and its connection to Wilson) through various channels and media,” the complaint states.

Rawlings wants Wilson enjoined from distributing any glove that contains “gold webbing, gold-colored fabrics or leather, gold lettering, gold stitching, any other metallic gold-colored material, or any other features that are confusingly similar” to Rawlings’ Gold Glove trademarks. It also seeks damages for trademark infringement, unfair competition, trademark dilution and false advertising.

It’s difficult to trademark or copyright a color, but Rawlings certainly has a case here. This lawsuit is only between the two glove makers, and Phillips is serving basically as evidence. We’ll see how this plays out, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see Phillips have to stop using those golden gloves.

After what’s felt like an eternity thanks to that 11-game West Coast trip and the All Star break, the Cincinnati Reds finally return to the land of the correct time zone to start the second half of the 2012 baseball season. On the trip, the pitching was great, but as has been the case for much of both this year and last year, the offense has been inconsistent.

Still, the Reds find themselves 9 games over .500 at 47-38 and in second place, one game behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates. They’re ahead of the third-place team, the St. Louis Cardinals, by 1.5 games, and that’s who they’ll play tonight in a battle for second place.

The second-half starts with a little over two weeks until the trading deadline. With the team having no production from the lead-off position and center field thanks to Drew Stubbs blossoming into a horrible, un-coachable baseball player, general manager Walt Jocketty has some work to do.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Fay discussed some possible trade targets yesterday. And he, like many, thinks someone to bat first in the lineup is the biggest weakness.

The question is who’s available. Philadelphia’s Juan Pierre apparently is. He’s having a decent year. He’s a rental player, which works well for the Reds since Billy Hamilton will likely be ready by 2014.

Minnesota’s Denard Span likely is available too. He’s hitting .270 with a .334 on-base this year. His career numbers are .282/.357. He under contract the next two years at $4.75 million and $6.5 million with a club option for 2015.

I want to go on the record again as saying no to Juan Pierre. He would be Willy Taveras, all over again. This Span guy could be promising, though.

Fay calls out Stubbs, as well, saying that most had assumed that a new guy would play left field. But the combination of Chris Heisey and Ryan Ludwick in left has started to come around. Ludwick, in particular, had a good June (.253/.326/.582) and, so far, a great July (.368/.368/.526). Combined, they’ve got 15 home runs and 53 RBI, which projects to a solid left-fielder over the course of the season. That’s nowhere near the black hole of suckage that Stubbs has been dropping on the field this year.

Center field and lead-off are where the Reds should target. If Jocketty can make an actual improvement there and make Todd Frazier the everyday third-baseman–sadly, Scott Rolen is done and needs to either retire or accept backup, bench duties–then the Reds’ offense would be markedly improved.

Then the team can focus on improving the next weakest link: Dusty Baker.