Last Game
Aaron Harang, once ace of the Reds rotation, pretty much took the Reds to school last night with his new team. The good guys managed only 3 hits and 1 run all evening, but Mike Leake had allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the first alone. He settled down after that, but it wasn’t enough. Final score: Reds 1, Dodgers 4.

Next Game
Speaking of former Reds’ aces: the Reds make their way to San Diego tonight where they will face one Edinson Volquez (5-7, 3.68 ERA). Mat Latos (7-2, 4.42 ERA), who was traded for Volquez before the season, will toe the rubber for the Reds. Such drama!

Latos is coming off 2 excellent complete-game outings, and the Padres are rocking a 33-50 record. On the other hand, the starters are sure to be putting pressure on themselves, and neither has proven great under pressure (see game 1 of the 2010 play-off for Volquez and the whole month of April for Latos). There’s no telling how this one might turn out.

Second place is the first loser
After the Pirates strung together their third win in a row over the Houston Astros and the Reds lost the rubber game to the Dodgers, the Reds found themselves in sole possession of second place in the central division.

The Reds have held on to first place since May 22. With the All-Star break just around the corner, maybe the Pirates will cool off while the Reds (*cough*Drew Stubbs*cough*) will get their heads together. Only, the Pirates aren’t on a terrifically hot streak: they’re only 7-3 in their last 10, and aided by a 4-game series against the Astros. The offense has got to figure things out because waiting for the Pirates to fall back to earth may not be enough.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
The Reds have finally broken the record of longest amount of time into the season before using a sixth starting pitcher. With 81 games and still going strong, the Reds broke the record held by the 1992 team who waited until the 80th game to start Keith Brown (before Brown, it had been just Jose Rijo, Tom Browning, Tim Belcher, Greg Swindell and Chris Hammond).

The next longest streak isn’t one the modern-era Reds will break: it’s held by the 1898 team, who didn’t start a sixth guy until the 148th game.

Last Game
Despite getting Joey Votto back from his knee inflammation and Zack Cozart back the day after taking a fastball to the noggin, the Reds lost last night. Reds 1, Dodgers 3.

Johnny Cueto has been the loser in his last two starts, preventing him from getting that 10th win of the season. I’m sure it’s Tony LaRussa’s fault, somehow.

Next Game
At 9:10 p.m., just as people are assembling for fireworks tonight (assuming the drought conditions haven’t cancelled them in your town), the Reds will be starting the rubber match against the Dodgers. Mike Leake (3-5, 4.12 ERA) takes on an old friend, Aaron Harang (5-5, 3.68 ERA). Harang is coming off a rough outing where he didn’t last through the sixth inning, so hopefully he’s not out of the game before I get back home.

Tipping Your Hat
Every year on the fourth of July, the topic invariable turns to the most important thing about this day: the hats that Major League Baseball has the teams wearing. The last few years they’ve been all white caps with American flag logos, but this year, they’re going with the camo logos instead.

The digital style camo in such small quantities looks a little like we’re celebrating Low Bandwidth Day. With the US ranked 12th in the world in internet speeds, that might not be too far off.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
As of last night’s loss, the Reds are now tied for first in the NLC with the Pirates.

Last Game
After trailing the Dodgers for most of the game, the Reds put together a rally starting in the sixth inning. They didn’t even score until about midnight ET, so lot of people are probably surprised to wake up to find the Reds even won, let alone with a score of 8-2.

Devin Mesoraco and Todd Frazier were the stars of the game, though Homer Baily probably deserves to be in that list too, with his 8 innings of 2-run ball. Zack Cozart took a pitch to the helmet that had him on the ground for a while, but ultimately he doesn’t seem to have sustained serious damage.

Next Game
The Reds take on the Dodgers again tonight at 10:10 p.m. ET. Johnny Cueto (9-4, 2.26 ERA) tries his hand against Chris Capuano (9-3, 2.69 ERA). With Joey Votto day-to-day with knee inflammation, Scott Rolen day-to-day with back spasms, and Cozart having just sustained a mild concussion, the Reds may be down to a 22-man roster. So far the other guys are stepping up. I just hope they can keep it up as long as they’ll have to.

Latos is your Player of the Week
There are probably other titles Reds fans would have given Latos from time-to-time this season, but after his two complete games in his last two starts, he is called Player of the Week. He had 20 strikeouts and allowed just 1 earned run per game, bringing his ERA down from 5.20 to 4.42.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Latos’s back-to-back complete games were the first since September 2006 when Aaron Harang did it. The Reds are slated to face Harang as a Dodger tomorrow.

Last Game
The Reds lost a heartbreaker to the Giants last night, 3-4. They’d tied it up in the top of the inning, but the Giants pushed the winning run across with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Jay Bruce apparently thought he was at the wall when he was really a few feet away, causing him to badly misplay the high fly ball that he ought to have caught easily. It wasn’t exactly an all-star play.

The loss earned the Reds a 2-2 split in the 4-game series against the Giants. It was better than I expected.

Next Game
The Reds head to LA to take on the Dodgers. Homer Bailey (5-6, 4.42 ERA) takes on Chad Billingsley (4-7, 4.18 ERA). Both pitchers are coming off rough outings, but Votto is day-to-day with inflammation in his knee, so I’d put Billingsley at the advantage. First pitch at 10:10 p.m.

All-Stars Among Us
The All-Star rosters were announced yesterday. Representing the Reds will be Joey Votto (voted in), Jay Bruce (selected by players), Aroldis Chapman (selected by players), and no one else (selected by manager Tony LaRussa, imagine that).

Obviously snubbed are Brandon Phillips and Johnny Cueto. Cueto wouldn’t have been eligible to pitch anyway, which is the excuse La Russa gave for not choosing him. You know…in the proud tradition of only sending the players who are likely to play to the All-Star game.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Votto is the first Reds player to be voted in as a starter to the All-Star Game since Ken Griffey, Jr. in 2007.

Last Game
Since the Reds are visiting the Giants, you might expect some “Left my Heart in San Francisco” reference, but last night it looked more like the Reds forgot to pack their defense and left the offense in Cincinnati, too. Reds lose 0-5.

Miguel Cairo was filling in for Brandon Phillips who was a late scratch due to lingering effects of the knee-to-the-head he got a couple days ago, but it was Jay Bruce and Scott Rolen who got the team’s two errors. They were going to have to do a lot better than that against Bumgarner, who took the no-hitter into the sixth before Ryan Hannigan got the one hit the Reds would end up with.

Joey Votto, the most walked guy in the universe, never sniffed first base, but Drew Stubbs, the guy who just can’t stop swinging, got on twice with walks. It was a weird game, but not in the good way. More in the “I stayed up for this?” way.

Next Game
The Reds try to get over their jetlag tonight as the series continues with the Giants. Mike “Not Quite As Bad As My Record” Leake (2-5, 4.46 ERA) faces of against Matt “I Threw A Perfect Game A Couple Weeks Ago” Cain (9-2, 2.27 ERA).

First pitch at 10:15 p.m. ET. At least I don’t have to get up for work tomorrow.

Cueto Unavailable for ASG
All-Star voting has concluded, and now all that’s left to do is choose the pitchers, find representatives from the less-fortunate teams, and fluff up a lot of pageantry with a “selection show” on Sunday, which is pretty fake, since the “selection” was all finished up last night.

One of those things is pretty easy on the NL side: Johnny Cueto is a no-brainer to represent the senior circuit. Unfortunately for NLer’s, he’s unlikely to be available. Cueto is currently scheduled to start the last Sunday before the All-Star Break, and then be right back at ’em afterward when the Reds take on the Cardinals.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
If the Reds lose tonight, it’ll be the longest losing streak of the season, at 4.