Last Game
It was a most disappointing loss for the Reds yesterday afternoon at the hands of the Brewers. Homer Bailey didn’t exactly get shelled, but he wasn’t excellent either and he didn’t stick around very long. Zack Greinke for the Brewers was much better, and it showed in the final score of 8-4.

Next Game
The dreaded west coast trip begins. Without so much as a day off to adjust, the Reds go visit the San Francisco Giants this very evening. Johnny Cueto (9-3, 2.21 ERA) challenges Madison Bumgarner (9-4, 3.10 ERA). It looks like a pretty even match-up, but Bumgarner has been giving up a lot of fly balls. Maybe the Reds can capitalize on that. First pitch at 10:15 p.m. ET.

Rock the Vote
Today is the final day of All-Star voting. Joey Votto has his position tied up: in fact, he has more votes than anyone else in the NL. As of the vote tally MLB released on Tuesday, though, Brandon Phillips needed to make up about 800,000 worth of ground in order to overtake Dan Uggla. That’s not impossible, but it does need everyone to turn out and cast their ballots.

Click here to have your voice heard. You can vote 25 times per email address, and it really doesn’t take that long.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Phillips makes plays every day that make him a deserving All Star, but there’s also a reason it would be a gift: today is his birthday. Here’s the Billboard top song the day he was born: he really is the one that we love, isn’t he?

Last Game
After two series losses in a row, the Reds finally ensured a series victory last night by beating the Brewers 3-4 in the second game. Bronson Arroyo had a no-hitter through seven and a third but still got a no-decision when he suddenly lost his magic and let the Brewers tie it up in the eighth.

Fortunately, Sean Marshall and Aroldis Chapman were able to hold the Brew Crew back long enough to make Drew Stubbs’ home run in the bottom of the eighth into the winning run.

Next Game
The brooms are in hand as the team goes for the sweep this afternoon. It won’t be a walk in the park though; Homer Bailey (5-5, 4.20 ERA) takes on Zack Greinke (8-2, 2.81 ERA). Greinke is actually on a hotter streak than that even with a 1.46 ERA over his last 5 starts.

Let Me See that Tootsee Roll
Before last night, Aroldis Chapman had blown his last two save opportunities, making himself (specifically, the suitability of his particular talents to the closer role) the primary topic of conversation among Reds fans.

So, you’d expect him to be excited when he shut down the Brewers to protect the 1-run lead in the ninth inning. But did you expect him to do two forward rolls in exuberant celebration?

Dusty Baker wasn’t that excited about the demonstration of human emotion, saying, “I know he was happy, especially after that bad week, but we don’t play like that.” And some of the other players weren’t so keen on it either. Brandon Phillips said in a tweet “Great all around W tonight except for the 2 front roll flips at the end, but at least he didn’t get hurt!”

Fans are either saying, “so what? he was excited,” or “he’s broken the unwritten rules by showing up the other team and brought down the wrath of the baseball gods upon us!” It’s probably true that the Brewers will hit someone during today’s game in retribution for “being shown up” even though even they must surely realize those flips had everything to do with Chapman and nothing to do with them. With their 33-41 record and fourth-place position in the NLC, frankly, the Brewers aren’t worth showing up.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Today’s pitcher, Homer Bailey, has been the victim of the most blown saves this season with 3. If he can get the win tomorrow, maybe he’ll be doing cartwheels.

Last Game
It was the Mat Latos show in the Reds’ 1-3 win over the Brewers last night. Not only did he go complete game and eliminate the opportunity for anyone to blow his save, the .130 hitter also went 2-for-3 at the plate, posting 2 of the team’s 7 hits.

Next Game
Bronson Arroyo (3-5, 4.19 ERA) takes his turn on the mound against the Brewers’ Marco Estrada (0-3, 4.50 ERA). It will be Estrada’s first start since May thanks to a stint on the DL. First pitch at 7:10 p.m.

Stubbs Returns from DL
Drew Stubbs came off the DL for last night’s game, and he was the only guy other than Latos to contribute more than 1 hit. Baker was excited to get him into the line-up because of the spark he adds through his base-stealing. Though he only went 1-for-10 during his rehab assignment (and not getting on often has a negative impact on the running game), he was apparently just saving it up. He was 2-for-3 with a walk, 2 runs scored, and a stolen base.

Stubbs missed 8 games with a strained left oblique muscle before they put him retroactively on the 15-day DL on June 15. The Reds optioned Willy Harris to make room on the roster, which makes sense, since Harris is who they brought up when Stubbs got hurt in the first place.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
The Cardinals have strung together a 4-game win streak to pull themselves back into a tie for second in the NLC. The Pirates and Cardinals are both 2.0 games back.

Last Game
It’s pretty bad whenever the Reds lose, but losing a game and a series at home to what is arguably the worst team in the AL has a special sting to it. The Reds fell to the Twins 4-3 last night.

This loss was brought to you by the number 54 (Aroldis Chapman who blew the save AGAIN), the number 12 (Dusty Baker, who thought it would be a good idea to put Chapman in with a 1-run lead) and the letters W, T, and F.

Next Game
Tonight the Reds play host to the Milwaukee Brewers. The shaky Mat Latos (5-2, 5.20 ERA) takes the mound for the Reds. He is coming off a poor performance against the Indians last Monday. He opposes Yovani Gallardo (6-5, 4.22 ERA) who is on a much hotter streak at the moment.

Now I’m Free, Free-fallin’
The Reds:

• have lost 4 of their last 6 series
• have lost 5 of their last 6 games
• lead the second-place Pirates by only 1.0 game
• lead the third-place Cardinals by 2.0 games

There’s still plenty of time to restart the engines before they hit the ground, but pretending everything is normal isn’t going to get it done. So what’s changed? There haven’t been a lot of injuries and the offense has actually gotten better compared to those early-season games when they just couldn’t seem to push a run across even when the starter had only allowed 1 or 2.

Part of it is the starting pitching. Johnny Cueto continues to be Cy Young, but Latos has fallen back into the rough performances he was giving in April and Bronson Arroyo is handing out home runs like complimentary breath mints.

Looming larger, though, has been the relief pitching blowing saves: Chapman last night, Bill Bray on Friday, Chapman again the Tuesday before that. It may be time to reconsider the closer situation. Maybe Sean Marshall has earned another shot at it. It certainly feels like Chapman’s performance lately has been worse than the performance Marshall gave to lose the job in the first place.

Plus, many of us never really wanted Chapman in the closer role. The guy needs consistent rest, and he needs enough time in a game to use more than just his fastball, which guys are starting to hit as hard as they come in now. I know he’s on a short inning count for the season, but maybe Baker could find a spot start for him to try out the next time the flu-like symptoms come around.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
In spite of it all, Reds relievers still lead the National League in ERA (2.62) as of yesterday.

Last Game
The Reds were off yesterday to travel home from Cleveland. It’s not a very long trip, but they probably needed the day off after the shellacking the Indians gave ’em.

Next Game
The team is back in action tonight, hosting a struggling Minnesota Twins club. Homer Bailey (5-4, 4.03 ERA) defends the mound against Nick Blackburn (3-4, 7.48 ERA) at 7:10 p.m.

Reds Hall of Fame Induction Tomorrow
The Cincinnati Reds will induct its next class of Reds Hall of Fame members. The process to get in to the Reds Hall of Fame is not as convoluted as the process for getting in to Cooperstown. Fan favorite Sean Casey, for example, won his way through the doors in a simple vote of the fans.

Joining Casey will be Dan Driessen and a 19th century first baseman, John Reilly. There is a special ceremony before the game, which is probably why it’s been sold out for so long. The ceremony will also be televised, though, so tune in around 3 p.m. if you want to see it. Otherwise, first pitch is at 4:10 p.m.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Casey seemed to have a mental block about triple digits of RBI. In this 8 years with the Reds, he got to a high of 99 RBI twice but never cracked 100.