Last game
The Reds began a visit with the Washington Nationals on the wrong foot yesterday, losing 1-8. They left Bronson Arroyo out there for 6.0 innings, even though the 6 runs (5 earned) he allowed came in the second and third innings. I guess they figured there was plenty of time to make it up?

But that would require the offense to be present, and the Reds offense has been away on holiday lately. The Reds’ only run came from a solo shot by Joey Votto in the fourth inning. Hell, that was the Reds’ only HIT.

Also, the Reds had two errors. Blerg.

Next game
Tonight Homer Bailey (RHP, 1-1, 3.24 ERA) tries to make up for the disastrophe that was last night’s game when he faces off against Jordan Zimmermann (RHP, 3-1, 2.67 ERA). Bailey is coming off a no-decision against the Marlins last Sunday, while Zimmermann’s coming off a loss to the Mets.

A bad day? Or something more?
I didn’t have the stomach to watch most of last night’s game for myself. It’s just too eerie to hear cheers going up for those guys in the doppelganger uniforms at exactly the opposite times as when I would cheer. It’s like slipping into a parallel dimension or something.

But I did see some, and I wondered whether this was really just a combination of Badroyo making an appearance, the offense playing hide-and-seek, and the defense having a bad day. Could it really be a perfect storm, or are the Nationals just a superior team? After all, they do have a barely-legal who’s hitting better than Votto (OBP’s not even close, but we all know Votto’s not paid to get on base) and they were picked by ESPN to win the World Series this year.

On the other hand, the Nats were under .500 coming in to this series (10-11), and the Reds can take credit for pinning 2 of those losses on the Nationals in the first week of the season. And though the season record between these two teams is now even, the Reds still outscored them 28-18 in the four games they’ve played so far. Also, it’s April.

What to say to sound smart at the water cooler
Of the last 12 times the Reds have played the Nationals, 5 of the games went into extras.

Last game
The Reds won the day game to take the series from the Cubs. Mat Latos was great. Todd Frazier hit a 480-foot homer. The baseball gods were just generally smiling. Read the whole game wrap, complete with pictures of a sad Cub!

Next game
Tonight the Reds head to Washington DC to visit the Nationals. Bronson Arroyo (RHP, 2-1, 3.54 ERA) will be going up against Gio Gonzalez (LHP, 1-1, 5.85 ERA) at 7:05 p.m. Gonzalez was the victim of a big inning against the Mets in his last outing, so this could be a good chance for the Reds to find their bats again.

20,000 days since Frank Robinson’s big clutch day
Theoretically, at any given point in a game, a team has a certain chance of winning. And each action that a player takes can increase or decrease that percentage chance. When a player does something to increase the team’s chance of winning, he increases his Win Probability Added (WPA) stat.

20,000 days ago, Frank Robinson played the game in which he racked up the highest WPA of his career. It involved extra innings and come-from-behind walk-off awesomness. Check out a detailed retelling of the tale on The Hardball Times.

What to say to sound smart at the water cooler
Yesterday’s win marked only the sixth time in Reds’ history that the team won at least 8 games in a 10-game-or-fewer homestand. They also did it in 1912, 1924, 1966, 1975, and last year.

Last game
The Cubs were 5-12 when they rode in to Cincinnati for last night’s game, but it still took the Reds 13 innings to beat them. The Cubs got to Mike Leake early on and had a 2-0 lead by the middle of the third. Jay Bruce led off the seventh with his first home run of the season, which was followed up later by Jack Hannahan tripling in Chris Heisey to tie it up. But regulation play wouldn’t be enough to break the tie.

I started drifting in and out of sleep around the eleventh. When Luis Valbuena hit a 2-run bomb off Alfredo Simon in the top of the thirteenth, we finally decided that sleep was more important than the game. It was our loss, though, because Xavier Paul singled, Brandon Phillips doubled, Jay Bruce doubled them both in to tie it up, and finally Cesar Izturis singled in Bruce to put this one in the win column for the Reds.

Next game
There’s more action against the Cubbies tonight at 7:10 p.m. Tony Cingrani (LHP, 1-0, 1.80 ERA) takes on facial hair that’s older than him on Carlos Villanueva (RHP, 1-0, 1.29 ERA).

More things Joey Votto isn’t paid to do
Considering that Jay “The Streak” Bruce got his first home run of the season last night but it was his double that tied up the game in the thirteenth, it might be a more interesting question to discuss what Bruce is or isn’t paid to do. But that’s just not the name of the Tumblr.

If you haven’t been out to Things Joey Votto isn’t paid to do today, you’ll want to check in one more time before you forget what it was ever in reference to in the first place.

There are 8 new posts today, including 6 hilarious photoshops donated by Lion_Hanigan. She does photoshops like these every Wednesday, so check it out and if you like what you see, give her a follow.

What to say to sound smart at the water cooler
Johnny Cueto started throwing again yesterday, and he’s reporting no pain from the strained lat that put him on the DL. Sean Marshall is also coming along; he pitched one hitless inning with AAA Louisville last night. He struck out 2.

Last game
At 5:30 p.m. yesterday the Reds and Phillies took the field to complete the game from the day before. Only the bottom of the ninth needed to be played for a regulation game, so the Reds were up to bat first in front of a crowd of literally tens of people. It makes sense that people didn’t come out: it might have taken a little as one pitch to finish off the game in a walk-off, and then they would have had nothing to do till the next game started but walk around trying to find signal for their phones.

It was more than one pitch, but it was still only about 10 minutes for Zack Cozart to single, Joey Votto to walk, Brandon Phillips to reach on an error, and Jay Bruce to single in the winning run. Do those other guys count as stranded runners?

That set up the Reds to try for the sweep an hour later. This match-up didn’t look as favorable, with Mike Leake going out against a pretty hot pitcher for Philly. But the offense put the hurt on John Lannan, touching him for 6 runs in 1.2 innings. Cozart and–get this–Leake each had 3-hit games and scored 6 of the Reds’ eventual 11 runs. Meanwhile, Reds pitching held the Phils to just 2.

Next game
It’s Johnny Cueto’s turn to pitch, but he’s hurt, remember? So they’ll be sending down young Justin Freeman who initially took Cueto’s roster spot and instead bring up Tony Cingrani (LHP, 0-0, -.– ERA).

Cingrani’s really been something special in the minors, but he’s going up against another young phenom in Jose Fernandez (RHP, 0-0, 0.82 ERA). Frenandez has been crazy-good for the Marlins so far, but he won’t even be drinking age until the end of July. It could be an unpredictable game.

First pitch at 7:10 p.m.

Things Joey Votto is not paid to do
Yesterday, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Paul Daugherty told the world that Joey Votto is not paid to “get on base and score runs.” In response, Reds fans took to the Twitters during last night’s game, to list several other things that Joey Votto is not paid to do. Among them:

Joey Votto’s not paid to get hit by pitches! Right, @enquirerdoc?

— Red Reporter (@redreporter) April 17, 2013

and

Joey Votto does not get paid to do yoga in the batters box. @ctrent

— Doug Smith (@misterMRfresh) April 18, 2013

and of course

@ctrent “Joey Votto doesn’t get paid to be part of memes!”

— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) April 18, 2013

In the spirit of bandwagon jumping, we here at RHM have created the Things Joey Votto isn’t paid to do Tumblr. Go check out some of the ideas that are already out there and submit your own.

What to say to sound smart at the water cooler
With 427 wins, Dusty Baker is now the fifth winningest manager in Cincinnati Reds history, after

• Sparky Anderson (1970–1978, 863 wins)
• Bill McKechnie (1938–1946, 744 wins)
• Jack Hendricks (1924–1929, 469 wins)
• Fred Hutchinson (1959–1964, 443 wins)

He’s likely to get to #3 before this season is done. Dang, I never would have guessed that was going to happen 5 years ago.

Last game
Technically, last night’s game still isn’t over, so does it qualify as the “last game”?

Homer Bailey was just spectacular last night before the rain stopped the 0-0 game after the top of the ninth inning. He struck out 10 in his 8.0 innings of work and Aroldis Chapman put the team over the 11-K limit needed to get attendees a free pizza. Assuming they’re still doing that promotion this season.

The game will be continued at 5:30 p.m. today. If you had tickets to last night’s game, you can exchange them for tickets to tonight’s game and see both the continuation and tonight’s game. If you had tickets to tonight’s game, you can also see both the continuation and tonight’s game.

Next game
The Reds go for the sweep or the series win tonight against Philadelphia at 7:10 p.m. Mike Leake (RHP, 0-0, 6.75 ERA) tries for his first win of the season against John Lannan (LHP, 0-0, 2.77 ERA).

What is a uessi?
I don’t like to read a lot of Reds sports reporting in the legitimate media because I find the authors of it to be either unbearably smug or entirely nonsensical. In the category of “both,” there is Paul Daugherty “respectfully” disagreeing with someone who thinks it’s great how much Joey Votto walks:

That’s not to say he won’t pick it up. I’m thinking it’s just a matter of time. Dude’s a great hitter. But the notion that how he’s hitting now is somehow terrific just misses the mark, and badly.

If he were being paid $17 mil to get on base and score runs, fine. He’s not.

Votto isnt Ted Williams, who walked a lot and did everything else a No. 3 guy does. He’s not Bonds. Walking is one component of being a great hitter. uessi

Except for the people who regard walks as basepath cholesterol, I think we all can agree that walks are a universe better than outs and somewhat less thrilling than hits.

But Votto’s not swinging in a vacuum. Someone else is deciding where the pitch is going. If the ball isn’t anywhere close, he can’t hit it. So stop acting like 21 walks are all his damn fault or that they mean he’s in a damn slump because the damn pitchers are damn nibbling.

Also, what the hell does “uessi” mean? That part of the stream-of-conciousness breaks off so abruptly, I thought it might be an acronym, but the only meaning I can find for it online is that it’s apparently the Turkish word for “expontential.”

What to say to sound smart at the water cooler
Yes, if you had tickets to tonight’s game you can go to the continuation of last night’s game at 5:30. I already said that. Stop asking about it in the comments of all the Reds’ news stories and Facebook posts.