Last Game
The Reds had yesterday off to finish the month of April at 11-11. Despite this lackluster start, the Reds are second in the division, 3 games behind the Cardinals.

Next Game
The Chicago Cubs come to town tonight for a 7:10 p.m. start at Great American Ball Park. The Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija is working on long rest, apparently a precaution after he’s been building up some high pitch counts. The wily Bronson Arroyo goes for the Reds.

The Road to Cairo
Miguel Cairo is eligible to come off of the disabled list now, but he hasn’t heard that’s going to happen. “I feel good, but I think I have to run the bases first,” is how he put it.

Cairo’s trip to the DL made room for Todd Frazier to join the team a couple weeks ago. Frazier has hit .385 with two walks in his 15 plate appearances since he came up on April 17. Compare that to Cairo’s .111 and one walk in 10 plate appearances before the injury.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
So far this season the Reds have spent 3 days above .500, 4 days at .500, and 17 days below .500. This has still been good enough to spend more time in second place than any other position.

Last Game
The stars were out yesterday afternoon as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 5-6. Starting pitcher Mat Latos put in another less-than-spectacular performance, and the team spent most of the game trailing. But thanks to Joey Votto, who kept the team in it by tying the score twice, and Jay Bruce, who who hit is fourth home run in four games, the Reds came out the victors.

Next Game
The Reds are off today. The Chicago Cubs come to town tomorrow and will have Jeff Samardzija facing off against the Reds’ Bronson Arroyo.

Great Moments in Questionable Marketing Decisions
Christian Moerlein Lager House, that new tap house named for the Cincinnati beer in the Banks across the street from Great American Ball Park took a big ol’ bite at the hand that feeds it this weekend by running an ad in a paper in Cincinnati, apparently pimping itself to Cubs fans. That was a dick move, Moerlein. A real dick move.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Scott Rolen’s next double will be the 505th of his career, which will tie him with Hall of Famer Tony Perez for 49th on that all-time list.

Last Game
The Cincinnati Reds had an off-day yesterday, but the day before that, they lost in the 9th and failed to sweep the Houston Astros. Mike Leake got the loss.

Next Game
This is it. Today, the first showdown in Cincinnati between the Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals. Obviously everyone will be talking about that minor fracas from last year, especially when Johnny Cueto starts. But today, Bronson Arroyo will be heading to the mound to get the Reds one game closer to first place. The Cardinals will counter with Chris Carpenter and an infinite supply of bitchy complaints. Game-time is 7:10pm EDT, and yes, the game will be televised.

Shingles? Really?!
That bad case of conjunctivitis that Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa had turned out to be something more: a case of the shingles. Because of that, he’ll be sitting out this Reds-Cardinals series.

Bench coach Joe Pettini is serving as acting manager.

“Now I’ve got to think along with Pettini,” Baker said. “I was hoping Tony would be there.”

Baker has a losing lifetime managerial record against LaRussa at 95-99. I guess he’ll have to wait until next time to try to improve that.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Last year, the Reds were 6-12 against the Cardinals. So far this year, they’re 1-2.

Last Game
The Cincinnati Reds rolled into Texas to face the Houston Astros, and the great starting pitching the Reds rediscovered in Chicago continued. Travis Wood almost made it through the 7th inning, but couldn’t get the final out and had to settle for 6 2/3 shutout innings. The strange lineup manager Dusty Baker put together–no Joey Votto and both catchers–came through and gave the Reds an easy 6-1 win.

Next Game
Homer Bailey will make his second start of the season for the Reds, and everyone would love for him to be as dominant as his first time out. The Reds will be facing Brett Myers of the Astros. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:05pm EDT, and it will be televised on FS-Ohio.

Rolen Close to a Return
Scott Rolen traveled to Houston to rejoin the team and participated in batting practice.

“It went good,” he said. “No pain, no harm, no foul, no blood. We’ll trying again tomorrow.”

He’s been on the disabled list with shoulder issues since April 24. His appearance prompted questions about his return from the disabled list and whether he’ll rehab.

“He’s been doing a lot of treatment,” Baker said. “We’ll see day-to-day. It depends on how he looks. Some guys need it and some guys don’t . . . It depends on his stroke. It depends on the person. It depends intricacies of their swing. The more moving parts you have the tougher it is.”

Given the Reds’ caution in returning banged up players to the lineup so far this year, I tend to think Rolen will still be out for a while. But considering their record without him playing–it’s not good–I can’t see the team sending him to Louisville for a rehab assignment.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Thanks to their two home runs last night–one from Travis Wood–the Reds now have the most home runs in the National League with 41.

Last Game
The Reds continued to walk the fine line between winning and losing and lost yesterday to the Marlins 9-5. The loss dropped them back to .500 at 14-14. Bronson Arroyo pitched poorly and was the loser, but he did go at least 7 innings and saved the bullpen a bit. The Reds dropped the series to Florida.

Next Game
Tonight the Reds take on the Houston Astros, the worst team in the Central, so let’s hope that’s the kick in the pants the team needs. It will be Mike Leake versus J. A. Happ at 7:10pm EDT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Ohio.

Getting Closer to Full Strength
The Reds will soon be reducing the number of their players on the disabled list.

Although it won’t be Scott Rolen, who’s eligible to be activated Friday, who continues to have issues with his shoulder.

“We don’t have a timetable, to be honest,” Reds trainer Paul Lessard said. “He’s doing real well with what we’re doing, with strengthening exercises, but I want to make sure he’s a little stronger than he is right now before we start swinging. I don’t want to aggravate what we’ve got built up.”

The offense has really struggled without him this year.

The pitching has struggled, too, but that department will get some assistance when Homer Bailey is expected to be activated in early May.

The Reds’ tentative plan is for Homer Bailey to make his first start May 10 at Houston, Bailey and manager Dusty Baker both said today.

Bailey had an excellent rehab start on Saturday, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing 1 run for the Louisville Bats. He’s scheduled for one more rehab start before returning to the Reds.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Jay Bruce has continued Aaron Harang’s “Aaron’s Aces” program and yesterday hosted 24 guests at the game from the Ohio Army National Guard and the Ohio Air National Guard.