Effective today as of when the online edition of Sports Illustrated went live, the major male American team sports finally have one openly gay player. Jason Collins, a 12-year veteran of the NBA, published a first-person essay in Sports Illustrated in which he came out. From that essay:

I realized I needed to go public when Joe Kennedy, my old roommate at Stanford and now a Massachusetts congressman, told me he had just marched in Boston’s 2012 Gay Pride Parade. I’m seldom jealous of others, but hearing what Joe had done filled me with envy. I was proud of him for participating but angry that as a closeted gay man I couldn’t even cheer my straight friend on as a spectator. If I’d been questioned, I would have concocted half truths. What a shame to have to lie at a celebration of pride. I want to do the right thing and not hide anymore. I want to march for tolerance, acceptance and understanding. I want to take a stand and say, “Me, too.”

Good for you, Collins! Not on the being gay part; that’s not really so much an achievement. But being the first guy to actually say it has been surprisingly difficult for what must literally be hundreds of active players.

Steam has clearly been building for a while now and the topic has come up often thanks to almost 20% of the states in the US now allowing gay marriages. In fact, I talked about this just last month when Dusty Baker was quoted in a story about the dearth of homosexual players in baseball.

I’m glad that the seal has finally been broken. Of course, I’m a little disappointed that it wasn’t an MLB player. I think that would have been something really historical to have been a part of.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (13-10)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2
Nationals (11-11)	0	2	4	0	0	0	0	2	-	8	12	0

Boxscore

It took until the fifth start of the 2013 season, but Bronson Arroyo’s evil, incompetent twin Badrroyo finally made his first appearance. Arroyo pitched six innings, allowing nine hits, six runs–five earned, while striking out two. It was a bad performance that the Reds’ offense had no hope of overcoming.

The Reds scored just one run, and that was thanks to a solo home run by Joey Votto in the fourth inning off Washington Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez was on top of his game, though, as that was the only hit he allowed over his eight innings of work. I wonder if Votto will be criticized for hitting a “wasted” home run. It’s probably not something he’s paid to do.

Arroyo was bad and the offense was bad, what else? The bullpen didn’t help matters much. JJ Hoover contributed a scoreless inning, which is nice to see. He’s been a lot more effective now that he’s not being called on to pitch every game. But Logan Ondrusek had a bad outing in the eight, allowing the Nationals to score two more runs. Other than that, he’s been much improved since returning to the majors this year.

Today the Reds will go again for their second road victory of the season. That’s right. They’ve won just one road game so far, having an away record of 1-6. They’ll hope for better luck tonight when Homer Bailey goes against Jordan Zimmerman at 7:05pm.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cubs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Reds	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	-	1	8	0

Boxscore

The Reds took the game and the series from the Cubs yesterday, but just barely.

Mat Latos was great and finally got a win for his efforts. He put in 7.0+ innings and allowed 0 runs on 4 hits and a walk. One of those hits and the walk were to the first two guys he faced in the eighth, though, so it was a good time to bring in Jonathan Broxton for three quick outs. Aroldis Chapman took over for the ninth and allowed a hit before closing it out for the save.

The pitchers were backed up with some good defense, of course. Those among us who weren’t so sure about Shin-Soo Choo in center field were all ready feel vindicated when the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo did this:

And sent one to deep center field, only to see this:

Which left Rizzo feeling like this:

Rizzo looks like of like Ryan Reynolds when he’s disappointed. In fact, he lined out to Choo 3 times yesterday.

On the other side of the innings, the Reds’ only run came from a 2-out solo shot by Todd Frazier in the sixth inning. Choo went 2-for-4 to drag down his OBP a little. Zack Cozart, Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Devin Mesoraco, and Latos also contributed hits that didn’t end up coming to anything. Votto was caught stealing for the first time this season in the first inning. Joey Votto is not paid to get caught stealing.

The win brings the Reds’ record to 13-9. With the same number of wins as the Cardinals and one more loss, the Reds are currently .5 game out of first place. They go to visit the Nationals tonight at 7:05 p.m. Bronson Arroyo (RHP, 2-1, 3.54 ERA) takes on Gio Gonzalez (LHP, 1-1, 5.85 ERA)