Here’s something even Joey Votto didn’t anticipate. On December 14, it was announced that Votto was the winner of the 2010 Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s Athlete of the Year. In a year where Canada won Olympic Hockey Gold, this was huge.

“It almost would have been better if you’d given it to the national hockey team,” Votto told the Toronto Star. “I’m really honored to win this considering they won that gold medal, and Sid [Crosby] scored that goal. I was watching that game. I went bonkers, and I’m not even a hockey fan.”

The award caps the best year of Votto’s career to date. In 2010, Votto led the Reds to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. The 27-year-old Toronto native was also voted into the All-Star Game by fans (after being passed over by NL manager Charlie Manue)l, won the Hank Aaron Award and took home National League MVP honors.

“I don’t have any problem keeping track [of the awards],” Votto told the Toronto Star. “I respect every award, because you never know if it’s going to be your last … but I’m no hero. I’m just like everybody else. I work hard at what I do, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be rewarded for that hard work. I’m just like every other human being. No pedestals.”

Votto was selected for the award by a committee of sports broadcasters, columnists and editors from a list of eight finalists.

CPR12-16-2010

I just got word that MLB Network’s fine Studio 42 program will be featuring three members of the Big Red Machine on Friday night at 8:00. Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Joe Morgan will be Bob Costas’s guest on the hour-long show. I find it interesting that the program is set to air during the first night of Redsfest in Cincinnati, but DVR’s are wonderful inventions. Head to the Convention Center for a night of Redsfest, and check out three of the Big Four on the DVR when you get home.

Only a couple more months until pitchers and catchers report!

The date was July 30, 2010. The teams were the Phillies and the Reds. The pitching matchup was Roy Halladay (9-6, 2.29) vs. Aaron Harang (6-7, 5.07). Who do you think won?

If you said the Reds, you are right!

Trailing 3-0 entering the bottom of the 6th, the Reds got a leadoff homer from Joey Votto to make it 3-1. Orlando Cabrera got a 1-out single to score Ramon Hernandez in the 7th to cut it to 3-2. After striking out in the 6th, Jay Bruce hit a 2-run homer to right for a 4-3 Cincinnati lead. All of this came off of Halladay. Francisco Cordero gave up a 1-out single in the 9th, but closed it out for the save. Reds won, 4-3.

Also, this is the perfect matchup for the Reds. They don’t have to leave time zones, have off days after games 1, 2, and 4 so guys like Scott Rolen and Cabrera can stay fresh, and only have to beat the Phils 3 games instead of 4. The Phils took 5 of 7 this year, sure, but they needed a 6-run 9th and lots of extra inning games in Philly to do it. Stranger things have happened.

GAME TIME SET FOR GAME 3: MLB announced on Tuesday that the start time for Game 3 of this series in Cincinnati will be 7:07 pm.

It was one of those records that they said would never be broken. The 4,191 hits in the career of Ty Cobb. But then came along Peter Edward Rose, breaking into the major leagues in 1963. He was young and brash with a flattop haircut, like he’d just gotten out of the army. And there was the hustle. The thing that most endeared him to the Cincinnati fans was his hustle. It didn’t matter what the situation was, or the score. Pete hustled. What was meant to be a derisive nickname bestowed upon him by a member of the media, “Charlie Hustle” turned out to be his calling card and one he was most proud of.

Pete was a guy who was in the lineup almost every day, and the one thing he talked most when previewing each season’s goals was getting 200 hits. He was driven toward getting 200 hits in a season. He did it first in 1965 at age 24. Did it again the following season. In all, Pete did it 10 times over his career. The last time was for Philadelphia in 1979, the year before he won the final of three World Championships. He played in the World Series six times.

As with most athletes, it looked like age was catching up to him in 1983. His average had fallen 80 points from where it was two seasons earlier, as he mustered a .245 average in 151 games at the age of 42. The 1983 season was also the first in his career where he didn’t accumulate as many hits (121) as games played (151). Even though he hit .375 in the ’83 NLCS, and .313 in the ’83 World Series, the Phillies decided to let him go on October 19.

He finished the 1983 season with 3,990 hits, just 10 short of 4,000. He wouldn’t stop now, and he didn’t want to go to a team as a reserve player. Reaching the 4,000 hit club as a reserve player in his final year was not Pete’s style. He wanted to play every day and work toward passing Cobb’s 4,191. He found what he was looking for in Montreal. He reached a contract agreement with the Expos and took his hustle north of the border. It was the same story in Montreal as it was the year before in Philly, a .259 average and 72 hits in 95 games. His hometown team was struggling on the field and at the gate. What happened next surprised everyone.

The Reds reached a deal with Montreal, trading Tom Lawless for the once-thought-of future Hall of Famer. But Rose wouldn’t be coming just to play. He would be the manager, too. The city was electric. Local channels broke into midday programming to air the press conference announcing his return live. The Reds announced that Pete would be in the starting lineup the first night. And the fans came out. Over 35,000 made their way to the ballpark to watch Rose’s return. Pete did not disappoint. He got an RBI single in his first at-bat, and finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored in a 6-4 victory over the soon-to-be NL East Champion Chicago Cubs. The rejuvenated Rose would bat .365 over his final 26 games of the season. Needing 94 hits, he would return to chase Cobb in 1985.

He entered a September 6 weekend series at Chicago needing five hits to tie Cobb. The baseball world began to revolve around Rose. Over 150 media were assigned to follow Rose until he got the hit. The fans at Wrigley gave Rose a standing ovation when he came to bat in the top of the 1st. His last home run came off of Derek Botelho an inning later. Not only did the fans not throw the ball back, they continued to cheer him until he gave them a curtain call. Pete finished with two hits that day. It got interesting for Reds fans then. Rose didn’t play against lefthanded starters that year. Dennis Eckersley would start for the Cubs on Saturday. A lefty was supposed to start on Sunday. The Reds returned home on Monday. Could Rose get three hits vs. “The Eck?” Would he still need a couple of hits when he got home? Rose went 0-for-5 on Saturday and majority owner Marge Schott flew back to Cincinnati after the game to watch her other team on Sunday. She was a minority owner of the Bengals. Cubs manager Jim Frey made a pitching change before Sunday’s game and started RIGHTHANDER Reggie Patterson. So, there was Marge at Riverfront Stadium in a luxury suite with a radio to her ear doing a slow burn that she left Chicago. Like most fans, she didn’t want to be denied seeing “The Big Knock” in person. Rose threw a couple logs on her fire when he singled his first time up to get hit #4,190. Rose had an RBI groundout in the 3rd, but singled to tie Cobb in the 5th.

Quite honestly, to tie Cobb at Wrigley Field was poetic. For that record to be tied in a legendary ballpark that was in use in the days of Cobb was special. But Pete was Cincinnati’s son. And folks in these parts wanted to be there, wanted to share in the moment. Ironically, Pete had always gotten his milestone hits at home. #3,000 came in Cincinnati. #3,631 came in Philadelphia when he was a Phillie. #4,000 came in Montreal as an Expo. And here he was on the brink of 4,192 with at least one more at-bat at Wrigley Field. He would lead off the top of the 7th. He grounded to short. He would get another AB in the 9th. With the shadows deep in a ballpark without lights and runners on 1st and 2nd, Lee Smith struck Rose out. The next 10 Reds games were in Cincinnati. Surely he would get the hit at home.

Monday, September 9: Lefty Dave Dravecky started for San Diego. Tony Perez is starting at 1st base. Only 29,000 make their way to Riverfront. Pete doesn’t see the field that night. The Reds win 2-1 as Dave Concepcion gets a 2-out single off of Rich “Goose” Gossage to score Dave Parker in the bottom of the 9th.

Tuesday, September 10: Righty LaMarr Hoyt starts for San Diego. Pete will be in the lineup and 51,045 fill the stadium. The Reds delay the game’s start time by 20 minutes so everyone can easily be in their seats for Rose’s first plate appearance in the 1st. He pops to Garry Templeton at short. He leads off the bottom of the 4th. Rose flies out to Carmelo Martinez in left and the waiting continues. Rose popped again to Templeton in the 6th. He faced Lance McCullers in the 8th. Rose connected on a looper to left-center field, but Martinez was there and the waiting would go on another day. The Padres won 3-2.

Wednesday, September 11: 29-year-old righthander Eric Show would get the start for San Diego. 47,237 make their way to the Stadium as, again, the start time is delayed. Rose wastes no time on this night, singling on a looper to left-center that Martinez couldn’t get this time, and the celebration began. The Reds team mobbed Rose and lifted him on their shoulders. The Padres players came over to shake the new Hit King’s hand. And, as legendary announcer Ken Wilson said, “Rose has eclipsed Cobb!” Wilson and Joe Morgan then toasted Rose on camera with cans of Bud Light, a Reds TV sponsor at the time. Rose would triple in the 7th to get #4193. He scored the Reds only runs in the game as Cincinnati won 2-0 behind Tom Browning, John Franco and Ted Power. And the last out? Steve Garvey grounded wide of first, Rose grabbed it and threw to Power while falling on his backside to get the out to win the game. It was truly Pete Rose’s night.

Of course, so much has happened since that night, around Rose. The allegations of gambling on baseball as manager, the agreement to ban Rose from baseball, the pressure from Jim Gray at the unveiling of the All-Century team to admit betting on baseball, and the much-later admission of that. All of that is unfortunate. But as a player, no one got more hits or played in more wins than Rose. He even received 9.5% of the vote for admission into the Hall of Fame in 1992, despite his banishment. But we’re not going to get into that here.

Rose played the game the way it should be played. Growing up in Cincinnati, I emulated my game after his – right down to the batting stance and wearing #14. The funny thing is, I never had any luck with seeing any of Pete’s milestones in person. I was there the day after 3,000, the day before 4,000 and the day before 4,192. But I did get to watch the man play in person, and that was truly special.

Major League Baseball allowed Rose back on the field to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the milestone in Cincinnati. Special permission was asked for and granted. Many members of the Big Red Machine attended to share the moment with Pete. It was a special time during a special season. And the bat that cranked out 4192 – and the ball used – are pictured in the mural on the back of the scoreboard at Great American Ball Park. No matter where you go around Reds baseball, 4192 is never too far away.

Every Reds game will be televised for the rest of the 2010 season. Today’s afternoon game at Colorado will be aired nationally on MLB Network at 3 PM, Cincinnati time. The rest of the schedule will air on Fox Sports Ohio, except for the 9/25 game at San Diego. That game has been changed to a 4:10 start to air nationally on FOX. In addition, George Grande makes his return to the Reds broadcast booth this weekend for the three-game series vs. the Pirates.

MLB has given the Reds the go-ahead to print playoff tickets. The Reds have already sent letters out to their season ticket holders. For fans who didn’t purchase season tickets, a lottery system to get the opportunity to purchase playoff tickets has been set up through reds.com. Fans can go there to place their entry to win the opportunity to buy playoff tickets, much like what the Reds do for Opening Day.

As it stands now, Aaron Harang will get another start. Harang is scheduled to start Saturday’s game vs. Pittsburgh. He has performed poorly since coming back from injury. This could be the Reds way of giving him one last start at home as a reward for all he has done in a Reds uniform. For many seasons, the Reds pitching staff consisted of Harang and a bunch of guys named “Meat.” It would be nice to see him throw well at home.

As far as the Reds postseason pitching rotation, it looks like Edinson Volquez is leading for the fourth spot. The Reds will most likely go with a 4-man postseason rotation, which is easy to do when travel days are always factored into playoff series. Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto, and Travis Wood appear to be locks.

The Reds are also beginning to talk contract with manager Dusty Baker. Baker is a hot commodity right now, especially with Joe Torre’s contract ending in Los Angeles. Baker was always a popular player in LA, and the Dodgers may be interested. No word on what was in the Reds initial offer to Baker, although it has been mentioned that the deal is for more than one year.

It seems like every time I post something about the Reds, it’s negative. Maybe my blood gets to boiling after a disappointing loss or series and I just have to write something. But not today. Not after the Reds finished off the Cubs to win yet another series, and improve their record to 20-games over .500. Can you believe it? I’ve been covering this team since spring training began in Arizona. I knew they would be competitive – even good. I was confident that this would be the year they would break the string of nine consecutive non-winning seasons. But to have a five-game lead in the division heading into the September call-ups? I didn’t think that.

The Reds are banged up right now. Even injuries aren’t stopping them. Orlando Cabrera has been out for a while with an oblique strain. He’ll be back very soon – probably this week. Brandon Phillips saw action as a pinch-runner on Sunday. His hand continues to be troublesome. He took fielding practice before Sunday’s game and looked to still be in some pain as he shook his hand after throwing the ball. Laynce Nix has a banged up ankle, but he’s working on coming back as well.

The Brewers come to GABP this week. Righthander Aaron Harang will start on Tuesday night. It will be his first start in coming back from an injury of his own. His AAA rehab starts were less than stellar. The word was the Reds were trying to get his pitch count up to get him ready to rejoin the rotation. The stats were that he got beat up to the tune of a 9.00 ERA. Who knows what will happen on Tuesday. This is probably a tryout for the Reds postseason roster. Locks for the playoff rotation look to be Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto, and Travis Wood. I’ve heard that there might be a five-man rotation in the playoffs, but I can’t believe that. I would expect a four-man rotation with Harang, Homer Bailey, and Edinson Volquez competing for that last spot. My money’s on Bailey, who starts on Monday.

How amazing is the reaction going to be when MLB announces that the Reds have permission to print playoff tickets? Reds fans have almost forgotten how it feels for playoff tickets to go on sale. The last playoff game in Cincinnati was a 1-game playoff with the Mets at the end of the 1999 season. (Thank you Al Leiter for ruining that night for the home team.) The last playoff series was the 1995 NLCS with the Atlanta Braves, which went largely unnoticed in the aftermath of the 1994 players strike. I notice the networks are testing new camera angles and using more cameras during Reds home games. It looks like a dress rehearsal/practice for the production crew. I am loving the blimp shots during the games.

My magic number for this team is seven. Seven more wins gives the Reds 82 and ends the nine-season consecutive non-winning streak for this franchise. The real magic number, though, is 29. Any combination of Reds wins and Cardinals losses totalling 29, and Cincinnati will clinch their first Division Title in 15 years. The Reds travel to St. Louis this weekend for the last games of 2010 between the teams. St. Louis has had the Reds number this year, but the Reds will have the division lead entering the series with the knowledge that they quickly grew that lead immediately after the last series and on the dreaded west coast trip. Regardless of how this season ends, kudos to Walt Jocketty and Dusty Baker for getting the most out of this team and reminding all fans around Reds Country why we love baseball in the first place.

The Cardinals have come to Cincinnati and have shown the Reds how far they truly have to go to be ready for the national spotlight. The Reds came into the series brashly behind their trash-talking, Chad Ochocinco-esque, second baseman, Brandon Phillips. Phillips went on an I-hate-the-Cardinals rant before Monday’s game to Hall of Fame writer Hal McCoy that was worthy of legend. Off-color language. Hatred. No problem here. I hate the Cardinals, too. Tony LaRussa makes me nuts. But, the failure of the Cincinnati team to stay focused under such emotion has exposed the weakness of this team. And it’s a strength of the Cardinals.

The Reds looked a little lost in their 7-3 loss on Monday. Tuesday, they wanted to make a statement. It didn’t come off quite as planned. Phillips tapped the shin guard of St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina as he came to the plate in the first inning. Molina didn’t appreciate the buddy tap from a guy who called him and his teammates the b-word as early as that afternoon, and told him about it. Benches and bullpens emptied. Molina was being held back by the Reds Scott Rolen, who was seen saying, “I know… I know,” to Molina. Then Chris Carpenter, who didn’t have much nice to say about his own team Monday, appeared to say the magic word to Rolen, and the gathering went out of control toward the Diamond Club seats. It would have spilled into the premium section if not for the backstop screen. Fists were flying. When it settled down, both managers – but no players – were ejected.

Phillips tried to hit one over the scoreboard in his at-bat and failed, grounding out. Molina hit one into the left field seats in his at bat. Needless to say, Molina made several gestures while circling the bases and touching home plate. He was joined by Felipe Lopez when he reached the dugout.

Meanwhile, the Reds offense was lost again with only six hits. The defense looked uninspired and committed three errors. Down 5-2, the Reds got a big 2-out 2-run single to left from Drew Stubbs, but new Red Jim Edmonds was caught rounding the bases too far and was nailed getting back to second. That’s as close as the Reds would get the rest of the night. The standings are tied with a 12:35 start on Wednesday.

Afterward, Molina said, “He talked bad about me and my team. Don’t say ‘hi’ to me. That’s stupid.”

Phillips said, “Regardless of what happened, man, we lost. That’s the only thing that really sucked today.”

Baker said, “We didn’t play good baseball. We played uncharacteristically poor defense tonight. We’ve just got to come back and win tomorrow.”

LaRussa told the media after the game that the umpires made the correct decision to toss the managers. “We’re probably the two guys who are the most immaterial to the outcome of the game. I think it was probably a smart move.”

LaRussa also said the condition of backup catcher Jason LaRue will need further evaluation. “He got clobbered in the head with their starting pitcher kicking, so now he has a slight concussion. We’ll see how that’s all handled.”

Carpenter was more emotional. He said, “Totally unprofessional. Unbelieveable. I haven’t seen anything like that. (LaRue) got kicked square in the side of the face. I mean, with spikes? Come on! Give me a break. I turned around and I got Cueto kicking me in the back with his spikes. Like I said, It’s super unprofessional.”

Wednesday’s game will be played under a heat warning in Cincinnati. Temperatures are expected to hit 100 during the game with moderate humidity and bright sunshine. That ballpark is quite honestly the hottest ballpark for day games I’ve ever been in. I got sunburned there during the first week of April, 2003. I never got a sunburn at Riverfront. It will be very interesting to see how the game goes. It would be nice if the Reds could reward their fans with a win.

Just a few quick hits today as Stephen Strasburg-mania comes to Great American Ball Park. I’ve seen on StubHub where many fans have listed their tickets for resale at $1,000 a pop. I was incredulous when I saw that yesterday afternoon. Did you know that Strasburg and Mike Leake were once little league teammates in San Diego. They played on an 11U team called the San Diego Sting. Strasburg was the fireballing pitcher, Leake was the catcher… among other things.

Leake’s swift ascent to a major league rotation is equally remarkable, but for a different reason. He had the sensibility of a player-coach from the day he stepped on a youth field… “He always had a natural understanding of the game,” said Bill Lawbaugh, manager of the Sting. “We could put him at shortstop, center field, catcher, pitcher. Whatever you needed Mikey Leake to do, every glove fit that kid.”

Read the rest of Steve Henson’s article on Yahoo! Sports here.

Speaking of Leake, glad he got the win in last night’s 5+hours at the ol’ ball yard.

Pitching and Scott Rolen are dominating the conversation at GABP. The Reds brought in free agent Jason Isringhausen for a bullpen workout on Tuesday. Isringhausen has been out of major league action since early 2009, and has recovered from Tommy John surgery. Medical science being what it is, many pitchers are coming back stronger after having the surgery. (Look at Edinson Volquez’s dominating performance last Saturday against the Rockies.) Reds brass were impressed with Isringhausen’s workout to the point where it was reported on RedsTV that they have offered him a contract. He has a couple of days to decide. As he was Walt Jocketty’s closer in St. Louis, one wonders what this means for Francisco Cordero. Cordero has blown 6 saves this season, but has converted 9 of his last 10. Might they trade Cordero? No one is saying just yet. But it’s been interesting around the ballpark. Dusty Baker has a sign in his office that says “Two things you need to be happy in life are good friends and a good bullpen… and not necessarily in that order.” The bullpen has been doing better lately, the top of the 6th last night notwithstanding.

As far as Rolen, he has developed a hamstring problem and it’s troubling the team a bit. He said he felt a burn in his right hamstring tagging up at 2nd and trying to advance to 3rd on Friday night. (He was thrown out.) It’s troubling because his problem hamstring has always been the left one, not the right. And there is that little matter of the Reds being 45-31 when he is in the lineup and 7-11 when he is not. The Reds are trying to decide if they should DL Rolen and bring up Juan Francisco from Louisville. Might be a good opportunity to get Francisco a taste of the majors. Expect Miguel Cairo to see the bulk of the action, though.

Gotta say publicly that I’m enjoying the telecasts of games much more this year with Thom Brennaman at the helm. He is using his personality and sense of humor much more than he has in the past and he is definitely a polished network announcer. Last night, when he gave analyst Chris Welsh the nickname of “Poncho” (yeah, I know they spelled it “Pancho” during the telecast, but they were talking about rain ponchos and that should’ve been an “o” there), I was very amused and entertained. Then we discovered that Thom is very protective of the ushers at the game because he used to work the ushers room at Riverfront as a young man. Among his duties was handing out the towels they use to wipe down the seats. So Welsh started calling him “Towel Boy.” It was very funny and then the truck got into it with the graphics. Way to keep it entertaining, all!

Speaking of TV, the Reds will not be televising Thursday afternoon’s game and will insist that it is “radio only.” This is a misconception and pertains only to the Reds stable of broadcasts. MASN will be carrying the game in HD and MLB Network will be simulcasting that, so it will be available nationally on cable and satellite. Bob Carpenter and former Reds Nasty Boy Rob Dibble do an excellent job on NatsTV and I recommend checking it out. That’s Thursday afternoon at 12:30 on MLB Network.

That’s three in a row down to defeat, all in extra innings, and all at Philadelphia. The Reds haven’t had the success in the win column this weekend, but they have shown a continued ability to battle. And they’ve shown it at the home of the defending NL Champions. Truthfully, I don’t think this weekend has been as much of a negative as most fans might think. The Phillies are a pretty good team and the Reds have gone toe-to-toe with them at their place with no backing down.

On Thursday, the Reds battled Brad Lidge to score a run in the top of the 9th to tie it and force extra innings. It was there that they battled out of a few tight situations before falling in the 12th. The bats went silent in the extra innings.

Mike Leake, the stellar rookie from Arizona State, was fantastic on Friday and made a bid to earn his first pro complete game. He held a 7-1 lead to the bottom of the 9th. That game went bust when he threw a 3-2 changeup to Greg Dobbs with 2-on and 1-out, as Dobbs hit it off the foul pole in right to cut the Reds lead to 7-5. Francisco Cordero then picked up his 6th blown save of the year when Cody Ransom hit one into the seats to tie it 7-7 and send it to extras. The Phillies were able to win it in the 10th thanks to a long blast from Ryan Howard.

Then came Saturday. Another rookie starter, Travis Wood, was mowing the Phillies down with no problem. He had a national stage via MLB Network and was battling the great Roy Halladay. Wood took a perfect game into the 9th inning. Problem was, the Reds bats were silenced by Halladay as well. Carlos Ruiz ended the perfect game and no-hit bid with a double to the left-center field gap to lead off the bottom of the 9th, but the Phillies didn’t score. At least, not yet. It was the 11th before Philly was able to win it 1-0, and Ruiz wound up scoring the winning run.

The biggest problem with the losses, like the Sunday loss to Cleveland in Cincy, is that the Reds are failing to take advantage when the Cardinals lose. The good thing, is that the Cardinals are having similar-type meltdowns as the Reds have had. St. Louis lost at Houston – AGAIN – so the Reds maintain their two game lead atop the NL Central. That means they are GUARANTEED to be in first place at the All-Star Break, and we’ll see how much love they get from the FOX crew of Joe Buck (hometown of St. Louis) and Tim McCarver (played catcher in St. Louis for over 10 seasons) on Tuesday night.

NOTES – The last time the Reds played three straight extra inning games was July 25-27, 1999 at San Francisco and Los Angeles. The last time the Reds played three straight extra inning game in the same series was May 5-7, 1980 at the Mets.

The season is a marathon, not a sprint, and it contains many twists and turns. Certainly, the week just ended had a few of those for Cincinnati. It was nice to see the Reds bounce back from their nightmare on Peachtree Street to take two of three from the Indians. It allowed Reds fans to exhale a bit, even if the team made it into first place again on Saturday, but then dropped back down to 2nd on Sunday.

For the week, Cincinnati was 4-3. The Reds swept Milwaukee at home, dropped two heartbreakers at Atlanta, then took two of three at Cleveland. Cincinnati returns home for a seven-game homestand on Monday night. The first four games are with Pittsburgh. The last three are against Houston over Memorial Day weekend. The Reds are 18-8 in their last 26 games.

The biggest news for the Reds concerns the condition of Homer Bailey. Bailey had to leave Sunday’s game early with tightness in his shoulder. He’ll be examined Monday by Dr. Tim Kremchek. If he needs time off, I look for the Reds to call up Sam LeCure. LeCure pitched a 1-hitter for Louisville on Saturday night and has been better than rookie sensation Aroldis Chapman all season. Chapman also has been having blister problems on his finger, so it doesn’t look good for him to be promoted. Keep in mind, too, that Edinson Volquez is continuing his rehab and suspension in Arizona, and he’s expecting to be ready to pitch again in July.

As far as Sunday’s game, the Reds really should’ve been beaten a lot worse by the Tribe. Cleveland left a dozen on base, and it seemed like they were always threatening. Micah Owings pitched in relief of Bailey and, even though he didn’t allow a single run, he walked five in 2.2 innings.

The Reds took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on the first of two Scott Rolen homers on the day. The Indians came back in the bottom of the first with a pair of their own, and would never trail again. They took the lead in the 3rd, but Rolen tied the game in the 6th. Rolen now has 10 homers on the season. He had just 11 all of last year, 11 in 2008, and only seven in 2007. If he can stay healthy, he could have stats similar to what he had for St. Louis in 2006 when he hit .296 with 22 home runs and 95 RBI. He’s on pace for 36 HR and 99 RBI.

The game’s big at-bat came in the bottom of the 6th. Cleveland had runners on the corners with two out and Jhonny Perralta at the plate against Daniel Ray Herrera. Perralta lined a 1-2 fastball to left to score Trevor Crowe with what turned out to be the game-winning run.

“(Herrera) had Perralta eating out of his hand with scroogies,” said Baker, “and tried to sneak a fastball by him on the inside, but it came back over the plate. He just made a bad pitch on Jhonny.”

The Reds offense had a chance to tie it in the 7th with runners on 1st and 2nd, but Tony Sipp got Joey Votto out on a liner to left to end the inning and the Reds wouldn’t be able to answer for the rest of the game.

“We had action on winning this one today, and we really wanted to sweep here,” said a disappointed Baker. “But (the season) is about winning series.”

And that’s what the Reds did in their weekend in Cleveland, answering any questions about if the team would slump after the stunning walk-off loss at Atlanta on Thursday afternoon.

NOTES: There is word out that the Astros are shopping Roy Oswalt. The Reds are said to be interested, even though they beat the righthander on April 29 at Minute Maid Park. Oswalt is probably not interested in the Reds, however. He wants to pitch for a team close to his home in Mississippi and is said to be willing for a trade to St. Louis, Atlanta, or Tampa Bay. With the major league service time that he has, he could veto any trade he doesn’t like.