The Paddock

No leadoff man (for 20+ years), no No. 2 hitter and no protection at No. 4 for Votto. That's a recipe for disaster.

They've gotten this far on good, solid pitching. Not sure if that can carry them any longer. Offense has to get better.

Mac likes the flyin hawaiin but he LOVES Chase Utley.

I can't believe the Phillies are struggling like they are. Thought they'd be much better. Hunter Pence is one of my favorite players in baseball.

I don't see either being a major upgrade at this point. Candidly, Dusty is to stubborn to go w/a lineup that doesn't include Stubbs and Rolen on a regular basis and to use a football analogy, it's an X's and O's issue, not Jimmie's and Joe's. Stubbs has probably reached his ceiling and isn't ever going to be a consisent everyday player and for the umpteenth time, Rolen is shot, kapoot, finished. Heisey should be the everyday CF and that puts Ludwick in LF regularly and the only way Frazier should see the pine is to rest an injury! Now you hit Ludwick in the 4 hole, move BP into leadoff and have either Heisey or Cozart hit second and you have a LOT of right handed pop in the lineup to compliment Votto and Bruce plus you have a bit more consistency at the top of the order. Run that lineup out for about 10 straight games after the All Star break and see what it get you!

Buster Olny ranked the NL contenders remaining schedules, and gave the Reds the easiest remaining schedule. . .

Home/away: 42 of their final 77 games are at home.

Games left against teams over .500: 24.

Schedule notes: The Reds' first 10 games out of the All-Star break will be at home, and only three of Cincinnati's first 19 games after the break are against teams with records over .500.

The Big Finish: The Reds will have a season-ending challenge with a three-game series in Pittsburgh and three games in St. Louis.

Today is a classic example of Dusty's inability to embrace success. If the Reds lose then it's on him. He starts Rolen and Stubbs and they are a combined 1 for 7 w/6K's. Rolen w/3k's including a bases loaded whiff in the top of the 9th and the Reds sitting on a SLIM lead. Toothpick is a CLOWN! BTW, Frazier has been SMOKING the ball again including 2 for 4 last night. Yep, it really pays to be successful when you play for a guy who embraces veteran non performance over a much better and capable younger player.

No longer looking good for the home team. Just hope and pray that we can stay within 4 or 5 games til he gets back. Thankfully we have the easiest sched in the league the rest of the way. Please don't let that even be too much. Here's hoping for a complete and quick recovery for ya Joey. Never a good time for your MVP to go down with an injury.

Wow, what a comeback yesterday. Phillips had a day, but others are gonna have to start stepping up too. Starting pitching as been rock solid for a while and can only hold up for so long, as evidenced by the last couple of days. The bats have to come around. 1/2 game lead coming into the game tonight. #REDS.

I think it's fair to say the biggest surprise of the season thus far and a BIG reason the Reds are in first has been the overall performance of the their pitching. Cueto is now a bonafide ace, Latos has been dominant at times (although a bit inconsistent), Bailey is FINALLY pitching like a #1 and Leake and Arroyo are doing what was basically expected. Chapman is developing into one of the best closers in the bigs and the rest of the pen has been VERY consistent. With the drop off in offensive production this year, the Reds can thank their lucky stars the pitching has been as good as I can remember in a VERY LONG TIME!!

Reds shut out the Rockies at Coors Field for the eighth straight win. 4-0 on the 6 gm road swing. Arroyo had another solid outing and Chapman did his thing. Now 19 gms above .500.

9 straight wins, now if only Pittsburgh would decide to lose a game every now and then we could stretch this lead.

After a somewhat shaky start (BB, 2R HR before recording an out), Latos settled down and cruised for 8 innings and Sam LeCure finished off the 9th for the Reds' first 10 win streak since '06. The Pirates lost so the lead is now 3 gms. The Reds, along with the Natls and possibly the Yanks, will share the best record in MLB at 61-40.