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… let’s not overlook just how deflating a loss this was for the Cubs.

I’m sure Cubs fans at GABP were full of plenty of “It’s only one game” and “We’re gonna beat your brains in on Saturday and Sunday” but the bottom line is (I don’t care how early in the season it is) this was a pretty devastating loss for the Cubs. Which is pretty outstanding.

Carlos Silva was cruising after he allowed that run in the first. (Silva, by the way, it should be noted, is EXACTLY the type of below-average pitcher who usually makes the Reds look terrible.) The Reds managed just two baserunners in six innings before that 8th inning. They really weren’t showing much life at all, but the Cubs obviously weren’t doing enough to distance themselves. They really could’ve done a lot more damage against Homer.

Cubs left 13 on base. Reds only left 2 on. Cubs had 11 hits; Reds had 5. Homer was the first to admit afterward that he didn’t have good stuff and felt like he “couldn’t buy an out.” You hate to wind up with a loss in a game where the opponent’s starting pitcher is saying stuff like that.

By the way, was anyone else surprised that Lou left Caridad in there after he had walked Gomes and Hernandez and allowed the bunt single to Dickerson?

OK, who else is ready for any Cardinal other than Albert Pujols to beat the Reds?

Can we PLEASE pitch around this guy? And if you don’t want to draw criticism (like teams did when they used to put Barry Bonds on first every time), just don’t give him anything to hit. Keep it off the plate. Or pitch him inside (we didn’t do that Monday until it was too late).

It’s like we forget during every offseason. I’m so sick of the “Aw-shucks, we got beat by Pujols again” crap. Like we DON’T expect him to go 4-for-5 with 4 runs scored and 3 RBIs. What a crock. I’m actually surprised he only had 3 RBIs. I would’ve set the over/under at 4.

John Fay argues that the Reds didn’t really have a good opportunity to pitch around the 3-time MVP. “Don’t fault the Reds for not walking Pujols” reads the headline on the front of Cincinnati.Com. C’mon. Nobody on with two outs in the first: Don’t give him anything to hit. I’d rather take my chances against Holliday. You’ve got two outs. Put Pujols on – I’m fine with that.

How many total bases did Albert have on Monday? 10. Twice as many as he would’ve if we’d have walked him five times. And I know it’s all based on the situation and Mike Lincoln gave up a lead-off single to Brendan Ryan in the 7th but you absolutely cannot groove one to Pujols on the first pitch of the at-bat! And THAT was the blow that killed the Reds. That made a 4-2 game (against a shaky St. Louis bullpen) a 6-2 game.

Holliday bats behind Pujols, right? What are his career numbers against the Reds? I bet they’re not the .361 with 40 homers and 118 RBIs against the Reds that Albert ENTERED OPENING DAY with (and gladly added to). Holliday entered .318/3/15 against the Reds. Plus he’s not the most feared hitter in baseball. I think I’d rather pitch to him.

Yes, I know there’s A LOT more to it than that. And there are a lot of much higher priorities to consider as far as matchups and situations are concerned than how a guy has done against you. I’m just tired of watching this guy beat us time and time again.

“Pujols’ career numbers against the Reds aren’t off the chart – for him,” Fay argues. Huh? Well, let’s see, now Pujols is .365/42/122 against us. As pointed out during our offseason post about how Albert is just about the biggest Reds Killer around, we made mention of huge numbers Pujols has posted against the Reds. Let me update those figures …

Pujols’ 42 home runs against the Reds are his most against any team. His 121 RBIs against the Reds are his second most (to the Pirates – 122) against any team. His 131 runs scored against the Reds are his most against any team. And the Reds have struck Albert out a lot less (only 37 times) than any other team in the NL Central.

Against National League teams, he’s only got a higher batting average (.373) against Pittsburgh. He’s hitting .365 in 623 career at-bats against the Reds. That’s more at-bats than he’s ever had in a season (because he walks a ton) but it’s better than he’s ever batted in a season (he hit .359 in 2003 and .357 in 2008).

He’s the biggest Reds Killer around, and not even Lance Berkman can give him a run for his money anymore :) Pitch around him!

By that I mean he’s No. 14. As in the 14th best general manager in baseball, according to SI.com’s Tim Marchman. Though I’m not exactly sure why. I enjoyed reading the GM rankings piece but took issue with Marchman’s one-paragraph (which he provided with each GM ranking) explanation about Jocketty. Here’s how it read:

You could certainly make an argument that Jocketty should rate higher given his great success with the St. Louis Cardinals, the best team in the National League last decade. Given how much of that success came down to Albert Pujols’ reign of terror, the presence of all-time great manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan’s ability to nurse terrific performances out of incredibly sketchy pitching talent, though, there’s only so much credit to go around.

I may have glossed over it, but I don’t see any mention of “Cincinnati” or “Reds” in that explanation. Nor any player on the Reds or deal he’s made. Do you? Did I miss it? He HAS already made some moves as a general manager here, hasn’t he?

So you’re waiting to find out whether Barry gets in on the first ballot and the suspense is killing you, right? Take a few minutes to read Joe Posnanski’s post about the best players in baseball at any given time. Strong work. (If you’re not familiar or you’re trying to figure out how you know that name, he’s the guy who wrote “The Machine: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds.”)

BTW (spoiler alert in case you read the post :) … Larkin doesn’t appear on any of the 5-year span lists, but Posnanski has written before about how he feels strongly that Barry is a Hall of Famer and insisted he would vote for him.

The Reds are talking to Craig Counsell’s agent, to which I respond …

Craig Counsell? Really? He might be the nicest guy in the world and friends with Thom but c’mon. Jerry Jr. isn’t exactly an All-Star but he is much better (and six years younger) than Counsell. Even if he’s just a utility guy, that seems like a significant downgrade.

If you need a warm body who can play shortstop, there’s got to be someone else. Counsell had a career year with 26 stolen bases and 34 doubles … in 2005.

It would be nice to get a guy like Maicer Izturis. I know, dream on.

This was a pretty outstanding afternoon. If you missed it, just hope they do it again next year or whenever and set aside $40 if you’re a Reds Hall member ($50 if you’re not) and do it. Rick Walls and everyone involved (from Kerry Rowland, who explained a lot of things we’d always wondered about … to Seg Dennison talking about the radio broadcast … to John Erardi discussing how the media covers the game) really did a great job with this; I was very impressed with how accomodating everyone was and how hard everyone worked to give people their money’s worth and answer every question (even some bad ones). And if the price kept you away, take my word for it that it’s worth $40 just to have George Foster give you batting tips and make fun of you (in a good-natured way) at the same time. Everything else was gravy.

Click here to check out our pics.

So the Reds have now won 5 in a row on the road (6 in a row overall) and their last 9 games against the Astros (they’re 12-3 against Houston this year). And if tonight’s score sounded familiar, it’s because it’s the third time this week that the Reds have won 10-4.

And Joey Votto continues to rake. During the 6-game winning streak, Votto is 14-for-26 (.538) with 10 doubles and 12 runs scored. 10 doubles! I tried to figure out his slugging percentage over the past week and it almost made my head explode. Dare we call his recent assault of pitchers Billy Hatcher-esque (Hatcher was 14-for-27 during the 1990 postseason) even though it’s not the postseason or anything?

Since Sept. 10, Votto is 28-for-60 (.467). Pretty gross. And he’s raised his average for the season to .319, which would put him about 10th best in the majors and fourth best in the National League (depending on how other guys did tonight).

He’s also reached base safely in every game in September – and he hasn’t had any days off this month.

BTW, did you know Votto would be the first Reds batter to hit .300 since Sean Casey (.312) and Junior (.301) did in 2005?

Really not a whole lot to be excited about right now, but I have to admit it actually cheered me up when I read … “3B Juan Francisco recalled from AAA Louisville.”

A few numbers:

During the five-game losing skid, the Reds have struck out 54 times (WAY more than any other team in the majors over the past five games). They have 30 hits in the five games.

In his last 27 at-bats, Drew Stubbs has struck out 10 times. Joey Votto has struck out 8 times in his last 22 at-bats, Wladimir Balentien has struck out 7 times in his last 18 at-bats, Jonny Gomes has 7 Ks in 19 at-bats and Darnell McDonald has 7 Ks in 15 at-bats.

The Reds left 22 on base … this afternoon!

In seven games against Colorado this season, the Reds scored a total of 17 runs. In their past seven games against the Cubs, they’ve done a little better – 23 runs. In the past 14 games in which the Reds have faced the Rockies or the Cubs, they’re 1-13. (The “1″ was Justin Lehr’s complete-game shutout.) The Reds have scored more than 4 runs in 1 of those 14 games (and oddly, it wasn’t even their 1 win).

Since winning 2 of 3 at Wrigley in April, the Reds have lost 4 in a row there.

Before the current skid started, the Reds had actually won 7 consecutive road games.

OMGReds was on hand for the Bats’ game against the Mud Hens in Toledo last night, and Todd Frazier absolutely CRUSHED a ball off the SeaGate Centre (left field) that would still be airborne if not for the building’s huge wall – his first Triple-A dong.

But what I can’t find anywhere is the approximate distance of Frazier’s bomb – it’s not in the gamer on milb.com or the courier-journal.com story.

It had to have gone at least 400 feet. Anyone see the figure anywhere? Pretty cool to absolutely club one for your first Triple-A homer … in front of your brother (who plays for the Mud Hens), no less :D

Also, thoroughly enjoyed watching Juan Francisco play for the first time. Dude is raking – .405 with three homers and 10 RBIs since getting called up from Double-A Carolina last Saturday. Which begs the question: Why do we need Rolen again? For next year, when we’re probably going to suck anyway? I would imagine Francisco will be ready by 2011.

Hal McCoy rips Willy Taveras a new one. What an outstanding take. Right on the money.

The question is … are you more excited that Drew Stubbs was leading off and playing center tonight or that Willy WASN’T? (Not to take anything away from Stubbs but …)

Hal kinda rips Cordero too. Good. If you poop the bed (like Coco did after the “Homplosion” earlier in the game), be a man and admit it … don’t snap at people. He’s had a good year but do the Reds really need him closing games at $12 million next year when the starting rotation has so many question marks? Sell.

UPDATE: Just read this …

The UC football team will be at Kings Island from 1-3 p.m. Sunday for its annual Meet the Team event. There will be a short program on the main stage of International Street underneath the Eiffel Tower (same stage where the Reds event was Monday).

Following the program, the players will take part in a 30-minute autograph session.

Original post …

One OMGReds contributor (who wishes to remain anonymous) was pathetic enough to take the day off to go with his son to Kings Island. Reds Rally Pack on hand, doing what else but hurling T-shirts into the enthusiastic crowd. Q&A session at 1 p.m. featured Nick Masset, Paul Janish, Jay Bruce and Chris Dickerson, who fielded questions from kids in the audience. All were candid and seemed like they enjoyed participating. We stayed for about 15 minutes and then left to ride some rides (when we figured out the hard-hitting questions weren’t going to get asked). Came back at 3 p.m. and waited for the other players (for the later session) to show up but one of them must’ve been running late because it was several minutes past 3:00 and they were asking everyone to be patient and wait five more minutes for the players to come out. We left.

Anyway, couple of thoughts and observations:

1. Would it kill the Reds to tack on a “Sorry, no autographs” when describing the event if the players aren’t going to sign at all? Now I fully realize that this event was designed for young Reds fans and that I’m pathetic for hoping to get something signed at this event, even if it was a picture of my kids with one of the players that was there. When I read …

It’s Reds Day at Kings Island Monday, August 17, as park visitors will have an opportunity to see some of their favorite Cincinnati Reds stars, along with the Reds Rally Team, Mr. Redlegs and Gapper.

This special event continues a joint partnership between Kings Island and the Reds and includes Q&A shows in the International Showplace Theatre, prizes, and much more.

… I thought it seemed like maybe they’d be signing. The “much more” I guess.

And the link on Kings Island’s Web site actually said “the chance to get an autograph.”

In the interest of full disclosure, it’s only fair to be up front with fans who are considering attending. And believe me, there were a ton of people who showed up with 8x10s and balls and stuff.

2. I would have paid money to have a kid in the audience ask the panel of players the following question (I don’t think questions were pre-screened but I have no idea.): “How do you guys lose three out of four at home to the Nationals??”

OK, Volquez is out, we’re guessing Cueto is probably headed to the DL, Harang and Arroyo reportedly have cleared waivers and hopefully will get dealt, and our main man Sam LeCure remains on fire! In Sunday’s win in Rochester, Sam didn’t get much run support but only allowed two runs through six innings. Since June 9, he’s 7-0 with a 2.44 ERA! So let’s unload some huge contracts – Harang to the Yankees and Arroyo back to Boston – and make LeCure part of a rotation that includes Micah Owings, Justin Lehr, Matt Maloney and Homer for the rest of the season! What have we got to lose!