Three wins in a row and all over the NLW-leading San Francisco Giants. Wheeee!

Everyone was having a good day, including:

• Johnny Cueto who not only threw a three-hit, shut-out complete game, but also go himself enough innings in the course of doing so to make himself eligible to be the league-leader in ERA, which he won by about a half run.
• Joey Votto, who has gone 10-for-his-last-25 and had four RBI today alone.
• Drew Stubbs, who not only went 4-for-5 today, but who also didn’t have to watch his team trade for Hunter Pence OR Michael Borne.

Yeah, it’s getting awfully late in the season for the Reds to bounce back from 6.5 back, and they pretty much failed to make the situation any better before the non-waiver trade deadline, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time to play out the season, and today was a good time.

Dontrelle Willis, the high yield bond of starting pitchers, put in another good starting performance tonight, and again was denied the win. Not that the bullpen was terrible–allowing just one run in regulation play to let the Giants tie it up at three and eventually necessitate extras–but unlike in recent nights, that one allowed run was actually a significant percentage of the opponent’s score.

Signed in the off-season to a minor league deal, Dontrelle straightened himself out in Louisville and then joined the Reds for a start on July 10. Tonight was his fourth start since then, and he’s been nothing if not consistent:

Of course, regardless of the pitcher’s performance, the team has to win before the pitcher can win, and the Reds haven’t been doing much of that lately in any event. But there’s always a bright side: if the disappearing act of the offense and/or the lack of support from the bullpen can keep him performing at this level in pursuit of a win, at least Dontrelle might be able to play for a good team next year.

The Cincinnati Reds were swept by the New York Mets today. It was another ugly game that makes you wonder why the Reds haven’t yet hired a general manager.

Then you remember, they do have one. And you realize, the season’s most likely over. At least, that’s what it feels like.

Walt Jocketty has seemed old and slow this year. Almost a month after he should have, he finally called up Zack Cozart. And then, for no apparent gain this season, he traded away Jonny Gomes. (I’m fine with that trade, but it does nothing to address needs for this or the next season.)

It’s just been frustrating. The team has so much talent, but is under-performing a lot. Manager Dusty Baker certainly has to take some blame. His “stay calm” demeanor worked well last year, but it’s exactly the wrong thing this year. It lead to feeling like he didn’t care when they continued sucking and losing this year.

I gotta say it again, after today’s loss, it feels like the season is over. The Reds are 50-55, with no signs of improvement and no seeming help from the alleged general manager on the way. It’s sad. I’d had hopes of a winning year again this year. I guess there’s always next year?

Clearly, that fan is Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker.

Why else would he describe the trade by the St. Louis Cardinals of promising young power-hitting, speedy outfielder Colby Rasmus like this?

There’s some level of frustration in here because the the rich teams get richer at this time of year.

I was confused by that statement about the trade because the only clear winner is Colby Rasmus. Well, and the public for being shown that the true general manager of the Cardinals is “genius” Tony LaRussa.

And then I realized why Baker thought the Cardinals were getting richer: they were getting Corey Patterson.

ESPN is reporting a complicated trade that’s resulted in, among other things, the addition of Corey Patterson to the St. Louis Cardinals’ roster:

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox traded pitcher Edwin Jackson and utilityman Mark Teahen to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The White Sox will receive reliever Jason Frasor and pitching prospect Zach Stewart.

A short time later Wednesday, the Blue Jays turned around and traded Jackson to the St. Louis Cardinals in an eight player deal that netted Toronto Colby Rasmus, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

The Cards sent Rasmus Trever Miller, Brian Tallet and P.J. Walters to the Jays for Jackson, Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel and Corey Patterson.

The clear winner in this trade is, of course, Colby Rasmus, who finally gets to escape from under the malevolent thumb of Tony LaRussa.

Which is nothing. See, that’s the joke. (Though as Washington gets further and further from its Jim Bowden years, the situation is definitely looking up.) Not actually, nothing, of course. Here are the deets from Reds.com:

Gomes, a career .244 hitter with 115 home runs, is batting .211 with 11 homers and 31 RBIs this season. Washington traded pitching prospect Chris Manno and Double-A outfielder Bill Rhinehart to Cincinnati to acquire Gomes, who has hit .281 against left-handed pitching for his career.

Fox Ohio had a short little interview with Jonny Gomes before he took off for our nation’s capitol, and he seemed kinda bummed. I guess it would be hard to be traded and not have it feel like a rejection, especially when this team has been primarily in tact for a really long time. But I don’t see it as an insult to Gomes. The Nats were all over the Reds to trade for him, so clearly they really want him, and maybe he’ll be a key component to take the Nats the way of the Pirates. He might as well try: the Reds sure as hell don’t seem to be going anywhere this season.

The rest of the Reds seem kind lackluster today (though it’s hard to tell compared to their recent play). They’re always a little stiff at first in situations they’re not used to: big crowds, post season, and now having a friend traded away. Just like the first two, though, they’d probably better get used to it.

Good luck, Gomes-y! We’ll be cheering for you!

Remember when we were all counting back to June 15 when the Reds has last won two games in a row? They finally won two in a row again last night, so that June 15 game stopped being relevant. Until Brandon Phillips had the worst at-bat in the history of the world to finish tonight’s game in a loss and I looked back to realize that June 15 was also the last time the Reds won three in a row. It was a sweep of the Dodgers, hence the title of this post.

The next opportunity for the Reds to win three in a row will be Thursday, July 28. All they have to do it take the rest of the Mets series. As close as they were tonight, maybe it could happen.

During yesterday’s game, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Zack Cozart injured his arm covering second. The ball and the runner arrived at the same time, resulting in a safe runner and a hyper-extended elbow for Cozart.

Today, Cozart was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Cozart had been very good in his short time with the Reds, hitting .324, hitting 2 home runs, and driving in 3 runs. It’s offensive output that the man he replaced, Paul Janish, was unable to come close to achieving.

But Janish will get a second chance. During Cozart’s absence, Janish has been called back up. He did have some luck finding his bat down in AAA Louisville, where he batted .256 with a home run, and 3 RBI. Oh, and he managed a .377 on-base percentage. If he can come close to duplicating that, the Reds will be in a good spot at short, even when Cozart returns.

Edgar Renteria will get the start tonight.

I have a bias when it comes to baseball: I favor the young guys.

To me, it feels like they have more drive, more desire, more to prove, and a higher potential ceiling, if only because time hasn’t cemented their position in the majors. So I was in favor of Paul Janish over Alex Gonzalez last year. And this year, when Janish failed to be demonstrably better than Edgar Renteria, I wanted Zack Cozart called up.

Walt Jocketty did call up Cozart, albeit two weeks too late–he’s really been just a horrible general manager this year–and it proved very successful. Until tonight, when he hurt his left elbow in a bang-bang play at second base. The throw from Joey Votto arrived at the same time as the runner, and Cozart exploded from the base in pain with his left elbow hyper-extended.

The Reds won, but are still wondering what the final prognosis will be on Cozart.

Renteria came in off the bench and helped power the Reds to the win over the Atlanta Braves. But you know who also helped? Freshly called up Todd Frazier.

Frazier was called up when 3rd basemen Scott Rolen was placed on the disabled list officially for a case of a sore shoulder, but really a case of the olds and can’t hit for shit anymore. Frazier, with the bases loaded, did what few Reds has been able to do this year, doubled off the top of the wall and cleared the bases.

I don’t know, but I feel more excited when the younger guys are playing. The Reds won tonight. Todd Frazier was playing, as was Zack Cozart and Chris Heisey. Play the young guys. They’re the ones with passion and a real desire to win that seems to come through the two-dimensional television screen.

Heck, play them on Sunday. Maybe the Reds will stop sucking and actually win 2 in a row.

There are times I get tired of reading about, writing about, and thinking about the Reds sucking, so today I’m reading about, writing about, and thinking about a former Red sucking. I knew that Adam Dunn wasn’t having a good year, but I didn’t realize the epicness of his fail until I noticed a story about it today on the brain candy “news” stories that Yahoo! presents to me every morning when I start up Messenger.

He is in the first year of a four-year, $56 million contract with the Chicago White Sox, who signed him as a free agent to bat fourth as designated hitter, and if the season ended today he’d own the worst average in the live-ball era by more than 20 points.

But it’s not just the batting average. We’re halfway through the season, and Dunner is rocking a big fat 49 bases on balls and 9 whole home runs. Adam Dunn–Mr. OPS–has an OPS of .588. Ouch.

So what the hell’s wrong with him? Well, that’s the question, isn’t it? He doesn’t seem to be hurt, he’s certainly isn’t over the hill, and no one has, that I know of, removed his massage chair from the clubhouse and stashed it in the apparently unused team chapel. It’s bad enough, though, that the word “quit” is entering his commentary:

“If I’m not having fun anymore, I’ll go home,” Dunn told Yahoo! Sports. “Flat out. I’ll go home. I mean that. Swear to goodness. I’ll. Go. Home. I enjoy playing. Even though I suck. Or have been sucking. I enjoy playing the game. Love it. But as soon as I lose that, I’m gone, dude. It’s true.

“How many games can you play doing this? This is ridiculous. You get to a point, and you’re like …”

You get to a point, and you’re like… Yeah, man, I hear what you’re saying.