Yesterday, the Cincinnati Reds didn’t play baseball. At least, I assume they didn’t. With them being on their first west coast trip of the season, the games start so late that I could easily miss them.

The Reds have been struggling lately, which is never how you want to see them when they’re heading out west. My, there’ve been some seasons lost out west. That won’t happen this year; this team is too good. But after losing 2 of 3 in their first road series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, one has to hope the day off will help erase the jet lag that often accompanies the games in time zones other than central or eastern.

The Reds will have a short, two-game series against the Oakland A’s this evening. Bronson Arroyo will start and try to right the Reds’ ship. The A’s have been a good team this year, although they’ve been losing a lot lately. Hopefully, the Reds bats will be rested enough to score so many runs so that no bullpen mishaps can doom them. Or, hell, let’s go crazy with hope and think the bullpen is well-rested enough to put its crappy outings behind it for a week or two.

We won’t know until 10:05 pm tonight. Until then, see how well you know Corky Miller with the Cincinnati Enquirer’s quiz.

Shin-Soo Choo leads the league in receiving HBPs (19 this season) and the Pirates lead the majors in delivering them (37 this season). So maybe it was no surprise when Choo was hit in the leg by the first pitch of last night’s game. Maybe it was inevitable.

The Reds’ starting pitcher last night, Mat Latos, had something to say about it after the game, though. From the story on Reds. com:

“I think it’s time that somebody steps up and starts disciplining the team that’s drilled the most guys in the league,” Latos said after the game. “They’ve hit a lot of guys, whether it’s intentional or it’s by accident. Something has got to be done about it.”

It’s easy for me not to mind the HBPs myself, seeing as I’m not on the bruised end of the ball, but Brandon Phillips just finally made it back after having to sit out from an HBP. It’s all fun and games until our All-Stars can’t play.

That being said, the overwhelming timber of the comments I’ve seen on this topic has been of the “just take care of business and don’t talk about it” variety. And I have to agree.

I appreciate that Latos got fined the last time he retaliated, and I would be pissed off too if I were in his shoes, thinking that the Pirates weren’t getting any comeuppance. But my big concern about talking about it to the media is that the Reds will become the Cardinals. The last thing I want is for some Pirate to call the Reds “little bitches” like Brandon Phillips did the the Cards and be just as justified in doing it.

ESPN went out in search of some of the most obscure scenarios that can happen in a baseball game, created hypothetical situations with real player names, and set it all to the tune of a quiz you can take to test your knowledge of MLB rules.

I liked it because the very first question features hypothetical Todd Frazier:

1) The Phillies have Ben Revere on second base and no outs when Michael Young hits a shot to Reds third baseman Todd Frazier, who is playing at normal depth. On the pitch, Revere attempts to steal third and is hit by the batted ball while sliding into the base. Even though Revere was on third base when struck by the batted ball, he should be called out because he interfered with Frazier and kept him from making a play. True or false?

You can take the quiz for yourself on ESPN.com. My 1 out of 10 score suggests that you decide which answer makes the most sense and then choose the other one.

Businessweek published its list of America’s 50 best cities based on leisure, colleges, economics, and air quality, and Cincinnati made it into the top half. Interestingly, the primary reason for its high ranking seems to be Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati
Rank: 21
Population: 292,050

Nestled on the Ohio River, Ohio’s third-largest city has a picturesque downtown that includes one of the country’s most beautiful pro sports stadiums, the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ball Park on the riverside. Other city stalwarts: the acclaimed Cincinnati Pops orchestra and major employer Procter & Gamble (PG).

Bars: 105
Restaurants: 600
Museums: 18
Libraries: 35
Pro sports teams: 2
Park acres per 1,000 residents: 21
Colleges: 8
Percent with graduate degree: 8.9
Median household income: $49,048
Percent unemployed: 7.2

If you’re curious about the rest of the NLC cities, Pittsburgh fared best with a #11 ranking. Milwaukee (26), Chicago (28), and St. Louis (47) all trailed the Queen City.

Well, the Reds may have been unable to take their thirteenth consecutive win at Wrigley Field today, but how about that Curtis Partch, huh? He wasn’t so much his first time out, but tonight he soaked up four of the fourteen innings in that debacle against the Cubs. Even Mat Latos only pitched six.

And they were four scoreless innings at that. Only 1 hit and 4 strike-outs. Of course, neither team was doing much offensively with those crazy shadows all over the infield, but you can’t knock Partch for that. Dude was called on to keep the Cubbies scoress until the Reds took the lead, and he did as well as could be expected considering that the Reds never took the lead. The guy even batted once.

Which brings up another salient point: Curtis Partch can’t hit. He might want to work on his game at the plate.

Meanwhile, it hindsight it looks pretty weird that the Reds lost in 14 innings and Aroldis Chapman never threw a pitch. Maybe the rule ought to be that Chapman is the second-to-last resort behind Jonathan “I’m apparently not available until the choice is between me and Chapman” Broxton. Alas poor Broxton. Does his apparently injured and velocity-impaired self really deserve the loss?

Oh, and by the way, Sam LeCure was the one to give up the lead the Reds had and force his game into all these extra innings in the first place. He’s got to be hurt at this point, right? The kind of hurt that pitchers don’t know they have because they have a constant level of pain that drowns everything else out anyway?

Oh well, tomorrow is another day, when the Reds will be back home to host the Brewers. For everyone’s sake, I hope at least 1 guy has been put on the DL by then.