With all the problems that Reds fans have to content with, it’s nice that television availability of the games is rarely one of them. FOX has been picking up a bunch of Reds games for national broadcast this year, which in and of itself isn’t necessarily good or bad, but it has led to even more coverage, thanks to the local station selecting replacement day games. Such as this one in September:

FOX has selected the Reds August 20th game for national broadcast, which means FOX Sports Ohio can no longer air the game.

As replacement, FOX Sports Ohio will televise:
  REDS VS ASTROS
  WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
  12:30pm

HD coverage begins at noon with Reds Live Pregame Show. We will also replay the game that night at midnight and the following day (Thursday, 9/22) at noon.

It’s funny how you start to run out of titles for these posts.

Today the Crack Technical Staff and I both had the day off work AND had arranged for childcare for the day, so we were already at a local brew pub when the game started. The pub is, unfortunately, owned by a Cubs fan, so all its waiters and bartenders wear Cubs shirts all the time. It would have been all manner of fun to hold a Cubs’ loss over their heads, but alas, they were playing the Reds today, so that wasn’t happening.

I mean, who are the Reds to stand up to the might of Ryan Dempster? Bah.

Swept by the damn Astros (I know they’re a second-half team but c’mon) and now have started the series with the Cubs with a loss. I think I’ve made it clear that I’ve already given up on this season, but I’d still like to enjoy baseball through the month. Maybe it’s time to let BP set the line-ups and see what happens.

Tonight, Dontrelle Willis again put in a better-than-out-to-be-required pitching performance only to have it given away by the bullpen. In his five starts with the team this season, Willis’ leads have been given up by three different bullpen members: Francisco Cordero, Bill Bray, and tonight, Nick Masset.

This time, Willis even contributed a solo shot himself, so intent was he on leaving the game with the lead. But alas, Dusty Baker–the only guy who could make the decision and the only guy who would think it was the right one to make–put the ballgame into the hands of Masset who faced five, retired zero, and eliminated Willis’ chance for the win.

On that topic, something must be wrong with Masset, right? More than just inflammation of the suckage gland. He was reliable in recent memory.

Unfortunately for the team and the fans, the team has now lost two in a row again. One night it’s the starting pitching, the next night it’s the offense, the next it’s the defense, the next it’s the pen, so it’s hard to know where to focus. Of course, it’s too late to do anything anyway. Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel and start planning for next year. Removing the pressure might even result in some more fun baseball to watch. I doubt Willis would be willing to do that, though. He’ll just take to take his 3.41 era and stretch it across a complete game if he wants to score that W.

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.