Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

only bright spot really for Reds fans when the club scored 10 runs and blanked the Phillies. Sunday though was beyond frustrating for the Reds faithful.

Homer Bailey pitched a gem Sunday, he held the Phillies scoreless through the 7th when Dusty decided it was time to pull him. That decision ultimately cost Cincinnati the game. Homer had only pitched 96 pitches when he was pulled so keep that in mind. Jonathan Broxton was called in to close out the 8th, he gave up a run with two runners on so he was pulled after a third of an inning. Dusty then turned to Sean Marshall to save the 8th and he did, Marshall got the last two outs to send the game to the 9th.

The 9th is when the wheels fell off. Cincinnati didn’t score in the 9th, figuring they had a lead and the best closer in baseball coming up. Aroldis Chapman has been money for the Reds until recently. He blew his last save opportunity and today he laid a brick giving up two home runs including the walkoff homer.

Dusty Baker needs to be held accountable for loses, I have tried to stand by him, support him and tell the doubters he’s the right guy. I’m done with that now. It is beyond frustrating to watch bad decision after bad decision be made. Homer went 125 pitches in his last start against the Miami Marlins. Why would you let him do that then and not now. Better yet why did let him doing that knowing you were going to Philly. Any bullpen pitcher we have could have saved a game against the Marlins.

It is frustrating to watch wins slip away because someone is inept at their job.

Anyway Cincinnati is off to New York tomorrow to face the Mets. Should easily take 2/3 but who knows.

Phillies hit back to back homers off of Closer Aroldis Chapman whose not been himself in this road trip as the Reds fall in heartbreak fashion 3-2 on Sunday afternoon in the rubber match and the season series finale between the two teams.

The nightmare for Chapman began as he walked pinch hitter Delmon Young on 4 pitches to get it going. In questionable decision Phillies manager Charlie Manuel decided to bring Cliff Lee to pinch run for Young as Eric Kratz step up to bat. Chapman pick off throw to first got Lee in a rundown before he was tagged out.

And go figure on a 3-2 pitch Kratz crushed a  fastball to left field to tie the ball game at 2. Then Freddy  Galuis whoever that is on a 1-1 pitch hit a shot to left just inside the left field foul pole for a walk off home run for the Phillies.

Crushing loss because Homer Bailey the starter today pitched a wale of a game with not having the best stuff. Reason is because he pitched a complete game six hitter allowed two runs and striking out 10 and throwing 125 pitches in a Reds 6-2 win on Tuesday against the Miami Marlins. Today he went 7 scoreless innings with five hits allowed, one walk and three strikeouts.

Reds scored first in the top of the second inning as Jay Bruce continues to tee the ball of this month as he crushed a pitch to deep center field for a home run his 5th of the year to make it 1-0 at the time. Bruce now has a 10 game hitting streak.

In the sixth inning, Joey Votto hit a leadoff single to center. Bruce flied out to left, Phillies left fielder Dominic Brown made a nice sliding grab but threw a bad ball to first to try to double up Votto but instead went to second on the errant throw. Todd Frazier hit a double to right scoring Votto to make it 2-0.

With Bailey done after seven innings they turned to Johnathan Broxton. With two outs, he allowed a infield single, then walked Michael Young which was proved costly. Chase Utley stepped in singled to center scoring Revere to cut the lead to 2-1 at that point and we all know what happened in the bottom of ninth.

With the loss Reds are now 4-2 in their 3 cities nine game road trip and will head t0 New York to take on the Mets as they will begin a 3 game series with Mets starting tomorrow night as Johnny Cueto will make his first start since being placed on the disabled list a month ago. First pitch from New York is at 7:10pm.

Wrigley Field is a breath-taking place to visit, no doubt about that, but if I was a player, I would never want to call Wrigley my home park.

Think about Great American Ballpark, it was built in the early 2000′s, a lot has changed in the world since then, and the Reds have done a great job updating several things, like the huge, high definition scoreboard in left field, seating arrangements, and much more. If you ever go to GABP and watch batting practice, or the players warming up for the game, music is playing. Music you actually hear on the radio, rap music, pop music, things like that; and you’ll see the players “dancing”, moving along with the music, or at least nodding their heads, they’re acknowledging the music.

At Wrigley Field, they play music during BP and warm-ups, but not good music, it’s organ music. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to get pumped up by listening to organ music, but it doesn’t work. Watching the players, they don’t look pumped for the game at all, it’s pretty much like they’re just practicing in a backyard before the game, the music does nothing for them.

When a Reds’ player goes to up to bat, you hear walk-up music. When Todd Frazier goes up, you hear the Frank Sinatra, with Joey Votto, you hear “Paint It Black”, and with Brandon Phillips you hear a wide verity of songs. They pick the songs themselves, so they get in the appropriate mood to hit, it pumps them up.

On the North Side of Chicago, if there is walk-up music, it’s the boring organ music again. Sometimes they won’t even have walk-up music for the players, which seems stupid, but it’s true. Once again, organ music can’t pump you up.

Music has a huge impact on your attitude, we all know that, and I honestly think it plays a part in the Cubs lack of success. I may sound like an idiot right now, that’s fine, but that’s my opinion.

Now music isn’t the only factor, it’s also the stadium, and the image of the stadium. GABP is meant for baseball, and baseball only; Wrigley is more of a party with baseball going on in the background. I had pretty good seats for the game, but except for one lady, no one around me was even paying attention to the game, or talking about the game. There was a group of four college-aged guys there, they talked about everything under the sun, besides baseball, they even left after the 4th inning because they were bored. Even though Wrigley Field is almost always packed, as a player, you would have to know that a good percentage of the fans there aren’t paying attention to the game. At GABP, if there are only 16,000 people there, you know pretty much everyone there is paying attention to the game.

Those two things are big factors I’m sure, but the biggest factor is simply just the team. The Cubs rely on three guys pretty much; Rizzo, who has a very bright future, Soriano, who has been in a four-year slump, and Starlin Castro, who is young, but is very inconsistent on both offense, and defense. The Reds, on the other hand, have more of a team. There is not one man who is relied on. The Reds have a different guy leading in average, home runs, and RBI’s. Votto leads in average, Choo, unexpectedly, leads in home runs, and Brandon Phillips leads in RBI’s.

Put those three things together, and it’s easy to see why the Reds are so good, and why the Cubs are not.

Bronson went 7 2/3 innings pitched allowed no runs, 2 walks and striking out six. Amazing stat line for Arroyo today is that he threw first pitch strikes 22 0f his 29 batters faced this afternoon very pitch efficient.

Joey Votto had a great day in the office as he was on base in all of his six appearances, while going 4 for 4  including hitting his 6th homerun of the year in the ninth inning and to think a month ago Reds fans were worry when he got off to a slow start my have things change as Votto is heating up at the right time.

Reds got the scoring going in the top of the second inning Todd Frazier and Donald Lutz hit back to back singles to start it up. Then step in  Catcher Ryan Hanagin on a 1-1 pitch he connected on it to left field for a three run homerun and a 3-0 lead at that point.

After that the Reds had baserunners in every inning but weren’t able to bring them home as the Phillies were still in the game many wonder with the history of the Reds in Citizen Bank Park anything is possible. But in the sixth they finally cashed in first Hanagin was hit by a pitch in the helmet area he advanced to second on Arroyo sacrifice. Zack Cozart with two outs hit a double down the right field line to make it 4-0.

Arroyo was dealing he only allowed one baserunner to reach second through the first seven innings. Coming into his start Arroyo had not fair well in his appearances in Philadelphia as he entered today with 9. 60 ERA in three starts in Citizens Bank Park well he sure lowered that with his start today.

Reds bats put the game out of reach in the eight inning as they were able to score 4 runs. With the bases loaded with one out Jay Bruce hit a sac fly to center. Frazier hit a two run single to center, and Lutz hit a rocked shot RBI double to make it 8-0. They added two more in the ninth as Votto belted a two run shot  to make it 10-0 .

With the win Reds are now  4- 1  in their 3 cities nine game road trip with the series finale against the Phillies tomorrow afternoon as they go for the series win. Homer Bailey will be on the mound for the Redlegs his last time out he pitched a complete game two runs allowed and 10 strikeouts in a win over the Marlins 6-2 on Tuesday. His last start against the Phillies was one of the best I seen Homer pitched on April 17 he went 8 innings allowed no runs, 2 hits and striking out 10. After the game tomorrow Reds will head to New York to take on the Mets on Monday and it will be Johnny Cueto first start since being placed on the disabled list a month ago.

May 17, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto (19) celebrates hitting a home run with bench coach Chris Speier during the eighth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies defeated the Reds 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Cingrani back to Louisville while keeping Mike Leake up with the club. This decision has created some anger amongst the fan base and it is easy to see why.

Tony Cingrani has been great since being called up after Johnny Cueto got injured, Cingrani a heralded rookie who came up to the bigs last season has been on point in all five starts this season. Cingrani makes his final start tonight against the Phillies. On a side note I am referencing the Reds lineup for next week that has Leake listed as a starter on Tuesday, that is why I’m saying Cingrani is going down.

Lets take a little comparison between Leake and Cingrani.

ERA: Leake 3.72     Cingrani 2.89

ER: Leake 20  Cingrani 9

WHIP: Leake 1.49  Cingrani 0.91

K/9: Leake 6.33  Cingrani: 11.89

SO: Leake 34  Cingrani 37

Now I know some of you people will say “Oh you know Leake has more starts, you can’t compare them!” Yes yes I can and I did.

Cingrani is a better pitcher all around. He has better control and better stuff at the moment. Leake is struggling just watch him pitch. He got a win against Miami on Wednesday night, woo hoo thats super hard. The most aggravating part is the club believes that was a quality win.

So come next week Tony Cingrani will go back to killing it in Louisville while the Reds will stick with a struggling Mike Leake. I don’t understand the reasoning but we’ll have to wait and see.

He says he will either go to Saint Louis University, or Xavier University. SLU and XU, last season, both played in the Atlantic 10 Conference. This upcoming season, SLU will still be in the A10, but Xavier will no longer be a mid-major, as they are joining the Big East Conference.

As a sophomore at Indiana, Abell averaged 4 points per game in only 12.5 minutes per game.

Abell, the 6’3 talented young man from Louisville will obviously have to sit out next season, that’s the way it goes when you transfer, but in the 2014-15 season and the 2015-16 season, he could be a huge part of Xavier’s success, if he chooses Xavier. Samaj Christon will likely go to the NBA after this upcoming season, Abell could be a leader for the Musketeers.

Abell said he has been talking things over with his family back in Louisville. Cincinnati is closer to Louisville than St. Louis is, if that has anything to do with it.

Vezenkov played for the Bulgarian u16, u18, and u20 teams. He now plays for Aris in the Greek Basketball League.

Vezenkov is currently 17 years old, and he is considered one of the best European basketball players in his age group. He showed everyone what he was capable of in 2011 while playing in the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship Tournament, he was the leading scorer in that tournament, averaging 27.1 points per game.

He will become the first Bulgarian basketball player in the history of Xavier’s Basketball program.

One would assume Mike Leake would be the odd-man-out, but the Reds have made some unpredictable decisions in the last few years, so you should not assume anything.

Last month, we gave away a $300 worth of Sports Memorabilia…This month, FanSided and Riverfront Ball have teamed up with Deals2Buy.com to give away a LG Electronics 42-Inch LED TV!!!

This LG Electronics 42-Inch LED TV is provided by Deals2Buy, a leading website for deals, discounts and close-out inventory offers. Focused on delivering best-of-web pricing, Deals2Buy is known among tech-savvy consumers as the one stop shop for deals on items like laptops, cameras, televisions and other technology products – as well as apparel, accessories, travel, and even credit card offers. Sign up for the Deals2Buy Hot Deal Alerts newsletter and follow them on Twitter and Facebook to stay in the know about the hottest deals every day!

To enter, simply like us on Facebook and sign up for our daily email newsletter, FanSided Daily. It is completely free and customizable to your unique rooting interest. Then earn additional entries by sharing the contest with friends!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and D.C., 18 years and older, who are the owners of the property depicted in the photo. Begins: 9:00 a.m. C.T. on 5/15/13. Ends: 11:59 p.m. C.T. on 6/15/13. Subject to Official Rules at www.fansided.com. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: FanSided. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

nothing to cheer about, lets be honest this is a AAA team with one star player. Cincinnati rolled over the Marlins with a 6-2 win on Tuesday night.

Cincinnati did all of their run scoring in the first two innings, Brandon Phillips drove in Zach Cozart in the first then a two walked in runs and a bases clearing double by Xavier Paul put the Reds up 6-1 in the second. From there Homer Bailey took over taking command of the game in route to a complete game, his first of the season.

Homer gave up two runs while striking out 10 keeping his ERA to a decent 3.51, he of course is looking to get it lower. Bailey who the pitching staff has been known to coddle at times threw 125 pitches tonight, his most since his no hitter late last season agains the Pirates.

The offense for the Reds was relatively decent tonight, Votto continues his hot streak going 3 for 4 and moving his batting average up to .322 and his OBP up to .454. Brandon Phillips and Zach Cozart are both on nice little hitting streaks themselves, the bottom of the order is struggling a bit.

The Marlins this season are absolutely awful, not Houston Astros awful but definitely the worst team in the NL. Miami is made up of a roster that includes a veteran or two, a bunch of no name minor leaguers, a young pitching phenom, and on superstar player. The Marlins are last in Runs, Batting Average, Slugging Percentage and second to last in On Base Percentage. Miami just isn’t good,the team has no drive, the owner hates the city its just a mess. The bright spot here is Giancarlo Stanton aka Michael Stanton who could end up in a Reds uniform before the trade deadline.

Cincinnati sends Mike Leake to the mound tomorrow to take on Alex Sanabia who ever that is.