Yesterday's gift-wrapped victory could make a serious psychological difference for the Reds. Rather than closing out a .500 homestand as victims of a 2-game sweep by the Cubs and hitting the road with a losing record, the Reds are back to .500 and riding the walk-off wave.

They also have their ace on the hill. Cueto is currently second among pitchers in the NL in BBRef WAR, though he's not even on the first screen for FanGraphs. FanGraphs distrusts the fact that Cueto puts the ball in play so often (and gives the defense more credit), but I think we've got enough evidence to know that whatever Cueto is doing is baffling hitters well beyond the shadow of a league-average pitcher on a good luck streak.

Cueto will face Kevin Correia, who - according to a real fact - was a 2011 All Star. He seemed pretty stingy against the Reds last season from what I remember, but the bats were able to knock out a few well-placed home runs. Correia's slider could be trouble for this edition of the Reds, who need to be able to get to his very hittable fastball. As always, this could be the series they start playing like a "warm-weather team."

As ugly as the offense has been in more than a few games, they're still only 3rd-worst in their own division on a runs-per-game basis. The team they play tonight is last in the NL.

Go Reds! Let's play the game and win the game.