Red Reposter - Dontrelle Winless and Loss/Lonely Boys

10:2:1 Ratio of runners left on base to runs scored to margin of defeat from last night's game

.347 Edgar Renteria's wOBA during the last two weeks, making 2/3 of starts at SS in Cozart's absence

• Zack Cozart strongly considering season-ending surgery, Wood called up as Ondrusek DL'd
  The Reds are hurtin' for certain.  It sounds as though Cozart's hyper-extended elbow is not remotely close to playing shape and his comments indicates he's probably going to have surgery sometime soon, presumably to be as far removed from the knife as possible next spring. This is a real shame, as Cozart was the equivalent of the Reds' big deadline acquisition. But with the team out of contention, it makes sense to make these decisions with next year in full view. The only good thing about being injured is that you can't go out on the field again and become injured during meaningless games.
  
• Rob Neyer admits he underestimated Dontelle's Willis power
  D-Train's career has looked cooked a number of times in the last 4 years, ever since he lost his command. But last night's 10 strikeout, 1 walk performance was a vindication. There are strong incentives to overreact to Willis' season, especially since he's so gall-durned likeable and has been hitting well too. But while he's only thrown 37 MLB innings in 2011, his control is vastly improved: 2.39 BB/9 in AAA and 2.92 with the Reds. Call it a comeback? With a reasonably strong finish, I would sign him to an incentiv-y contract.
  
• C-ing Reds to Homer Bailey: "We need to talk." It might be time (again) to take stock with Homer Bailey
  Like a good attending doc, CR looks at Bailey's chart. And compares his rising ERA levels to the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Like andro, I'm not one to give up on the 25-year-old longtime future ace. His K-rate is at an all-time low, but his walk-rate is the lowest its ever been in his major league career. And he still has a chance to pitch more innings at a lower ERA than 2010, when he was a 1.9 WAR player. Still, his ceiling is sagging. I don't expect him to be better than a #3 at this point and I would trade him for an ace or a left-fielder, especially with a strong finish. With more of the same over the rest of the season, it might finally be time to think "closer."
  
• Tater Trot Tracker has Jay Bruce as the fastest HR trot on August 8
  It was his first HR since the ASB, so that might explain the spring in his step. It may have only been one year off, but I'd forgotten that, yes, this is what meaningless August baseball leaves you with.
  
• Red Hot Mama in "The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker"
  The Dusty Revolt is creeping, especially in the face of his decision to shelve Alonso. We may soon have the 2011 Reds fan photoshop equivalent of Common Sense. I find myself in a weird spot on this one. I agree with Baker that Alonso isn't a LFer, but I vehemently that the solution is to keep him on the bench while his in the big leagues. And essentially admit, publicly, that it's been a failure.
  
• Flip Flop Fly Ballin' has a map of the Beatles eleven shows at baseball parks '
  Including Crosley Field. I found the set list to the Crosley show, as long as the first and only Google hit I looked at can be trusted: Rock and Roll (Chuck Berry cover), She's a Woman, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper,  Baby's In Black, I Feel Fine, Yesterday (dedication: fanbase), I Wanna Be Your Man, Nowhere Man (dedication: Yonder Alonso), Paperback Writer, Long Tall Sally Play (dedication: Logan Ondrusek)

• Baseball-Reference Blog: Great players who split time at RF and 3B King Kelly, of the Cincinnati Kelly's Killers, is one of them. Which prompts the question: why isn't King a first name anymore? Or Killer?