Without deviation from the norm (& Ronny Cedeno), regress is not possible. Reds lose 9-4.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Joey Votto gorped his 6th crankwood off the facade in right field and went 2-4. If we didn't have an unwritten rule against giving this award to opposing players, Ronny Cedeno (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) or David Wright (2 2B, on base 5 times) would be taking home that $15 gift certificate to Buffalo Mild Legs. BML: Come for the lack of distracting wall art, stay for gently-seasoned thigh meat!

Key Plays

• Latos and the Uncanny Dickey traded zeroes until the 4th inning, when Joey Votto hit a frack-job to right field that would have been a bonzai anywhere: Citi Field '11, the Polo Grounds or Ebbets Field.
• The Reds got three more in the 5th, thanks in part to wildness/knuckling from Dickey. With the league's best bullpen standing by, our team made the reasonable assumption that 4 runs were enough. Time to focus on prevention.
  
• In the top of the 5th, Andres Torres singled and David Wright walked. With two outs, Jay Bruce misjudged a line drive off the bat of Lucas Duda in the bottom of the inning that may have been catch-able.
  
• Latos' stuff looked good more often than not , but he couldn't hit enough of his spots. Three walks and a few too many pitches on the fat part of the place bounced him from the game after 5.0 IP. J.J. Hoover came in to limit the damage to a run off a sac-fly.
  
• A Todd Frazier double to lead off the 7th would be their last threat while the game was within reach.
• Aroldis Chapman entered, along with his 25.1 inning scoreless streak. He had yet to pitch in consecutive days and showed some fatigue. Wright led off the inning with a walk. Chapman may have been pitching around him, which is understandishable - especially with three lefties coming up. It's a move that wound up costing him the scoreless streak (though not the earned run streak). Duda dropped a weak blooper, then Drew Stubbs misplayed another blooper to load the bases. Chapman worked out of the jam with his customary two strikeouts, but not before Wright scored on a sac-fly.
• The wheels fell off and started a structure fire in the bottom of the eight. Logan Ondrusek's tab with math, the Universe and everything was long past due. At first, it looked like the Reds were getting flared to death when another potentially catchable ball landed between three fielders, but Ronny Cedeno's 3-run blast blew it up for good. Cue laugh track. Mets win, 9-4.

Source: FanGraphs

Other Notes

• ALTERNATE TITLE: Home Run, Ronny, Run
• Over the last three games, Reds' starters have averaged just 5 innings per start. And Homer Bailey, who was great four games a go, only went 6.2. The Reds desperately need a few starters to get through the 7th.
• David Wright advanced from 1st to second on an error and scored on a sac-fly. Since Chapman struck out the merciless Cedeno on the very next at bat, he did not get tagged with an earned run. Still sitting 0.00.
• Learned some more stuff about R.A. Dickey. He has has no UCL, which made me wonder if you could have Tommy John implant surgery. Probably more fun just to become a knuckleballer.
  
• To my eye, Chapman's shaky inning looked more like unfortunate batted ball luck than anything else. Maybe putting Wright on first - or pitching Chapman back-to-back - were technically tactical blunders. But if Stubbs snares that dying quaily that bounced off his glove, he probably gets out of the inning with no runs, 2 K, 1 BB and less than 30 pitches.
• Stubbs and Cozart, the Reds' current 1 and 2 hitters, went a combined 0-9. Both are now getting on base below .300. Joey Votto's one-run homer was a convenient exhibit showing at least one of them needs to be relocated in the order.
• After the Mets' series, Todd Frazier is now doing a very healthy .295/.354/.659. Both he and Hanigan are good candidates to move up in the order, though I doubt they both will.
  

Next up: @Yankees, 7:05 EDT, Yankee Stadium. Bronson Arroyo is the age-appropriate choice to take on Andy Pettite, who makes his second start since returning to the majors. Reds are lined up pretty well for the three game series, throwing Cueto against Sabathia on Sunday.