Here's a look back at the great month by the Reds (from Lance McAlister):

AUGUST
--The Reds finished August 19-8...the best record in ML for the month. It's their first 19 win month since September of 1999.
--The Reds have had a winning month in each of the season's five months....for the first time since 1979. They are one of only three teams (Padres/Yankees) to accomplish that this season.
--The last Reds team to have a winning season in each month of a season was the 1976 Reds.
--The Reds outscored their opponents 148-126 in August

LEADERS
Batting: Hernandez .368, Valaika .360, Votto .333, Bruce .333, Nix.333, Phillips .312, Stubbs .296, Janish .261, Rolen .261, Gomes .229, Heisey .226, Hanigan .217, Cairo .207
Hits: Votto 30
HR: Bruce 8
RBI: Votto 25
Pitching
ERA: 4.19
Wins: Arroyo, Wood 3
ERA's: Masset 0.53, Cordero 2.19, Harang 2.25, Arroyo 2.97, Bray 3.27, LeCure 3.38, Bailey 3.70, Wood 4.40, Cueto 4.43, Volquez 5.09, Smith 5.19, Rhodes 5.63, Ondrusek 7.24, Leake 8.83

MLB cincinnati reds, ramon hernandez, chris valakia, n.l. central

Emmanuelle Chriqui made a splash in Entourage and you see why...

MORE PHOTOS (AskMen.com)

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Susannah and Sam dramatize an excerpt from Darryl Dawkins' autobiography, "Chocolate Thunder"...

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The Reds lost on Sunday, again. Lance McAlister points out a growing trend…

Overall Sunday record: 6-9

Growing Trend: Lost five of last six Sunday games and seven of their last nine on that day.

Last nine Sunday games (including lineup notes):
--May 23.....4-3 (L) Cleveland: Heisey LF
--May 30.....2-0 (L) Houston: Cairo 1B, Nix CF, Janish 3B
--June 6......5-4 (W) Washington: Cario 3B, Nix LF, Miller C
--June 13.... 7-3 (L) Kansas City: Cairo 3B, Janish 2B
--June 20.... 1-0 (L) Seattle: Miller C
--June 27.... 5-3 (L) Cleveland: Miller C
--July 4...... 14-3 (W) Chicago: Janish 3B, Cairo 1B (Votto ejected)
--July 11.... .1-0 (L) Philadephia: Miller C
--July 18.... .1-0 (L) Colorado: Nix RF, Cairo 3B

Shutout City: The team has failed to score a run in five of their 15 Sunday games

Shutouts by day:
--5 Sunday
--3 Tuesday
--2 Saturday
--1 Friday

MLB cincinnati reds, reds sunday struggles

C Trent Rosecrans writes about Reds' pitcher Aroldis Chapman on his blog at CBSSports:

The Reds expect to bring up left-hander Aroldis Chapman to pitch out of the bullpen sometime this season general manager Walt Jocketty told reporters on Friday. The Reds want to see how Chapman adjusts to pitching out of the bullpen in the next three weeks and then possibly call him up.

Jocketty said the team still considers Chapman's future to be that of a starter, but he could help the team more as a reliever this season. The Reds entered Friday's game against the Indians a half-game out of first place in the National League Central. The Reds, 40-33, haven't had a winning season since 2000 and have made the playoffs since 1995.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

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When the calendar turned June a few weeks back, the Reds were unfamiliar territory – first place. They had the best record in the National League and were amongst the best offensive teams in baseball. Now, that seems like a distant memory.

For the second time in a week, the Reds dropped a third straight game on Sunday when they were swept by the lowly Mariners. They were held to just one run in the series and have now just crossed the plate once in their past 30 innings.

The team has posted a 7-11 mark in June and now sits at 14-17 over the past 31 games. They once sat 10 games over .500 at 30-20 and are now just four games over .500 at 37-33. The Reds have lost six of their last seven games, seven of their last nine and 13 of their last 20.

There is still plenty of time left to turn things around and they enter Monday’s game at Oakland just 1.5 games behind the Cardinals for first place in the N.L. Central, but the ship is starting to sink. If they are going to hang in the race they need to turn things around and they better do so quickly.

WHAT LIES AHEAD?
Mon - @Oakland - 10:05 p.m.
Tue - @Oakland - 10:05 p.m.
Wed - @Oakland - 3:35 p.m.
Thu - OFF
Fri - CLEVELAND - 7:10 p.m.
Sat - CLEVELAND - 7:10 p.m.
Sun - CLEVELAND - 1:10 p.m.

MLB cincinnati reds, st. louis cardinals, n.l. central

from Lance McAlister's blog on Homer247.com...

Pitching and catching
Reds pitching before 5/29 and after (when Ryan Hanigan went onto the DL)

Thru 5/29  30-20 W-L  4.44 ERA  2.24 K/BB 
Since May 29  7-9 W-L  5.09 ERA  1.20 K/BB 

ERA by catcher
Hanigan 3.77
Miller 3.79
Hernandez 5.25
Hernandez has caught 10 of Mike Leake's 12 starts. His ERA with pitchers other than Leake is 5.96.

MLB reds, ryan hannigan, corky miller, ramon hernandez

It now appears imminent that Nebraska will leave the Big 12 for the Big Ten, according to ESPN.com.

The move is likely the first of several changes ahead in the college sports landscape as the larger conferences begin to reposition to become “power conferences”.

A Big 12 source told the website officials from Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, in a move sensing Nebraska's determination to join the Big Ten, have already met to pledge their solidarity. The first choice is to save the Big 12, but if that's not possible, officials from those schools are prepared to merge with the Pac-10.

The source said the meetings included the chancellors, presidents and athletic directors from the three schools. Not present was a Baylor contingent. Baylor is locked in a battle with Colorado for what is presumed to be the sixth spot along with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State that would create a 16-team super-conference with the Pac-10 schools.

RUMOR TRACKER (CollegeSportsInfo.com)

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Most people don't realize that the Cincinnati at one time had two major league teams...

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The Reds were 7-11 before Dusty shook up the line-up (from Homer247.com)…

Brandon Phillips
Batting 2nd: 94 AB, .298 BA, .371 OBP, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 21 R
Batting 4th: 78 AB, .231 BA, .294 OBP, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 10 R

Drew Stubbs
Batting 7th: 51 AB, .333 BA, .393 OBP, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 9 R
Batting 1st: 83 AB, .145 BA, .242 OBP, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 13 R

Orlando Cabrera
Batting 1st: 63 AB, .302 BA, .343 OBP, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 7 R
Batting 2nd:72 AB, .264 BA, .288 OBP, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 8 R

MLB cincinnati reds, dusty baker, brandon phillips, drew stubbs, orlando cabrera

Despite rumors that John Calipari is part of a package deal for NBA free agent LeBron James, the coach continues to draw premier recruits to the University of Kentucky.

Terrence Jones, a 6-foot-8, 220 pound power forward, became the latest top prospect from the Class of 2010 to commit to UK.

Rivals.com already had Kentucky with the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation and Jones addition only adds to its supremacy.

"Adding another five-star prospect in Terrence Jones gives Kentucky a recruiting class with four five-star prospects and gives Kentucky the definitive No. 1 class in the country," national analyst Jerry Meyer said. "And going beyond the numbers, Jones is a terrific fit for (John) Calipari's system with his diversified skill set."

Jones had given a verbal to his home state team, the Washington Huskies, on April 30 but opted to switch on the last day of the signing period to the Wildcats.

He joins fellow five-star signees Brandon Knight, Enes Kanter (another former UW commitment) and shooting guard Doron Lamb.

The Wilcats also locked up highly touted, junior-college power forward Eloy Vargas last week and four-star shooting guar Stacey Poole this past fall.

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Check out my recent talk with new UC football coach Butch Jones...

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Cleveland fans being...well Cleveland fans...

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The Reds completed a sweep of the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon as Homer Bailey pitched the team's second consecutive complete game shutout. Check out some of these amazing marks accomplished as pointed out by Lance McAlister on his blog:

FEWEST RUNS ALLOWED IN 3-GAME SERIES BY REDS ALL-TIME:
1 THIS SERIES AT PITTSBURGH
1 Aug. 22-24, 1998 at Montreal
1 Aug. 26-28, 1926 at home vs. Brooklyn Robins (later Dodgers)

LAST TIME REDS HAD COMPLETE GAME BACK-TO-BACK SHUTOUTS:
June 9 and 10, 1989 ... Jose Rijo and Tom Browning, both at Dodgers

LAST TIME REDS HAD COMPLETE GAME BACK-TO-BACK GAMES:
Danny Graves and Jose Acevedo, June 25-26 of 2003 ****Graves actually lost to the Mets 3-1 in his complete game

LAST ERRORLESS STREAK REDS GAMES:
Reds have played 8 consecutive games without an error. Last streak of 8+ was June 17-25 of 2008 (8 games); the Reds' longest errorless streak in 2009 was 6 games, in the final six games of the season (sept. 29 to Oct. 4)

REDS LONGEST SCORELESS INNING STREAK BY PITCHERS SINCE 2008:
TEAM DATES SCORELESS INNING STREAK
Reds MAY-10-2010 - MAY-12-2010 19...CURRENT
Reds APR-28-2009 - MAY-01-2009 19
Reds JUN-27-2008 - JUN-29-2008 17
Reds APR-21-2009 - APR-23-2009 17
Reds AUG-12-2009 - AUG-14-2009 17
Reds MAY-06-2008 - MAY-10-2008 15
Reds JUN-20-2008 - JUN-22-2008 15
Reds JUL-16-2009 - JUL-18-2009 14
Reds JUN-03-2008 - JUN-05-2008 14

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from Kentucky.com...

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