If you’re going to call out your teammates, you better a) have some stature in your respective league or on your respective team and b) be playing well yourself.

That does not describe Reds starter Edinson Volquez, who was sent down to Class AAA Louisville on Monday after he called out his teammates on Sunday following a loss to the Indians.

“Everybody has to step up, start to score some runs,” Volquez said. “In the last five games, how many runs have we scored? Like 13? That’s not the way we were playing last year. We’re better than that.”

This is coming from the same guy who gave up seven runs in only 2.2 innings of work and is now the proud owner of a 6.35 ERA.

Volquez is right: the Reds are better than what they’ve showed over their last six games (all losses). But they’re still second in runs scored in the National League behind the Cardinals, so obviously they’re just in a funk right now. It’s a long season – it happens.

Besides, the main point is that Volquez shouldn’t be the one calling his teammates out. If Joey Votto (who has a MVP to his name) or Brandon Phillips wanted to say something similar to what Volquez said, fine – no problem. But your words don’t carry much weight when you’ve contributed to the problem.

Hopefully for the Reds’ sake, Volquez will iron out his issues in the minors and when he returns, he’ll be ready to help the club in a more productive manner.

It wouldn’t be a Cardinals-Reds series if somebody wasn’t yelling at somebody by the end of it.

On Sunday, Francisco Cordero was the recipient of some backlash from the Cardinals’ dugout after he hit slugger Albert Pujols with a pitch during an 0-2 count in the ninth inning. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, St. Louis backup catcher Gerald Laird was mainly doing the barking at Cordero.

“Just a little fun,” Cordero said. “I think it was because I hit Pujols 0-2, Gerald Laird was all loud in the dugout. He was yelling at me and pointing at me and saying a whole bunch of stuff.

“Out of all the guys that are great hitters, great players, Gerald Laird doesn’t even play. He’s the one yelling at me because I hit Pujols 0-2. 0-2! I wasn’t trying to hit him. I’ve got to face (Matt) Holliday next, who can take the lead with one swing, and he’s yelling at me.

“All I know is he was loud, so I said something back to him.”

I don’t blame Laird or any other member of the Cardinals for being upset about Cordero hitting Pujols. Brandon Phillips was the one who threw gasoline on the fire last year by calling the Cardinals “little bitches” so now St. Louis always has its guard up.

But Laird has to realize the situation. Cordero isn’t going to hit Pujols on purpose when he has him down 0-2 in the count. To put the tying run on base with Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman coming up just doesn’t make sense. One could argue that Cordero chose that moment to hit Pujols because he would have the perfect excuse to claim it was accidental. But even Pujols admitted after the game that he didn’t think Cordero did it on purpose.

“I’m pretty sure Francisco didn’t try to do that on purpose,” Pujols told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “He doesn’t want to bring the winning run to the plate with two big hitters, Matt and Berkman (coming up next). It’s probably something that slipped. You turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.”

What has to be more frustrating for the Cardinals than the situation with Cordero is the fact that they were swept by the Reds. St. Louis went into the weekend with a small lead in the NL Central and came out of it looking up at Cincinnati in the standings.

Three wins, two shutouts and one well-deserving trip to the National League Championship Series.

They are your 2010 Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies completed their sweep of the Reds on Sunday night, as Cole Hamels threw the second shutout of the series (Roy Halladay’s lackluster peformance in Game 1 was the other shutout). Hamels scattered five hits and walked none as Philly was able to rest its bullpen for the NLCS, which will start on Saturday, October 16.

Reds’ starter Johnny Cueto and the bullpen kept their club in the ballgame by limiting the Phillies to only two runs, but Cincinnati’s bats never came around. They scratched together four runs in Game 2, but that was their total for the entire series.

The Phillies now await the winner between the Giants and Braves and if Game 4 will be anything like the first three games of that NLDS series, then that puppy is probably going five.

Roy Halladay had never pitched in a playoff game before Wednesday evening in Philadelphia.

Apparently he wasn’t nervous.

In the Phillies’ 4-0 win over the Reds in Game 1 of the NLDS, Halladay threw a no-hitter in the postseason for only the second time in baseball history. It was his second no-hitter of the season and he now joins Don Larsen, who is the only other pitcher to throw a no-no in the playoffs

Halladay’s only blemish on the night came in the top of the 5th when he walked Jay Bruce with two outs (the audacity!). Otherwise he was perfect while striking out eight hitters on just 104 pitches. And because he only threw 104 pitches, he could probably pitch again in Game 4 if the Phillies get into trouble in these next two games.

He also got into the act at the plate by singling home Carlos Ruiz in the second inning to make the game 2-0. He scored on a Shane Victorino single later that inning as the Phillies built a 4-0 lead, which was all the scoring they would need thanks to Halladay.

This isn’t exactly the start the Reds or their fan base envisioned when the club made the postseason for the first time since 500 B.C. Everyone knew Cincinnati would have trouble with Philadelphia’s pitching, but to get no-hit in the first game is a little appalling given some of the hitters the Reds have in their lineup.

They’ll try to pick up the pieces on Friday when they take on Roy Oswalt.

For years, MLB writers have had it easy when it came to making season predictions for the Reds.

4. Cincinnati Reds
The Reds have loads of young talent and one day, it’ll all come together. But this is still the Reds – they’ll find a way to finish in the middle of the pack. It’s been 10 years since the last time they made the playoffs, so bank on them missing out again.

Rinse and repeat.

But that, “one day, it’ll all come together” part is happening right now.

Jay Bruce hit a walk-off home run in the 9th inning off Astros’ reliever Tim Byrdak on Tuesday as the Reds beat Houston 3-2 to win the NL Central for the first time in over a decade. The win also guarantees that they’ll be heading to the postseason for the first time in 15 years.

There’s no rest for the weary, however, as the Reds are in a battle with the Giants (and maybe the Padres if they can get their act together) for home field advantage in the NLDS. The Phillies have run away with the top seed in the NL, but home field advantage would obviously be huge for Cincinnati, as it would be for all clubs.

If the playoffs were to start today, the Phillies would have the top seed, followed by the Giants, then the Reds, then the Wildcard-winning Braves. Since the Braves and Phillies can’t play each other in the first round, Cincinnati would play Philadelphia and San Francisco would host Atlanta.

Teams aren’t going to back down from any opponent at this point in the year, but avoiding the Phillies would still be beneficial. Thus, the Reds need to finish strong and secure that second spot.

Things have shifted a lot in MLB since I took a hiatus last weekend. Wow, have they ever shifted. The Rockies have now lost 5 in a row and are fading out of the race. The Phillies have won 11 in a row to take over the top spot. The Rays are ahead of the Yankees now in the AL East and the Twins are as hot as the Phils. The Braves are whopping 7 games back of the Phillies now. Damn, this is getting fun.

1. Philadelphia Phillies (93-61)—Peaking but maybe too soon. Still, when you have Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels, it’s not really fair. And everyone else is getting healthy now.

2. Tampa Bay Rays (92-61)—They finally overtake the Yanks, but have company up here. Still, they’ve been consistent all year and they have David Price at the top of their rotation.

3. Minnesota Twins (92-61)—Even without Justin Morneau, this is a very dangerous team. But are they peaking too soon as well?

4. New York Yankees (92-62)—When I heard the New York sports talk guys being all gloom and doom after a split with the Rays this past week, I didn’t understand it. But when you look at the remaining schedules of both teams, you get it. A loss to Boston last night probably didn’t do much for Yankees fans’ confidence.

5. San Francisco Giants (87-67)—Making for one of the most compelling pennant races, because the winner will move on while the loser may not even take the wild card.

6. San Diego Padres (86-67)—Looking back, that long losing streak came at the right time, and the wrong time, at the same time.

7. Cincinnati Reds (86-68)—The magic number is 3. I wonder if Brandon Phillips will get a Christmas card from the Cardinals’ organization this year.

8. Atlanta Braves (86-68)—Now trailing in the wild card race by a half-game. This is another compelling race that shouldn’t have been so compelling, but seriously, how do you hold off the Phils and that pitching staff?

9. Texas Rangers (85-68)—Magic number is 2, will they be the second team to clinch?

10. Boston Red Sox (85-68)—I don’t think they’ve officially been eliminated yet, but it’s getting very, very late. And what a shame for a team that really is as talented as most of the teams on this Top 10 list.

The Yankees just keep winning, and suddenly the Padres keep losing, sitting with an 8-game losing streak, but still clinging to a three-game lead over the Giants. We may wind up with very few pennant races, but we are likely to have lots of new match-ups in the postseason this year. For that, I’m excited. And let me go out on a limb here. Watch out for the Rockies. They have this knack for winning 98% of their games in September and climbing fast in the standings.

1. New York Yankees (85-50)—They haven’t lost since I did my last rankings. The Rays caught up, but then the Yanks jumped back out to a 1.5-game lead. I know I’ve been high on the Rays, but the Yankees ain’t gonna fold. And CC for Cy Young?

2. Tampa Bay Rays (83-51)—With a 7-game lead in the wild card, that’s got to be what the Rays are gunning for. And they’d have to suffer a major collapse for that to happen at this point.

3. Cincinnati Red (78-56)—No longer a flash in the pan, the Reds are not just for real, they are striking fear in every other MLB team. How about the addition of Aroldis Chapman? Did anyone thing he would be helping this team in a pennant race in September?

4. Minnesota Twins (78-57)—The White Sox have Manny Ramirez now, but that won’t stop the Twins from pulling away this month.

5. Atlanta Braves (78-57)—Hanging tough as the Phillies make a charge. This could be one division race worth biting your nails over.

6. San Diego Padres (76-57)—Speaking of biting nails, how are you Padres’ fans feeling these days? Yikes.

7. Texas Rangers (75-59)—Now with a 9-game lead, Nolan Ryan can print those playoff tickets.

8. Philadelphia Phillies (77-58)—This team has caught fire at the right time, and we all knew they had it in them. One game back, and the Braves could wind up missing the postseason entirely after a great year.

9. Boston Red Sox (76-58)—A good season, and they’d be in the divisional hunt in every other division but the AL East.

10. San Francisco Giants (74-61)—With the Padres losing 8 in a row, the Giants have still not been able to capitalize. And now they trail the Phillies by 3 games in the wild card hunt.