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Bronson Arroyo savors the Reds seson series finale victory.

(6/29) Round Two Wrap Up -- Cleveland gets a win, but loses series and no one cares because Buckeye football starts soon.  There, that about sums it up, right? Well the Indians and Reds, both mired in last place in their respective Central divisions, battled again this weekend, this time at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario near the shores of Lake Erie. Little discussion if any was heard around the capital city, though, because by God Antonio Henton defected to Georgia Southern and we need to know NOW if Terrelle Pryor is going to be the savior if  . . . Alright, there was a small modicum of interest in the series going around, but not much. Fortunately for Tribe fans, the Wahoos crushed the Reds Friday night, ensuring that there would not be a season six-game sweep by the Reds, who won all three down in the Queen City. CC Sabathia dominated Cincinnati in the first game with a 6-0 eight inning 11 strikeout win. CC holds a 1.96 ERA in his last 13 starts, but that is about the only thing going well for the Tribe right now. Cleveland managed to lose the next two to Cincinnati, including a 5-0 Saturday drubbing that didn't even merit the Dispatch front page, and a 9-5 loss to Bronson Arroyo on Sunday afternoon. The Reds rode a five run fifth and Adam Dunn's three run homer in the seventh to give Arroyo (5-7) the win. Dunn has five homers in six games against Cleveland this season, one-quater of his yearly total of 20. Johnny Cueto (6-8) finally found stability for the Reds on Saturday going 6 1/3 and scattering five hits with no runs. Dunn, of course, homered in that game as well, but Indians fans have already come to expect that. Cleveland's Casey Blake was 6-10 plus two walks (a .667 OBA) for the series, but managed only one run and one RBI for his troubles. Grady Sizemore hit two homers in the series, and Ben Francisco added one in the too little too late bottom of the ninth of Sunday's loss. Now, let's start playing teams in our own leagues!!

Joey Votto swung the broom for the Reds.

Where We Stand -- OK, for every Mets vs. Yankees and Cubs vs. White Sox interleague game, there is the inevitable Royals vs. Astros or Rockies vs. Twins. Certainly, the Reds' attendance figures jumped from 14,000 to near full houses just because the Tribe was in town. But is this series truly compelling? It is somewhat, or is somewhere in between, at least for the general beer swilling fan. No doubt, the games can be fun, and it is always energizing to rib your neighbor if he's rooting for the loser. But unlike Bengals vs. Browns, this really does degenerate into just good natured ribbing and nothing more. This is no Cardinals vs. Rays, to be sure, but hardcore fans seem to disdain even these interleague games, as they disrupt the season and carry little meaning in the Divisional and Wild Card races to come. I have some fun with these games, but get little enjoyment from seeing Pronk sit because he can't play first base while a career 0 RBI,  2-22 (yes, only 22 MLB at bats) Cliff Lee faces one of the game's great new pitchers, Edinson Volquez. I'd rather see Pronk at the plate, but then again I'm a proponent of adding the DH to the NL. Weigh in on our message boards so we can gauge what this series means to the Central Ohio fan. As for the final game itself . . . Game 3 (Sweep) -- Reds 6, Indians 4 (5/18) -- Cincinnati finished a fine heroic homestand, winning their sixth in a row and earning a sweep of the Indians Sunday afternoon before 34,612 in the Queen City. Adam Dunn did it again, going yard off previously unhittable Cilff Lee in the fourth inning. Lee gave up an uncharacteristic 5 earned runs in his first loss of the year. The icing on the cake, though, was Joey Votto's two run 9th homer of the year in the sixth inning, also off Lee. Newcomer Paul Janish went 3-3 for the Reds and Edinson Volquez improved to 7-1 despite 4 walks and a hit batsman. Cleveland call-up Michael Aubrey hit his first MLB homer in the sixth, and the Tribe then manufactured two more in the seventh thanks to hits by Jamey Carroll and Victor Martinez, but Reds closer Francisco Cordero ultimately came in to secure his 9th save of the year to complete the Cincinnati sweep.

Adam Dunn won each of the first two games, and homered again in the third.

Reds 4, Indians 2 (5/17) -- It was Adam Dunn again pulling out the win, this time with an heroic, massive 449 foot three run blast off of new Cleveland closer Masa Kobayashi in the bottom of the ninth Saturday evening. Dunn had come into the at bat trying to sacrifice over Joey Votto and Edwin Encarnacion, but missed on two bunt attempts. Dunn claims to work on bunting every day, causing him considerable consternation in the ninth, but then swung away for his ninth home run and the Reds' fifth consecutive victory. Dusty Baker claims Dunn is amongst the best bunters on the team, but it didn't show, and Tribe Manger Eric Wedge confirmed his surprise at the slugger's sacrifice attempts. Nonetheless Dunn continued his season turnaround, which now sees him with 25 RBI and an OBA of .354. Besides Kobayashi's long ball, the pitching on each side was stalwart as Fausto Carmona allowed 4 hits and no walks for 1 earned run in 7 1/3 innings and Reds starter Aaron Harang threw seven innings of one run ball with 5 K's. Let's mention that Ben Francisco was 3-4 with a homer for the Indians as he stressed over the series on the river. Cleveland is still hitting an AL worst .235 as a team . . . Cliff Lee (0.67 ERA) and Edinson Volquez (1.12 ERA) square off in the finale.  Interest Peaking? -- As could have been predicted, the late Saturday afternoon crowd for the interleague matchup was an impressive standing room only 42,000. It's not the ticket sales that matter, though, but the clubhouse and water cooler talk, which seems nonexistent. Folks have had recent Kentucky Derby parties and are fixated on LeBron testing Boston in the NBA, but I have heard nothing of  Reds/Indians festivities this weekend. Who amongst us will admit to such revelry?! I'm a lifelong Reds fan, but cannot remember ever dreaming or even thinking of matching up with the Tribe, or caring about it. The two teams have never met in the World Serious, I'm certain of that. This is definitely not Browns vs. Bengals, fans.

Ben Francisco wasn't pumped up enough about the Reds series to rob any homers.

Frankly Francisco -- What's the big deal about the current in-state inter-league series going on between the Cleveland Indians (22-20) and the Cincinnati Reds (19-23) down at Great American Ballpark in the Queen City? Sure, the teams got a rare good attendance mark of 33,000 Friday night, but there is no real palpable intensity going on it seems. Lest you think it's just my dismissive attitutds about the AL/NL series, consider Cleveland outfielder Ben Francisco earlier this week on "The Jungle", the Jim Rome Show (locally on 1230 AM in Columbus Noon to 3 pm). Francisco in a Rome favorite for some odd reason, and he was peppered with pointed inquiries by Van Smack about the intensity of the "rivalry". In no uncertain terms, Francisco let out that neither he nor most of his teammates give much creedence to a rivalry developing, and that the series just really isn't a big deal. I got the distinct impression that in the clubhouse, the players would like to do away with interleague play and get in a few more games against Detroit, Chicago and Minnesota. Though not as direct as from Francisco, there are similar rumblings rumored from the Reds ranks. Nevertheless, it was "Play Ball!!" last night, and here's what happened . . . Reds 4, Indians 3 (5/16) -- Adam Dunn walked with the bases loaded in the eighth inning off Cincinnatian and birthday boy Jensen Lewis (0-2) for the winning run, following up his second inning blast over the visitor's bullpen. It was Dunn's eighth of the year, and came after Brandon Phillips had blasted his eighth in the first off call-up Jeremy Sowers.  Johnny Cueto held his own in his no-decision start for the Reds, going 6 innings with 7 strikeouts and three earned runs.  Dangerous David Weathers picked up his first win of the year in relief for Cincinnati and Francisco Cordero got his eighth save. Ben Francisco, coming off his Jungle appearance, was 1-4 with 2 strikeouts for the Indians. Cleveland had three solo homers, coming off the bats of Casey Blake, Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta, accounting for the team's entire offense. Game two will feature Fausto Carmona and Aaron Harang on the mound.

Tags: baseball, cincinnati reds, cleveland indians, mlb