Has there ever been a worse pitcher to throw two no-hitters than Homer Bailey? Perhaps Bill Stoneman out of the list of 26. Point being it takes a lot for me to get behind Bailey and the Reds . I'm going to do it here, though.

P.J. Conlon is the major reason for this leap of faith.

P.J. who? The Mets have summoned him up from their Triple A Vegas team in the Pacific Coast League. Now it's tough to pitch in Vegas and in the PCL, but Conlon's minor league numbers are dreadful anyway you spin it: 1-2 record, 6.75 ERA and opponents batting .310 against him. Conlon is a late and desperate choice to fill in for Jacob deGrom. Mets maanger Mickey Callaway thought it wise not to disrupt his bullpen, which is overworked.

Here is what Callaway said about Conlon and his team's pitching situation: "We thought if we went with one of our bullpen guys, it could mess our bullpen up the next few days so we decided to give the ball to P.J. He's a guy that throws strikes, has a good changeup and maybe he can keep them off balance for a while and then let our bullpen come in and try to finish the job."

This isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.

The Mets are not in good form either. They have lost six in a row - all at home - and are 6-14 in their last 20 games. The Mets are distracted with Matt Harvey trying to get traded and aren't likely to have their best offensive weapon, Yoenis Cespedes. He left Sunday's game with tightness in his right hip.

Cincinnati finally has gotten healthy with Scooter Gennett, Eugenio Suarez and Devin Mesoraco all past their injuries. So I'm expecting the Reds to start playing better.

Bailey is capable of dominating a game. He just hasn't done it for more than eight months. He's hurt by the long ball and pitching at Great American Ball Park sure doesn't help him in that regard. But the Mets rank 27th in homers and probably will be minus Cespedes, their home run and RBI leader.

So if there's a time to play the Reds, this is it.