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CHICAGO — The easy part is over. Now it's time for the Cincinnati Reds to play with the big boys — like going from Peoria to Broadway.

After going 5-2 on a homestand against Pittsburgh and Washington, the Reds head for Chicago and Milwaukee for three games each against the first-place Cubs and third-place Brewers.

Then comes the All-Star break.

The Reds lost two of three to the last-place Pirates, then swept four from the Nationals, a beat-up, last-place team (National League East) that even some of the Reds called "The Triple-A Nats."

Now, the acid test.

"It's a huge road trip," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We're gaining ground in our division and on .500. We're playing two teams above us in the division and there are two things we have to do better if we're going to contend — play better on the road and play better in our division."

The Reds are 17-28 on the road and 11-18 against the NL Central but are only four games under .500 (43-47, 101/2 games behind the Cubs).

Jerry Hairston Jr. has given the Reds a huge push since coming off the disabled list 11 games ago, and he was optimistic after the Reds broomed the Nats.

"We knew it was going to be tough on our previous road trip — going to New York, Toronto and Cleveland, and we did pretty well (5-4)," Hairston said. "We wanted to carry the momentum home and we did that, and now we have to go on the road and we know we're up against very good teams.

"This is big because we don't feel we're out of it," he added. "There are a lot of games left to play, especially in our division."

The Reds won the four over the Nationals by 5-3, 3-0, 3-2 and 6-5 scores, and any of the four games could have gone the other way. Even Baker was disturbed a little about the team's 6-5 win Sunday, July 6.

"It wasn't pretty because we made a lot of mistakes," Baker said. "We won the game and I enjoy all victories, but it is hard to enjoy that one as much when you don't play as good as you'd like to play."

Adam Dunn's three-run homer Sunday tied it 3-3 and enabled the Reds to scrape together a victory.

"We want to play the second half the way we think we are capable of playing," Dunn said. "We've started great and we can make up some ground in the next six games, then go enjoy ourselves at the break. The break isn't here yet, and it's hard knowing the break is almost here and we still have six games left."

Today's game

Who: Reds (Harang 3-10) at Cubs (Dempster 9-3)

When: 8:05 p.m.

Radio: WLW-AM (700); WONE-AM (980)

TV: FSN Ohio