Turns out the Top's Not So Lonely

Two first place battles in a row, two times the Reds come out on top. Take that ESPN-type media! Why were you so quick to pick up on the Bengals' success this past season but you still fail to recognize the Reds (I'd like to point out that I automatically started typing "suck" after "Bengals")? Interviewing the National League Player of the Week on one show does not count.

Anyway, the Reds have now put the Cardinals two games behind in second place, leaving them the sole possessors of first place (yay!) in all of baseball (yay!). Dave Williams had what I suppose one could call a good outing. His numbers weren't spectacular, but comparatively, it was great. Though, in the first inning it looked like it was going to be same old, same old. The Cardinals scored first on a series of three singles in the 1st. Oh, before I go into this it is important to note that the real Cardinals apparently didn't feel like playing yesterday. Pujols, Edmonds and Rolen were all absent from the line-up. Poor Baby Poo-Holes apparently had a sore back. Really not sure why Edmonds didn't play, and Rolen was never going to be a part of this series anyway. But all the same, apparently St. Louis thought we'd roll over for them or something.

Back to the game. Cardinals scored one in the 1st. Shortly thereafter (aka the 3rd inning) Juan Encarnacion (the Bad Encarnacion) smacked one out of the park to bring the score to 2-0 for the Cards. Then a fat lot of nothing happened until the 6th, when Adam Dunn and Edwin Encarnacion (the Good Encarnacion) hit back-to-back homers to tie the score at 2. This would be where the whole first time two guys named Encarnacion both batted clean-up and both hit home runs thing happened. St. Louis refused to do anything about that, and so, in the 9th, pinch-hitting Javier Valentin sent Kearnsy home with an RBI single, walk-off style, to win the game, prompting horrible puns about Valentin's day on the official site.

And so, with a decent hold on first place for the moment, the Reds head off to Colorado to get some fresh moutain air while they start another series with another first place team. Excitement abounds!