Interleague Action Ahoy!

Goodness. It's been, what, a week since I've been back here. Stupid summer classes with professors who think I should be doing homework or something. Bah!

After the Mets the Reds took a trip to Cleveland, a surprisingly struggling team, and did about what I had hoped they'd do. Friday night the Reds shut out the Indians 3-0. I am currently house-sitting for my aunt and uncle while they take a lovely vacation to Nag's Head or something. One of the Heads in North Carolina, anyway. They have a super cool HD TV and Sports Time Ohio has a super cool HD version of their channel, so I got to see awesomeness in high definition. I just wanted to share that because it was highly entertaining to my simple mind. Harang pitched a complete game, allowed 7 hits and looked simply fantastic. Ryan Freel was also fantastic with his first ever 5-5 game. He scored two runs (RBI's go to Lopez and Aurilia). The other run was thanks to Kearnsy's single that plated Hatteberg.

Saturday was a reverse of Friday. With Arroyo pitching the Reds were shut out 4-0. I guess if Harang is getting run support someone else has to suffer for it. This game was not broadcast on the lovely high definition channel because the Reds finally had a game broadcast on a national network. Whoo! Not a good time for a shut-out, but it's okay (I've got the game on in the other room and I would like to point out that Griffey has been a home run machine of late). The Indians hit a couple of homeruns off Arroyo, only had 7 hits, but it was enough to beat the Reds, who tallied just 5 hits on the evening.

Sunday, with Ramirez on the mound, the Reds exacted their revenge in the form of a 4-2 win. Griffey and Dunn both hit two-run homers. They were the only runs scored, but they were enough. Griffey's home run was the 549th of his career, putting him at 11th on the all-time list, now ahead of Mike Schmidt. Coffey pitched a perfect 9th inning. Good stuff.

Cincinnati had Monday off and returned home for a series with the Royals. "Hooray!" we thought when we first saw the schedule for the season. Given the Reds massive offensive power and the Royals awesome sucking power, this should be great. It seems, however, that the Royals had other ideas in mind. Kansas City scored first when Emil Brown hit a home run in the 2nd. The Reds responded brilliantly with 5 runs in the 3rd. Dunn, Griffey, Hatteberg and Kearns got the RBI. Griffey got two for his home run. Milton was pitching well until the 6th, when he spontaneously combusted. He gave up a home run in the 5th and another in the 6th. The home runs combined with a lot of small ball to give Milton 6 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. After another Royals run in the 7th, the Reds were down 7-5 after having been up 5-1. Ross and Valentin drove in two runs in the 8th to tie to score. Coffey gave up a 2-run homer in the 9th. The Reds had a comeback staged, but the rally stopped at Hatteberg's solo homer and the Reds lost to the Royals 9-8. I think that might have been the most heart breaking loss of the season to me.

Wednesday's game was much better. Harang was on the mound again. The Royals scored first once again, another solo home run in the 2nd. The Reds put up 5 runs in the 3rd again. The Reds scored one on the 2nd before that this time, though. Griffey homered in the 7th. Grudzielanik doubled off of Weathers to drive in Kansas City's second run in the 8th. Newly activated Belisle pitched the 9th, did a great job, and the Reds won 7-2. Lopez, Aurilia and Hatterberg (in addition to Griffey) all hit home runs. We haven't seen all that many home runs in recent series, so I hope this means the offense is finally returning to its full glory. Also raising my hopes for the offense, LaRue looked good in his at-bats, going 2-4. He came close to hitting a home run, too, but the wall was just a little too far back.

In non-game related news, Krivsky and Narron were each given extensions on their contracts with the Reds. Good to know they'll be sticking around for a while. Much better than having a new manager every season like the last several years. Both were given two-year extensions with club options for a third year, so they'll be here until at least 2008.