My Day = Made

Though the game appeared lost going into the 9th, the Reds pulled off a thrilling victory, thanks in large part to one Brandon Phillips (who has eclipsed Ryan Freel in the quest to earn my love. He still has Kearns to overthrow, though).

It occurred to me that I haven't had any Least Favorite anythings for a while. Jose Reyes and his 4-5, 2 run, 1 RBI night landed himself the position as my Least Favorite Met. Jose Valentin was a close second, but I just couldn't do that to Javy's brother.

First, since I don't have anything about the first two games of the series on here, Bronson Arroyo was the man once again, pitching a complete game on Monday, which the Reds won 4-2. Elizardo Ramirez was not quite as spectacular as he had been last Wednesday, but his performance Tuesday wasn't as awful as the 9-2 final score makes it look. In fact, a large part of why the game got so out of reach for the Reds was the bullpen. Again.

Now for Wednesday's game. Considering all the mystery and doubt surrounding Joe Mays's ability as a starting pitcher, he did a-okay, going 6 innings, giving up 2 runs, striking out 5 and walking 2. Hammond came in for the 7th and gave up 3 runs. Standridge and Coffey each pitched a scoreless inning.

While that was going on, the offense was trying to put together some effective innings of their own. The first started out much better than Tuesday. Freel made it safely to 2nd on an error rather than being thrown out at 2nd. He scored shortly thereafter on Griffey's sacrifice fly. Reyes started the night off on my bad side, hitting Mays's second pitch for a home run.

Griffey's 2 RBI double in the 3rd put the Reds up 3 to 1. A Scott Hatteberg double in the 5th got Kearns to the plate and gave the Reds a 3 run lead. Reyes tripled in the bottom of the 5th, continuing to anger me, and scored on a wild pitch from Mays.

In the 7th, with Hammond pitching, Wright singled to score Beltran. Jose Valentin was the next batter up, and he promptly homered, to put the Mets up 5 to 4. Woe! The Reds did not respond in the 8th, but continuing with their affinity for drama, our boys saved their best for last.

With two outs in the 9th, Kearns and Ross (pinch hitting for the pitcher) walked, McCracken came in to run for Ross, and Aurilia (pinch hitting for Hatteberg) singled. The bases are loaded with two outs. Brandon Phillips comes to the plate. He singles! Kearns and McCracken score! The Reds are up 6 to 5! Javy then struck out to end the inning.

Coffey came in for the save, and got it. Reds win! And if you're me, you forget there is another game to come and you taunt the television, making fun of the Mets for losing the series.