Cardinals and Pirates

Check it out! Another week without posting! I'm slacking.

Anyway, down to business. I'm not exactly sure where I left off in the games, so I will just point out that the Reds only managed to win one of the three games against the Cardinals. No matter, though, we are still winning in the games won category, 9-6. The two don't play each other again during the regular season, so, if nothing else, the Reds have succeeded in beating the Cardinals more than the other way around. The most interesting news to come out of the series could perhaps be that Bronson finally has win number 10 under his belt.

Harang did not look so awesome on Tuesday as the Reds were shut out 5-0. Wednesday was way cool, with Griffey, Dunn and Aurilia all hitting a home run a piece, not to mention EdE's two. Combined with Arroyo's 7 innings of 1 run baseball, Cincinnati pulled off the win by a score of 7-2. Kyle Lohse looked grand again on Thursday, also pitching 7 innings and giving up only 1 run (on a home run to Rolen). Unfortunately, Jeff Weaver also only allowed 1 run (a home run to Griffey). Then, to make things interesting, Ryan Franklin allowed a run to the Cardinals in the 9th, forgetting that they were in St. Louis and the offense did not get a chance to make up for it. Or at least, that's what I'm pretending happened. The Cardinals would go on to beat up on the Cubbies like they haven't all year, so maybe we can take solace in the fact that they may not have lost the series to the slumping Stupid Birds, but to the recovering Stupid Birds.

Bring in the Pirates. Game one on Friday, Chris Michalak did not live up to my hopes born of reckless optimism and instead looked about like everyone else thought he would. But he still had that one great game. He'll always get to remember that. Michalak gave up 6 earned runs in his 4+ innings. The offense never really got much going, and despite a credible attempt at a 9th inning rally (which included another late-game home run from the only Javier Valentin), the Reds went down 7-3. Saturday was much more exciting. After the Reds went up 6-0 in the 1st inning, the Pirates came back in a frightening fashion and by the 7th inning the score was tied at 7's. Our heroes, however, would have none of that, and put up 7 more runs in the bottom of the 7th. What a day for the number 7. Freel also attempted to take out Ronnie Paulino while running to home plate, which was rather humorous, given that Paulino is fairly large and Freel is not at all. Cincinnati won 14-7. The game ended on a bit of a sour note, though, as Eddie Guardado left the game with what turns out to be a pretty nasty case of tendinitis and has been placed on the 15-day DL. The Reds are now without a designated closer once again. Matt Belisle has been recalled to take his place on the roster. It's about time. The Reds scored first on Sunday despite the Pirates best efforts to take the lead early (including a few attempts at bunting with Freddie "I Lead the League in Hitting" Sanchez). The Reds scored first in a big way, thanks to 2 2-run homers from Hatteberg and Dunn in the 3rd. Harang had an awesome day and got himself his 13th win, allowing just one run in his 7 innings. Schoeneweis (turns out I can pronounce his name, just can't spell it) and Weathers both kept the Pirates hitless and Cincinnati won 5-1. Hooray!