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.

Reds Split Series with Mets

So much for my becoming a featured clairvoyant on the Psychic Network. I had been hoping that my premature celebrations of a series win against the Mets were actually premonitions of the future, but it was not to be, as the Reds fell to the Mets by a score of 6-2.

Everything looked on track for a win up to the middle of the 4th, when the Reds were ahead 2-0. It was a sacrificial kind of day. Kearns scored a run in the 2nd on Ross's sacrifice fly. The Reds second run came in the 4th when Hatteberg scored on Phillips's sacrifice fly. Dunn had a reasonably good day, going 2-3 with a walk, but none of it contributed to the score. Otherwise, the offense had a pretty slow day again.

Milton had his first non-quality start since his first game back from the DL. I suppose I can cut him some slack. He can't be perfect all the time. But today would have been a great day for him to continue being awesome. He pitched just 4 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs on 8 hits. Oddly enough, the bullpen prevented further scoring from the Mets, with Standridge, Yan and Burns all pitching shutout innings and giving up a combined total of 3 hits through 3 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, the offense had already taken off for the day and thus it was a loss. Still, though, the Reds split the series with the owner of the National League's best record. That, combined with the Cardinals being swept by the White Sox (in spite of Poo-Holes's return), leaves the Reds in 2nd in the division, 4 games behind the Stupid Birds, still on top in the Wild Card race.

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.

At Least It's Not Just Us

Sure, the Reds were banged up by the Mets yesterday, but the White Sox helpfully destroyed the Cardinals at the same time. While they embarrassed the Reds, too, at least we didn't give them 11 runs in one inning.

Reds Lose, Many Times

You may want to get yourself a snack or a drink or something. I have a feeling this is going to get pretty long.

So, in the last week or so, the Reds have played the Cubs, Brewers and White Sox. Of the 10 games made up by those three series, the Reds won a grand total of 2, one win against the Cubs, one against the Brewers.

Cubs

The Cubbies were in town last Thursday through Sunday. The first game was a solid, uplifting defeat of the Cubbies. 7-1 was the score. Arroyo was pitching, and aside from giving up a first inning home run to none other than Tony Womack, his was a good day, with just 5 hits and that 1 run. The bullpen, in the form of Mercker and Esteban Yan, continued with the goodness and all was wonderful. Freel, Phillips and Ross all hit home runs to account for 4 of the 7 runs. The remaining 3 RBI belong to Freel, Ross and Aurilia.

After Thursday everything went to hell. Ramirez pitched Friday, did rather well, but the defense failed to back him up. Valentin in particular. I felt bad for him, two errors in one inning, one right after the other. Ramirez gave up 3 runs, Hammond gave up 3 runs, the Reds scored a total of 5 runs. Reds lose 6-5.

Saturday was Claussen's day to pitch, and what a day it was for him. I'm not saying lights out or anything, but for Claussen it was great. He went into the 7th having given up 0 runs, earned or otherwise. He got through 2/3 of the 7th, loaded the bases, and was taken out in favor of Esteban Yan, with whom I had no issue before this day. Then his second pitch of the game became a grand slam home run. The Reds only mustered 2 runs in response and lost, 4-2.

Milton pitched Sunday. Again, decent outing by the starter, mucked up by the bullpen and an offense that has lately seemed incapable of showing up for more than a few days at a time. The final score on Sunday was 9-3.

Brewers

The Reds and Brewers rumbled Monday through Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday were both losses. Close losses, at that. Continuing a theme, we got pretty good pitching from starters and crap from the bullpen. Harang started Monday against newbie Zach Jackson. Despite 4 home runs, 5 runs scored and Harang's 4 earned runs, the Reds were vanquished 6-5 because Mercker had to give up 2 more runs. Coffey also had a pretty rough time in his 1/3 of an inning. He got out of it without damaging his ERA, but it was very much not pretty.

Tuesday's game pitted Arroyo against Davis. Again there were several home runs for the Reds, again the starting pitching didn't dig a hole too deep to escape (as 4 earned runs isn't all that great by Arroyo's standards), and again it still wasn't enough. The Brewers just had to have 6 runs again. And the Reds only wanted 4. They should be more greedy sometimes.

Wednesday the Lizard Man was fantastic. Super fantastic. So-good-I-wish-I-could-have-seen-it fantastic. While I was in Toledo, Ramirez was striking out 10 Sausage Boys and giving runs to none of them. At the same time, Brewers pitchers Villenueva, Shouse and Capellan were doing the same thing, with fewer K's. After 9 innings home plate had yet to see a single runner's foot. The 10th went by in pretty much the same manner. The top of the 11th was yet more of the same. Finally, in the bottom of the 11th, Griffey and Aurilia singled and Dunn followed with his well-timed only hit of the game, a 3-run home run, giving the Reds just their 2nd win since sweeping the Astros and Cardinals.

White Sox

Being swept by the White Sox in and of itself is not a total disappointment. After all, they did win the World Series and all that jazz. But the way it happened was practically unbearable. Apparently Claussen's shoulder was bothering him pre-game time Friday, but he played anyway. He played all of 2 innings. The first inning contained a grand slam, for the White Sox. Aurilia got the Reds back in the game with a 3-run homer in the 1st. Chicago and Claussen responded with 2 more runs. After giving up three hits and a run to the first three batters in the 3rd, Claussen was out and Joe Mays was in. Mays allowed 3 more runs to score, but made it through the rest of his 4 innings relatively uneventfully. The White Sox added 1 more run in the 6th on Aurilia's error. Kearns gave the Reds their last run of the game with a solo shot in the 7th. And just for kicks the White Sox put up run number 12 in the 8th. So that would be White Sox 12, Reds 4.

Saturday the game was very possibly stolen from us by mean old umpires. After much struggle and spending much of the game in the lead. After Milton's 6 innings the Reds were up 5-3. Weathers and Hammond both gave the bothersome Sox a run, leaving the score tied at 5 going into the 9th. Coffey has been having some trouble since becoming Mr. Official Closer, and proved it again, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) in the top of the 9th. However, the Reds refused to give up. Ross scored on Lopez's ground-out. Valentin and Freel were still on base and Griffey, Master of Drama, was up to bat. On a 2-2 pitch, Griffey attempted to check his swing when the ball went in the dirt. It sure looked to me like he checked it. However, the umpire did not see it that way, called it a strike out and ran away, as the entire Reds dugout was probably about to pounce on him. I know Narron was on his way. It's possible Griffey would have struck out on the very next pitch, but losing like that is rotten.

Today would have been a great day for vindication. Instead it was a great day for an 8-1 loss. No scoring occurred until the 6th inning. After that there was much scoring for the White Sox and very little for the Reds. The only run for the good guys came in the 9th on Dunn's RBI grounder. Harang gave up 3 runs through 6 and 2/3 innings, Mercker threw 1/3 without allowing any runs, Yan gave up 2 runs in the 8th and Mike Burns gave up 3 in the 9th.

Your Questions Answered

What came of Claussen's bothersome shoulder? And what is Mike Burns doing back in Cincinnati? Claussen has been placed on the 15-day DL with rotator cuff tendinitis in his left shoulder. Joe Mays gets his spot in the rotation and Mike Burns was recalled from Louisville (again) to take his spot on the roster.

What about that Rick White fellow? He was DFA'd today. Jason Standridge shall be coming to Cincinnati for him. I guess his stats look pretty good right now, but I believe they looked pretty good when they brought him up last year, too, and we all might remember what they looked like at the end of that. Here's hoping this year will be different.

Who is this Juan Castro person? Juan Castro played for the Reds before (2000-2004). Last year he played for the Twins. I guess he must really like Cincinnati, as the story on the official site says he was "ecstatic" when he heard he was coming back. The Reds picked him up on June 15 and optioned poor Olmedo back to Louisville. I really can't say I know anything about Mr. Castro. I have read, however, that he's got mad defensive skillz but not so mad get-on-base skillz. What I saw of him the last couple of days backs up the not so mad on base part. But he does love the 'Nati, and I'll like him for now for that.

How is Tiny Casey? Tiny Casey is doing very well. He was returned from the kidnapping in fairly good condition. He happens to be missing a finger, though. He and Tiny Dunn get along splendidly, as should be expected with the Mini Mayor.

Catching Up A Bit

One of these days I'll get around to telling the story of the last 5 games. Though, since we only won 1 of those 5, do you really want to hear about it? You're going to hear about it anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter. Lucky for you, that won't happen today. Today we're going to put together a "Things I've Failed To Mention" list. This list will also include links to things of interest that are mostly more than a few days late.

First on the list we have Voodoo Albert. Voodoo Albert is a creation of Daedalus over at ye olde Church of Baseball. After his inception the stupid birds lost a series to the Cubs and were swept by the Reds. He also had the somewhat unfortunate side effect of landing real life Albert on the DL. Sure, I like that he wasn't around for the series with the Reds (not that I think he would have helped), but it's never fun to see people hurt.

September 23rd looks to be Hang with Red Hot Mama and JD at Great American Day. That's really all the info I have on that. You'll have to check with them for more details. You should go, though. I'm sure it'll be good times.

Though he's only played in 4 or 5 games since, Todd Coffey was named as the Reds' closer last week.

Encarnacion's ankle sprain was apparently more significant than originally thought. He went on the 15 day DL a few days ago. Ray-Ray takes his place on the roster.

As I mentioned a few posts back, Christina's dad finangled us some pretty nifty seats for the game on Saturday. I did in fact curse us by noting the forecast a few days in advance. Instead of being 76 and sunny like Wednesday's forecast, it was under 60 and raining. So, for the year, we have 100% crappy baseball weather. It was still a good time, despite the rain, loss and that ridiculous grand slam. Claussen probably could have gotten out of the jam and allowed fewer runs to score than Yan did.

That's all I've got for now. I'm sure there are plenty more things that I've missed, but I'm tired of fighting the internet. It's time for the game, anyway. Go Reds!

Boo Dial-Up, Yay Reds

The Redlegs have got their second sweep in a row under their belts and are preparing to show the Cubs what they forgot to bring to Chicago last time. In sweeping the Cards this week they also moved into a tie with them for first place. Wahoo! Also, did you know that you can say "hell" in the newspaper? Twice even. And it's not referring to the town in Michigan everyone was so in love with Tuesday.

I'm slowly drowning in dial-up for the next week, so here's what little detail I could remember from Wednesday/what the newspaper will tell me. Harang started, looked awesome for 5 innings, then suddenly lost it in the 6th. Hammond finished out the last third of that inning by continuing to be awesome. True to form, Weathers gave up a run in his 2 innings. Coffey picked up the lost awesome vibe and pitched a shut-out 9th, making that save number 4 for the man.

Aurilia and Hatteberg both had good nights, going 4-5 and 2-3 respectively. Aurilia hit a 3-run homerun in the 6th. By the end of it all the Reds won 7-4, bringing their winning streak to 7.

Off the field, it appears that Edwin's ankle sprain is not all that bad. He will take a few days off and the doc says he probably won't be going on the DL. Griffey has been out of the lineup the last couple of days with a sore quad. No one is willing to say anything's day-to-day with Griffey anymore, but neither Griffey or Narron believe it's anything serious. After all, Griff was still able to do that lineup card thing he does so well. Also, several days ago, Joe Mays was brought up to the big club. He's going to be a bullpen guy for now, but speculataion has it he might be looking at Claussen's job before too long. Justin Germano was optioned back to Louisville to make room for him.

Sixth Win in a Row

Games like this are what give me probably-too-high expectations for the rest of the season. But just imagine if the rest of the season could go this well. Amazing.

The Reds continued their winning ways this evening. Eric Milton had another great outing. Carpenter had a not-so-great outing, which is all the better for the Reds, as they won 7-0. Lopez, got the scoring started off with a home run in the 1st while I wasn't watching. In the 3rd I decided it was shower time, which is when the Reds put up two more runs. Runs 4 and 5 were scored while I was drying my hair. I actually managed to witness runs 6 and 7, putting an end to my newly hatched They-Only-Score-When-I'm-Not-Looking theory. Milton bowed out after the 7th and the bullpen managed to hang on to the shut-out despite Rick White coming in for the 9th. For the record, the pitcher I skipped over in the 8th was Hammond. He did well again. White did well for that matter. After what seems like 3 years Dunn hit home run 18 in the 7th. Griffey was even on base for it. All but one of the rest of the runs were results of doubles.

The only real down side to the game was Encarnacion leaving the game with a sprained ankle. He pulled up between 2nd and 3rd in the 7th, collapsed on the ground and laid there for quite some time. He was at least able to walk off the field on his own, but I don't imagine we'll be seeing him for several days. He was said to be listed as day-t0-day.

And so we don't end on a sour note, the win puts the Reds' winning streak at 6 and means they win the series. Tomorrow Harang and Ponson face off for the finale at 8:10.

Thanks to Christina's Dad

We're going to the game on Saturday! And guess what! It's not supposed to be 50 degrees and raining! Amazing!

Hope I didn't just curse us.

Stupid Birds Lose Again

What a great game! It feels that way in retrospect, anyway. I can vaguely recall being ready to give up hope when White came into the game. Luckily, Griffey just about erased that memory with a game-winning three-run shot in the 9th. His second in the game and in New Busch Stadium. I believe there are now no current ball parks that have not witnessed a Ken Griffey Jr. home run. He's hit home runs in 43 parks, tied for first all time-with Fred McGriff.

Griffey got a standing ovation from me in my apartment all by myself last night. I'm sure there were at least a few people in the crowd and at their own homes standing for him, too. His 9th inning homer put the Reds up 8-7. Todd Coffey kept it as such and got his third save.

Griffey hit his first home run, a solo, in the 5th to put the Reds up 3-2. The bad Encarnacion (Juan) threw in a two-run homer in the bottom of the 5th to put the stupid birds in the lead. Claussen was done after the 5th.

Rick White pitched the 6th. He gave up a two-run homer to Chris Duncan so he could be like Claussen. The Reds are down 6-4 in the 6th thanks to crappy pitching. Despair begins to set in. But then Lopez scores on a sacrifice fly in the 7th. It's 6-5 now! But then Estaban Yan has to join the home run party, giving one to Yadier Molina. Alas! It is the end of the 8th and the good team is behind 7-5. Fear not, dear reader. The Reds still had a few tricks up their sleeves.

Isringhausen came in to pitch for the stupid birds. Lopez doubled. Then Aurilia was walked. Griffey then came striding to the plate. Isringhausen was so in awe of his bedazzled awesome that he threw the ball into the ground, a wild pitch, and the runners advanced. It meant nothing however, because shortly thereafter Griffey smashed a ball out to the seats in right field and strode away from the plate as all the land rejoiced. Well, not really, as they were in St. Louis. So, all the land grumbled and whined, while here in the great kingdom of Cincinnati, all rejoiced.

It wasn't exactly the pounding I had hoped for with the absence of Poo-Holes, but it's just about as good.

Bleck

Think Rick White wants us to hate him?

One/Two More Park(s) To Go

There were only two National League ball parks the Reds hadn't had a sweep in before this weekend. Now there is only one (that being Turner Field). Actually, I believe the numbers were actually three and two. I'm fairly certain the stats FSN shared didn't include the new Busch Stadium. Anyway, sweeping the Astros crossed Minute Maid Park off the list.

14-3 was the score in Houston on Friday. Thrilling, that was. As I had hoped, Harang and the offense were much, much greater than Wandy Rodriguez (who made it through all of an inning and a third, giving up 8 runs on 6 hits). Harang allowed 2 runs through 6 innings. Hammond pitched a scoreless inning. Weathers continued to irritate me, giving up a home run in the 8th. Not that it mattered, I just wish he could make it through an inning without giving up a run. Estaban Yan pitched a shut-out 9th. Offensively, of the 14 runs, only 4 of them were scored on home runs. Brandon Phillips's solo in the 3rd, and a 3-run death blow from Dave Ross in the 9th (not that the Astros were in it at that point). The other 10 runs were scored on a series of small-ball plays that are too numerous to explain without risking boring you to tears. Just about everyone got to be involved in the run scoring, as one would expect with 14 runs.

Saturday was a 7-5 win. Arroyo started. After 6 innings, 8 hits and 2 runs (unearned-like) he was replaced by Hammond (1 inning, 1 hit, 1 more unearned run), who was then replaced by Weathers (WHO DIDN'T GIVE UP A RUN!!!) who was then replaced by Coffey (WHO GAVE UP 2 RUNS!?!). Arroyo picked up an RBI in the 3rd when he singled in Ross. Griffey homered in the 4th while the Astros picked up a few runs on Aurilia's error. Arroyo picked up another RBI in the 5th, this time doubling in Ross. Encarnacion doubled in the 6th to bring Aurilia and Dunn home. Arroyo picked up RBIs number 3 and 4 for the evening when he singled again, this time scoring Kearns and Encarnacion. An error from Encarnacion in the 7th and a sac fly and single in the 9th made up the rest of the scoring for the Astros and the score was at its final 7-5. Freel made a great catch to save the game at some point. We were out watching The Break-Up, so we missed it, but I hear it was spectacular.

Sunday was a pretty hefty battle for the sweep. Ramirez started for the Reds. Roy Oswalt was supposed to pitch for the Astros, but his back hurt. Instead it was Fernando Nieve. For the first time in the series the Astros scored first. It came in the form of a Morgan Ensberg home run in the 2nd. Freel responded with a home run of his own in the 3rd. The Reds went up in the 4th on Kearns's home run. The Astros tied it again in the 5th when Ausmus scored on Biggio's sacrifice, to which Kearns said "Home run number 2!" Reds up by 1 again. The Astros singled in another run in the 8th to tie the score once again, this time at 3. They made it through the 9th still tied and thus went into extra innings. Both teams scored a run in the 10th, so the game continued into the 11th, where Freel put up his 2nd home run of the game, a two-run homer. The Astros did not respond this time and the Reds recorded their first ever sweep in Minute Maid Park. The score, in case you weren't keeping track, was 6 to 4.

A series in St. Louis starts tonight. The Cards are fresh off a series loss to the Cubbies and sans Pujols. Jim Edmonds is replacing Poo-Holes and apparently having problems himself (particularly with running). Here's to kicking their asses.

Rest of the Cubs Series

Tuesday's game was pretty much a repeat of Monday, only with a 1 hour rain delay in the middle and one more run for the Cubs. Brandon Claussen looked good up until the break. Then he seemed to decide it would be fun to pitch with his eyes closed. The errors didn't help, either, but the Cubs had just as many, so I don't feel as bad about that as I could. It was, however, the 6th game in a row that the Reds committed at least one error. The bullpen looked pretty normal, too. Justin Germano did rather well in his first outing (1 inning, no hits, 1 walk) but to no avail. The end result was an 8-3 loss.

Wednesday was much, much better. Eric Milton (now goateed) started against Carlos Zambrano. It figures they'd win against the guy that's supposed to own them. Despite loading the bases in the 1st, the Reds failed to put up any runs until the 6th. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a lead-off home run. Afterward Austin Kearns came home on Jason LaRue's ground-out. The Reds put up another run in the 7th when Griffey singled in Ryan Freel.

Upon hindsight, it appears Milton should have been taken out after the 7th, but he was going through the lineup with such ease it probably would have seemed silly. However, when Milton came out for the 8th, Matt Murton promptly doubled and Jacque Jones followed with a home run. Perhaps the Milton faced a few more batters in order to give Todd Coffey ample time to warm up. Luckily no bad came of it and Todd Coffey shut down the potential rally and earned save number 2 this season. The Reds won 3-2.

Today we bid a very desperate adieu to May. Friday = Astros. Hopefully Aaron Harang > Wandy Rodriguez. For that matter, hopefully the Reds offense > Wandy Rodriguez.

Moving Around

There were a few changes in Rosterland over the weekend. Rather than go over it all for you again, I'll just link you to a bunch of stuff from Marc.

• Cody Ross was traded to the Marlins when Mercker came off the DL.
• Matt Belisle's on the DL with a lower back strain. Justin Germano was called up in his place.
• Esteban Yan is now a Red.

Also, Joe Nuxhall is in the hospital with double pneumonia. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Joe.

Snakes and Bears

This post brought to you by the letter "R" for "rain delay." Now that my sister is officially married, she no longer owns my soul and I can return to blogging action. The rain delay in Chicago is at least convenient for catching up on the long weekend. I hope y'all didn't melt while I was away.

The series with the Diamondbacks was very similar to the last series. Two pretty frustrating losses followed by what I'm sure was an exhilarating win. Cincy lost 3-0 on Friday and 7-0 Saturday, and then won 5-4 on Sunday.

Eric Milton had a great game on Friday, giving up 3 hits and one run while striking out 9 over 8 innings. Unfortunately, the offense gave him 0 runs to back it up. Todd C0ffey allowed 2 runs in the 9th, bringing his ERA all the way up to 1.26. The infuriating Brandon Webb held the Reds to just 7 hits over the entire game. I don't remember if I had a Least Favorite Diamondback before this weekend. If I did, it should have been Webb, because he irritated me last time, too. If not, it's Webb now.

It looks like Saturday was just an ugly day. The Reds added two more errors (one for Dunn and one for LaRue) to their already sky-high total. The Snakes scored 4 runs on Aaron Harang, only 2 of which were earned, and 3 on Kent Mercker, all of which were earned. Matt Belisle allowed no hits and no runs in his 1 inning. Once again the offense failed to produce, getting just 5 hits.

Sunday was much better. Javier Valentin saved the day with a walk-off home run after the Reds had been down 4-3. Bronson Arroyo started for Cincinnati, the win went to David Weathers, and Chris Hammond pitched in between. All 4 of Arizona's runs were credited to Arroyo. Ryan Freel, Scott Hatteberg and Valentin all had home runs. Yay for a win!

Monday the Reds went to Chicago, where they were slapped around a bit in a 7-3 loss to the Cubs. I'm blaming it mostly on Mercker, but I'm not sure it's entirely his fault. After all, Elizardo Ramirez and Rick White gave up runs, too. It's just that the tiny bit of the game I managed to catch involved Mercker giving up a 2-run homer. Dunn hit his 17th home run of the season, which I heard was also his 17th career home run at Wrigley. I don't want to take the effort to verify that, though, so I'm just going to assume whoever told me that knew what they were talking about. Alas, the home run was not enough, as the Cubs took out their We Suck Frustration on the Reds.

Now the two teams are in the midst of rain delay during game 2 of the series. The Reds are up 1-0 in the middle of the 4th after Edwin Encarnacion singled in Dunn. Brandon Claussen is going against Greg Maddux. Maybe the game will resume here in a bit, but the storm's a big'un according to the Color Weather Radar channel.

That Was A Little Weird

In a strange turn of events, the Brewers beat the Reds 6-2 last night while Adam Dunn and Felipe Lopez warmed the bench (on Felipe Lopez Bobblehead Night, no less). Also strange, Prince Fielder, Bill Hall and Rickie Weeks took little to no part in the beating. Much of the loss can probably be attributed to Brandon Claussen's infamous troubles with Milwaukee, but all the same, one would hope the Reds could have put up more than 2 runs.

With Lopez having the night off, even though the next day was an off day anyway, and Ryan Freel out of the lineup, Brandon Phillips led off. Though he seems to hit well against the Brewers in general, he was just 1 for 3 last night. The Reds 2 runs were from Griffey's RBI grounder in the 3rd and Austin Kearns solo homer in the 6th. Austin was also charged with a throwing error, though I'm still not convinced it shouldn't have been Jason LaRue. Lopez did come in for the last 2 innings, but it was hardly noticed.

Claussen went 6 innings, walked 2 and gave up 5 earned runs on 7 hits. Matt Belisle was charged with the other run. Brian Shackelford, Rick White and David Weathers combined for 2 2/3 innings of 1 hit, 1 walk, 0 run baseball.

Tomorrow the Diamondbacks are in town, assuming these storms leave a town for them to visit. Eric Milton will go against Brandon Webb. Hopefully Milton doesn't look so rusty this time.

Oh! Also, the Mets now have Williams and the Dragons get some guy named Robert Manuel. I guess I'm glad Williams didn't have to hang out there in limbo all that long. Also, the Cubs got T-Wo. HA!

And while we're throwing links around, check this out. Buy a car! For me! Bronson wants you to.

Reds 7, Prince Fielders 3

The Brewers took a beating from the Reds again yesterday. Though they were behind 3-1 in the 5th, the Reds (Ken Griffey Jr. in particular) fought back and won. All 3 of the Brewers' runs were scored on Prince Fielder's bases-loaded double in the 3rd. For once the defense didn't rack up error after error behind Elizardo Ramirez and he got the win. Chris Hammond pitched 2 innings, giving up 2 hits and no runs. Todd Coffey also pitched 2 innings, giving up 1 hit and no runs. It's nice to see a 4 run lead last.

The Reds got on the board in the 1st again, when Griffey came home on Rich Aurilia's single. The Princes put up their 3 runs in the 3rd. Irritated by being behind the Princes, Griffey hit another 3-run homer in the 5th, after which the rest of the team decided to play, too. The remaining 3 runs were scored on a series of sacrifice flies from Griffey, Aurilia and Jason LaRue. Felipe Lopez, Brandon Phillips, and Austin Kearns scored the runs. Tada! Reds win 7-3.

The Reds have secured a series win at last. The final game's tonight. Brandon Claussen pitching. It seems like he just started three days ago.

Relief

You all will be happy to know that Tiny Casey has at last been saved by one DevilsAdvocate. So congrats on collecting your fantastic prize and thanks for rescuing my man! For those who are interested, Blade "Boys Don't Play With Dolls" Stevens kidnapped him. Reading a book my arse. That book hasn't even been released yet.

Welcome home Tiny Casey!

Weird Fact of the Day

According to the Reds pregame show, Adam Dunn walked on a 3-2 count during the first last night. There was no 4th ball. I'm not going to complain, because I like having 15 runs and it's not like having that one run back would have done the Brewers any good, but how does one let that happen?

Good to be Home

15 to 5 was the final score in Cincinnati last night. The Reds seemed to be quite happy to be home again. Bronson Arroyo started, going 7 innings and giving up all of 6 hits and 1 earned run, while the offense backed him up with 15 runs of their own. I was apparently exhausted yesterday evening, as I passed out almost as soon as I turned on the TV. The cheering for Ken Griffey Jr.'s 3-run homer in the 1st woke me up. That was quickly followed by Austin Kearns's 2-run homer. 5 runs before a single out was recorded.

The Reds struck again in the 3rd. Dave Ross doubled with the bases loaded to bring in 2 more runs. Due to the Brewers run in the 2nd, the score was 7-1.

The 6th brought 6 more runs for the good guys. Arroyo scored on a Brandon Phillips single, Adam Dunn followed shortly thereafter with a 3-run homer, and another 2 RBI double from Ross brought the score to 13-1.

Quinton McCracken singled in Felipe Lopez for the 14th run and Phillips scored the 15th on Scott Hatteberg's sac fly. And thus the Reds went into the 8th with a 14-run lead. Sounds like a good time to get our not-so-frequently used bullpen some playtime. As usual, this produced some runs for the bad guys, but a 14-run lead is hard to screw up. Mike Burns, who was not long for the big club, gave up 3 earned runs in the 8th and Brian Shackelford gave up another 1 earned run in the 9th, creating the final score, 15-5.

Tonight Elizardo Ramirez will go against Dana Eveland.