The Reds, startled and terrified to suddenly find themselves flying atop the NLC yesterday, dropped the magic feather. They continued to freak out and keep closed the enormous ears that were keeping them from plummeting to the ground today with a 1-4 loss to the Giants.

Bronson Arroyo got his second failed attempt at win number 11. In the game wrap on Reds.com, Mark Sheldon says “Wasted was a decent effort by Arroyo (10-9), who pitched six-plus innings and allowed four earned runs and eight hits. He walked four, one intentionally, and struck out six.” I think perhaps we are stretching the definition of “decent” a touch here. Perhaps “not impossible to overcome if the offense is popping” or “non-2005-Milton-esque” would be more in order.

Some people who don't understand probability think that incidences balance each other out, like if you happen to get heads 50 times in a row, that you'll get tails 50 times in a row later to make up for it. Actually, if you get heads 50 times in a row, that aberration will be swamped by the more-or-less equal heads and tails you get for the rest of the infinity flips. Arroyo flipped nine wins real quick in the season; it might be useful for someone to explain to him that he doesn't have to rattle off an equal number of losses to make up for them.

Not that it was all Arroyo's doing. The offense utterly failed to come through plus the defensive miscues and base-running mistakes. No one had more than one hit, and only David Ross had any RBI with his solo shot in the sixth inning. Edwin Encarnación and Ken Griffey, Jr. each had an official error with other questionable plays that weren't tagged with Es. Ryan Freel was caught stealing. Clearly, nothing was going the Reds' way.

Including the fact that the Cardinals won their second game in a row against the Cubs to put the Reds back two games. They still lead the wild card, but just barely, with half a game over San Diego.

The loss brings the Reds' record to 67-63. They try for a split of the four-game series with the Giants tomorrow when Kyle Lohse goes against Matt Cain.

Thursday night I went to bed with Milton down 0-3 and awoke to the joyful news of a late-inning comeback.

Last night I didn't go to bed until well after the Reds had fallen to the Giants.

The moral of this story: I must sleep through the latter 2/3 of all Reds games from here on out, no matter what. It shouldn't be difficult for me; I'm very busy and could almost always take an excuse for a nap. My employer might not be so crazy about it, but they're just going to have to accommodate my special needs. It's a playoff run, after all.

So, by now you probably know that Steve Stewart, the “color” announcer for the Reds' flagship station WLW, will not be back next season. This makes me kinda sad, because I think Steve is a heck of a guy. He took over for Cincinnati icon Joe Nuxhall and some fans would refuse to forgive him for it. But when these fans complained, Steve would acquiesce. He was the biggest Nuxhall supporter of them all.

When I went to the Reds' caravan in January, Steve was there, and primarily ignored. Someone even went up to the mic and asked when Joe would be back to call more games. And when the crowd applauded Marty's answer, Steve was applauding along with him.

Now, is Mr. Stewart the most exciting guy in the world? No. It's impossible to call him the “color” announcer without using quotation marks. He didn't get the ironic nickname “The Bad Boy” for nothin'. But he is funny and smart and totally professional. Even upon the announcement that his contract wouldn't be renewed, he's been a complete professional.

So, to sum up I'm going to miss Steve, and I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

And that sounds like the end of this post, but it's not. There's a rumor that Marty's son, Thom Brennaman, was going to be Steve's successor. Marty has denied this rumor and I hope that Marty is right. Bringing in Thom just because he's Marty's son would be--and I say this knowing that I'm potentially burning a bridge should he actually come aboard--lame.

The Crack Technical Staff and I were discussing this last night. We're not going to be excited about just any old announcer sharing the booth with Marty next season. We want to see someone new and innovative for this team. The Reds have a tradition of being trendsetters; I'd like to see them continue it. Perhaps a Latino broadcaster who can open up the appeal of the team to new listening audiences. Maybe a funny guy a la Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. Possibly (I know you saw this coming) a sassy woman with a solid foundation in the intricacies of the team and podcasting experience. I only we knew where to find one.

In the Enquirer Reds notebook today, Ryan Freel revealed his own personal motto.

My motto is, 'If it ain't broke or you don't have a tear or something like that, you try to play through it if you can.'

I can so see that selling like gangbusters on t-shirts.

I heard on ESPN that the Mets are running Dave Williams out against the Cardinals tonight. So just when you thought Williams couldn't hurt the Reds anymore, he's suddenly in a position to put them one more half game out of first.

At least he's going against Jason Marquis.

When I went to the Mets site to verify that Williams was, indeed, their intended starter, I noticed the game wrap from yesterday's game, Mets show Cards who's boss. I thought this must surely be homage to my own story with a very similar name, Reds Show Cards 'Who's the Boss?', but I was disappointed that Tony Macelli wasn't mentioned once.

Mark Sheldon of Reds.com has posted a story with the headline Notes: Majewski seeks redemption, which strikes me as mightily amusing for some reason. Probably because, in my imagination, Gary Majewski isn't so much an unlucky guy who got hurt at just the wrong time as an evil imp diguised as a man, a minion of Bowden, waiting to put his mischief to ill use.

That might be a little unreasonable of me.

Nevertheless, I hear you can get 10¢ for soda cans in Michigan. If redeeming himself doesn't work out, he could always redeem the teams' Pepsi cans for a few bucks.

If you're interested in checking out a baseball podcast that features yours truly, is longer than ten minutes, and was recorded after consumption of zero beers then allow me to recommend the Big League Baseball Report, also featured on The View from the Bleachers.

I was lucky enough to be a guest on the program. We discuss the teams contending for play-off berths, the ups and downs of being a blogger, and, of course, the Reds. I was a little halting at first, but I think we got into a groove by the end.

Joe asks me to remind you that, if you like what you hear, you can subscribe to the Big League Baseball Report through iTunes.

Dude, did you see Kyle Lohse strut his way home when Scott Hatteberg hit that home run? And now he's being all demonstrative with his irritation over a called ball.

This guy is a dramatic change of pace. So long as he doesn't go all Ryan Wagner on us, I can get behind it.

The Reds put together a bona fide winning streak today when they beat the Astros 3-4.

Bronson Arroyo was solid in his first failed attempt for win #11, giving up two solo shots on five hits and two walks through six innings. Rheal Cormier gave up the other solo shot in the seventh.

Ryan Franklin, of all people, got the win with his hitless performance in the eighth inning, and Scott Schoeneweis got the save with a similarly hitless performance in the ninth.

Rich Aurilia was featured in the pre-game programming talking about putting together the pieces of a winning team, how he was pleased so long as he was in the line-up, and how Edwin Encarnación and Scott Hatteberg are having such good seasons. He didn't mention his own good season, but it was apparent tonight as he went 4-for-4 with three RBI on the power of a three-run homer in the eighth to tie up the game. He knocked in Encarnación and Adam Dunn.

You know, this discussion reminds me of a time when Dunn was the first baseman for the Reds. Aren't you glad that's not the case anymore?

Royce Clayton brought in the winning run. On the Fox Sports game wrap, Jim Day mentioned how Clayton is trying to win over the fans in Cincinnati, and I can understand that is an uphill battle. He was acquired in an ill-begotten trade, he was proclaimed the everyday shortstop sight unseen, and the management totally tried to blow smoke up our asses about him as they justified those decisions. But not a one of those things is his fault, and it's not really appropriate to direct our outrage at Clayton himself.

It's not you, Royce, not really. You're just an unfortunate symbol of everything that's gone wrong with the management of this team this season. Keep on smacking in winning runs; we'll learn to see past it.

The win brings the Reds' record to 65-60 and their winning streak to three. They picked up a half game on the Cardinals, who were off today, to sit two games out of first place. They continue tomorrow with Kyle Lohse taking on Jason Hirsh at 7:10 p.m.

Time out to report a few new personnel moves:

1. Chris Michalak is on bereavement leave following the passing of his maternal grandmother on Sunday and will be away for at least three days (still expected to start Wednesday vs. Houston).

2. To fill Hopper's roster slot, IF/OF Norris Hopper, the International League batting leader with .349 (who made his major league debut with a pinch-single against the Pirates yesterday) was called up from Louisville.

3. To make room on the 40-man for Hopper, Mike Burns was DFA'ed.

4. Eddie Guardado has been placed on the 15-day DL on Sunday.

5. Matt Belisle was activated from the DL. He did not allow a run in six rehab appearances for the Bats.

OK, I think that's all of them.

HMZ