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.