Holy crap! They won!

Kyle Lohse gave up a run (earned) on seven hits through seven innings. Todd Coffey didn't allow so much as a hit in the eighth. Gary Majewski (he's back?) did allow so much as a hit, but not so much as a run in the ninth.

It was the night for my guys: Ryan Freel went 3-for-4 with a walk and a home run to lead off the game. It's his eighth home run (really his ninth), and I believe he's going to make it to double-digits. Maybe today.

Rich Aurilia must have laid off the pitches out of the zone, or at least made some authoritative contact with them for his 3-for-5 night with an RBI. And I understand Adam Dunn hit a home run.

Some young fella by the name of Javier Valentín had a couple homers, too. I like to think that his home runs were the reason that DreamHost went down last night: the power of the Latin Love Machine was coursing so fiercely through RHM that it took the whole system down.

This seems like a good time to bitch a little about David Ross. Acquiring Ross is one of the moves that people give Wayne “Kriv-dawg” Krivsky so much credit for. And Ross *has* had a hell of a year. But, you know, the Reds already had a powerful little platoon going behind the plate, and the net effect on the offense of adding Ross has been to deprive the LLM of his playing time. Acquiring Ross was half of a good move: the other half would have been trading him at the deadline for something we actually needed.

The win brings the Reds back within a game of .500 at 70-71. They continue to take their frustrations out on the Pirates today when Aaron Harang takes on Paul “I've never bothered to count the number of vowels in my last name” Maholm.