Boxscore

At long last, an interleague win.

The Cincinnati Reds won their first game against an American League opponent in 2011, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1. That makes the Reds 1-5 on the season, having been swept previously by the Cleveland Indians.

They narrowly escaped being swept by the Blue Jays, though, thanks to Bronson Arroyo’s best pitching performance of the season. He went 8 innings, striking out 5 and allowing one run on 5 hits and a walk. He also evened his record to 6-6.

The offense continued to have problems pushing runners across the plate. The team managed the bare minimum required for a victory, and it was all thanks to the bat of Miguel Cairo. After Joey Votto got a hit in the 6th, Cairo hit a two-run homer to give the Reds the lead.

Francisco Cordero closed the game out with a perfect 9th for his 15th save.

The Reds lost to the Blue Jays tonight, and it was a game they probably should have won, but not to the degree that the Cardinals should win tonight. And even so, as of this writing, the Cards are down by one. Go Royals! I guess!

If the fine folks in Kansas City can help the Reds not to slip into anymore distant a third place, I’m sure we’d all appreciate it. Meanwhile, the NLC’s first place Brewers have drawn the Red Sox for this round of interleague play. That’s totally fair.

Of course, with this interleague play, you pretty much never know what you’re going to get (except in the case of the aforementioned Cardinals, who’s “rival” is the Charlie Brown of the MLB). Case-in-point, the Pirates, who, in their first non-abysmal year in recent memory have matched up against the also-non-abysmal Indians. I heard it’s the first time the two teams have played each other when both teams were over .500. Will wonders never cease?

Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated has published this year’s list of the mostly highly paid American Athletes, called the Fortunate 50. With one player in the top 10 and only 15 in the whole 50 (and obviously not a Red among them), it seems like baseball players are underpaid (or more rationally paid, depending on your point of view), compared to other sports, especially football. But since playing football apparently also makes you insane and shortens your life significantly, maybe it’s really just a form of hazard pay.

Get some sleep, everyone. Interleague play continue tomorrow. With the Pirates on the roll they’re on, the Reds need to take this one just to keep third place to themselves. Seriously, you just never know what you’re going to get.

With two weeks remaining of All-Star voting, only he of the spectacular plays and active Twitter life, Brandon Phillips is leading the voting in his position. Now, while Phillips is all manner of spectacular, but this line-up ought to be loaded with deserving Reds starters. Consider Joey Votto; consider Jay Bruce; hell, consider Paul Janish. Credit where credit is due.

Of course, there is the part of me that wants Pujols to win to drive up his price for whatever sucker team signs him next season, especially since that will probably be the Cardinals.

But that’s consolation prize talk. There are still 2 weeks of voting to send our boys to the game properly. So get out there and vote! Your 25 ballots per email address do make a difference.

Boxscore

Two Sweeps in Two Days

A day after the Cincinnati Reds swept the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals were swept by the Washington Nationals. It’s been a good few days to be a Reds fan.

What’s interesting is that the Cardinals failed to win in three different ways. In the first game against the Nationals, the bullpen was the culprit after a solid start. Then yesterday, the Cardinals pitching and offense both failed to show up at the park and they lost by the 10-run rule: 10-0.

Today, a third way to lose: the walk-off home run.

Kyle Lohse started and wasn’t very good, allowing 4 runs in 6 innings. But the offense was present enough to keep the game close. In the 9th, the Cardinals tied it on a solo shot by Yadier Molina to send the game into extras.

And in the very first extra inning–the 10th–current Cardinals closer Fernando Salas gave up a 3-run home run to Danny Espinosa for the Washington win.

St. Louis has now lost 6 games in a row and are 3-7 in their last 10. Their wonderful skid has seen them plummet from first place. They are one game behind the Milwaukee Brewers and one game ahead of the Reds.

Like I said, it’s been a good few days to be a Reds fan.

Boxscore

West Coast Sweep?

The Cincinnati Reds swept the Los Angeles Dodgers. On the road.

That’s right, the Reds traveled to the west coast–the coast that has derailed so many seasons in the past–and may just have re-railed their season.

Travis Wood started today, pitching 6 innings of 1-run baseball. He allowed 5 hits and walked one, but was good/lucky enough to keep the Dodgers from ever scoring more than once. I’d say that’s the power of good defense, right there.

The bullpen was more than up to the challenge after that, with Jose Arredondo, Bill Bray, and Nick Massett never letting the Dodgers creep closer.

The offense was represented primarily by something that’s been missing most of the season: Scott Rolen’s bat. Rolen went 3-5 and drove in 3 of the Reds’ 7 runs. Fred Lewis and Ryan Hanigan each drove in a pair, as well. Hopefully, manager Dusty Baker can keep Rolen healthy and sharp for the rest of the season.

And a defensive gold star has to be given to Jonny Gomes, who had his best defensive game of the season. You can view his impressive magic trick of turning a double into an out here.