Boxscore

Remember when Jay Bruce was called up for the Reds and he was awesome and optimistic and full of life and excited about how he was going to help the club win? Sigh. If only he were on any other team besides the Reds. Heck, at this point, he might have a better shot with the Pirates, who defeated the Reds last night and won the series.

Yes, the Pirates defeated the Reds in Cincinnati, where the Reds had been good. Pittsburgh had been anything but on the road, but they’re obviously better than the Reds. Pittsburgh now sits in 5th place, with Cincinnati 1.5 games behind them in last.

Anyway, back to Bruce. He hit two home runs in the process of going 2-3 with a walk and drove in 4. Honestly, he’s lucky to have gotten as many RBI as he did, considering he was leading off for some insane reason. Who’s the idiot manager of the Reds anyway? Oh. Right.

So despite giving his all, the Reds lost, and just a little bit of Bruce’s soul died. Unfortunately, it won’t be the last time, not as long as he plays for Cincinnati.

Boxscore

The Cardinals narrowly escaped from Mark Mulder’s second outing since being reinstated from the disabled list.

Mulder came on in relief in the seventh inning. Thanks to earlier ineffective pitching from starter Joel Pineiro, the game St. Louis had taken a 4-run 1st inning lead in was tied. Mulder promptly gave up 2 runs.

But not to worry! Chris Duncan and Troy Glaus flew to the rescue, launching home runs to tie and then win the game for St. Louis.

It was a good thing, too. With the Cubs winning and the ribald rivalry with Chicago looming, it’s in St. Louis’ best interests to be as close as possible. Got to make that series a battle for first place, after all.

Boxscore

The Reds lost last night, which isn’t news. The news is that Edinson Volquez had a second consecutive less-than-stellar start. His chances of starting the All Star game are fading, while his chances of garnering the nickname Edinson “Jack Armstrong” Volquez are increasing.

Brandon Phillips was the human highlight reel for the Reds, going 3-5 with a home run and 4 RBI. It wasn’t enough, though, because David Weathers was pitching.

The Pirates took their final lead off of Weathers in the 11th, getting 2 runs off of him, which was just enough to not give it up in the bottom of the inning. Not that they didn’t try. Cincinnati scored one in the bottom of the 11th and had a chance to tie it, but thankfully for the Pirates, Corey Patterson “plays” for the Reds.

Boxscore

The Astros played hard but fell to the Dodgers thanks to the slugging of a former Astro.

No, it wasn’t that one, that one, or even that one. It was Jeff Kent who provided the fireworks in the top of the 11th when he hit a solo home run off of Wesley Wright.

Wandy Rodriguez struggled mightily with his control, having no luck either curving or breaking his balls. Rodriguez gave up 5 runs in 5 innings.

Houston had plenty of offense for a change, with Ty Wiggington leading the charge. But the bullpen couldn’t keep LA off the board. If only the Astros still had Shawn Chacon. His 5 ERA surely would have helped matters.

Boxscore

Lou Piniella was ejected for the first time this year, and it did nothing but propel the Cubs to demolish the Giants. That breaks Chicago’s longest losing streak of the season at 4 games, and keeps the winning Cardinals 2.5 games back. Perhaps Lou should have done that earlier.

Or maybe not. It’s hard to lose when Ted Lilly pitched better than he ever has all year, allowing 2 runs over 8-plus innings. Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless ninth to close the game in a non-saving situation. I imagine that after all that losing, Wood just needed a little work. Either that, or wanted to be one appearance closer to injury.

However, things aren’t looking up just yet. Jason Marquis starts for Chicago tonight.