Boxscore

The 2010 baseball season has come to a close, and the Cincinnati Reds were victors for the 91st time. That’s right. 91 wins. It’s been a good year. It’s been a very good year.

Aaron Harang made what was likely his last start and appearance ever for the Reds. He started strong, striking out the first batter he faced on 3 pitches, but had to leave early due to a blister on his pitching hand. His final line was 2 innings, in which he allowed 2 runs and struck out 3. Harang’s contract is up at the end of the year, and there’s no reason for the Reds to bring him back, especially with the glut of good young pitching the Reds have. I’ll miss him, though, and always remember him fondly for the years when he was the only good thing happening in Reds baseball. It’s a shame he wasn’t able to lead the team into the playoffs.

The bullpen took over and didn’t allow the Brewers to score any more runs. And Jay Bruce hit his 25th home run on the year in the fourth inning to give the Reds the lead.

The Reds end the year in first place with a record of 91-71. It was an unqualified success for a team without a winning record since 2000, and without a postseason appearance since 1995. Now they get to prepare to face the Philadelphia Phillies next week.

Oh, by the way, the last time the Reds won 91 games? Just an insignificant little year in Reds history with the number 1990.

You may remember the other night when the Cincinnati Reds clinched the 2010 National League Central Division. They were happy, the fans were happy. There was champagne and beer spraying all over the clubhouse. Oh, and some victory cigars were passed out by Orlando Cabrera, too.

Apparently, some killjoys with a knowledge of Ohio state law phoned in some complaints upon seeing those stogeys.

Five people called a statewide smoking ban complaint hotline, Merz said. Those complaints were sent to the city health department today for investigation. [Bob] Castellini will get letter soon notifying him of the alleged violation.

Now, the Reds get to look forward to having a health inspector come within 30 days.

It does make you wonder, though, if one cranky, unpleasant manager in the Central with a law degree might have been watching and been one of those 5 callers.

The Cincinnati Reds clinched the NLC Division tonight with a walk-off home run from everyone’s second favorite left-handed slugger, Jay Bruce.

From the first pitch, the game had a buzz. When the team left on the road trip, the discussion began about whether the team would clinch on the road, and when they came home with a magic number of 1, Reds fans were bursting with anticipation.

Enter the Cardinals. They were in an ugly position yesterday. Probably the single-most unpleasant thing they could have done to the team was to lose and leave us to awkwardly begin celebrating in the middle of an off-day, but that would have also meant eliminating themselves with a loss against the Pirates. Happily for everyone, they saved their crash-and-burn at the hands of the Pirates until tonight. They lost 7-2 tonight.

So the team was set up for high drama. The fans were on the edge of their seats from the beginning, and they were scrutinizing every play with the highest of expectations. Drew Stubbs’ double off the wall in left field almost brought a groan that it didn’t have that extra 18″ it needed to go over the wall.

Edinson Volquez was great. Aroldis Chapman brought the heat. Scott Rolen did his RBI thang. But even so, the Reds found themselves tied with the Astros going into the ninth inning. Did the fans in the stands realize at that point that it was a karmic necessity for the team to go into the bottom of the ninth in that situation? I don’t know. But it was clear as soon as the ball left Jay Bruce’s bat that there couldn’t have been a better way to win.

Five more games remain in the season, and the Reds will be trying to gain some advantage in the home-field, though probably not as hard as they try to prepare everyone for the post-season, which they are now most definitely going to.

I could get used to typing things like that.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds busted out the bats today, winning 12-2, after being a little frustrated in the two previous losses to the San Diego Padres this weekend.

Oh, and they also moved one game within clinching (not clenching) first place. Unfortunately, the stupid Cardinals managed to hold off the equally stupid Cubs, preventing the Reds from spraying each other with champagne for the first time since 1995.

Joey Votto, he who should be MVP, started things off in the first inning with his 37th home run. He would end up contributing a total of 3 RBI for the day, going 2 for 4. The other offensive star was Chris Heisey, starting in place of a banged up Jay Bruce. Heisey went 2 for 4, as well, with a homer of his own and a total of 4 RBI.

The rest of the offense got in on the act during the 8th inning, when the Padres bullpen imploded. The Reds batted around and scored 6 times to put the game out of reach.

Homer Bailey picked up his 4th win, pitching 7 innings, allowing 2 runs and striking out 6. Logan Ondrusek and Francisco Cordero shut down the Padres for the rest of the game and dropped the Padres to second place, a half game behind the San Francisco Giants.

Cincinnati will have a day off tomorrow before starting the final home stand. The team could clinch the division, though, if the Cardinals manage to lose against the Pirates.