Boxscore

Stephen Strasburg brought the heat in his start against the Cincinnati Reds last night, but couldn’t finish the 6th and didn’t even have a quality start. Still, he picked up his 5th win, thanks to Bronson Arroyo also being unable to get out of the 6th.

Strasburg struck out 7 in 5 2/3 innings and allowed 3 runs in his start. Arroyo struck out only 1 in his 5 2/3 innings and allowed a whopping 7 runs. It was Arroyo’s worst start in a while.

For the offense, the Reds missed several opportunities to tie the game or take the lead late in the game. The best was in the 8th when Cincinnati loaded the bases with no outs, but only managed to score 1 run on a ground-out by Joey Votto.

The bullpen was again a strong-suit for the Reds, with Bronson Arroyo’s bad showing giving the Nationals more than they needed for the win.

The loss puts the Reds 1.5 games behind of the streaking Cardinals. The Reds have been solid since the Break, with a .667 winning percentage. If they can keep that up the rest of the year, they’ll end up with 97 victories. Of course, at the Cardinals current pace, they’ll end the season with 121 wins.

MLB Network’s simulcast of the Washington Nationals at Cincinnati Reds “MLB Matinee” game tomorrow, Thursday, July 22, will be available in the Reds’ home television market live at 12:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. CT. MLB Network will carry MASN’s call of the game. Livan Hernandez is scheduled to pitch for the Nationals against the Reds’ Edinson Volquez.

MLB Network is available in Cincinnati on Comcast channels 279 or 258 (HD), Time Warner channels 326 or 1326 (HD) and DirecTV channel 213.

Dang, I wish I didn’t have to work. I’d love to sit home all day and watch baseball.

It’s been an all-too-common sight at Great American Ball Park: a young stud pitcher taking the mound, awesome in his own rite but forced to waste away on a terrible team. But for a change, we’re not talking about a Red.

Tickets are going fast for Wednesday’s game when Stephen Strasburg leads the Washington Nationals against Bronson Arroyo and the Reds. I clicked the Buy Tickets link and the “Best Available” option that was presented to me was section 303. Gets yours now if you want to make it to this game.

I only left the All-You-Can-Eat Seats ad in the screen grab because I can’t believe they’re still using that graphic. That must be the least appetizing picture of food ever put together by a Photoshop-challenged intern.

Finally, because the Nationals are in town, my mind turns immediately to Adam Dunn and wondering whether a guy that big has really still managed to remain invisible to the media, teams, and fans. On a tip from a guy at work, here’s his line compared to “All-Star” first baseman Ryan Howard:

Just sayin’.

So the Cincinnati Reds lost today and are no longer in first place because the cursed St. Louis Cardinals came back from behind and won. Well, let’s look back to happier times, all the way back to Saturday when the Reds were on the top of the world.

We decided to go to the game in an impromptu fashion, after our previous plans for the day were cancelled when the event we wanted to attend became a sell-out. So of course, we heard on the drive to Cincinnati that the game was a sell-out. We continued, assuming we’d grab standing-room only “seats”. Of course, thos sold out, too, which left us to fend for ourselves in the shady scalped ticket market. The transaction was a success.

Joey Votto seems to be a much less patient hitter since the All Star Break, but he did manage to get on base. Here he is on second.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Jonny Gomes fidgets with his helmet. A lot.

After a great game all around, the Reds high-five each other in the infield. Here, Brandon Phillips plays the “Up high, Down low” game with manager Dusty Baker.

The scoreboard, showing the success of Edinson Volquez’s first outing after a year away from the game. If he can pitch 7 innings of ball like he did last night for the rest of the year, the Reds will be in good shape.

Of course, after this game, the Reds were hoping for a sweep which didn’t happen despite another great pitching performance from Travis Wood. Maybe next time the team will score any runs for him. Still, it is weird to be disappointed that the Reds didn’t sweep the series. They did take 2 of 3, after all. Slightly unhappy with series wins, sell-out baseball games. I tell you what, I’m not used to this winning stuff. It certainly makes spur-of-the-moment trips to the ballpark trickier.