Sean Casey had two home runs tonight in a losing effort as the Reds lost the game and the series to the Atlanta Braves 4-7 and 2-1, respectively. Go Casey. Tomorrow's casual Friday; I may just have to dust off the ol' #21 jersey in the morning.

In softball news, the Stars played well but were unable to avoid the big inning in the sixth inning in a 12-6 loss to the Rockies.

The Stars were hindered when the left fielder failed to appear for the game and we had no choice but to play one of our third basemen in left field. Robert has significantly more range than Joe, so Robert played in left; however, Robert's attitude does not make him the ideal choice to put into any position of real responsibility, which left field is.

For example, in his at-bat in the first inning, Robert laid down an easy grounder and knew the throw should have had him beat. As it turned out, the first basewoman on the opposing team was trying to go easy on the athletes and had already conceded the base to him, but he didn't know that and took her out at the bag. That earned the Stars a scolding from the umpire about running to the outside of the base and just general team-wide embarrassment because we knew he'd done it on purpose.

Robert's insistence on playing left field just 20 feet behind third base and his refusal to run after the balls that got past him played a big part in the 7-run sixth inning enjoyed by the Rockies.

Even so, there were many bright points to last night's game. Highlights included:

• A double play when our shortstop caught a line-drive and threw out the runner on first who had wandered too far off the bag.
• Two fly outs, one caught by Joe (who, as I mentioned, does not have the quickest feet ever) and Little Robert (not take-out-the-woman-at-first Robert) in left-center.
• A fantastic outing by our pitcher, Bobbi, who struck out four.
• A strong night at the plate by our right-center fielder, who knocked in a third of our runs on a monster hit a few feet into center field.

As I've mentioned before, a loss in the season just gets you better placement in the state tournament, so with the defeat the Stars improved their chances of medaling on August 21. If our regular left fielder shows up, we've got a real chance.

Go Stars!