Last night, the Reds did something I never would have thought possible last year: Eric Milton shut out the Cardinals and the Reds tagged the Cards pitching staff as led by Chris Carpenter for seven.

Admittedly, there were some extenuating circumstances on the Cardinals' end. Carpenter was just coming off the DL and Albert Pujols is injured and out of the line-up. But that doesn't explain away Milton's performance (zero runs on five hits through seven innings) or the dead look of surrender from the Cards' offense.

Chris Hammond, proud owner of the 4.43 ERA held the Cards hitless in the eighth and Rick White of all people did the same in the ninth.

Edwin Encarnación sprained his ankle running between second and third. It looked horrible when he pulled up, but he's apparently OK. He's day-to-day with a mild ankle sprain.

Ken Griffey, Jr. went 2-for-2 with three walks. Nice to see The Kid getting some respect.

Adam Dunn snapped out of his recent funk last night, going 2-for-4 with three RBI. Felipe Lopez, Scott Hatteberg, Brandon Phillips, and David Ross each also contributed enough offense to have won this game with one RBI apiece.

The win brings the Reds' record to 34-24, one game back of the Cardinals in first, and gives them an unbelievable six-game winning streak. Tonight they send Aaron Harang to face Sidney Ponson for the entirely plausible sweep. I never would have thought that possible last year, either.