Brian Shackelford was arrested after last night's game on suspicion of third-degree sexual assault.

According to a story from the AP:

The 29-year-old player was arrested shortly after midnight at Miller Park, where the Reds played the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said. She declined to provide details on the arrest other than to say it involved a woman Monday.

That's about it as far as details. Nice of the police to specify that it was a woman.

It's hard to make much of a judgement without knowing more, but it makes calling him Brian “Love” Shackelford sort of ominous.

The Reds challenged me to come up with yet another way to start a wrap of a losing effort last night. They were outlasted by the Brewers and fell 5-6.

Elizardo Ramirez worked six innings and probably should have been left in there another one. He allowed three runs (earned) on seven hits and one walk and threw 92 pitches.

David Weathers squirmed his way out of a bases loaded situation for a scoreless seventh, thanks to a catchable throw home by Rich Aurilia and a relay by Jason LaRue that didn't go fifteen fit over Scott Hatteberg's head. All-in-all, a notable inning. Weathers looked like he was ready to kiss someone after that. I could just imagine the conversation in the dugout between innings:

Weathers: Didja see that? Didja see that? I got an out!
Freel: Yeah, David, I saw.
Weathers: I got THREE outs!
Freel: Yeah, good job.
Weathers: BEFORE anyone scored!

Kent Mercker took over in the eighth and didn't allow a hit. Todd Coffey had a chance to take the game home after the Reds pulled ahead in the top of the 10th, but allowed the tying run on a solo shot to Geoff Jenkins. It was the only run he allowed on two hits in his two innings of work.

It was Esteban Yan's turn in the eleventh. He allowed no runs on two hits through his inning and a third. Brian Shackelford played the LOOGY role and got his one out in the middle of the 12th. Jason Standridge got the last out of the 12th and, unfortunately, none in the 13th before giving up two runs (earned) for the walk-off loss.

Gotta give some credit to the offense last night; they certainly kept battling back. That being said, Scott Hatteberg was the only Red with more than one hit, going 2-for-3 before being pinch hit for by Brandon Phillips. Adam Dunn had the only home run of the night. Austin Kearns both successfully stole a base and was caught stealing when Jason LaRue couldn't deliver the sac bunt on the suicide squeeze.

All-in-all, it was a weird, disheartening game that found the Reds at the sad end of a five game losing streak. It's been time for Wayne Krivsky to do something about the bullpen for a good long time now, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's sick of waiting.

The loss brings the Reds' record to 44-41. They head to Atlanta today to face Tim Hudson and the Braves. Good news: the Braves are but a shadow of their former greatness this year. Bad news: they just took 2-of-3 from the Cardinals. Good news: maybe they're all tired from scoring 10 off Jeff Suppan. Bad news: they might not need much energy to score off Joe Mays. Good news: Edwin Encarnación should be back for tonight's game. Maybe he can pitch.

The Reds' celebrated their freedom to lose yesterday when they fell to the Brewers 2-5.

Bronson Arroyo failed in yet another bid to be the first Reds' starting pitcher to acheive 10 wins.

You know, it's really not necessary to specify “starting pitcher.” It's not like the relievers are going to get to 10 first. Or so I thought, until I actually looked. Did you know that Arroyo and Aaron Harang each have nine wins, and next is Eric Milton with four, but after that Todd Coffey and David Weathers are in a four-way tie (with Elizardo Ramirez and Brandon Claussen) for third with three wins apiece?

Messed up.

Maybe Arroyo will get his tenth in the All-Star game when it wouldn't count anyway. He gave up a big fat five runs (earned) on five hits and three walks through seven innings. Brian “Love” Shackelford reclaimed a little of the bullpen's collective dignity in a hopeless eighth when it didn't count anyway.

The Reds should have scored in the first, but someone switched the smart pills usually taken by Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips with Folgers Crystals to see if anyone would notice. They each committed a baserunning mistake and allowed Doug Davis to face the minimum in the first, despite giving up two hits.

When I heard about the inning later on, it struck me that I can't even remember the last time I heard the phrase “ran themselves out of an inning” used to refer to anyone except Ryan Freel. But Freel wasn't even starting yesterday, so you can't blame him. Unless you blame him for not starting. In which case, he deserves the blame for several of the Reds' losses.

The Reds' scored all of their runs in the seventh when Austin Kearns doubled and Scott Hatteberg knocked him in. Hatteberg was the only Red with more than one hit on the night, going 2-for-3. Kearns went 1-for-2 with two walks.

The loss brings the Reds' record perilously close to .500 at 44-40. They've lost four in a row. That means that they haven't yet won in the second half. They try to rectify that situation tonight at 8:05. Elizardo Ramirez takes on Carlos Villanueva.

Frequent readers of Marc Lancaster's blog will have seen this Interesting Observation:

MILWAUKEE -- A player mentioned to me today that the verbal abuse from fans in Cincinnati this year, when it occurs, seems even harsher than last season. You'll recall where the Reds were around this time last season -- about 20 games out.

Not to get into the discussion about the state of Cincinnati baseball fans again, but I do find it interesting that so few seem to be pleased with what has occurred this year. And obviously you need look no further than many of the comments on this blog for evidence.

In the comments, readers go on to express every view from “Back in my day, we'd never dream of booing our own team” to “If they don't want me to boo, they should stop sucking.”

I think too much of a deal is made out of booing. Even out of swearing, though I realize some people take that stuff very seriously. It's just a word (or, in the case of booing, a syllable). It can hurt your feelings if you let it, but it doesn't actully hurt you.

It's a dumb idea that fans should be happy with the team just because they are better than last year. It's not just dumb: it's unAmerican.

Did our forefathers look at the first draft of the Constitution and say, “it's not perfect, but it's better than what we had in England, so let's shut up about it already”? In fact, I don't know whether they did that. Like many Americans, I'm not all that well versed in history.

But in my uninformed vision of the scene, my forefathers wouldn't settle for anything less than perfection. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Ty Cobb, and Mark Twain, among others, argued the finer points of their new government in each other's faces, often resorting to personal attacks and occasionally sissy fighting, until they'd drafted the perfect document on papyrus or perhaps cuneform. They did this into the wee hours, round the campfire and before an audience of American Indians who taught them many valuable things, such as how to make needles out of buffalo bones and how to smoke the peace pipe.

The point being that loudly complaining about anything we see as less-than-perfect is how we strive to make things perfect. If the alternative to fans booing is fans not caring enough to say anything, or worse, not caring enough to even notice anything is wrong (see: Wrigley Field), then I'll take the booing.

The players will just have to learn to take it as evidence that the fans care. Or deal with the emotional pain of being booed. Or just stop listening. They are only words, after all.

John David Weathers was born September 25, 1969 in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. In 1987, he graduated from Loretta High School, where he played baseball and basketball. He played baseball at Motlow State (TN) Community College.

Weathers has a very cute son who’s baseball-playing ability has been noted by members of the clubhouse and even on the FSN pre-game.