The Reds, startled and terrified to suddenly find themselves flying atop the NLC yesterday, dropped the magic feather. They continued to freak out and keep closed the enormous ears that were keeping them from plummeting to the ground today with a 1-4 loss to the Giants.

Bronson Arroyo got his second failed attempt at win number 11. In the game wrap on Reds.com, Mark Sheldon says “Wasted was a decent effort by Arroyo (10-9), who pitched six-plus innings and allowed four earned runs and eight hits. He walked four, one intentionally, and struck out six.” I think perhaps we are stretching the definition of “decent” a touch here. Perhaps “not impossible to overcome if the offense is popping” or “non-2005-Milton-esque” would be more in order.

Some people who don't understand probability think that incidences balance each other out, like if you happen to get heads 50 times in a row, that you'll get tails 50 times in a row later to make up for it. Actually, if you get heads 50 times in a row, that aberration will be swamped by the more-or-less equal heads and tails you get for the rest of the infinity flips. Arroyo flipped nine wins real quick in the season; it might be useful for someone to explain to him that he doesn't have to rattle off an equal number of losses to make up for them.

Not that it was all Arroyo's doing. The offense utterly failed to come through plus the defensive miscues and base-running mistakes. No one had more than one hit, and only David Ross had any RBI with his solo shot in the sixth inning. Edwin Encarnación and Ken Griffey, Jr. each had an official error with other questionable plays that weren't tagged with Es. Ryan Freel was caught stealing. Clearly, nothing was going the Reds' way.

Including the fact that the Cardinals won their second game in a row against the Cubs to put the Reds back two games. They still lead the wild card, but just barely, with half a game over San Diego.

The loss brings the Reds' record to 67-63. They try for a split of the four-game series with the Giants tomorrow when Kyle Lohse goes against Matt Cain.

Thursday night I went to bed with Milton down 0-3 and awoke to the joyful news of a late-inning comeback.

Last night I didn't go to bed until well after the Reds had fallen to the Giants.

The moral of this story: I must sleep through the latter 2/3 of all Reds games from here on out, no matter what. It shouldn't be difficult for me; I'm very busy and could almost always take an excuse for a nap. My employer might not be so crazy about it, but they're just going to have to accommodate my special needs. It's a playoff run, after all.