Hi, everyone. What'd I miss?

I see that Gary Majewski still hasn't found his stride. According to Marc, after last night's debacle Majewski “bolted from the clubhouse as soon as the media walked in.” Poor guy. It's not his fault they keep sending him out there.

I see that Bronson Arroyo still can't seem to find win #10. At least the team didn't lose this time.

I see that Jerry Narron, as great a guy as he is, still is having trouble with line-up construction and bullpen management. You know, the Reds are over .500, leading the wildcard, and challenging St. Louis for first in the NLC, so Narron is clearly doing something right. Unfortunately, he's just as clearly doing some things wrong.

Perhaps they could set up a tag-team managing staff. Narron could be in charge of “doing the little things” and someone else could be in charge of who plays third or pitches the eighth inning.

Sort of like the Cardinals could use a different manager to take over in the post-season.

Speaking of the Cardinals: the series starts tonight! The last time our boys faced the Cards, they swept them to take first place. And it just so happens that we have just the right number of games in this series so that a sweep would take first again. It's fate, baby. And it's something I'm not going to miss.

P.S. - Thanks, Joel, for taking over in my absence. You are truly the premier substitute Reds blog writer.

Ugh. This game was both painful and sickening. Frankly, I want to talk about it as little as possible, so here are the highlights:

• Eric Milton looked like trouble in the first inning, but he settled down and gave the Reds 7 strong innings, only allowing two runs and one home run. It seems like a rare occasion lately when you can say that Milton pitched good enough to win, but then I guess technically he didn't with the way the offense has been playing lately. C'mon, Eric, why didn't you allow negative runs? This loss is all on you!
• Scott Hatteberg continues to do what Scott Hatteberg has been doing all season. He reached base 4 times on Thursday with three walks and the Reds first hit to lead off the bottom of the seventh. If you have any doubt that Scott Hatteberg has been the Reds best hitter this season, then I don't like you because I don't like people who disagree with me. Please don't make me not like you.
• Jerry Narron finally figured out a way to get Hatteberg, Rich Aurilia, and Edwin Encarnacion into the lineup at the same time. Did you know that Rich Aurilia knows how to play more than just third and first base? That's right, he played second base on this night. Now if Narron could just remember that Aurilia was a shortstop for most of his career and get McClayton out of there. That's probably too much to ask.
• Uh, Gary Majewski didn't allow a run. That's good, right?

And that's it for the highlights. It was a pretty pathetic game, as you can tell by the lowlights:

• Ken Griffey Jr.'s meager hitting streak came to end with an 0 for 4 night with 2 strikeouts and 5 men left on base. His last strikeout came with 2 men on in the ninth on a ball that was in the dirt and about 6 inches outside of the plate. Ugly.
• Adam Dunn followed Junior in the batting order and tried to mimic his every move. Dunn went 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts and 4 men left on base. Dunn has now struck out in 8 of his last 9 at bats since he hit home run #32 on Tuesday.
• The Reds hit into 3 double plays on the night. It got so bad that we were cheering when the second out did not result in a double play.

Okay, you know, I'm starting to get that nauseous feeling that I had watching the game last night, so I'm going to stop right there. At least those stupid Dodgers are out of town. Now the Braves come back for a three game set. Twenty-four year old rookie Chuck James (4-2, 4.87) takes the mound on Friday night for Braves up against Aaron Harang (11-7, 3.62). It'll be the first time James has faced the Reds, so look for the offense to continue to struggle. Yippee!

I'll be helping fill up RHM's allotted space on the internet while she is dealing with her family stuff. Hopefully she'll be able to be back soon, because we all miss her already.

Luckily for me, I get to jump in while the Reds are in one of their patented sucky streaks. The good thing is that they don't tend to last more than 8 games, so we're at least half way through, right?

You'll have to excuse me, but I didn't know that I would be writing a recap when I was watching the game, so my thoughts may be vague and choppy:

• Um, the offense got manhandled last night. They managed just 4 hits and 3 walks and the quality of the performance can be summarized in just one player: Ryan Freel. Freel got on base 3 times during the night, so YAY for him right? No, because he also got picked off once and caught stealing once. For some reason, he decided not to make an out on the bases his third time on despite it being followed by consecutive 3 and 2 counts. So don't ever say that Freel never learned from his mistakes…after he made them 3 or 4 or 10 times.
• It looks like Ken Griffey Jr. is going to start hitting again, finally. Junior now has a six-game hitting streak - a streak that George Grande has surely been touting for the last 4 games. He's also hit 3 home runs in his last 6 games as well, including his 22nd of the season last night. Good thing nobody was on for it or else the Reds would have lost 5-4 and put a dent in their solid 20-12 record in 1-run games.
• Besides Freel and Griffey, the other offense on the night was provided Scott Hatteberg, who hit his 10th home run of the season giving the Reds six players who have double-digit home runs this year though one of them now plays for the Washington Nationals. The box score also says that Royce Clayton hit a home run as well, but we all know that's not possible so it must be a typo. Maybe the Dodgers' bullpen has a charity program set up much like the Reds' pen.
• Elizardo Ramirez had a typical Lizard start last night. He got beat up in one inning - this time it was the third - but otherwise held the Dodgers in check. Unfortunately in that one inning his gave up more runs than the Reds scored the rest of the night, so it didn't really work out for him. The bullpen relieved him in the fifth inning and proceeded to pitch 4.1 shutout innings. They really have a knack for pitching well when the offense sucks, don't they?
• Edwin Encarnación finally got to start again. He didn't have a hit, but he did make two shiny plays in the field. We'll give him a silver star for his sticker book for that game. And yes, he in fact does keep a sticker book. The kid has to have a hobby while he's sitting on the bench 2 out of every 3 games.
• Adam Dunn pulled the golden sombrero last night by striking out four times against the Dodgers. I hear he also gets free fried ice cream from Chi Chi's as well. MMMMMMM.

That's all for that game. The Reds take on the Dodgers tonight as they try not to get their asses swept at home. Game time is 7:10pm ET as Greg Maddux (9-11, 4.69) makes his first start as a Dodger against Eric Milton (7-6, 5.37). Let's win at least one against these stupid Dodgers!

My father passed away today, so I won't be posting for a few days. Or if I do, it won't be funny. Or if it is, it will be the kind of inane, giddy funny that you use to set off the constant sobbing.

Now that all the joy has been sucked out of the room, feel free to continue with the smart alecry here while I'm gone. By the time I'm back to read it, I'll be ready for some laughing.