Well, that was special.

The Reds gave it up big time to drop two of the three-game series to the Cubs this afternoon, 3-11.

Eric Milton, who was injured in his last shot and the recent recipient of a cortisone shot, was left on the mound long enough to give up six earned runs in one-third of the first inning. I'm sure no one would be surprised if there were anyone not watching football today.

Sunny Kim took over for the rest of first and the second to promptly allow a home run to the pitcher. He gave up a couple of earned runs on three hits, just like Jason Johnson did in the third and fourth. Jason Standridge gave up only one earned run on three hits in the fifth and sixth.

Matt Belisle pitched a scoreless seventh. And while Gary Majewski failed to allow any runs in the eighth, he did something I previously thought impossible: he issued a walk to a Cub. We've all got to have our personal accomplishments.

The offense continued to be AWOL today, despite the fact that just about everyone got a try at the Cubs' pitching. Rich Aurilia went 1-for-2 with a walk before he was pulled in the sixth. Javier Valentín went 2-for-4 with one of the team's three runs scored in the ninth.

Adam Dunn was 0-for-2 with a walk before he came out in the eighth. Dunn is just--wow--awful lately. I'm sure it doesn't help that he's the only slugger in the line-up these days. Ken Griffey, Jr. was 0-for-0 as he continued to sit out to nurse a sore toe. Poor Jr.'s toe.

The loss brings the Reds' record to 73-76. They go on to face the Astros in Houston and quite possibly hand over the #2 position in the NLC. The Astros are just two games behind the Reds. Kyle Lohse goes against Roy Oswalt at 8:05 p.m.

Heh, that's what she said.

Can you believe that the Crack Technical Staff has put up with my crap for 10 years? Ten years ago this day, we cut our classes at Purdue and drove to the county building to be wed in matrimonial bliss. And look where we are today: spending all our free time screwing around on the Internet and recording baseball-related podcasts together.

And you thought marriage was only good for the tax breaks.

So this evening we're heading to the bustling metropolis of Indianapolis to go out for a fancy dinner and let someone else make the beds for a change. I think we will make it out to some place that has the Comcast SportsNet for to watch the Reds' game, but despite the fact that our hotel room has complimentary broadband, somehow I don't think I'll be writing about it tonight. I'll try to catch up tomorrow.

Go Reds!

I'd forgotten the Reds were playing until I happened upon the page this afternoon. I started up the Gameday and saw the score: down four early again, I see. Ugh.

Who gave those up? I wondered. I skimmed back through the play-by-play of the fourth inning, but couldn't find where the Cubs scored. Hm. A lot of times, stuff is missing from the Gameday, but I could see all three outs…

“Oh!” I actually exclaimed out loud in my silent office as I realized that it was actually the Reds up by four. What the hell do you know?

So, I guess Milton is going to pitch Sunday, despite having received a cortisone shot and clearly not being 100%. An injured Milton. Lucky us!

Earlier today, when it was looking like Milton might not take the mound again, it suddenly occurred to me that the Reds were down to three starters, and number three was Lohse. We see how well that worked out tonight.

I dunno, I guess, despite all my “enjoy the free-fall” kind of talk, a little tiny part of me still believed. It's hard to look at the second-place standing and just the five games back on the Cards and abandon all hope. But how can a team, even a team in the NLC, possibly sniff the postseason with just three starters? That's not a full rotation; that's barely 216°.

Oh well. Just one more of these and we can go smack around the Cubs for a while.