The Reds survived the bullpen performance to hang on to win over the Astros last night, 5-4. Thank you David Weathers! I was tending to my feverish son much of the evening, so I didn't get to see most of the game, which, if nothing else, gives me something in common with Brandon Phillips.

You see, I can laugh because the CT scan was normal.

Aaron Harang finally got win number 14. Narron pulled him after seven and two-thirds when he got himself into a jam. When it was all said and done, he allowed four runs (earned) on eight hits for the win.

I'd like to say that Harang should have been pulled after seven. He probably should have. But then you wonder, “who's going to do any better?” As it was, Scott Schoeneweis came in, promptly walked a guy, allowed an RBI double, and hit Aubrey Huff. That's right: he hit the guy who sang Letters from Home on Oh Say Can You Sing?

At least Narron didn't make the mistake of sending Ryan Franklin out there. It's a small victory, but that's what you play for these days, right?

Weathers is hardly the young guy you build your pitching staff around these days, but there are times that I worry about the day when he retires. He finished out the game for the save. He didn't allow any hits but walked one.

My boy Ryan Freel went 1-for-4 on the evening, but made that one count with a couple RBI in the fifth inning. Adam Dunn knocked one in (and it wasn't even himself) in the fifth as well. Is it a coincidence that Dunn starts to come out of his slump and the team wins? Yeah, probably, but it's still tempting to ask him to carry the offense.

But before that, the Reds' score was all Chris Denorfia. With his second career home run in the second inning, he allowed the Reds to take the lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the night.

The win brings the Reds' record to 74-77. They're seven games behind the Cards and five games back on the wild card. They finish up the series this afternoon at 2 p.m. They actually have a chance to win a series for a change: Arroyo's going today.

Oh, don't act so surprised.

I can't believe I forgot Javy's birthday yesterday. What kind of obsessed fan am I?

Blogger weekend is almost here! If you're among the literally ones of people coming out to the game to meet up with me, JD, Skeeter (yeah, you know her as Ash from a significantly more popular site), Joel and other fun-loving, Internet-savvy Reds fans on Saturday, you might be interested to know about the after-game fun to be had downtown.

David Storm, lead singer of the band Screaming Mimes (as featured on Cincinnati Clutch Hits), says it best:

My band is playing at a bar called Courtyard Café at Midnight that night (Saturday the 23rd) as part of the awesome MidPoint Music Fest (www.mpmf.com) if you’re interested in coming to see us. Single venue admission is $5 for the festival, or you can get pass for all the venue and check out a bunch of different bands – it’s a pretty cool weekend to come to Cincinnati. The club we’re at is on 1211 Main Street (12 blocks from the ballpark!) and all the bands are up and down main street as well. Maybe we’ll see you there!

Even if you're not coming to the game, you can look for me at the concert. I'll be the one in the Reds' shirt.

Little did Ryan Freel know when he dove for that ball that the image captured in that moment would be the perfect visual representation of the Reds' play of late.

Sounds a little ridiculous, I realize, seeing as the Reds are up 2-1 as I write this. Of course, having Andy Pettitte out of the game helps. Marc says he's attending to his father in the hospital. He also says that the last-minute pitching change for the Astros caused Reds' manager Jerry Narron to scratch his plan to play Rich Aurilia at first base and Royce Clatyon at short in favor of moving Aurilia to short and Scott Hatteberg to first. So you see, the situation worked out for the best. Except for the father in the hospital part. Hope he's doing OK.

Speaking of sick, my own kid came down sick tonight, very suddenly in the backseat of the car on the way home. He's sleeping upstairs now, where I had been resting with him until just recently, the reason being for why I'm just now catching up on the whole Chris Denorfia hitting a home run thing. Go Dino!

Oh, now Marc's saying that Brandon Phillips was taken to the hospital for precautionary tests after being hit in the eye with a ball that took a bad hop. Yikes. Hope he's doing OK, too.

With all this talk of hospitalization, I'd best go check on my kid. Keep it up, Reds. A win would be a nice change of pace.

Even though we finally got the recording-during-the-commute-home idea to work (mostly), this was still a podcast fraught with frustration. How could it not be? It's about the Reds!

This week, the Crack Technical Staff and I chat about:

• The horror of the Padres series. People said that it was must-win if the Reds were going to keep any hope of the postseason alive. They lost the series, so I guess all hope is gone!
• The grizzly Cubs series. Did you realize that they were shut out for 22 consecutive innings? They scored seven runs in the whole series; it's a miracle they won any at all. Grudging thanks to Bronson Arroyo, though fat lot of good it does us now.
• The upcoming potential humiliation of the Astros series. Kyle Lohse versus Roy Oswalt? Come on, is that even fair?
• Eric Milton playing hurt when it didn't matter anyway (and Griffey not when it did).
• Wacky baseball news, such as Pete Rose's last money-making scheme, how to know what it feels like to be a terror victim without all the actual terror, and your legal right to call Adam Dunn a fatass.

We didn't have any callers to the call-in line this week, but I have faith that you guys will come up with some wacky messages before next Monday. (513) 729-7106.

Episode 23: Frustration (10.6 MB, 15:26)

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