Here at Red Hot Mama, we've always been about a little ironic laughter. After all: there's no crying in baseball, just bitter, caustic sarcasm.

So, with that in mind, I'm pleased to present the silver linings to the clouds in this shit-storm Reds fans have been weathering lately.

1. Matt Belisle's ERA went down tonight, all the way to 3.45.
2. The Reds can only lose one more game to the Astros this week.
3. After tomorrow, the games will be on too late to have to watch.
4. With two more errors tonight, Edwin Encarnación keeps dragging down his own trade value.
5. Placing Eric Milton on the DL will give some young, fresh-faced buck the chance he's always dreamed of: to be the next hard-luck loser.

The Reds made room for Jared Burton, who was coming off the DL, by putting Eric Milton on the DL. From Reds.com:

The Reds placed starting pitcher Eric Milton on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained left elbow on Wednesday.

Reliever Jared Burton was recalled from his injury rehabilitation assignment and was reinstated from the 15-day DL. Burton had been out since April 8 with a strained left hamstring.

Milton gave up four earned runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings in Tuesday's 7-6 loss to the Astros.

“He just went in after the game and complained about it a little bit,” Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky said. “As a precaution, we had the MRI at Dr. Kremchek's.”

I'd love for someone to come up on Sunday and make an impact, though--as we've said before--Milton hasn't actually been all that horrible.

Yet more from the same story:

Milton is 0-4 with a 5.17 ERA in six starts this season. The team did not announce a replacement starter for Sunday's game at Los Angeles, but Krivsky said he was considering pitchers on the current staff or looking to Triple-A Louisville. While lefties Phil Dumatrait and Bobby Livingston are performing well at Louisville and are on the 40-man roster, this could be an opening to promote top pitching prospect Homer Bailey.

Baily? Really? Is there yet a person out there who's been willing to say he's ready? I mean, don't we have enough high hopes turned to disappointments already?

The Reds have gotten spanked by the Astros, it's Milton of all people going tonight, we're up against Wandy, and yet I'm watching. I'll be in and out as I make the car-out-of-a-cardboard-box that my son's school is requiring he have by Thursday.

C. Trent has the line-ups:

Reds
Ryan Freel cf
Brandon Phillips 2b
Ken Griffey, Jr. rf
Jeff Conine 1b
Alex Gonzales ss
Adam Dunn lf
Edwin Encarnación 3b
David Ross c
Eric Milton p

Astros
Biggio 2b
Ensberg 3b
Berkman 1b
Lee lf
Lane rf
Pence cf
Everett ss
Ausmus c
Rodriguez p

Jeff Piecoro of Fox Sports just called Kyle Lohse a “hard luck loser.” It's a phrase we've been hearing a lot lately, but it's bullshit. I mean bullpen. Luck has nothing to do with it; it's all about lack of lead-protecting skill.

The offense has been on-and-off, which they're going to do, but the bullpen has been bad since week two of the season. Bringing up Brad Salmon has failed to be the magic bullet, and calling up Gary Majewski once he's available again might just make things worse.

We can't count on our relievers. We can't count on our manager. We can't count on our GM.

Are you there, Mr. Castellini?

The family and I drove to downtown Indianapolis this afternoon to witness the match up between the Pirates' AAA affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, and the Reds' AAA affiliate, the Louisville Bats.

One of my personal faves, Tom Shearn, took the mound for the Bats. Seven innings later, he'd given up just one run on five hits. A very nice outing. Wes Wilkerson finished the game out without allowing so much as a hit.

On the offensive side, the Bats came through with hit after hit. 13 when it was all said and done, resulting in eight runs. Names you might recognize bringing in runs for our Louisville friends: Aaron Herr, Mark Bellhorn, Jeff Bannon, and Chad Moeller.

This was the first time that we bought the lawn seats and sat on the berm at Victory Field in Indianapolis, and I must say that I highly recommend it. You have to find a spot in extreme left field if you want to be able to see the big scoreboard, but if you're OK with just the score and the inning, where we were sitting just left of center is great. Not only do you have the option of lying in the sun to watch the game, but you get super-close views of the center and left fielders both diving for a ball deep in left center and both missing it. You can actually hear them grunting as they hit the ground.

Plus, if you stay on the grass you can bring in your own food. Since we're trying to be frugal while we're paying for two mortgages and daycare, we carried in a cooler filled with Capri Suns and Jon's Famous Lunch Meat and Barbecue Sauce sandwiches. Good luck getting those at the concession stand!

After the game, Knothole Club Members and kids who were there for the big Cub Scout outing were invited to run the bases. There must have been a few hundred kids who lined up to take part in that particular event. I bet the Victory Field grounds crew is going to have a good time cleaning that up. On the other hand, each of those kids weighs, like, 50 pounds, so maybe it doesn't make a difference.

Anyway, back to the game. The win brought the Bats' record to 14-15, tied for second in their division and three and a half games back on the Indians. Tomorrow they return home to face Ottawa.