Boxscore

I know, having followed the Reds for most of my life, that it seemed like whenever the Reds were about to face a team who’d been struggling, I dreaded it. It meant only one thing: the struggling team was about to spank Cincinnati’s ass.

And it looks like Pittsburgh is serving that whipping boy role for Milwaukee right now. Manny Parra pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings, for crying out loud.

Jason Bay did hit his 10th homer for the Pirates, hopefully increasing his trade value so that the Pirates ownership can start rebuilding. If they let Pittsburgh’s recent failure at losing fool them into thinking this team can win, then the Pirates are doomed for another decade or two.

But, on a brighter side, the Brewers bats finally came alive. Mike Cameron started hitting, as did the heart of the lineup, with the exception of Prince Fielder. Perhaps he’ll awaken today when Ben Sheets battles Ian Snell at 7:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

The Reds continued to show they have no business playing on the west coast. Every year their season dies out there. I understand it’s several hundred miles from home base, but it’s not like the team drives out there. Weak.

Mat Belisle actually pitched well, providing the lone spot of optimism for the Reds. If he can regularly go 6 innings and allow only 3 runs–and I think he can–then the Reds have found themselves a solid 5th starter.

The offense and defense were no-shows, though, losing the game.

The Reds thoughts of reaching .500 have been dashed until they return from California, as they fall to 21-25. They attempt not to get swept in another game no one in Reds land will be watching tonight at 10:10pm EDT when Johnny Cueto goes against Hiroki Kuroda.

TMZ has posted a fan/stalker-wannabe video of Ken Griffey Jr. walking from a restaurant to a taxi.

That’s blogs for you, bringing you video that the mainstream media can’t, nay, won’t. I commend them for it. Griffey leads a Salinger-esque private life, and obtaining any moving pictures of him walking over the past 20 years has been very difficult.

And bleeping out innocuous crowd noises? Priceless.

Thanks to Joel for the tip that the John Morrell Love My Reds segment featuring the Crack Technical Staff and yours truly showed on the big board at Great American Ball Park yesterday. He told me that the sound wasn’t so much understandable in the stadium, but if you were at the game and noticed a couple goons grinning like idiots in front of microphones, that was us, pretending to record a podcast.

Stay tuned and I’ll see about getting a copy of the segment to post here. Then you can hear the nerdy commentary that went with the idiot grins.

Boxscore

Skip Schumaker had a walk-off hit to send the Cardinals to their second win in a row and to keep them 2 games behind the Cubs.

Ryan Ludwick continued his torrid home run pace by hitting his 11th of the year, despite being used as a 4th outfielder. How long can he keep that power up?

And Kyle Lohse unearthed a vial of his Dr. Jekyll potion, allowing him to keep the Cardinals in the game against the Rays. It’s been a rocky May for Lohse, but he’s shown improvement in his last few starts. The Cardinals need him to continue pitching well to have any hope of continuing their surprising start.

Like the Reds, the Cardinals head west, young man, sending the strike-throwing Todd Wellemeyer out against the Padres’ Wilfredo Ledezma at 10:05pm EDT.