Boxscore

Bronson Arroyo had his best start of the season last night, pitching seven shutout innings. The bullpen, upon witnessing this, furrowed its brow with dark malevolent thoughts. This could not stand.

So it didn’t. Shiny new closer Francisco Cordero, with very few miles on him after only a handful of drives out to the mound, allowed a home run in the ninth to tie the game and send it into extras. It was oh so reminiscent of last year, only with a “proper” closer this time.

When Cordero started warming up, I had a bad feeling. He’d been used two straight nights, one of those for two innings. Yeah, this would not end well. If only there were someone, anyone, on the team who had closing experience. Alas, that was not the case, and now Cordero will be completely unavailable should he be needed today. If I didn’t know better, I could have sworn it was Narron managing again.

Dusty Baker was the puppet-master looking at the strings he was supposed to pull, though, and miraculously had his team get the win thanks to a game-winning hit by Paul Janish. What a way to get your first hit.

The Reds go for the sweep of the four-game set with the Marlins tonight when Andrew Miller faces Matt Belisle at 7:10pm EDT.

Thom Brennaman was just talking about all the nice things Griffey does for people without the general public knowing about it. Which is great. Except that the example he pulled out is how he just heard from someone in the Cincinnati-land area about how Jr. took in that little boy when his grandfather died of a heart attack at the ballpark.

Dude!

In case you were wondering, yes, Red Hot Mama did cover that super-secret story from three years ago. It ranked a mention here, right after the Reds unis for American Girl dolls.

Boxscore

The Cubs lost to the Padres, and seem to think the reason was the lack of Jim Edmonds hobbling around the outfield. Hopefully for the NLC–and all of baseball–that will be rectified as soon as possible. Chicago needs to further screw up Felix Pie’s development and they need to do it quick!

Jason Marquis started for the Cubs and did well until the 4th, when his standard suckiness reared its familiar head. Hmm, the 4th inning, huh? Sounds like Marquis has a problem making it through the lineup a second time. If only there were a pitching spot on the team that could take advantage of that.

Alfonso Soriano lead off the game for the Cubs with a solo shot. I take back whatever I wrote before. That hit totally makes it worth having him lead off. Chicago scored again in the second, but shut it down after that, apparently thinking 3 runs would be more than enough for Marquis.

Jake Peavy is the pitcher tonight for the Padres when he fights against Ted Lilly at 8:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

Remember the Brewers? You know, the team that I thought would take the division. Well, they’re not doing so hot lately. Or at least they weren’t after dropping below .500 in a terrible losing stretch. But great news for all of you who place your self-worth on preseason predictions (and picked the Brewers): They’re good again!

Carlos Villanueva gave Milwaukee a good start and lead them to their third win in a row, which also gives them a winning record again. And wonder of all wonders, after being removed from the closer’s position less than a week ago, Eric Gagne was back at it, picking up his 10th save, this time in a humdrum fashion. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Manny Parra tries to keep the winning ways rolling tonight when he faces Derek Lowe at 8:05pm EDT.

Boxscore

I meant to write about the Cardinals and their returning to earth yesterday, but couldn’t find the time. It’s a good thing there are games every day.

The Cardinals continued their descent back to expectations, losing to the Pirates in 10. Former Red Kyle Lohse was closer to finding his April doppelganger, but he was still bettered by former Red Phil Dumatrait. Neither starter got a decision, thanks to a game-tying Albert Pujols home run in the 8th.

All that did was send it to extra innings where former Red and Pirate Ron Villone came in for the Cardinals. Villone had been amazing in relief up to this point, but today was not his day. Plus, the Pirates are playing great right now, and there was no stopping the Buccos. Villone gave up four to get the loss.

The two play again tonight, with Paul Maholm for the Pirates and Todd Wellemeyer for the Cardinals, at 8:15pm EDT.