Yesterday, the St. Louis Cardinals lost their 5th game in a row. And from a distance, it does have the feel of a spectacular implosion. Tony LaRussa’s losing his cool and bitching and moaning about the strike zone.

“We had a great chance in the ninth, and MLB can go ahead and fine [me], I don’t care, but there were several strikes a guy as good as Brian Wilson got, he doesn’t need. Who knows how that inning would have been? You know they are supposed to review that stuff and they are supposed to fine you if you say anything about it, but that is just not right,” said LaRussa.

I can understand his frustration at losing. But can you imagine Albert Pujols? Viva El Birdos attempts to, taking into account the recent acquisition of Pedro Feliz and the end of Pujols’ contract after the 2010 season.

what on earth do you think albert is thinking as he looks around the infield and sees pedro feliz at third, felipe lopez at short, and aaron miles at second? “i have arrived in the eighth circle of hell” [except in spanish]?

i guarantee that it is not: “i should sign a below-market value contract for the next eight or so years so that i can ensure that this continues to happen to me.” [except in spanish]

Tonight the Cardinals are sending their best–and bitchiest–player, Chris Carpenter, to the mound to attempt to stop the losing. But the San Francisco Giants are sending out Tim Lincecum. The game is on the MLB network now in many areas, including mine. I would recommend tuning in, for the bitching and the good baseball.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds continue to demolish the teams in the lower half of the standings, yesterday finishing a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-5. The win extends the Reds’ winnings streak to a season-high 6 in a row, and they’re lead over the second-place Cardinals to a season-high 3.5 games.

The last time the Reds lost was when the Cardinals swept them. I can’t be the only one in favor of no more losses to anyone but the Cardinals. It seems a good strategy for the rest of the season.

The offense was very productive again with 2 home runs–back-to-back wackity-whacks from Ramon Hernandez and Jay Bruce in the 4th–to give the Reds a lead they would never relinquish. In the 8th, they piled on to a bad bullpen, scoring 5 more, all after a dropped ball to left-field with 2 outs. I love seeing the Reds take of errors instead if the reverse, which is how it’s been for a decade.

Yesterday, Travis Wood was recalled for the start, as promised to him earlier. Wood was great, as always, allowing just 1 run in 6 1/3 innings. He got into some trouble in the 7th, but Logan Ondrusek capably got out of that jam.

Carlos Fisher was the pitcher sent down to make room for Wood, but I have to think that Bill Bray is on the edge, especially with his performance yesterday. He started the 8th, but recorded only 1 out from the 4 batters he faced. He allowed one run all by himself, but then Jordan Smith allowed the 2 inherited runners to score, pushing Bray’s ERA to 5.40. I can’t help but think the managers noticed that Bray couldn’t pitch a clean inning against a bad team and will remember it should the Reds reach the playoffs or need a roster spot before rosters expand on September 1.

The win ended the consecutive, 100-plus days that had either the Reds or Cardinals in 1st or 2nd, with the other team 3 games or less behind.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds won yet another series last night, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-7. Like so many wins before, the Reds took the lead in their last at-bat by scoring 4 runs in the 9th. The impressive part is that they also scored 4 runs in the 8th just to tie the game.

Edinson Volquez started and continued his pitch-inefficient ways, throwing 100 pitches through 4 2/3 innings. He was good for the first 4, but collapsed in the 5th, allowing 5 runs, 2 from a home run by Chris Young. The bullpen came in, but for the first time in what feels like forever, they weren’t perfect. Jordan Smith had a rare bad outing, allowing another 2 run home run to Adam LaRoche.

This put the Reds down 7-3, the early lead from Drew Stubbs’ sacrifice fly in the first long forgotten, as were the solo shots by Jim Edmonds and Jay Bruce. No, more runs were needed, and in the 8th, the Reds got to work. Miguel Cairo got a pinch-hit single to start things. Bruce tripled him in, and then Ramon Hernandez hit a double to score Bruce, making it 7-5. Paul Janish singled to set up first and third for Laynce Nix. Nix hit a very shallow flyball to right field that would have been impossible for even Drew Stubbs to score on, but the right-fielder’s throw was so far out of the catcher’s reach that Hernandez took off and scored. Brandon Phillips came up next and hit a double that tied the game.

It was late as I watched this last night, and I was so happy to have my sleep-deprivation rewarded. In the 9th, it got even better. Edmonds led the inning off with a double and advanced to third on a ground-out by Scott Rolen. Chris Heisey was brought on to pinch-hit, and he laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score the go-ahead run. It was so perfect, that Heisey made it first safely. Such an exciting play.

Before the inning was over, Paul Janish drove in a run, and Laynce Nix doubled in a couple more, to make it 11-7.

It’s so fun to see the Reds never lose hope, to never lose that fighting spirit. It’s why I stayed up after they were down by 4 late in the game. Because I knew that the Reds probably would come back and get that 3-game lead over the Cardinals.