Boxscore

How sweep it is!

The Cincinnati Reds completed their sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals today, winning 9-7. And they finally tagged a loss on Chris Carpenter, too boot.

The win completes the division flip-flop. Coming into the series, the Cardinals had a 1.5 game lead on the Reds. Leaving it, the Reds were the on with the 1.5 game lead.

Carpenter started for St. Louis, and while always a loser, he was so officially today. In 6 1/3 innings, he allowed 8 runs–7 earned. That offense for the Reds was provided by homers from Ramon Hernandez and Chris Heisey; Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce also drove in a pair each.

The Cardinals took an early lead but lost it and didn’t put up much of a fight until the 9th inning when the Reds bullpen flirted with giving the game away–and raising the blood pressure of all Reds fans.

Instead, closer Francisco Cordero came in and finished things off, but not without a little whiny bitching from the St. Louis bench. On an 0-2 count on Albert Pujols, Cordero went inside and hit Pujols on the wrist.

“Just a little fun,” Cordero said. “I think it was because I hit Pujols 0-2, Gerald Laird was all loud in the dugout. He was yelling at me and pointing at me and saying a whole bunch of stuff. Out of all the guys that are great hitters, great players, Gerald Laird doesn’t even play. He’s the one yelling at me because I hit Pujols 0-2. 0-2! I wasn’t trying to him.

“I’ve got to face Holliday next, who can take the lead with one swing, one of the best hitters in the NL, and he’s yelling at me. All I know is he was loud, so I say something back to him.

“I’ve got nothing against the Cardinals. I’ve been in this game a long time and I won’t disrespect anybody. I look in the duout, Pujols was sitting down, he was quiet, because he knows I wasn’t trying to hit him. This stuff happens.”

Always fun when these two teams play. It’s nice to see the Reds take a series and a lead in the season schedule at 4-2.