Last Game
The Reds won the game and swept the series against the Indians last night with a 5-12 victory. Surprising in a game with a line like this one that the starter, Mike Leake, couldn’t qualify for the win, having not put in adequate innings. At least he didn’t get a loss.

Next Game
The Reds head to New York to visit the Mets tonight. Bronson Arroyo (2-4, 3.79 ERA) takes on Dillon Gee (4-4, 4.42 ERA). Gee’s ERA isn’t too impressive, but his performance has been on the upswing. He has struck out 27 in his last 27.2 innings.

Happy Birthday, Baker
Dusty Baker is 63 today. Some people might say that’s a little old to be getting into playground shouting matches with players. (Though, with Derek Lowe having just turned 39, it’s not as lopsided a match-up as you might expect.) In fact, Richard Justice went on a condescending rant to that effect yesterday on MLB.

Now, I’m as likely as anyone to say guys ought to just suck it up and play, but I wasn’t feeling it when Lowe volunteered his ambiguous hatred for Baker in the form of an unnecessarily heated reaction to an inside pitch.

When the normally cool Baker also spewed vitriol, even after having a night to work out his response to the media, my first thought was, “some serious shit must have gone down,” not “oh grow up, boys.”

I don’t know if we’ll ever find out what incident prompted this mystifying interaction, but I bet ratings will be higher for Lowe’s next start when the Reds are in town.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Joey Votto now trails Jay Bruce by only one home run for most on the team.