Boxscore

From the start, everyone was afraid that the muffed kick on the point after touchdown would hurt the Reds; however, they never scored again, so the miss was moot. Oh, wait, this is baseball, not football. Cincinnati already has one mediocre football team. No need to add another one to the mix.

Despite the football-style score, the Cincinnati Reds did play yesterday. One wouldn’t typically call it baseball, at least, not good baseball.

Aaron Harang brought his typical F-game, providing the team with a terrible start. He allowed 7 runs–6 earned–in 5 1/3 innings. His ERA stands at 8.31. On the day the Chicago Cubs announced Carlos Zambrano’s move to the bullpen, I’m wondering if the Reds shouldn’t try the same with Harang. His suckitude, for whatever reason, is becoming comical.

Of course, Harang allowed only half of the Dodger runs. For the rest, we turn to the bullpen. Micah Owings couldn’t record an out, but could give up 2 runs. Logan Ondrusek got some outs–6 of them–but allowed 4 runs. And Mike Lincoln pitched the 9th and allowed 1 paltry run, showing that the Dodgers weren’t really trying by that point. The only reliever to escape unscathed was Daniel Herrera, who recorded one out in the 6th. Good job, Daniel! You’re the Reds star pitcher of the game!

The offense for the Reds was good, at least at the beginning. Harang gave up an early lead to the Dodgers, but in the bottom of the first, Joey Votto and Scott Rolen hit home runs, giving the Reds a 3-1 lead. It was the only lead the Reds had, and it lasted all the way from the bottom of the first to the top of the second.

The Reds did come back to tie it once, but it has to engender a feeling of pointlessness when your pitchers continue to make your job harder and harder. I mean, the Reds scored 6 runs. And it wasn’t enough. This is a team with pitching as its strength, right? Ouch.