Hey, remember back on Tuesday, before the game when we were flying relatively high, nearly forgetting the loss of Austin Kearns on the intoxication of a four-game sweep of the Rockies?

Man, those were good times.

Too bad the Mets had to come to town and hand the Reds an 8-3 loss.

Or, to be precise, too bad manager Jerry Narron had to leave starting pitcher Eric Milton in one inning--hell, one batter--too long. When it was all said and done, Milton allowed seven runs (earned) on six hits and four walks through seven innings pitched, but four of those runs and three of those hits happened in the seventh.

I know I'm late getting around to this, and that it's already been talked to death and that the rest of the blogosphere has moved on to the next Narron loss. But I still can't get my head around how a person could mess this up. There are times when I think that Narron should be required to run his ideas past any normal Joe--some guy in the stands behind the dugout will do--to see how he responds. I think the shouting and expletives might have clued Jerry into the fact that sending Milton back out, let alone letting him continue with the bases juiced, probably wasn't the best idea he had all day.

OK, focus. Jason Standridge threw a hitless eighth. Bill Bray gave up one more run on two hits in the ninth.

Brandon Phillips and Royce Clayton each brought in a run in the sixth. Dewayne Wise finally got a hit in the sixth inning and scored on an Adam Dunn single. And that's all they got.

Rich Aurilia went 3-for-4. Phillips went 0-for-4. Edwin Encarnación went 0-for-0 as he rode the pine yet again. You know, it's a shame that Aurilia and Encarnación play the same position. It would be great to let them both get some playing time and maybe give a rest to someone who's scuffling.

The loss brought the Reds' record to 49-45. They would continue the series on Wednesday, sending Aaron Harang out to face Steve Trachsel.