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Wow. Two games in a row that weren’t worth staying up until tomorrow for. Thank goodness I didn’t.

The San Francisco Giants again beat down the Cincinnati Reds, hard and fast. This time Travis Wood was the starting pitcher to get rocked. He did last quite a bit longer than Volquez did the night before, but it was still a horrible outing, with 7 earned runs over 4 innings. Mike Leake made his second relief appearance and was also terrible, and did nothing more than supply the Giants with brass knuckles. Over 1/3 of an inning, Leake allowed 6 runs on 6 hits, 2 of which were home runs. The outing was so bad that there’s now talk of shutting him down for the season. Recent callup Sam LeCure got in on the run-allowing action, too, giving up 3 in his 3 innings. Only Nick Masset showed competence last night.

Well, that’s not entirely true. The offense was solid. At least, I think 5 runs is a good showing. Heck, they scored 3 to get within 2 in the 5th before Mike Leake came in. In the 5th, Brandon Phillips hit his second solo shot of the evening. Then a few batters later, Scott Rolen launched a two-run home run. That was all for the rest of the game. I imagine the massive amounts of runs the bullpen was leaking didn’t provide much incentive to score.

This marks the first series the Reds have lost since being swept by the Cardinals. The good news is that this road trip had just one game left, the Reds will have a winning record on it, and that they will return home in first place. The season isn’t over; the Reds have simply had 2 bad games in a row. It happens, and if past performance is any predictor of the future, then this team will bounce back. And hopefully, it’ll be today.

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.

Boxscore

Well, that didn’t last long.

Remember, like, just 3 days ago when it seemed like the Cincinnati Reds season was over because the St. Louis Cardinals swept them? No? Well, then you weren’t one of the hundreds of people throwing in the towel on Twitter and all the other places fans can express their opinion.

As we’ve seen time and time again this year, the 2010 Cincinnati Reds do not give up. Let me repeat that because it’s important and not something Reds fans are accustomed to. The 2010 Reds. Do. Not. Give Up.

Case in point: they beat the Florida Marlins for the second straight time tonight. And this was with Dusty Baker suspended. (The Reds maybe should consider “suspending” him more often.) Mike Leake contributed a quality start, and Nick Masset bailed out a shaky showing from Arthur Rhodes to pitch two shutout innings. Francisco Cordero came on for his typical walks-filled, bases-loaded ninth, but he got the save.

Thanks to another continuing-to-stay-with-it offensive performance, the Reds gained the early lead and added runs in the 5th and the 8th. And thanks to the Cubs defeating the Cardinals in St. Louis today, the Reds are once again tied for first place.

Homer Bailey returns from the disabled list to start in place of a suspended Johnny Cueto tomorrow and close out the Marlins series. The Reds have already won the series, but I think they can sweep it.