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Apparently, I missed the Diamondbacks acquiring David Eckstein for their infield needs down the stretch. Yesterday, both the former Cardinal and the former Red Adam Dunn patrolled the same side of the infield for Arizona.

Dunn hit his 35th home run of the year and Eckstein drove in a couple against his old team to propel the team to a come-from-behind win.

The win kept Arizona 2.5 games ahead of Los Angeles, who also won today. The loss for St. Louis, has me calling their season done. They’re a good team–better than expected, by far–and they’ve put in a good 2008, but I think it’s over now. Time for them to start playing spoiler. I imagine they’ll do a far better job of it than the Reds.

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The Cubs faced their worst string of games over the weekend in a while. Not only did Carlos Zambrano miss a start due to a “tired” arm, but the team lost 3 in a row. Not that their lead in the Central was jeopardized, though. Neither the Brewers nor the Cardinals could capitalize.

Roy Oswalt continued his recent return to his old form. After struggling through the beginning of the year, Oswalt turned in numbers expected of him in August: a 2.97 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 39 innings. For his first start in September, he continued to dominate, shutting out Chicago for his 13th win.

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The Bats phoned one in on Thursday. I imagine it’s hard to continue to be motivated when you clinched not just a playoff spot, but your division, so many weeks ago. Matt Maloney got pounded, allowing 7 runs in 3 2/3 innings. Not exactly the best audition for a September call-up.

How many McCutchen’s do the Indians need? Apparently as many as the Bats have Drews.

Hey, look. Matt Kata plays for the Indians, now.

The Bats threatened to score shortly before we had to call it a night. Out of 4 games in 4 nights, we saw the entirety of one game. This was not that game.

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In game 2 of the meaningless 4 game series between the Indianapolis Indians and the Louisville Bats, the Indians came from behind in thrilling fashion to take the lead in the bottom of the 8th.

Todd Coffey blew the save for the Bats before Daniel Herrera gave up the tie. All in all, a performance for the Bats that the Reds’ Dusty Baker would be proud of. As for the Pirates, I don’t think there’s much to like. The pitching struggled, with 3 of the 4 pitchers who made an appearance allowing runs. At least there was some offense, though.

Steve Pearce went 1-4 and drove in one of the Indians’ runs.

Here, Chris Duffy practices the old floating ball trick.

I was surprised at the number of Bats players I’d never heard of. Take right fielder Shaun Cumberland, for example. No idea who he is or where he came from. He seems like a nice enough guy, though. At one point, a kid playing on the outfield grass seating area threw his ball into the outfield. Cumberland walked over and returned the kid’s dropped ball.

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Has there ever been a pitcher who completely pwned a team as much as Roy Oswalt pwns the Reds? I mean, it’s gone past coincidence to just bizarre. Oswalt now holds a record of 22-1 against Cincinnati. That’s. Just. Crazy.

The Reds did score a run in the first, and Josh Fogg pitched well, for a change, but the outcome of the game was never in doubt.