Boxscore

For a time, it didn’t look like even the magic of C. C. Sabathia would prevent the Brewers from being swept at the hands of the lowly Reds and “Sesenta y Uno” (Bronson Arroyo). However, the Reds showed that they are a bad team at heart and the Brewers won a game they really needed.

Cincinnati committed 2 errors, which both lead to runs that ultimately lost the game for the Reds. Good to know that manager Dusty Baker is working on lowering those 107 errors that the team has by preaching good fundamentals.

The Brewers have a 4 game lead in the wild card over both the Phillies and Houston.

Boxscore

One night after jumping all over Cubs closer Kerry Wood, the Reds did the same thing to Brewers closer Salomon Torres. I watched the game and was surprised to see the Reds come back to win. It was fun. Should the team ever get serious about winning and fire Dusty Baker, I could definitely get used to winning ball games.

Unfortunately, that’s the last baseball game I’ll be seeing for a while. Shortly after the game was over, a thunderstorm rolled in. One lightning strike was close enough to send a powerful surge through the house. How powerful? Enough that flames briefly shot out of the GFCI outlet in the bathroom. Oh, and it killed the satellite, too, among other things.

So the last Reds game I’ll see in about a week before the technician arrives was a win. And a fun win. The only downside was that it, like most wins “managed” by Baker, occurred in spite of Baker. There’s a reason they’ve lost so many this year.

This episode is recorded live on location at beautiful Victory Field in Indianapolis, Indiana. The last place Indianapolis Indians (Pirates’ affiliate) hosted the division leading Louisville Bats (Reds’ affiliate) as they always do during the holiday weekends.

The Bats had long since clinched the division, so it was hard to imagine that they’d put too much effort into their last series: 4-games against the cellar-dwellers (and that was just in Indy; afterward, they immediately took off for two more games in Louisville). But it was a good time anyway, seeing the Reds and Pirates of the future (and past *cough*Chris Duffy*cough*) defining themselves on the field.

We attended all four games, but only stayed for the duration on Saturday (darn school nights), so this program is the culmination of four days and about 20 innings of baseball spectatorship.

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Boxscore

The Cardinals found themselves in an all-too-familiar spot last night: everyone saying their season was finished. So of course, the Cards scored 4 runs in the 8th and beat the Brewers 5-3.

Aaron Miles knocked in what would be the winning run, while Felipe Lopez added another for good measure. The win keeps St. Louis in 2nd place in the wild card, 3.5 back of Milwaukee with Philadelphia nipping at their heels.

It’s been a wild and crazy season for the Cardinals. They continue to surprise, finding ways to win, much like Dusty Baker’s teams find ways to lose.

Boxscore

It wasn’t that Manny Parra turned in an outstanding, dominant performance against the Astros, but it was good enough for a win, which is something he’ll take given his hard-luck performances of late.

Parra pitched 5 innings, allowing only 2 runs for his 10th win. But the Brewers offense was too much for the Astros to overcome, thanks to the middle of the Milwaukee lineup.

The Brewers gained a game on the Cubs, who surprisingly lost a game at Wrigley to the Reds, of all teams.