Watching Reds Will Kill You and Your Two Children, Nats 5-4

Mr. Redlegs took soom time out of his busy schedule to pose with a weird-looking dude and a giant python. He offered to show the photographer the python he has inside his oversized baseball pants. Mr. Redlegs lacks discretion when he's on the bottle.

The Reds Rocket apologizes for the delay in writing about the Reds. The three loyal readers who remain through this lengthy season have shown their disapproval through silence. I get the message. The Reds Rocket was actually out of town last week, very important business. Cat lovers convention in Denver. I will post the calender to prove it.

Way back last week the Reds showed quite a bit of promise in game one versus the Nats, after dropping the series to the Cardinals. Gomes opened things up with a huge outpouring of offense. Three bombs in one game? That deserves an exclamation point. ! And Arroyo was nearly equally as good, two hits over nine for his second complete game shutout of the season. He took a few of those non-MLB endorsed supplements and dropped his ERA by about a third of a run with some big league salad. This series is going to be a lot of fun to watch.

But then the Reds turned the car around, because the kids wouldn't shut the fuck up, and headed back to Shittiville. They dropped the next three games in a variety of ways. Game two featured a fine outing by Harang, just the two solo shots over 7 but the offense was impotent. Game three featured Cueto getting shelled followed by four innings of Kip Wells, which is never a good sign. And today, the Reds had a late lead before the Nats rallied on a play that wasn't made followed by a play which should have been made. "Alert baserunning" or alert anything isn't something which graces a Nationals recap more than a couple time a season but the Reds got to see it today. At least Dusty's got these guys focused on not giving up on the season. They're going to be out there everyday not making plays at maximum effort every day for the rest of the season.

Finally, the Reds said goodbye to their broken down shortstop Alex Gonzalez. Injuries removed many of the assets which prompted his signing two years ago but the Red Sox seem to welcome his arrival. In the one at bat of Gonzo's which I saw today against the Rangers, he doubled to left. That doubles his season extra-basehit total. Keep up the good work in Boston. We'll enjoy garbage-time reliever Janish Yanish getting a full time job look at the starting shortstop job.