Reds Treat Braves as General Yard Waste, Lose to Rocks

Reds went all seven straight wins on the Braves before losing a late lead yesterday. As I've stated before, the team appears to be peaking at the right time. They have second place in the Central firmly within their reach and the key seems to be not having Willy Taveras in the lineup or maybe it was having too few Willy-Taveras-type players in the lineup. If you're going to have one slap hitter who doesn't really like stealing bases that much any more, you should probably have an entire lineup full, which would be pretty sweet. Get Dave Roberts and Brett Butler out of retirement. See about acquiring Luis Castillo. Now that would be a lineup that doesn't clog up the bases.

Reds hold a particular grudge against the Braves, because of the trickle down of Mr. Redlegs racism and the team doesn't care for the city of Atlanta. So, they welcomed the Braves to town by crushing their spirit with a three-game sweep while Atlanta's vying for a playoff spot. Doesn't look good savages. Game three ended with Owing's sacking up and taking one off the dome with the bases loaded. That's a teammate. So, regardless of his limitations as a starting pitcher, he's a pretty solid guy and everyone likes him.

We also got to see another strong start from Arroyo. Looks like he has responded to all of that pre-trade deadline talk of his middling stuff and replacement-level peripherals. He's going to top 200 innings again and if he doesn't have to go back to Toronto, maybe, we could see an ERA dropping into the 3.00's. That would be a pretty nice season for someone who lists his main occupation as rock & rolla'.

Reds dropped the first game of the series with the Rocks yesterday but we won't spend too much time on that because of the seven wins that preceded the loss. The team was in position to take home the victory but Bailey had thrown 200 pitches through 5+ and Dusty claims that's the reason for the loss. Masset was in too early. So, nice to pile on your starter for turning in 5 solid innings. Offense was limited but Gomes took number 18 out of the park. Good power for a non-roster invitee. Maybe he'd like to return next year on a similar one-year deal so he has something to play for.

Despite the loss, Reds take next two. Mr. Redlegs bets his moustache on it.