Bitches Sweep, Cardinal 6-1

After all of the big talk coming into the series the Reds were a bit underwhelming with their play, capping off a Cardinal sweep yesterday with a 6-1 loss. The Reds appeared competent at next to no facet of the game, requiring the Reds Rocket to respond to email discussing the inevitable collapse of the Dusty regime. Yesterday, Arroyo continued the inadequate pitching performances but his inadequacy was at least limited to the fourth inning. After retiring the first two batters on 3 pitches, Arroyo gave up a two-out double to Jon Jay, walked Pujols intentionally, walked Holiday unintentionally, then grooved a 3-2 "fastball" to Colby Rasmus who hit a rocket to center, clearing the bases.

That was about it, as the offense had little interest in putting much together against Wainwright, who is only the second best pitcher in baseball, ERA-wise anyway. They get to face the best pitcher, ERA-wise, in the first game of the Marlins series, Josh Johnson. So, expect a lot of offense. Fortunately, after the failed experiment with St. Louis, the Reds still have the easiest schedule going forward of all of the teams in the playoff chase. That includes 7 with the Diamondbacks in addition to the non-Cardinal teams in the Central. So, plenty to look forward to, though one win, or maybe not an interview which seemed to spark the whole Cardinals team. They can think about that stuff next time they play and the Reds dominate the series.