Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
Final
Cincinnati 2
Washington 4
WP: Clippard (8-3)
LP: Del Rosario (1-1)
S: Capps (18)
Box Score
POSITIVES
– Drew Stubbs reached base three times, recording a single and two walks.  He also scored a run and stole his 12th base of the season.  He’s fast!
– Ramon Hernandez and Brandon Phillips each had two hits.  Phillips also stole a base and had an RBI.
– Arthur Rhodes is the man!  Rhodes extended his scoreless streak to 1,294,129 innings and I believe now has an ERA in the negatives.
NEGATIVES
– Aaron Harang threw 98 pitches in just 4 innings.  That will not get it done.  Harang allowed 8 hits and walked a batter.
– Jonny Gomes made a horrendous error in the 7th inning that cost the Reds two runs.  Replay clearly showed Stubbs was calling for the ball.  The ball was lofted into left-centerfield and Gomes and Stubbs both attempted to catch it.  Unfortunately, neither one did.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
– The umpiring in Major League Baseball has gotten absurd.  I will have to agree with Rob Dibble’s statement tonight on MASN: “Bud Selig has got to retire Joe West.”  West overturned a call at 3b, and he was umpiring at 1b tonight. Even though the call benefited the Reds, how can he do that?  He then tossed Nationals SS Ian Desmond within 2 seconds of overturning the call.  Insane!  Will West complain about the length of the game tonight, which took over 3 hours to play the first 7 innings.
– Maybe it is just me, but when we turn a tie game over to our bullpen, I have very little confidence that we are going to win.  I almost feel better when we are losing in late game situations than I do when the game is tied. Granted, tonight’s loss was not as much Del Rosario’s fault as it was the error by Gomes in left.
– Adam Dunn had two hits.  I am still a fan of the big guy.  To make the mouth breathers happy, he did ground out with two outs and the bases loaded.  The bum!
– The Reds must now win the final two games in Washington to ensure a .500 road trip.