Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 4
Milwaukee 3
WP: Volquez (4-3)
LP: Bush (7-13)
“Save”: Cordero (38)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Fantastic outing by Edinson Volquez: eight innings, one run allowed on three hits. His fastball was smoking, that new curveball was outstanding…just a great effort. Me happy.
–Joey Votto was a late scratch with a sinus infection, and Jim Edmonds took his place in the field…then Edmonds did his best Votto impersonation in his first AB, hitting a homer in the second inning. Of course, Edmonds promptly re-injured himself somehow on the trot around the bases.
No worries, however; enter Miguel Cairo, who went 2-3 with an RBI.
–Brandon Phillips had two hits, including a triple. I can’t express my pleasure at being able to place BP back in the “positives” section of the nightly recap once again.
NEGATIVES
–Francisco Cordero. Again.
–The Reds made the single ugliest play of the season in the ninth inning. With a 4-1 lead, after CoCo gave up two hits and hit a batter, Jay Bruce proceeded to fumble a ball in the outfield, missed the cutoff man, then Cordero pulled a Bill Buckner on the ball as it reached him in the infield. Two errors on one play, the Brewers scored twice, and all of a sudden, it’s a 4-3 game.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–The Cardinals lost again, so the Reds dropped their magic number all the way to four. Oh yeah, and Cincinnati now leads the NL Central by eight games. Any of you still worried?
–That was the best Volquez has looked since 2008, as far as I’m concerned. The guy is on his way back, and it’s fun to watch. His stuff is as filthy as anyone in the majors, and when Volquez has command of that stuff, he’s tough to hit. Tonight, he was very, very good against a tough lineup. Much more impressive than his good start versus the Pirates recently.
–Before this series, all I wanted was for the Reds to take two out of three. Well, we got those two wins, and a sweep would be mighty fine, as they say. With Johnny Cueto on the mound tomorrow, I like our chances.
–Theoretically, the Reds could clinch the division as soon as Friday. Wow.
–I heart this team. I’ve been waiting far too long for this.
