Eyewitness Account of THE GREATEST GAME EVARR

Before I go into anything, I need to kind of let you guys know about my history with attending Major League Baseball games. I've never seen the home team win. Ever. Let's go through those games. The first game I attended was when I was really little. All I know is that it was between the Cardinals and the Dodgers at the old Busch Stadium. The only things I remember are that the Dodgers won, and that Mike Piazza played, and I think he hit a home run. I'd been to 3 or 4 Reds at Cardinals games here in St. Louis, and the Reds had won each one. I went to This game against the Giants and this one against the Cardinals in Cincinnati. Both were losses. I went to a game last year at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City where the Royals lost badly to the Angels. This adds up to either a 7-0 or 8-0 record for the away team at MLB games I'd attended. I was obviously hoping that this streak would continue.

My mom bought the tickets (actually they were supposed to be for the next day's game, but she hit the wrong button- good call) as a birthday present, and I went with my best friend (LB was busy at her theater stuff). Best friend doesn't really pay a lot of attention to baseball- he's more of a football and wrestling guy.

A shot of some of the Reds taking batting practice.

Didn't take very many pictures, and they're certainly not BubbaFan quality, but hey-

Scott Rolen fielding during batting practice.

Joey Votto during the first inning.

Cueto warming up.

The game:

1st inning- Things started out fast. I gave Peter my Reds hat for the Reds half of the inning and we ended up scoring three runs. Hmm. P.J. Walters looked really hittable. His fastball was around 87 and his breaking stuff didn't seem all that great. When Orlando Cabrera struck out early, he complained about the strike zone on his way back to the dugout. Scott Rolen showed up to play. That home run was a thing of beauty. Us Reds fans went crazy. The bottom half of the inning wasn't so awesome. Gomes throw to nail Lopez at the plate was beautiful though. That had me going crazy again. Colby Rasmus is one of my new least favorite players. I think I just hate Cardinals center fielders.

Not much happened the next inning, but the third inning was nice- I seriously didn't think that Votto's home run had a chance to go. That thing just kept going. Rolen's shot on the other hand was a no doubter. I kind of called it. I yelled "Do it again!" and he did.

Cabrera's RBI double in the 4th didn't come without consequences. I tried out the ol' "Orlando Cabrera! If you deliver here, I won't say a bad thing about you for a week!". He delivered. Luckily, Peter had my back and said bad things about Cabrera for me. That's teamwork.

The next interesting play was when John Jay, otherwise known as "The Lawyer" hit a home run. I don't really remember anything about it- I was too distracted by the genericness of his name.

The Cardinals just wouldn't pitch to Gomes. That ticked me off. I mean, common! 2 walks and a HBP? Not cool. When they hit Gomes, I yelled for Gomes to charge the mound. He didn't. I was disappointed.

The home half of the sixth was pathetic. Cueto walked the first guy on four pitches, and it was obvious that he was done. Not that Dusty took notice for several more batters. Enerio Del Rosario came in (which confused the hell out of me- I hadn't heard about any of the bullpen moves) and we probably could have gotten out of the inning without too much damage, but Phillips and Rolen each had poor fielding plays, trying to stab at balls hit off to their sides.

In the 7th inning, the Reds came up again, and were losing. Luckily, Votto, Bruce and Gomes all singled, and Stubbs hit a sac fly, we come away with 2 runs... and a lead.

Now the scoring was over, but man- the Reds pen made things interesting nonetheless. Rhodes pitched out of a jam in the 7th, as did Masset in the 8th on a huge strikeout. The atmosphere just died when he struck out Rasmus.

And then Coco came in and got it done. The streak is in tact! We drove home, and I got to bed at about 2 am, and went to work the next day slightly tired. Yeah. Soooo... Any questions?