The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Bronson Arroyo was good. In fact, he was as Goodroyo as we'd seen in almost a year and a half.

Rather than let him go farther than 91 pitches (while the bullpen was gassed), Dusty Baker opted to play match-ups with the game on the line, and it cost the Reds a chance at a win in regulation. That sucks.

Bronson went 7.1 innings, yielding only 3 hits and a BB while striking out 4. That wasn't good enough to let him face Chad Tracy, however. Damnit.

Key Plays

• Bronson Arroyo kicked ass and took names. Literally. In the 5th inning, Willie Harris unpredictably doubled, and eventually Bronson drove him home with a 400 ft sac-fly. Reds lead, 1-0.
  
• Dusty busted out his 1982 edition Manager-o-matic in the 8th inning, and decided that bringing in Bill Bray (to obviously face a RH PH) would be a better idea than just letting a dominant Bronson Arroyo pitch to Chad Tracy (who? Exactly.) Bray threw one pitch, and Xavier Nady hit two-bases worth of a smash to Ryan Ludwick, who filled in the other two-bases of the HR by knocking it over the fence Laynce Nix style. Game tied, 1-1.
• In the 11th inning, Dusty bought Sean Marshall a plane ticket to DC so that he could fly in from his week-long vacation to whereverthehellhewas. Marshall looked rusty, and loaded the bases before Jayson Werth was paid roughly $2 million to hit a weak single up the middle to plate the winning run. Reds lose, 2-1.

via www.fangraphs.com

Other Notes

• It's late on a Friday. I need a(nother) beer.
  
• Alfredo Simon wasn't terrible in a rather clutch performance following yesterday's debacle.
  
• Zack Cozart was brought on as a pinch-bunter for a pitcher in a crazy, ridiculous, non-sensical...you know what, nevermind. I don't want to think about that stupid idea again.
• Joey Votto was awesome, is awesome, and got pitched around like he was the only kid who has hit his growth spurt on his Little League team.
  
• Ryan Ludwick...nevermind. Once again, just...nevermind.