Game thoughts: Reds lose to Houston 7-3

Never really felt like a game the Reds oughta win, even after they went up 2-0.

Quick thoughts:

• Chris Michalek pitched pretty decently, but Narron shouldn't have brought him back out in the seventh. He'd walked a lot of hitters and seemed to be struggling as the game went on. I honestly have no idea why Narron wouldn't have stepped into the bullpen to start the seventh, except that he must have completely ignored what was going on and simply focused on the fact that Michalek had thrown six innings of one run ball and decide that he'd "earned" the right to go back out for the seventh. It's obviously better to be proactive, but that's just something that Narron isn't.
• With that being said, it's possible that Coffey would have done ok if he'd started the seventh. He seems to really struggle when he's brought on in pressure situations, but Narron keeps using him there anyway. The one big positive effect a manager can have on a team (performance wise anyway as opposed to morale wise) is to put players in their best possible position to succeed. It doesn't seem like that means high stress situations for Coffey, so it'd be a good idea to only bring him in when there's no baserunners and the game isn't tight, for awhile at least. I think Coffey will get over it eventually, but we're in a pennant race right now, and so this isn't the time to work through things.
• Rheal Cormier doesn't strike me as being a very good pitcher. Good thing the Reds have him locked up through next season.
• Ken Griffey Jr. now has an eight game hitting streak. He seems to be quietly coming around. Getting him in working order could be the difference between playoffs and sitting at home, so it's good to see.
• Just to repeat: Chris Michalek pitched well. No idea where all the hand wringing over the guy in the game thread is coming from. He's the fifth starter and he went 6 and 1/3 and gave up two runs. I'll take that every single time from the fifth guy in the rotation. Have people so quickly forgotten Dave Williams? Joe Mays?
• I was listening to the game so I didn't see any of the calls, but if anyone did see then feel free to chime in on how bad the umpire actually was because I'm curious.
• It was Roy Oswalt. The Reds still won the series. The way they lost wasn't much fun, but this isn't that big of a deal. 4-2 is a solid homestand. The last few days constitutes the high point of the season for me so far. The west coast is looming, and the Reds rarely fare well out there, so enjoy things now. Who knows where we'll be sitting in a week? Things are probably about to get stressful again, but for now everything is pretty good in Reds country.