- Fine, Narron doesn't walk Pujols in the bottom of the ninth, but why not intentionally walk him one of the other times he came up to bat? Sheesh. Teams need to start pitching to Pujols like they've pitched to Bonds in recent years. Why let him beat you when the Cardinals have a bunch of lightweights like Aaron Miles, John Rodriguez, Juan Encarnacion, Scott Spiezio, Yadier Molina, and Skip Schumaker in the lineup? The Cards have had exactly two hitters to be afraid of in their lineup for the past three games, and those two hitters hit a combined four home runs today. Maybe pitching around Pujols and Rolen would have been a good idea?
- FSN flashed the career stats of McCracken when he came to the plate, and I thought "wow, 20 home runs in 11 seasons. that's terrible." And then of course he hit a home run to dead center. You never really know.
- Arroyo didn't have good results today, but he'll be fine. I didn't see anything that really made me worry, and he still had nice movement on his pitches. I think he'll bounce back next time out.
- I'm still hopeful that the Reds can get Weathers up to 20 saves or so by the trade deadline and then deal him for something shiny and new, but I don't know. His ERA (small sample size alert) stands at 5.79 after today. He's very much a closer in the mold of Danny Graves, doesn't throw too hard, and thrives on location. It'd be nice to have a pitcher who can K guys when needed as the closer. I don't think it'll be too long until Todd Coffey can fill the role.
- The Marlins series that starts tomorrow is pretty critical. Losing a one run game to the Cardinals isn't a big deal, but the Marlins are a team the Reds have to beat. Hopefully they'll be smart enough to pitch around Miguel Cabrera.
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