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Tonight, the Reds go for the 4th straight win. It would be their first such streak since all the way back in last September. That's like 7 months ago! Okay, so it was only like 17 games ago, but c'mon, we need some drama!
The bigger story is that the Reds are going for their first sweep of a 3-game series on the road since June of 2006 when they swept the Astros and Cardinals in consecutive series. Seriously, a win today will have me pretty damn giddy.
The even bigger story is that Micah Owings will be taking the mound for the first time as a Cincinnati Red during the regular season. Owings put up pretty good numbers during the Spring, going 3-1 with a 1.52 ERA during Grapefruit League action while striking out more than a batter per inning. I don't suspect that he'll keep those strikeout numbers up, but if he can keep his ERA under 5.00 from the fifth starter's spot, the Reds should see a major improvement in their overall team ERA and hopefully a few more wins on the ledger.
Braden Looper has pretty much owned the current crop of Reds during his career. He's 4-2 with a 3.36 ERA against the Reds overall and tonight's starting lineup has managed just a .197/.240/.338 line off of him. The good news is that the Reds are hitting much better off of right-handers than lefties so far this year, though they are still just an unimpressive.242/.364/.398 off of them. Well, that OBP is impressive at least. Here's hoping that Looper can continue the Brewers wild pitching ways tonight. As I like to say to my wife, "Wait until we leave before you start beating the crap out of people."
Get out your brooms tonight. The Reds are going for a sweep!