Bats Take Day Off Before Off Day. Cards 4, Reds 2.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Brandon Phillips was 2 for 4 with his 5th swag tag of the season. Phillips also doubled in the Reds' first run of the day, and was generally the only bright spot on an otherwise blasé day. Phillips is far from a prototypical cleanup hitter, but he's been performing there as well as anyone could've asked. Since stepping into the role once Ryan Ludwick was injured, BP has OPS'd over .820, and with RISP has an OPS over 1.200. He's on pace for a 28 HR and 145 RBI season, too. If only the rest of the offense would wake up a bit.

Honorable mentions are due to Jay Bruce, who responded to a questionable Twitter evening with a 2 for 4 afternoon (including a triple), and Logan Ondrusek, who tossed two scoreless innings and allowed just one hit.

Key Plays

• Both sides' bats were quiet and both Homer Bailey and Lance Lynn were cruising early on. One pitch by Bailey changed that in the 4th, as he caught enough of the plate for Carlos Beltran's liking, and it resulted in a long HR down the RF line. Reds trailed, 1-0.
• The Reds evened things in the Top of the 6th, though. Joey Votto walked, and he came around to score on a double to deep right-center by Phillips. The tie was unfortunately short lived, however, as the wheels came off for Homer in the Bottom of the 6th. Allen Craig walked, and Bailey allowed consecutive singles to Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter, Pete Kozma, and Daniel Descalso, the latter three of which scored a run. Reds trailed, 4-1.
• Phillips led off the 9th with a pumped up hunk thrust over the LF wall, and Jay Bruce followed by reaching on an error by 2B Descalso. Todd Frazier grounded into a double play, however, and Donald Lutz ended things with a grounder to first. Reds lose, 4-2.

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2013-05-01&team=Cardinals&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2013-05-01&team=Cardinals&dh=0&season=2013">FanGraphs</a></span>

• As John Fay pointed out, losing this series leaves the Reds with a 3-24-2 record in series vs. St. Louis since 2003. There's no caveat you can find that will sugarcoat that; it's just awful.
• After playing 20 games in 20 days, the Reds have a day off tomorrow before heading to Chicago to take on the Cubs in 3 consecutive day games. With the way the offense finished the trip, I'm gonna guess nobody on the team is going to want to get out of bed tomorrow.
• Other pitchers vs. Reds' offense lately: big tree, small axe.
• Twitellgence: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>This <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Reds">#Reds</a> team is like Camp Anawanna; I hold them in my heart, but when I think about their offense it makes me want to fart.</p>&mdash; Wick Terrell (@wickterrell) <a href="https://twitter.com/wickterrell/status/329683382554472448">May 1, 2013</a></blockquote>
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