All of a Sudden, Reds Win! Reds 5, DBacks 3.

Reds won! Jam!

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

One of the single greatest things that I can turn to as a pillar of my Reds' fandom has been a near decade of BeeP Beepin', and he Beep Beep'd tonight in vintage fashion.  Brandon Phillips finished with a 3 for 4 evening from his now established cleanup spot in the Reds lineup, and his night featured a triple and two runs scored.  If BP gets hot, I suddenly really, really, ridiculously really want to watch the last 37 games of the Reds' season as much as Charlie Scrabbles does.  That's jamtastic.

Honorable Mentions are due to:  Bronson Arroyo, who despite surrendering 3 ER in his 6 IP looked so, so much better in a big-game scenario than he did against the Cardinals; Todd Frazier, who homered and hit a laser line-out while looking like he's seeing the ball significantly better than just a few days ago; Ryan Ludwick, for ALL OF A SUDDEN RBI'ing; and Zack Cozart, for out RBI'ing his former future former counterpart, Didi Gregorious.

Key Plays

• The Reds scraped across the first run of the game in the Bottom of the 2nd after Phillips led off with a triple.  After Ludwick fouled out, Zack Cozart hit a sac fly to CF, and BP came in to break the seal.  Reds led, 1-0.
• Bronson Arroyo got Adam Eaton and Paul Goldschmidt out rather easily to start the Top of the 4th, but he hung a sidearm breaking ball over the plate to Aaron Hill, and the former Blue Jay crushed a line-drive HR over the wall in LF to even things.  Game tied, 1-1.
• The Reds, as most good teams do, struck back in their next half-inning at the plate.  Joey Votto led off the Bottom of the 5th with a single down the LF line that in many cases would've been a double, and the hit parade was on.  Phillips singled, Bruce singled to score Votto, and Ludwick doubled down the LF line to score Phillips.  A Zack Cozart groundout plated Bruce to give the Reds a 4-1 lead, and an inning later, Todd Frazier led off by dropping the hammer on the first pitch he saw from Randall Delgado, lining his 13th Homer of the year over the wall in CF.  Reds led, 5-1.
• Broyo ran into a bit of a bind in the Top of the 6th inning, as Gerardo Parra led off with a single to LF and moved to 2B on a one out infield single from Goldscmidt.  Aaron Hill was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Martin Prado singled to score two.  Arroyo escaped the 6th by limiting the damage to 2 runs, and Manny Parra, J.J. Hoover, and Aroldis Chapman combined to put the kibosh on any further Diamondback efforts.  Reds win, 5-3!

Fangraph Section That Makes You Believe There's Still Love in this World of Ours

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2013-08-19&team=Reds&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=2013-08-19&team=Reds&dh=0&season=2013">FanGraphs</a></span>

Other Notes

• Yes, I'm firmly on board with the thought that "pitcher wins" aren't the best stat to use to define whether or not a pitcher has had a good season.  That total can be skewed by any number of factors, for sure, but barring outlandish run production numbers, it is a stat that can tell you a little.  Not a lot, but a little.  I mention this because as of today, Bronson Arroyo is tied for the team lead in wins with 12.  Is that an Earth-shattering statistic?  No, it's not, but coupled with his 3.40 ERA and top-shelf WHIP of 1.11, it's telling.  It's not descriptive or predictive, but it's telling, and it's telling me to be happy that Walt signed the former dreadlockioed Key Westerner to the extension we once thought was buckle-your-belt-bahckle-debacleable.
• Tonight's victory put the Reds 6 games clear of the Diamondbacks for the 2nd Wild Card, and the Cardinals are currently locked in a tight one with the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Pittsburgh Pirates will tango with the San Diego Padres shortly.  Root against thine rivals!
• This is raw all across the board.
• Apocalypse now, mind over matter next batter be Tical...
• Big Ohio Status!  And thank you very much, and thank you very much...