Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Cardinals 6, Reds 1.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Mat Latos pitched into the 7th inning this evening, and he genuinely was pretty effective despite exiting with 2 stranded runners, one of which scored to account for his 4th charged run of the evening.  His 6+ IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 4 K line doesn't look terribly impressive, but Latos seemed to be pitching better than that.  He also chipped in with 2 hits of his own on the offensive side, and his cumulative contributions give him the nod for the evening.

Honorable Mentions are due to Shin-Soo Choo, who went 2 for 4 with the 100th HR of his career, and Jay Bruce, who went 1 for 3 with a walk and his 35th double.

Key Plays

• The Cardinals got all the scoring they would need in the Bottom of the 1st.  Matt Carpenter led off with a single to CF, and he moved to 3B when Carlos Beltran followed with another single.  Matt Holliday followed with a single to RF to score Carpenter, and Beltran moved to 3B when Jay Bruce bobbled the ball in RF.  Allen Craig then hit one back to Latos, who opted for the double play, which allowed Beltran to score.  Reds trailed, 2-1.
• Choo bacca'd to lead off the Top of the 5th, homering for the 100th time in his career.  Unfortunately, that was it for the Reds' offense on the evening.  Some RISPing from Craig got the Cards their 3rd run in the Bottom of the 6th, a Carpenter sac fly in the 7th plated another, and some BABIPin', iffy defense, and semi-wild Alfredo Simon let the Cardinals tack on 2 more runs in the Bottom of the 8th.  The Reds went meekly in the 9th, and that was that.  Reds lose, 6-1.
  

FanGraph Section That, Welp, Yep, Is St. Louis vs. Cincinnati for the Last Decade

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2013-08-27&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=2013-08-27&team=Cardinals&dh=0&season=2013">FanGraphs</a></span>

Other Notes

• Pittsburgh lost to the Brewers, so there's that.
• The Reds are now 3-25-2 in their last 30 series in St. Louis.  That's a decade's worth of series, and it's a decade worth of being an inferior team.  There's no other way to put it.  I'm still unfailingly confident in this team against almost any other professional baseball team, but I have zero confidence in them against St. Louis; it's not just that they lose, it's how they lose, as they've now been outscored 93-49 in the 14 games against the Cardinals in 2013, I think.
• Fortunately, the designation of being "World Series Champions" isn't about who's hot in August, it's about which team that qualifies for the playoffs gets hot in October.  The Reds appear to be a lock to make the playoffs, and it's also nearly impossible for their offense to be as bad then as it has been of late, right?  Right?  So we've got that going for us, which is nice.
• Tupelo Tuesday?  Why not?
• The Reds TOOTBLAN'd their way into the third out of an inning with two runners on the basepaths, and they let another run score on a botched would-be double play in the 8th.  Couple those with Votto's 2-out 3-out confusion of last night (and his calling off of Mesoraco and Latos on a soft comebacker that went for a hit and, ultimately, a run), and you've got to wonder:  is the magnitude and pressure of these types of series getting to the Reds, or is there just a lack of oversight?
• I feel like I'm working the graveyard shift.