Homeruns.  This series was all about homeruns.  On Tuesday, the Reds hit six them.  Adam Dunn went yard twice, and Edwin Encarnancion hit a grand slam.  Even Bronson Arroyo got in on the action with his second homerun of the season.  And this wasn’t a TRW (remember from earlier in the week).  The Reds actually got some quality pitching.  And not just on Tuesday, but throughout the series.  Arroyo threw seven shutout innings and gave up six hits with four strikeouts. 

Wednesday’s game was a disaster.  The Reds made five errors, three of which were by Edwin Encarnancion.  And then on top of that, they only managed four hits against a pitcher my grandfather used to watch, Greg Maddux.  EE drove in the only run of the game, which hardly made up for the three mistakes on the field.  And a decent start by Brandon Claussen went to waste.

The other bad news was Ken Griffey, Jr. left the game with a stiff knew.  Will Carroll reported today that the injury is very minor and that Griffey should be back soon, Definitely some good news.

Things got back on track yesterday.  Adam Dunn hit his fifth homerun of the season and is now hitting .355.  Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez both hit their third homeruns of the season, and both were three run shots.  And Eric Milton had a quality start.  He gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits with two walks with five striekouts in 6 2/3 innings.  Both he and Arroyo are now 2-0 on the season.

The Reds are fourth in MLB with 60 runs.  And their ERA is down to 5.06.  They continue their road trip against the Cardinals this weekend.  Aaron Harang will throw against last year’s Cy Young winner, Chris Carpenter.  Anytime you play inside the division, the games are important.  If the Reds are going to have “any” chance of staying in the hunt for the division title (I can’t believe I just wrote that), they need to keep winning these division series.  Although I wouldn’t be too disappointed if they took only one of three.  A sweep would be bad.

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