With the Reds hanging on to a pretty thin margin in the Wild Card race, every series is important.  The Reds are in the drivers seat, but after today’s loss (as of about 5 pm EDT), the Giants and Padres trailed the Reds by only a single game.  Nine teams are within six games so any time we play a team in the National League, there’s a chance someone will be moving up and someone will be moving down for that fourth playoff spot.

On Friday, Gary Majewski had his first relief appearance for the Reds in which he didn’t give up a run.  He threw a shutout ninth and picked up the win.  Bill Bray got the job done in the eighth.  So while it’s hard to say how the exchange of hitters has affected the team, the new relievers won their first game versus costing us one game earlier in the week.  Ken Griffey, Jr. was the hero.  He singled home the tying and go ahead run in the bottom of the ninth to win it.  Edwin Encarncion also had two RBIs and Brandon Phillips had two hits and a run.

Ryan Freel was the hero in Saturday’s game.  He homered twice and drove in three runs.  Sean Hatteberg had three hits, including a homerun, and he drove in three runs.  Todd Coffey picked up the win and Eddie Guardado picked up the save.

Today, the Reds were shut down.  One run on five hits, and the only run came on a Brandon Phillies solo homerun late in the game.  Eric Milton didn’t throw too bad, but he picked up his sixth loss of the season.  This won’t show up in the box score, but Gary Majewski came in with two men on and two out and gave up three consecutive singles and two runs, both of which were credited to Milton.  Yeah, he was worth Austin Kearns.  And yes, I have it out for the guy until he starts showing me a 2004 Brad Lidge imitation.

The Reds get the day off before heading to Houston for three.  We’re getting close to August, and we’re saying “playoffs” and “Reds” in the same sentence.  They just have to keep on getting the job done like they did this weekend.

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