Alright, this is what it’s all about.  The Reds are now 3 1/2 games back of the Cardinals and the Cards just happen to come to town for four games.  Screw this wild card stuff.  The Reds are going to sweep the Cards and take over the NL Central lead.  As long as Gary Majewski doesn’t get into a game.  And if you still can’t tell, I’m still bitter about the Reds trading Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez for middle relievers.

Friday’s game was a nail biter.  The Reds went down 2-0 early but the Reds stormed back with four runs in the sixth.  Royce Clayton homered again and he now has two as a Red.  Edwin Encarnacion drove in two runs and Aaron Harang improved to 12-7.  Eddie Guardado got into trouble in the ninth, but he pitched out of it and picked up his seventh save.

Brandon Phillips had a career day yesterday.  Three for three with two homeruns and four RBIs.  Adam Dunn hit homerun number 33 and David Weathers scooped up the win.  Bill Bray threw in the ninth and he picked up save number two.

We could have finished the sweep today, but a late inning surge by the Braves left us a win short.  Gary Majewski was the suspect and he gave up four runs in the eighth inning (have I mentioned that was a bad trade) to give the Braves the win.  Ken Griffey, Jr. hit homerun number 23.

Just in case we don’t sweep, the Reds have a one game lead over the Dodgers and Diamondbacks.   There’s a lot of teams hanging in there though, so this could be a very fun final couple of months in the National League.

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