[disgusting, but it happened – Marge Schott goes for tongue]
After watching the Cubs blow yet another late inning lead, this time to the Cardinals, 4-3, it was nice to see the Reds smack down the Brewers 5-4 ONCE AGAIN. For two nights now, the eliminated from contention Reds have risen to haunt the National League from the grave. With Jason Cohen conducting the seance earlier today, the consortium of Mets, Cubs, and Phillies fans hereabouts apparently mentally willed the Reds to a 5-4 victory over the Brewers in the 11th.
Also helping out, Brewer reliever Saloman Torres, who got uppity with the baseball gods after yesterday’s blown save. When asked about the Cardinals and Phillies coming up on him,mlb.com ecorded this epitaph: “They are in the rearview mirror,” Torres said of the Phillies, who entered Tuesday three games back of the Brewers. “If they were ahead, that’s a different story. But we’ve still got the lead, so we cannot act like we are behind them. They need to worry, not us. And the Chicago Cubs, they need to worry, because we’re going to get them. That’s all I can say.”
Indeed, the Brewers were so unbelievably cocky tonight, mgr. Ned Yost even argued balls and strikes on behalf of Eric Gagne. Then the Reds, as they are wont to do, showed up fashionably late to win the game in the 11th with Brandon Phillips bringing the go-ahead single. Beaten, the Brewers batted in the bottom of the 11th, because those are the rules. With the Phillies losing 10-8 to Florida, however, only St. Louis moves up in the wild card standings. I look at it this way, the Brewers have one less day to clip the Cubs 4.5 game lead on them. That is, in a game without a stop clock, the Brewers are managing to to run out of time.
TMJ4’s Todd Welter reads the damage report here:
Brewers Manager Ned Yost maintained all the Brewers’ offense needed was a big hit to wake itself out of this September slump. Many in the lineup echoed that same sentiment. Just one big hit and the runs would pour in. Ray Durham delivered a big hit with a pinch-hit, three run homer in the seventh against Cincinnati that tied the game at four. Still the runs still did not flow in like what was hoped for. Instead, the Reds continued the Brewers’ slide with a 5-4, 11 inning victory at Miller Park.
“We have to get hot and produce some runs,” Yost said. “That’s gonna help stop it, put some offense together.”
The Reds’ bullpen was able to retire 13 of the last 18 batters the Brewers had after Durham’s homer. The Brewers bullpen on the other hand could only hold firm for three innings. Seth McClung was the unlucky one to come out of the pen that gave up the winning run in eleventh. Corey Patterson hit a one-out double and Brandon Phillips drove him in with a two-out single.
“I’ve been wanting to get out and prove myself,” McClung said. “I had my good stuff, they just hit a couple balls.”