Fish Story

After a weekend hiatus, I'm back and so is the Reds starting pitching. Friday we saw Bronson Arroyo throw another gem, retiring 10 in a row at one point and 16 of 17... Sunday we saw Johnny Cueto officially become an absolute stud while not allowing a single Pirates hitter to reach 2nd base... and tonight we saw Aaron Harang go pitch-for-pitch with perhaps the best power pitcher in all of baseball that no one knows about -- Florida ace Josh Johnson.

The Reds had been 10-1 this season when getting a quality start, but a joint miscue in the 14th inning by Paul Janish and Daniel Herrera gave the Marlins a 3-2 victory in a game the Reds probably should've won.

By the way, you can get used to hearing Paul Janish's name quite a bit for at least the next few weeks because Alex Gonzalez -- who I'm beginning to think is composed entirely of balsawood -- is likely headed to the DL (again) with a strained oblique he suffered in his final at-bat. It's a shame too because Gonzo was riding a six-game hitting streak heading into tonight's contest.

The bullpen was stellar once again, allowing just the unearned run in six innings of work... but one can only wonder why the Reds only true long reliever (Nick Masset) faced a grand total of TWO batters in a 14-inning game. Instead, Dusty Baker was forced to use Mike Lincoln for two innings and it nearly cost him when Lincoln loaded the bases in the 12th inning before getting Cody Ross to ground out with the bases loaded.

By the way, just making sure everyone else knew (as I did) that the game was over when Herrera walked Ronnie Paulino to lead off the 14th inning. As the scoreboard at the old Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field used to remind us...

Walks will haunt!