Reds 2, Red Sox 1

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Kyle Lohse got on the five-innings board today and pitched extremely well. He got the win with 3 hits, 3 K's, 0 runs. A lot of flyouts, but they were outs so I can handle that. But those could hurt him come season time. He did hit a batter, which he always does. But dang, could this be the Kyle Lohse we've been waiting for? Let's hope so, I'd rather him have the #3 spot over Milton. Don't like Milton. Anyway, Lohse defeated Papelbon, who is being used as a starter this year for Boston. Hermanson had a clean quick inning, Coutlangus not so much but kept it scoreless. Jared Burton got the 8th and gave up a run on 2 hits, a double to Ramierz and an RBI-single to some guy named Scales who knocked in some guy named Ochoa. Victor Santos had another pretty save, K'ing 1.

Hitting: Denorfia finally got himself into the game, hitting a leadoff homer and scoring the other run off of Adam Dunn's RBI single. What's up with Dunn's singles lately? That was the only hit he didn't have last year, now it's all he is hitting. What has Jacoby done? Dunn also walked twice and has remained very good in that respect. Hamilton obviously did not enjoy having some days off and was feeling the rust today, going 0/3 with 2 K's. His average now sits at .500. Phillips was 1/4 with a meaningless triple. Reds hit into 3 DP's, not a great stat.

Fielding & such: No errors today. Denorfia stole his first base.

Mavericks 106, Celtics 101

Yikes, what would have happened if the Mavs lost this one? Thankfully they didn't, and a win by 5 over a terrible team is the same as a win by 35 over a great team, at least in the win column. But still. Can't feel too great about it.

Dallas was trailing by ten points at the half, not what you would expect. Howard was playing well, but Nowitzki was ice cold. Paul Pierce was everywhere. Then the Mavericks slowly closed the gap over the third quarter and then took over late in the fourth quarter. Nowitzki stepped up, scoring 19 in the fourth, and 30 overall, 12/13 at the free throw line. He also pulled down 12 boards. Howard tied Nowitzki with the team lead in points and got 8 rebounds of his own. Terry had 16 and Stackhouse had 11.

Free throws were a big deal, as the Mavs found their way to the line, especially Nowitzki (mentioned above). The Mavericks were 30/33 on the night, with Boston going 19/22 which isn't too shabby, but a lot fewer attempts.

Not much else to see, good to see a win. Just to make sure they can still do it. Gotta keep winning. Without two of their best defenders, George and Buckner, being out.