Reds 11, Brewers 5

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Belisle started and wasn't terribly effective, starting and getting the first out in the 6th before sitting down. He left with 8 hits, 2 walks, 1 wild pitch, and 2 K's for 5 earned runs and the Brewers lead. He would not end up with the loss on the day, however. The day after the bullpen was the goat, the bullpen was the saving grace. That's how it goes sometimes in baseball, but this was good to watch. Excluding Rheal Cormier, who hit the only batter he faced, the bullpen was quite solid. Saarloos came in and got two groundball outs, one of which scored a runner, but that was attributed to Belisle. Not much Kirk could have done in that situation. It was lights out from there. Stanton pitched the 7th and 8th and was simply the man. Only one man was allowed on base and that was due to error. Stanton had 3 K's. And a good turnaround from Todd Coffey as well, pitching a clean 9th with a strikeout mixed in for effect.

Hitting: Well, it's about dang time. This is what it was supposed to be, let's put it that way. The big story was Freel signing a new 2-year deal with the Reds and how the focus of his press conference wasn't himself but Hamilton as Freel keeps gushing over how incredible Hamilton is and says that he, Freel, needs to play less. So Narron wants to play them both, doesn't want to play EdE, so he moves Freel over to third base for the first time in a while and Hamilton goes to center field. Aside from Freel's error at third, the move works out masterfully as they batted in the top two spots in the order. Freel & Hamilton led off the first inning with singles and scored, and led off the 7th inning with singles and scored. Well done from those lads. Freel ended up being 4/5 with 3 runs scored and his first RBI of the year, clearly one of his best games in a long time. Hamilton followed him with a 2/4 evening, 2 runs scored. Dunn was 1/5, getting an RBI on a fielder's choice and scoring on Griffey's double. Griffey had another double, making him go 2/5 on the day with 2 RBI's. Phillips was also 2/5 with 3 RBI's, one of the hits was a sweet triple, the first of the year for the Redlegs. Gonzo, who everybody counted out because he would be too emotional, was smart enough to go 1/2 along with drawing 2 walks, including an RBI walk. Valentin was 2/4 with a bases-clearing single in the 7th. 15 hits on the day. Great stuff to watch.

Fielding & such: Mentioned in the first two sections is the error on Freel on a routine groundball. It's bound to happen, especially since the guy is new. He made some stops out there as well. Adam Dunn, newschool baserunning phenom, stole his 4th of the year in the 5th inning.