Game 139: Reds 8 Pirates 6

When Chris Gomez hit a two-run homer after a scoreless Gorzo first inning, I knew we were in for trouble. There's nothing in the world that can slowly suck away your soul quite like watching a 5-0 lead dissipate one run at a time over five innings for the other team. Somehow, though, the Pirates bounced back from their death by a thousand cuts to take a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth on a Nate McLouth solo homer. Surely with 10,000 relievers at his disposal John Russell would find a way to get the last six outs, right? I mean against the Reds, the only thing he could do to flat out lose the game at that point would be to do something silly like bring in Craig Hansen.

So JR brought in Craig Hansen and he once again avoided the strike zone like the bubonic plague, walking two hitters, giving up a hit, and only recording one out while only throwing three of 11 pitches for strikes. I can't imagine what he was doing in the game in such a high leverage situation, but his presence almost certainly cost us a surprising sweep and three game winning streak, which would sound much better than "losers of 11 of their last 13." We're two losses away from tying history, people.