Reds 5 Pirates 2

The Pirate offense is really sputtering down the stretch here. If I'm not mistaken, they've only scored 2 runs since the 6th inning of Wednesday's marathon game, which is not good (it's three full games, in fact). These games are flying along, too. Thursday's game took 2:15, last night's game clocked in at 2:31. I'm not saying that Harang is not a good pitcher (because he is), but 9 K's, no walks, and 89 strikes in 125 pitches is probably at least as much of a function as the season being over for the Pirates and the players seeing the end of the tunnel. With the Cards win yesterday, the Reds more or less will join them in that position, as I think the Reds have to win out and the Cards will have to lose out for the Reds to end tied for the division. The one interesting story is still Freddy's race for the NL batting crown, and the Pirates are milking that for all it's worth with their "WE WILL cheer him on" commercials, their "Go Freddy Go!" signs, and the Freddy Sanchez bobblehead they're giving out tonight. Then again, I'm still rooting for him. It's hard not too, no matter how much the Pirates try to exploit it.