REDS

The Cincinnati Reds ended one of the ugliest streaks (they lost eight in a row and 14 of the last 15 games) in club history on Wednesday night and they did it in an unlikely fashion. I should have guessed it would happen this way.

First, Scott Rolen, who played his first game for the Reds last Sunday was the batting star. Rolen took a fastball on the head during Sunday's game and had to sit out on Monday and Tuesday because of headaches. He deposited the first pitch he saw this night into the left field bleachers for his first hit as a Red, a three-run homer.

Second, the Reds pitcher was Justin Lehr who was brought here from the minor leagues last Friday. Lehr is a 32-year old (old for baseball) righthander making only his second start in the Big Leagues. All he did was throw a complete game, four-hit shutout at the division leading Cubs. Lehr struck out four and walked only one.

This kind of story does your heart good . . . it did mine.
:D