Ugly.

Brandon Claussen pitched a horrific ballgame tonight. Oh, wait, I'm sorry, he threw a lot of pitches, but it wasn't what you could call "pitching." A lot of balls, a lot of full counts... 62 pitches in 2+ innings... 9 earned runs in all. Geez.

This was one of those games where you didn't seem to mind paying $6.50 for beer, and you were getting the attention of the beer vendor literally every time he came up or down the aisle. That is, if you stayed after the score made it to 10-3 in the third inning. (It hurts me to type that.)

I'm being completely serious when I ask this question: Did Eric Milton transfer his cruddy 2005 mojo to 2006 Brandon Claussen? Not so serious: Is this like a virus? Is this the kind of thing that you can only get rid of if you pass it on to someone else, like in 'The Ring'? 'cause if so, Claussen needs to stay the heII away from any Reds pitcher in the minors. Perhaps he could go have dinner with Roy Oswalt...? ::wrings hands Devilishly::

Alright, alright, enough silliness... Tomorrow it's The New Eric Milton vs. the Jose-Contreras-who-has-won-his-last-15-straight-decisions, and is 7-0 on the season. Yes, that's right. 7-0 with a 2.62 ERA. ::gulp:: On the bright side... Theoretically, Milton could get his ERA under 4 tomorrow. (I am so thrilled to be able to write that!)

I'm too tired to come up with some sort of a witty close, so I'll just ask for a favor... Please, dear Reds, don't make me have to write a post after tomorrow's game that has the word "ugly," or some other similar adjective, in the title.

Go Reds!