4/27/08 @ Nationals; L 0-2; (16-9)

From throwing our first shutout of the season to being shutout for the first time this season. Only 18 hours separated those events...what happened?

John Lannan for one thing. After a rough start in his first two games, his last three starts he pitched 20 innings and only given up one earned run. And that happened to be in the first inning of the first game. He is on a 19 inning scoreless streak. Good pitching beats good hitting.

Last Wednesday, fresh off a 7-1 home stand, we were heading for a five game road trip against two teams with a combined 15 wins on the season. Fast forward to today and find out we went 2-3 on that trip. Baseball is a game of averages. The screaming line drive caught by the third baseman is made up for with a broken bat single over second base. So the 7-1 home stand is averaged out by the 2-3 road trip.

We still come into the day off leading the NL Central (only .5 game now) over the Cards and have the second best record in baseball. This week will prove tough for us as we face our toughest two division rivals, Brewers and Cards, followed by three games at Great American Ballpark. The Reds always seem to play the Cubs a little tougher than they play the rest of the league.

A good six games against Milwaukee and St. Louis will make up for this lousy road trip and then some.