Nobody’s ever happy with a loss, but as we know, "You can’t win ’em all."  Having said that, it was nice to see Elizardo Ramirez hang in there after a 36-pitch first inning. After giving up the two-run homer to Lance Berkman, he kept his team in the game and wound up giving his team a solid six-inning performance (three runs).

Berkman, a great guy by the way, was my guest on the radio after the game.  About Ramirez, he said (after the first inning), "He pretty much shut us down… and he made some good adjustments.  He really didn’t pitch that badly.  We were able to get him with the long ball today."

Regarding the NL Central, he said, "I think it’s an extremely competitive division.  It’s going to come down to how we play against the divisional opponents."  For the record, the Reds are now 12-7 in the Central, St. Louis is 11-7, Houston 6-3, Chicago 9-8, Milwaukee 8-8, Pittsburgh 3-16.  Again, success within the division is critical for a team that wants to stay in contention.  Next up for the Reds: the Cardinals Monday night and Tuesday afternoon.

By the way, three home runs were hit in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Houston.  Our buddy Mark Wagner, who’s the stat guru/researcher for FSN Ohio, as well as for Thom Brennaman’s FOX network telecasts, gave us an interesting note about Great American Ball Park. 

As you know, we see a lot of home runs at the Reds’ home park, as they have seen in Philadelphia, since the Phillies opened Citizens Bank Park in 2004.  The Phillies took measures this past offseason to make their home a little less homer-friendly.  Mark says the fences are two feet higher around much of the ballpark, and that the fences were moved back five feet or so.  According to Mark, if the Reds made the same changes here in Cincinnati, it would have removed just seven home runs since Great American opened in 2003. The ball just carries so well.

As you can see by this chart, the dimensions themselves are only slightly shorter than the Major League Baseball average.