Attaboy, Jeremy!

It sure was good to see Jeremy Sowers finish the seventh inning and only give up two runs in last night's 9-2 win over the Reds. Sowers is now 2-5, and he lowered his ERA to 5.44. And for once, the bullpen didn't make it interesting, as Jensen Lewis got all three outs in the eighth (albeit after walking two), and Tony Sipp pitched a perfect ninth. Sipp, who turns 26 in a couple of weeks and has been up and down between Cleveland and Columbus this year, now has a 3.38 ERA. With a bullpen as bad as this one, it's kind of a mystery why he hasn't gotten more of a chance. If he keeps pitching like this, he will.

But the story last night was Sowers. I recently saw some numbers about how Sowers has done each time through the other team's batting order, and unfortunately I don't remember where I saw them and can't find them right now, but basically, he's been mowing them down the first time through, getting a little bit more reachable the second time through, and then getting absolutely battered the third time through.

The same thing happened last night. The only difference is, Sowers was almost totally untouchable the first two times through the order; the Reds' only hit until the third time through was by Jonny Gomes, who singled in the second inning. The third time through the order, they were 4-for-9, and the last pitch Sowers threw was the one Reds leadoff hitter Willy Taveras smoked for a double to score Chris Dickerson, who had singled to start the inning.

But hey, Sowers struck out six in his seven innings of work and only walked one, and kept the ball in the yard. Any pitcher who can do that on a regular basis will win a lot of games.