Needless to say this young lady was very excited about Arroyo's four-hit complete game shutout on Friday night.

The Reds needed this one.  Bronson Arroyo needed this one.  And most importantly, the bullpen really needed this one.

This is what Bronson Arroyo does during a season…he looks atrocious for a couple starts, then dominates for nine innings, just giving up four hits and striking out five.  That’s why if the Reds want to stay in the division race and give it a run this year…and with question marks remaining on Volquez and Homer Bailey…they need a veteran guy like Arroyo who can still put up performances like Friday.

The 3-0 win was powered by home runs from Joey Votto (a strong opposite field shot) and Laynce Nix.  Brandon Phillips stole home on a bizarre play to provide all the offense Arroyo needed.

A sweep of the Mets would get the Reds back over .500 and help them keep pace in the division going into the All-Star break, especially with the Astros surging into third place this past week.

The Mets are throwing out a AA team right now with all their injuries, but last night’s win was important since the Reds will face Johan Santana tonight and the newly acquired Jeff Francoeur.  And it would be fair to say that Johnny Cueto did not look ’sharp’ in his last outing…not getting out of the first inning during the Reds 22-1 thumping on Monday.

Finally, do we think that the EA Sports curse has now hit Erin Andrews (in NCAA Football 2010 for the first time this season)?