Lineup shakeup

Jerry Narron is going to run this lineup out against the Cardinals today:

Freel CF
Phillips 2B
Conine 1B
Griffey RF
Gonzalez SS
Castro 3B
Ross C
Hopper LF
Lohse P

The Cardinals are throwing lefty Randy Keisler.

"Get a little energy on the field and see what happens with it," manager Jerry Narron said. "We're not exactly killing left-handed pitching."

The Reds, in fact, enter today exactly 2-6 vs. lefties.

The difference in the lineup really is Norris Hopper for Adam Dunn in left and Juan Castro for Edwin Encarnacion at third. Jeff Conine has started every game vs. a lefty.

I asked Narron if there was a point where the Reds have to go get someone at Louisville in the wake of the bullpen meltdown.

"There is," he said. "The thing about our bullpen is we have guys with basically the same kind of stuff. We don't have anyone who throws in the mid-90s or above."

Jared Burton and Brad Salmon, both at Louisville, do. As does a guy named Homer Bailey. Gary Majewski doesn't throw that hard, but he has a good track record when he's healthy. My guess is Victor Santos gets the next turn in the eighth-inning, right-handed role.

The Reds have allowed 20 runs in the eighth inning in 21 games. They've scored seven. That's not very good.