Reds 5, Braves 4 in 15

The Mac Magic continues. The Reds are getting two-out hits. They're making plays. They're 9-4 under Pete Mackanin. And for the first time 57 days, they're not alone in last place in the NL Central.

And you starting to believe the season isn't lost? The players are.

“We’re a good team,” Brandon Phillips said, after he drove in the winning runs and saves the gmae with a leaping grab to start a double play on his day off. “Our record is bad. But we're a good team. We’re starting to put it together. We’re learning from each other. Pete’s doing a good job. He said: ‘Go out there and have fun. If you don’t want to play and win, we'll find someone else to do that.’”

Mackanin is trying to keep the one-game-at-a-time approach. But with the kind of roll the Reds are on, that's not easy.

“It's premature to get overly excited about it, although the only way for us to go is to get excited about it,” Mackanin said. “Run with the thing and believe we’re on a bit of tangent here. I like to believe, ‘all right, we’re going to be good the second half.’”