Reds Waste All Chances to Stop Mets ; Arroyo Is Brilliant, but Reds Repeatedly Fail to Get Key Hits, Can't Make Crucial Catch in 4-2 Loss.

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CINCINNATI -- Singer Meat Loaf was a no-show Thursday in Great American Ball Park when he was expected to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game at the seventh-inning stretch. And that's too bad because Mr. Loaf could have sung one of his hits, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, and sung it with feeling to draw the attention of the Cincinnati Reds. With a win the Reds could have taken two of three from the New York Mets, owners of the National League's best record - - and two out of three wouldn't be bad. But a 10th inning outfield misplay spoiled an illustrious pitching performance by Bronson Arroyo, and the Reds lost, 4-2. One out of three, at home, is bad, especially when the last game was gift-wrapped and FedEx-ed to the Mets dugout. As Scott Hatteberg said, "It was our game to lose and we lost it." With one out and nobody on in the 10th and the game tied, 2-2, pinch-hitter Xavier Nady lifted a pop fly into shallow right. Second baseman Brandon Phillips had the angle and was closest, but hard-charging right fielder Chris Denorfia kept coming and kept screaming, "I got it, I got it, I got." Phillips backed off and Denorfia had to dive for it, the ball ticking the end of his glove and squirting free as he hit the ground. Nady made second with a double. With two outs, Endy Chavez grounded a run-scoring double just inside the third-base line and Carlos Beltran doubled for a second run.

"Brandon (Phillips) had it and Denorfia called him off," said manager Jerry Narron. "That's a young player making an aggressive mistake and I'd like to see a young player be aggressively intelligent. Brandon had the ball and it's a matter of a player not playing much with Brandon and not realizing the range he has getting out there."

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Reds Waste All Chances to Stop Mets ; Arroyo Is Brilliant, but Reds Repeatedly Fail to Get Key Hits, Can't Make Crucial Catch in 4-2 Loss.

Denorfia believes what he did was right and said, "Ten out of 10 times I'm going t...

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