DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — The fun at the expense of so-called contenders continues for the Cincinnati Reds — a bunch of guys who entered late with no marbles and are taking away everybody else's marbles.

It all began two weeks ago when the Reds took two of three from the Chicago Cubs in Great American Ball Park.

Then they took two of three in Milwaukee, two of three in Arizona and came home to take two of three from St. Louis.

Every one of those defeats were dagger-stabs to the losing teams.

On Friday night, Sept. 19, in Cincinnati, they began torturing the Milwaukee Brewers again, an 11-2 annihilation that put another carpenter's nail in Milwaukee's playoff door.

Before the game, Reds manager Dusty Baker said emphatically, "I'd like to end this weekend on a very-high note."

How about a high 'C?'

The Reds slammed seven home runs, two each by Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, plus one each by Jerry Hairston Jr., Jolbert Cabrera and pinch-hitter Andy Phillips.

First baseman Yonder Alonso, the Reds' No. 1 draft pick in June, was in the park, and Votto figured he would show the kid that he won't be giving up his job without a skirmish.

Both Votto and Bruce own 21 home runs. They are friends, yes. They are in friendly competition, yes.

Asked if they were, Votto said, "Very, very much so. We get on each other, and there is a little half-smirk when one or the other does something. I guess it is called one upmanship. He is one of those guys who is just so good that it is nice to have someone at that level to compete with."

Votto hit the longest, but he smiled and said, "A homer is a homer. He hit two today, and so did I."

Bruce smiled equally wide over the competition question with Votto.

"It is friendly competition," he said. "We push each other unconsciously — I mean subconsciously. If we were unconscious, we wouldn't be awake."

Both are wide, wide awake.

"We just have a good time, play the game hard and let our abilities take care of itself," Bruce added.

Baker sees the competition, too, and likes it.

"It is good to see them matching each other, and it shows how bright our future is and how bright their future is," he said. "They're good friends. They hang together. They play catch together. That's what you want. You want those guys close. There is no envy and no jealousy involved."

Baker asked what the record is for a rookie hitting home runs for the Reds, since Votto and Bruce are rookies and when somebody said, "Frank Robinson, 38," Baker laughed and said, "Whoa. That's one that is going to stand for a long time and has stood for a long time."

Rookie Ramon Ramirez won his first major-league game, holding the Brewers to two runs and seven hits over six innings.

The Reds had five runs in the first inning before starting pitcher Jeff Suppan recorded an out — on his 17th pitch — enabling Ramirez to coast as if he were on The Beast at Kings Island.

Hairston led the bottom of the first with a single, Wilkin Castillo beat a bunt single and Votto drilled his 20th home run. Cabrera singled, and Bruce crashed his 20th home run to make it 5-0.

Adam Rosales grounded out for the first out record by Suppan.

Votto's 21st home run, leading off the third, made it 6-0, then Hairston's fourth homer, a two-run shot in the fourth, made it 8-0.

The home runs kept coming, and it looked as if the stacks in center field would run out of smoke, or the Reds would be charged by the Environmental Protection Agency with pollution.

It added up to Cincinnati's eighth win in its last 11 games and another victory over a contender fast becoming a pretender. Milwaukee is nine games behind the Cubs in the National League Central and 2 1/2 games behind in the National League wild-card standings.

It was the second time this season the Reds hit seven homers in Great American, a park record. On May 7 against the Cubs, Votto hit three, while Adam Dunn, Brandon Phillips, Paul Bako and Hairston each hit one.