Well, that was exciting, huh? After a half-season of watching either the offense roll over or the pitching implode, today we got to see the defense lose a game. How refreshing.

I don't have much insight to share. Let's see if I can scrape together a list of seven plus or minus two points to make into bullets:

• Jon thinks that Brian Shackleford's nickname should be “Love”. Then when “Love” Shackleford came up to bat, they could play the B-52's (“Tin roof…rusted!”)
• On FSNO, they showed clips of Adam Dunn and David Weathers expressing their anger in the dugout. Dunn has looked frustrated a lot these last couple games, more than after incidents involving furniture, shirts, and friends getting sent down. Maybe it's been building. Or maybe winning and losing is actually what he cares about. Or maybe something else; what do I know?
• Ever since I mentioned the Tony Little Geico commercial in my smack talking with Bellyscratcher this week, I've been getting constant hits from people apparently wanting to read more about Tony Little and Geico. Makes me wonder whether I can increase my traffic by mentioning that Ricoh commercial with Todd Coffey walking around the office grinning at everyone, probably amused with himself for replacing all their non-nasty lunches with mayonnaise and banana sandwhiches.
• Reds get to go back to beating up on the Cards on Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to it.
• It's rapidly coming up on a month since I did a human league entry. Other bloggers manage to put together 50,000-word discussions of the effect of global warming on OPS on practically a daily basis, and I can't even be bothered to type up how many kids Griffey has. Consider me chastened. Maybe I can pull something together on the off-day, but I'm not promising anything.

Rest up, guys, things could start getting real exciting real quick. The Reds are running out of different ways to lose; they're bound to start trying out some new ways to win about now.

Go Reds!

CLEVELAND, OH -- After tonight's game against the Cleveland Indians, Reds' Chief Operating Officer John Allen announced plans for additional bobblehead giveaways through the remainder of the 2005 season.

Cleveland gave away bobbleheads depicting catcher Victor Martinez at tonight's game, an event that Martinez commemorated with three hits including a homerun. Add to that the recent memory of Wily Mo Peña's monster production on his own bobblehead night a few weeks ago, and giving away more of the promotional figurines was a no-brainer, according to Allen.

“If bobbleheads are what it takes to spark these guys, that's what we're going to do,” said Allen.

The first players to be honored will be the three who hit homeruns in the top of the ninth in tonight's game: Jason Romano, Felipe Lopez, and Javier Valentín.

Romano's bobblehead is likely to be the best-looking but also the most controversial. Some Reds fans have already announced that they will boycott the game where they are given out. “Seems like a lot of fuss over a backup,” said Allen of the boycott.

The idea for a Lopez bobblehead had to come a long way to finally see fruition. Plans for the Lopez statuettes began last season but continually took a backseat as the team considered bids for Barry Larkin, Anderson Machado, and most recently, Rich Aurilia bobbleheads. “Competition among bobbleheads is good for the team,” explained Allen.

“Javier has been surprisingly impressive lately and this should be a very popular give-away,” said Allen of the Valentín figurine. The figurine will be about half the size of a traditional bobblehead and will prominently feature Valentín's signature mustache.

Additional player bobbleheads will be announced as opportunities to encourage players who are getting hot present themselves. Leading candidates currently include Jason LaRue, Joe Randa, and Ken Griffey, Jr.

“Hopefully we'll even get around to one for Milton,” said Allen.

I'm your excellent host, and with me, as always, is Garth.

“Party” in my case, of course, means sitting in front of the iMac typing, even though I've already posted twice today. What can I say, but I'm feeling so good after that win that I just can't stop myself from tapping away like crazy at these keys. You can tell I'm a real party girl.

So, I was chatting with Joel (Reds and Blues) before the game, and two things from that conversation I want to bring up to the entire class.

It's Called A Gift Horse, My Friends
First, I understand that teams always seem to win after a managerial change and that a lot of you don't want to get all optimisitic and get your hearts broken again, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there's nothing to this winning streak. It's not an impossibility that we could be looking at something real here.

This team really can be fantastic, no matter where Dunn hits, but it requires most of the players to achieve most of their potential. These last three games, we've gotten a taste of that. Maybe it will be short-lived, but we're not Cardinals fans over here: the opportunity to believe is a rare luxury. There will be plenty of time later in 2005 to start planning for 2006.

Another Man's Moccasins
Second, it's just gotta suck to be Austin Kearns. Can you even get your head around how it would feel to be 25 and already be looking back at the wasted years? To be constantly compared to your bestest buddy and found lacking? To give it your all and be rewarded with injuries? It's not fair.

Of course it's not fair; what ever is? But that doesn't mean you have to like it. And being the busy-body that I am and unable to leave things alone, I decided that I'd send Kearns an encouraging e-mail. You can do it too, through the Bats' website. I cannot vouch for whether anyone will receive it, of course, but as always I'm optimistic.

I guess you could also use this link to send a discouraging e-mail, and that's certainly your perogative, but you'd be being a jerk.

In-Game Ponderances
I also had a few thoughts during the game:

• I miss Freel. Cut the damn toe off and get it over with. I doubt he's wearing a lot of open-toed shoes anyway, though this is the season for it.
• Milton looked like a normal pitcher on the poor side of average. A step in the right direction!
• Encarnación was present.
• Griffey was awesome. Is that what he used to be like? I usually find his homerun strut to be borderline offensive in its cockiness, but tonight it had a different feel to it. It was…sorta…well…hot.
• FSN talked to Felipe after the game. What a sweetie-pie. I hope he does go to the All-Star game.

And most importantly…

• REDS WIN! Three in a row. They can do it again tomorrow.

I believe.

Go Reds!

Red Hot Mama got the rare opportunity to sit down with Fan Favorite Joe Randa recently and ask him eight stupid questions about his favorite things.

RHM: Joe, you have two sons. If you'd had a daughter, what would you have named her?
JR: Probably Fernanda, or maybe Miranda.

RHM: Do you have a favorite kind of music?
JR: I've always been partial to banda.

RHM: Favorite black and white mammal?
JR: It's gotta be the panda.

RHM: Favorite place to drink iced tea?
JR: On the veranda.

RHM: Favorite form of interdepartmental communication?
JR: You can't beat memoranda.

RHM: Favorite African nation?
JR: I've always wanted to visit Uganda.

RHM: Most powerful tool of cold-war era communism?
JR: Definitely propaganda.

RHM: Favorite Spanish dessert?
JR: What else coud it be but flan? Duh.

Stop whatever you're doing and prepare to update your links, bookmarks, and homepages!

I'm pleased to announce that my crack technical support team has procured a totally non-heinous domain to be the new home of Red Hot Mama. Point your browser to

http://www.red-hot-mama.com

to look at exactly what you're looking at now.