…but I think that we should worship the sun and moon as powerful gods. And fear them.

Let's hear it for The State! Yeah! Anyone? Hello? No? Moving on, then…

The sun certainly was powerful at today's game. Despite my SPF 30, I'm pretty rosy around the apples of my cheeks, chin, and upper lip. I also have a great, stark line around where my watch goes. And the freckles are, indeed, in full effect. I look like Pipi Longstocking, except that my hair is behooven to the laws of gravity.

It was so hot (generations of midwesterners in my family are spinning in their graves as I admit this) that I was driven to stand in the shade of the concourse to watch parts of the game. I even visited the mister, which was surprisingly cool and refreshing. I had thought it would just make the heat even more sticky and humid.

I wasn't in my seat for a single one of Ortiz's three throws past first base, but I still got quite a show when I was seated. I got to see:

• Ortiz pitch reasonably well, giving up only a single run in the first inning.
• Kearns' fantastic throw home in the third that held the runner at third and didn't require LaRue to move an inch to catch it in the air.
• Wily Mo waving to some girls in the stands who were very excited to get his attention.
• What appeared to be a great rundown between first and second as LaRue charged across the infield grass! He threw to second! Who threw to first with plenty of time! Plenty of time to see the ball pop out of Casey's glove, that is! D'oh!
• Dunn come in as the last batter in the bottom of the ninth to strike out to end the game. What crap; Dunn shouldn't have been sitting to begin with. Listening to 700 WLW after the game, I heard Tracy Jones have a good point: the Reds shouldn't sit Dunn and Griffey on the same day at home because it's a rip-off to the people who came to see them. I might add that it makes the Reds even more likely to lose. Fans get doubly screwed.

And all this with absolutely no stupid, drunk, or loud people sitting anywhere near us. Though there were a couple girls a few rows in front of us who felt the need to roll up their shirts to explose as much of their bellies as possible, and then stand for most of the game. I guess they were trying to show off, but, well, yeah.

On the way home, we stopped for pizza just as at least two other groups of Hoosiers returning from the game also stopped. It was a veritable flood of red-shirts, but the service was very attentive and chipper. Kudos to the Batesville La Rosa's.

P.S. - So we get home and turn on ESPN News just in time to see coverage of the Cardinals getting a freaking walk-off grand slam from David Eckstein. The Cards get a freaking walk-off grand slam from their tiny infielder and we get a freaking strike out from our enormous slugger.

There is truly no justice in the universe. Either that, or Cincinnati has pissed off the sun and moon again.