I have places to drive every night this week, so I'm not going to catch a whole game on t.v. all week long. Argh!

Of course, if the whole week goes like tonight did, at least I won't be missing much in the way of fantastic baseball. I mean, I can stand to avoid watching:

• Another crappy start from Ramón Ortiz. Seriously: what's up with Ortiz? Have they MRI'd every cubic inch of him yet?
• The fantastic power of two whole runs from this Best Offensive Team In The Known Universe.
• Three errors out of Edwin Encarnación. To be fair, though, we all knew that was coming. The fact that he'd outrun the defensive errors over the last couple weeks deserves some praise, and the fact that they all caught up with him on the same night isn't really that bad, since the offense had already decided to take the night off from scoring. Maybe now he has them all out of his system.
• Luke Hudson pinch running for an Austin Kearns, whose hamstring issue is apparently more serious than originally thought. Can you say, “oh no, not again”? I knew you could.

No, thanks, I'll just do my driving if that's the caliber of stuff I'm going to miss.

In the mean time, I've been percolating on another one of those shamefully punny fake news stories that I just can't seem to resist grinding out on occasion, this time about Todd Coffey. Definitely stay tuned this week if you think that the best part of waking up is a horrible pun.

Forgive me, guys.

Most every weekday morning, I start my work day with a nice long trip 'round the Reds media. Well, the online media. That doesn't charge me. Or require me to sign up for an account. It's not really that long a trip 'round after all.

This morning, I saw this photo and made it my desktop wallpaper. It sat there for two hours before I noticed the ball. Ouch. I bet that left a welt.

The bit about Freel wanting to do it all himself in this story made me laugh out loud. This is the mindset he had when he tried to steal home in the first on Sunday. That was a play that none of the game wraps I read mentioned, which was disappointing. I was really interested to know whether a play was on or whether Freel had just had too many Skittles before the game.

I am extremely happy to see this:

CAMP KEARNS: Austin Kearns' workout regimen did not end when he returned to the Reds from Triple-A Louisville.

“No, I'm still doing it,” he said. “It's pretty much a daily thing. I get Sundays off.”

That's just fantastic. Good for Kearnsy. Next step: get Dunn to put down the xBox controller long enough to go along. Hell, send Casey too.

Lots about Aurilia's discontentment today. There was this story:

Ryan Freel's return from the disabled list coupled with Edwin Encarnacion's promotion has pushed Aurilia into a utility role.

“That's what I've been told,” Aurilia said.

Aurilia was the Reds' everyday second baseman while Freel was on the DL.

“I thought with the way I played, I earned the right to be in the lineup every day,” Aurilia said.

As well as quote from this story that made me raise my eyebrows.

If the Reds decide they're unhappy with Aurilia's attitude about the situation, they have the option to release him. It hasn't come to that point yet, though.

“I know [manager] Jerry [Narron] has explained to [Aurilia] what his role is, for the time being,” O'Brien said. “Ultimately, that's Jerry's decision, and I support him in whatever decision he makes.”

I've felt underappreciated and underutilized before, and I probably had less of an argument than Aurilia does. It sucks. I'm sorry that's how it is for him. I hope that there's an answer that works out for everyone. Until then, I hope he shuts up about it; he's not making things better.

And finally, a little bit about Luke Hudson from this story in The Post:

Probably because he has pitched better, Hudson was not pleased to be pushed back in the rotation. But he said he didn't want to comment on the change.

It's nice to see that not everyone feels the need to talk too much.