It's already bad enough that we have to listen to the reaming the Reds are taking at the hands of the Twins. We shouldn't have to listen to these chowder-heads broadcasting for WCCO.

I'm not 100% sure, but looking at the cast of characters on the WCCO website, I'm thinking that John Gordon and Dan Gladden look like they could be responsible for the announcing monstrosity we're being subjected to.

Names I've heard mispronounced or otherwise screwed up tonight: Chris Denor-FEE-uh, Felix Lopez, Dave Weather, and Rich Aurilio.

The defining physical characteristic of Felipe Lopez has got to be his vast collection of tattoos. They cover his arms, extending up past where sleeve ends and imagination begins. He’s even got one on his neck.

Lonnie Wheeler mentioned the tattoos in a column in the Cincinnati Post. He said:

His tattoos bleed together from shoulder to wrist, flowing down from the baseball painted onto his right upper arm (the left being reserved for his two daughters). “Everything’s built in around the baseball,” said the Reds’ all-star shortstop. “The dragon going underneath is supposed to protect me from any evil. Everything has to do with confidence.”

According to Batting Around interview, his first tattoo was a cross with his daughter’s name (I’m guessing that’s “Chaydin”) on it:

The cross with my daughter’s name on it. From there, it got addicting. I’ve always been into stuff like that — earrings and tattoos.

I can’t find any decent pictures of Lopez’s tattoos. Maybe it’s time to invest in a serious zoom lens and take them myself. However, if you know of any good photos, please let me know so that everyone can see.

The defining physical characteristic of Felipe Lopez has got to be his vast collection of tattoos. They cover his arms, extending up past where sleeve ends and imagination begins. He's even got one on his neck.

Lonnie Wheeler mentioned the tattoos in a column in the Cincinnati Post. He said:

His tattoos bleed together from shoulder to wrist, flowing down from the baseball painted onto his right upper arm (the left being reserved for his two daughters). “Everything's built in around the baseball,” said the Reds' all-star shortstop. “The dragon going underneath is supposed to protect me from any evil. Everything has to do with confidence.”

According to Batting Around interview, his first tattoo was a cross with his daughter's name (I'm guessing that's “Chaydin”) on it:

The cross with my daughter's name on it. From there, it got addicting. I've always been into stuff like that -- earrings and tattoos.

I can't find any decent pictures of Lopez's tattoos. Maybe it's time to invest in a serious zoom lens and take them myself. However, if you know of any good photos, please let me know so that everyone can see.

For most people, Major League Baseball's online presence is just a place to get the latest news on your favorite team or buy licensed merchandise. But some die-hard baseball fans pay to use MLB's blogging service. For MLBloggers, the technical problems that plague MLB's internet endeavors are more than a matter of inconvenience; they're a matter of real money.

Early this century, each team was responsible for its own web site. Some teams fielded excellent pages, and were understandably upset when MLB centralized and standardized them in 2001. Now every team's website looks exactly like every other team's website. It's great for consistency in navigation, but, like most anything that's been centralized and standardized, it's encouraged mediocrity.

For example, if you go to any team's website as of this writing and do a search from the front page, you will receive only news items from 2005. It is possible to get news items from this year, but going to the news archives to get hits from the year we're already three months into isn't very intuitive.

Or, if you're looking at the boxscore and click on one of the players' names, you're taken to a player stats page that does not include the player's name. You have to click a second time to load the player bio in order to find that kind of information.

And don't even get me started on the weekly online chats that are supposedly available to anyone who's willing to add their e-mail address to the MLB database. I haven't yet been able to log into one, and the text of the “Help” file, which helpfully instructs me to type my comments into the box but provides no troubleshooting information at all, fails to help much.

At least I can honestly say that I haven't missed an e-mail offer to buy MLB.tv yet.

These things drive me completely nuts, but at the end of the day, they're just annoyances. I use free services, and I get what I pay for. Alternately, I've now received e-mail messages from two separate paying customers of MLBlogs who have inexplicably found themselves unable to log into their accounts. They don't know what's causing the problem, and the help information and links to technical support are only available after you log in.

In one case, even a call to technical support couldn't resolve the issue. They told him to make sure cookies were enabled.

Major League Baseball isn't a fly-by-night organization. They have the capacity to provide a quality product. With as much money as their online endeavors could bring in, they should make their blogging software a priority. What better user testimonials could they ask for than their own MLBloggers? These are people who are paying MLB to participate in a buzz marketing campaign for baseball.

To be more exact, right now they're paying MLB to tell them to ensure cookies are enabled.

Bloggers are among the most dedicated baseball fans there are; MLB has to wake up and make things right for these valuable users. The sport needs to demonstrate that it values its online community for more than just the $5 a month in MLBlog fees.

Despite continuing heroics from Dewayne Wise and Edwin Encarnación, the Reds lost to the Phillies 4-1 yesterday afternoon in Clearwater.

Justin Germano allowed three runs on five hits through four innings of work. Jake Robbins, Ryan Wagner, and Mike Burns each pitched a scoreless inning. Todd Coffey gave up a run in his inning of work.

Wise provided the entirety of the Reds score with a home run in the first inning. Wise also threw out a runner at home from right field to save Germano even more pain. Encarnación went 2-for-3 with a double.

The loss brings the Reds' record to 7-6. The Reds host the Twins tonight at 7:05 p.m.