So, wow, Claussen really took a beating today, huh? I missed the game to attend an informational meeting about buying and selling homes and receive valuable money-saving coupons, but I understand that in giving up four runs in a single inning, Claussen became one of just four Reds pitchers to ever do such a thing. Claussen had already had a game where he hit three guys, so he seems to be picking one thing each game and doing that a bunch.

Next time, I'd like for him to pick strike-outs.

In other news, Eric Milton is scratched from tomorrow's game thanks to his knee bothering him. I'm actually relieved to see that, because maybe it explains why Evil Eric Milton was pitching his last time around. I'm a little concerned that Aaron Harang will be pitching in his place on three-days' rest tomorrow, though. I don't want to mess up one of our two respectable starters.

Paul Wilson is getting ready to make some rehab starts in Dayton. Though I have absolutely no expectation of Wilson doing anything remotely good this season, it sure it seeming like he can't get here soon enough. If he can just last into the fifth inning, he'll immediately shoot up to third in the rotation.

Remember back when Castellini bought the team and he promised to bring championship baseball back to Cincinnati? Remember when he said he wouldn't throw a bunch of money into the system to get things going, but that if the team was contending down the line, they'd do what they needed to do to address the teams' weaknesses?

OK! We're 18 games down the line and still contending. Let's address this team's weaknesses now before all hope of contending goes the way of all hope period in 2005. I hear Clemens is available.

The Reds had their asses handed to them to the tune of 0-11 this afternoon in Milwaukee.

Brandon Claussen took the mound and lasted a big fat three plus innings, during which he allowed nine runs (all earned) on eight hits. He walked three, and four of those runs were home runs, all in the fourth inning.

Chris Hammond took over in the fourth and gave up the fifth homer of the fourth inning before settling down to allow just one further hit in his two innings of work. Rick White held 'em hitless in the seventh. Kent Mercker allowed another run on two hits in the eighth. Brian “Caddy” Shackelford allowed zero on one hit in the ninth.

The offense just wasn't there. Even Felipe Lopez's newfound baserunning superstardom wasn't enough against the likes of Dave Bush.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

The loss brings the Reds' record to 11-7. Tomorrow they finish out the four-game series with the Brewers at 2:05 p.m. The Reds skip Eric Milton who is having some knee trouble and go straight to Aaron Harang to face off against Doug Davis.

The Reds enjoyed one of those rare, low-scoring win over the Brewers yesterday, 3-1. Despite the fact that the power hitters couldn't seem to make anything happen, the team's speed contingent was able to pick up the slack.

Bronson Arroyo took the mound and gave everyone a good scare when he gave up a home run in the first inning. To the first batter. On the first pitch. But there was no need to worry because after that he held the Brewers scoreless on five hits through eight innings to get the win. David Weathers came in to finish it out, holding the Brew Crew hitless through the ninth to get the save. He struck out two.

Ben Sheets was even more effective than Arroyo though for three innings. In the fourth, though, Felipe Lopez reached first on a wild-pitch swinging strikeout. Then he stole second while Adam Dunn batted and advanced to third on Dunn's groundout. Lopez scored on a Rich Aurilia single.

So tell me, when the hell did Felipe Lopez decide he was Ryan Freel?

Speaking of Freel, he knocked in the Reds' second run in the fifth after Brandon Phillips doubled two batters previous.

Lopez was at it again in the eighth. He doubled off the fresh pitcher, Jose Capellan, to lead off the inning, and went to second on Dunn's walk. He went to third on Aurilia's fly out, and scored on a Scott Hatteberg single.

The win brought the Reds' record to 11-6. The Reds, led by Brandon Claussen, would go on to get totally demolished by the Brewers this afternoon, but no one knew that last night. Let's pretend we don't either.

This week on the podcast we'll take a break from our increasingly outdated smack talk with Bellyscratcher to chat with the Mr. Tom Browning.

For those of you who are as new to the game as I am, Browning is probably a name you've heard, but you're not sure why. So allow me to list some of his better-known accomplishment:

• He was voted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame this last time around.
• He pitched the only perfect game in Cincinnati Reds history.
• He pulled a stunt in which he sat on a rooftop in Chicago, in uniform, during a game. Apparently that's pretty unusual.
• He broke his arm mid-pitch. Unfortunately, that's slightly less unusual.
• He's the first person ever to be interviewed on the Red Hot Mama podcast.

You'll learn about all this and more (well, not the podcast one) in his new book, Tom Browning's Tales from the Dugout. Read my review here. It's available online for $19.95 from www.BrowningBook.com or autographed for $5 more. While you're on the site, you can find out about opportunities to get the book autographed live-and-in-person, which I think is the way to go. I can now say from experience that Tom's a heck of a guy to chat with.

In today's podcast we talk about:

• The book. Duh.
• Life in the bigs. You'll be surprised to learn that it's not PG-rated. I even got up the nerve to ask about Charlie Sheen's party.
• Race relations in the clubhouse in the 80s and 90s.
• The time he signed a woman's underwear with her still in them.
• His hopes for the 2006 team. Yes, he does have them.

Episode 8: Interview with Tom Browning. (11.0 MB, 15:17)

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