Well, we are just days away from the final homestand of the season and the culmination of an event that has been months in planning.  For those that don't know, loyal readers of the Reds online community who happen to be in the area are invited to come together and meet each other once and for all.  We will partake in food, baseball, beer, and debauchery - not necessarily in that order - and a good time should be had by all.  If you are interested in joining in on any of the fun, here are the details:

1pm - Meet at Dewey's Pizza at Newport on the Levee for some lunch and stuff.

Approx 2:30pm - Head over to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame Museum to get a lesson on how those old guys used to do it.  If we get 15 or more to go to the Museum, we can pre-order tix for $3, otherwise tix are $5 with a ticket for that day's game.  We will meet outside of the Museum around 3pm to go, so if you miss lunch, you can join up with us here.

4pm-ish - Gates Open

4:30pm - I will be going into the Park.  If you haven't gotten your ticket from me by this point, I will leave it at Will Call.

4:45pm - We convince Brandon Phillips and Ryan Freel to come party with us after the game.

Between 5pm and 5:30pm - Sometime before the game the 4th Annual Mascot Wiffle Ball game will start.  This is when we start working on sukr to see if we can get him to go start a fight with the Hoxworth Blood bank mascot.

6:10pm - Game time.  Think of it as a game thread, but with real people and not in your parent's basement.

Post-game - This is still up in the air.  If you are interested in joining us, but can only make it to the post-game, say so in this thread.  We'll get your digits through email and make sure someone lets you know where we'll be.

As of right now, we have 18 total tickets (Section 402, rows B & C, seats 11-18), 14 of which have been spoken for. If you are interested in going but don't have a ticket yet, let us know.  Tickets are $9 for the game.  You can bet there will be tickets available on the day of the game, so if we have more than 3 or 4 more people who want to go, you can still meet up with us inside.

If you plan to attend any of the days events with the gang, please state your intentions below (even if you already have tix).  I especially need to know who will be at lunch so that I can get a table that is properly sized.  If you won't be at lunch but need to get your ticket from me, please let me know when you plan to meet up to get the ticket.

After we have a complete list, I will email my cell phone number to all those that are attending so that we can “hook up.”  Let me know if there are any questions.

No sooner do I post something about the line-up but Ryan Freel is taken out in favor of Norris Hopper and Chris Denorfia is replaced with Todd Hollandsworth.

I'm not sure what happened, but according to a comment on Redszone, Freel has strained his left wrist and Denorfia cut his ankle.

Awesome.

Just back from meeting friend for lunch (Hi, Ike!) and I'm surprised to see the line-up:

• Ryan Freel CF
• Ray Olmedo 2B
• Scott Hatteberg 1B
• Adam Dunn LF
• David Ross C
• Royce Clayton SS
• Juan Castro 3B
• Chris Denorfia RF
• Bronson Arroyo P

I've thought Olmedo ought to be getting more playing time anyway. Castro isn't bad a third. And, of course, I'm pleased to see The Hearthrob in right. The only position I have an actual problem with is Clayton at short, but if that were the only thing, it wouldn't be so awful, I guess.

It's seeing them all out there at the same time…that's a little scary. I guess that's what you get when you've ceded contention, though. At least the young guys are getting some practice for next year. Plus, Arroyo's getting a feel for what it's going to be like to be supported by the kind of offense that Krivsky seems hellbent on putting together.

Go Reds!

BuzzWhack, a site “Dedicated to de-mystifying buzzwords”, has an IMglish Dictionary. It's a list of “words” frequently used in IM conversations. For example:

• 143 - I love you
• A/S/L? - age, sex, location
• BRB - be right back

And for the 75-year old IMers out there:

• TANSTAAFL - there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch

I, of course, think this is a great idea. Just think how great conversations about the Reds would be if you had access to these convenient abbreviations:

• 41WTF? - Narron's got DeWayne Wise leading off
• JrIWALU - I don't care that he's going to miss the rest of the season with an owie toe, Ken Griffey Jr. is still my favorite player and always will be.
• K4sure - Adam Dunn at the bat
• G2XOXO - George Grande is talking about Jim Edmonds again
• OMG/NO - Ryan Franklin's coming in
• WDTCPTW? - Who do the Colts play this week?

The Reds survived the bullpen performance to hang on to win over the Astros last night, 5-4. Thank you David Weathers! I was tending to my feverish son much of the evening, so I didn't get to see most of the game, which, if nothing else, gives me something in common with Brandon Phillips.

You see, I can laugh because the CT scan was normal.

Aaron Harang finally got win number 14. Narron pulled him after seven and two-thirds when he got himself into a jam. When it was all said and done, he allowed four runs (earned) on eight hits for the win.

I'd like to say that Harang should have been pulled after seven. He probably should have. But then you wonder, “who's going to do any better?” As it was, Scott Schoeneweis came in, promptly walked a guy, allowed an RBI double, and hit Aubrey Huff. That's right: he hit the guy who sang Letters from Home on Oh Say Can You Sing?

At least Narron didn't make the mistake of sending Ryan Franklin out there. It's a small victory, but that's what you play for these days, right?

Weathers is hardly the young guy you build your pitching staff around these days, but there are times that I worry about the day when he retires. He finished out the game for the save. He didn't allow any hits but walked one.

My boy Ryan Freel went 1-for-4 on the evening, but made that one count with a couple RBI in the fifth inning. Adam Dunn knocked one in (and it wasn't even himself) in the fifth as well. Is it a coincidence that Dunn starts to come out of his slump and the team wins? Yeah, probably, but it's still tempting to ask him to carry the offense.

But before that, the Reds' score was all Chris Denorfia. With his second career home run in the second inning, he allowed the Reds to take the lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the night.

The win brings the Reds' record to 74-77. They're seven games behind the Cards and five games back on the wild card. They finish up the series this afternoon at 2 p.m. They actually have a chance to win a series for a change: Arroyo's going today.

Oh, don't act so surprised.