So, I guess Milton is going to pitch Sunday, despite having received a cortisone shot and clearly not being 100%. An injured Milton. Lucky us!

Earlier today, when it was looking like Milton might not take the mound again, it suddenly occurred to me that the Reds were down to three starters, and number three was Lohse. We see how well that worked out tonight.

I dunno, I guess, despite all my “enjoy the free-fall” kind of talk, a little tiny part of me still believed. It's hard to look at the second-place standing and just the five games back on the Cards and abandon all hope. But how can a team, even a team in the NLC, possibly sniff the postseason with just three starters? That's not a full rotation; that's barely 216°.

Oh well. Just one more of these and we can go smack around the Cubs for a while.

Finally! Episode 22!

The Crack Technical Staff and I weren't able to get the version of the podcast that we recorded in the car to work out this week, but I'm hopeful for the next time around. Instead, we used the version that we recorded in our office while waiting for the pizza to be delivered. Mmmm….pizza.

We talk about the importance of the series with the Padres, the importance of veteran presence, the importance of hamster balls, and the importance of the one brave soul who left a message on the RHM voicemail line.

You, too, can be forever immortalized in the RHM podcast. Call (513) 729-7106.

Episode 22: Third Time's a Charm (16.5 MB, 18:04)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I don't know how many of you are sitting out there wondering where the heck the RHM podcast is. I'd be kinda surprised if any of you noticed it was missing.

But, in fact, the Crack Technical Staff and I are now going on two weeks late with the latest episode. Last week we actually recorded a podcast but I wouldn't let the CTS put it up because--and this is true--in my sleep deprived post-Cancún delirium, I was afraid that putting up a bad podcast would eliminate me from contention for taking over Steve Stewart's job.

This week, the time has just passed. I've had enough sleep, I'm free of my delusions of ever seeing the inside of a radio booth, and I have no good excuse for why the podcast isn't done.

Well, that's not entirely true. Tonight I have a good excuse. Tonight the Crack Technical Staff stood up too fast from cleaning the kitty litter and seriously knocked his head on the Cape Cod ceiling in our bathroom. It's left a nasty knot, so I've sent him to bed with an ice pack, and I'll be waking him up in 20 minutes to check the dilation of his pupils with a flashlight.

He did have an idea, though: we don't ever seem to have time for podcasting in the evening, but we always discuss baseball on our hour-long commute in the mornings. Why not take the iRiver and record those conversations? Just because it'll be 6:30 a.m. doesn't mean they'll be any less coherent than they already are. Hell, maybe the fact that we'll be recording them with I-69 whizzing past at 75 mph will actually help. If not that, certainly the sound of our kid playing Pokèmon in the backseat will be a bonus.

So, we'll give that a try. And when the next episode goes up, hopefully tomorrow, you'll also be treated to the one call we've gotten to the call-in line. If you'd like to take advantage of this extra time to call in with your comments, maybe a little something for our Ignorant and Inflammatory segment (I'm looking at you, smartelf), the number is (513) 729-7106.

According to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online, David Bell is not likely to be back with the Brewers next season. Given the proud Reds-Bell tradition, along with my prognostication that Wayne Krivsky will overstock on third basemen this off-season, I think we could be seeing David in a wishbone C before the end of the year.

Furthermore, a story on DenverPost.com mentions, way down at the bottom, that Ray King is unlikely to return to the team next season. Now that Austin Kearns is out of the way, it's the perfect opportunity to add one more veteran left-handed reliever to the long list of left-handed relievers that have already passed through the Reds' organization under the tenure of Wayne Krivsky.