The whole Hot Mama family attended the titanic struggle today between the playoff-bound Cubs and the playoff-bereft Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The game didn’t mean a lot, contention-wise, but it was a beautiful day for it and it was nice to see Cub fans sitting quietly as they watched the Reds score eight.

It wasn’t just the Reds who scored the eight, either, but the Reds back-ups. Injuries have decimated the roster and the lack of importance has made it hard to really risk anyone out there. The name with the most Reds experience on the line-up was Edwin Encarnación. It just feels like a spring training game when EdE is the veteran leadership.

We were sitting in the lovely Riverfront Club today, and it was our first time in this exclusive locale. Except for the vague feeling that I wasn’t really welcome to leave the club once I’d arrived, I thought it was fantastic. Possibly my favorite place in the ballpark.

In the eighth inning, the Crack Technical Staff and I turned on the recorder to talk a little about the game and the season for a few minutes before our son’s desperate need for a lemon chill became our top priority. It was OK, though, because we got our thoughts together for a more organized, much longer podcast later in the night.

Episode 77: The Eighth Inning Show (11.4MB, 16:35)

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