Over at Home Run Derby, they're pitting MLB mascots against each other in a single-elimination tournament:

Five Divisions (Furrie, Feathered, Critter, Mammal and Primate)
Current Matchup - from the Primate Division …
#4 The Rally Monkey (Angels) vs #5 Mr. Red/Mr. Redlegs (Reds)
http://homerderby.com/archives/960

You and you readers can vote to determine who moves on to win the
ultimate prize - The MLB mascot Bracket Championship!!

Vote until Sunday Aug 19 at midnight EDT.

Mr. Red is currently getting pummeled, despite an awesome video of Mr. Red dancing at Redsfest last year.

Give Mr. Red your support!

From Yahoo! Sports:

CHICAGO (AP) -- If Reds slugger Ken Griffey Jr. has his way, he won't be involved in another double switch.

Griffey was replaced on defense during a double switch in the eighth inning of Tuesday's 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs. Griffey, who has won 10 Gold Gloves, was surprised by Reds interim manager Pete Mackanin's decision.

“It was the first (time in my career) and it will be the last,” he said before Wednesday's game against the Cubs.

Griffey, who ranks sixth on the career list with 590 career home runs, is hitting .274 with 27 home runs and 74 RBIs.

Them's mighty strong words from Griffey The Kid. I hope he just means that he's going to step up his defense.

Of course, if I were in Griffey's shoes, I might just enjoy coming out of the game and sit back with a cold one to watch the rest of the game. The uneducated masses of Reds fans are going to accuse him of doing just that anyway.

Perhaps I've just been burned by the bullpen so many times that I can't even bear to get my hopes up when the Reds are up 5-2 on the Cubs in the bottom of the sixth, or maybe I really do have a sixth sense about these things. I *have* been kind of psychic lately.

On the other hand, when Aaron Harang is pitching, as he is tonight, he often doesn't give the bullpen much of a chance to lose the game for him, so maybe I'll be wrong this time.

We came back early from the Indians/Bats game tonight to get our new first grader to bed at a semi-decent hour. It was clearly already too late, as he's now refusing to sleep as he obsesses over the fact that 1) we won't let him sleep in our bed, and 2) we won't play musical chairs with him. Oh, the wonders of being 6.

Here's hoping it's not also too late for this game. Though our Reds retain the lead, the Jacque Jones homer that actually left the building isn't feeling too promising.

Tomorrow is the big first day of school: I’ll be tearfully waving as my adorable baby climbs up on the bus and rides away to the official kid-dom that is first grade. Then I’ll fume at all the slow buses as I drive myself to work. Funny thing, this parenting.

Despite the fact that I need to get up early tomorrow to make a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls, the Crack Technical Staff and I decided to stay up late and record a short podcast. It seemed important, given all the high-impact moves the Reds have made lately, such as:

• Trading Chad Moeller to the Dodgers for cash
• Placing David Ross on the 15-day DL after he suffered a concussion in a collision with Mike Cameron
• DFAing Mark Bellhorn on the strength of his big, fat 6 ABs
• Bringing up Ryan Jorgensen to fill the role of second catcher on a team that so much loves to have three catchers

Plus there’s a quick tour through the standings (the Reds are getting perilously close to slipping back into last) and a brief discussion of the fact that we’ll be sitting next to the Bats’ bullpen when they’re in Indy tomorrow night. You won’t want to miss a single minute.

Episode 72: Does Trading Moeller Really Count? (17.3MB, 25:16)

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