Sunday's game didn't work out so well for the Reds, but it was lovely for us, out in the sun/moon deck-ish area. We got to watch Homer Bailey, whom The Proxy has been quiet covetous of, fail to find the strike zone on the first pitch all night. But that was just one of many problems we had that game, including but not limited to: they wouldn't let us take our sunblock into the stadium, the mister wasn't on (though they did turn it on later), they were out of onions for the hot dogs, they've discontinued the Goetta Dog, and it was hotter'n hades. All-in-all, not among our best baseball experiences.

And the play didn't help matters. This was during the Narron era, of course, so I was surprised to get to see Javy at all. Of course it was to pinch hit in the fourth in place of Ricky Stone. Might seem sort of a wasteful way to use a pitcher, but it's nothing compared to the fact that Stone allowed two inherited runners to score before he allowed a run of his own.

Oh, Javy struck out, by the way.

Ken Griffey, Jr., on the other hand, had a pretty good game. He went 2-for-4 with three RBI. That's about the best thing you can say about this game, though, so I'll wrap it up there. There have been so many losses since then that we could be talking about!

Here we are in the middle of July, and the constant flood of Josh Hamilton coverage has finally abated a little, so now maybe the world is ready for a little more.

'I'm proof that hope is never lost' is a first person account of Hamilton's views on why he is where he is, as told to Tim Keown.

I thought it was lovely.

I spent all of my RHM writing time work on that report of the game a couple weeks ago, so I've got just a moment to get you up to date on the recent happenings of the Reds:

• The Reds lost tonight. Boo
• Josh Hamilton is on the DL; Chad Moeller came back up to take his place. Maybe Narron wasn't the problem after all. Well, not the only problem, anyway.
• Jay Bruce is in Louisville while Dewayne Wise is on the DL
• Speaking of Louisville, Homer Bailey pitched for the Bats tonight and apparently forgot that he wasn't with the big team: 3 1/3 innings, six runs, six hits, five walks, four strikeouts (Thx John Fay)

And that's the rest of the story. Goodnight!

Not last weekend but the weekend before, the Crack Technical Staff and I met up with our Cardinal-fan counterparts Bellyscratcher and Proxy for a weekend of fun in Cincinnati while our teams duked it out on the field.

It's fun to show off Great American Ball Park to new visitors, and we started at The Machine Room Grille to have some snacks while we watched batting practice. Pictured here, the delightfully indulgent Ultimate Gourmet Delight, comprised of deep fried Twinkies, deep-fried Double-Stuff Oreos, and vanilla ice cream. It was fantastic, but my heart is glad we split it among the four of us.

Then it was on to our seats to show off the MDX Reds Crew. I believe Bellyscratcher's exact comment was, “The Reds have cheerleaders?” Yep. They sure do, though they're really more dancers than cheerleaders, and for some reason they're always on the visitor's side. We also pointed out the Rally Pack and gave them the rundown on the difference between Mr. Red, Mr. Redlegs, and Gapper. Rosie Red must've had a prior engagement because she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Finally the game was on, just a scant two hours after we entered the park! Our seats were under the scoreboard, which gave us good shade and would have been great cover if it had started raining. It was a little noisy, thanks to the sound bouncing back at us off the overhang. It was also a little far from the action, but still a good view. The view was even better, thanks to the Reds actually winning a game. Back in those days--the Narron era--wins weren't as common as they are today, so it was a special treat.

Even so, the experience wasn't complete until we used a cell phone to order a pizza and had it delivered to our seats. That's baseball, baby.

Our own Ken Griffey, Jr. was the star of last night's All-Star Game, with his two RBI and his throwing Alex Rodriguez out at the plate, but amidst all the hubbub, there was one lesser-known slugger who was left on the bench to stew in endless obscurity. That unfortunate lad was Albert Pujols.

You can practically feel the lonesome dejectedness in poor Little Abie's comments:

“It's the All-Star game. He can do what he wants,” Pujols said Tuesday night. “He does whatever he wants. If I wasn't expecting to play, I wouldn't have come up here.”

Meanwhile, that mean old Tony LaRussa didn't even apologize:

“If he wants to get upset, he can get upset,” La Russa said. “Whatever he wants to do, he can do. It's America. That wasn't the most important thing tonight.”

What was the most important thing? you might ask. Why, being LaRussa's designated driver, of course.