The Phillies and the Rays. Two teams that most people don’t feel any particular malice toward–neither even managed to screw Wayne Krivsky, which was all the rage among teams there for a while–face off tonight in the battle of not-at-all-threatening animals.

Meanwhile, the Red Hot Family packs up for a long weekend in beautiful Cancún, Mexico, where I expect the Series to be as easy or easier to catch as stateside. Even if it’s not, there’s not need to worry; with the television schedule of the World Series, we may not miss a single game.

As I sit in my son’s room, providing a calming influence as he tries to fall asleep in the face of the excitement of riding in a plane tomorrow, the Phillies take the early lead. Across the top of my browser window, headlines from Reds.com scroll across a small text field. Yes, I actually installed the Cincinnati Reds toolbar in my browser. Who knows what sneaky spyware MLB has included to watch me do such scintillating computer activities as finish my statistics homework and do the gardening in my son’s Webkinz account.

All this and more can be yours, as well. You can download the toolbar from Reds.com. It’s right on the front page, right under the big photo at the top.

“Special events spice up offseason” reads the ticker. I guess they’re talking about RedsFest, which is already fast approaching. In the same email where I found out about the toolbar, I saw this announcement:

SAVE THE DATE FOR REDSFEST
Mark your calendars now for Kahn’s Redsfest XI, benefiting the Reds Community Fund on Dec. 12 and 13 at the Duke Energy Center in downtown Cincinnati. Make sure you come down to baseball’s premier winter fan fest and get your fix for Reds baseball during the offseason. Current and former Reds stars will be on hand for autographs and photos, plus don’t miss all the interactive games and exhibits, hard-to-find memorabilia, and much more!

As incompetent as the Reds are at putting together decent team management, I’ve got to give them credit for RedsFest. It is a baseball extravaganza, and I heartily recommend it, especially for the kids.

Speaking of kids, mine appears to be asleep now, with visions of airplane peanuts dancing in his head. Peace out.