CINCINNATI (July 12, 2010) – The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame & Museum has announced the Reds players and Hall of Famers who will be in attendance at events for the 2010 Induction Weekend, July 16-18.

Reds Hall of Famers: Johnny Bench, Jack Billingham, Pedro Borbon, Tom Browning, Leo Cardenas, Eric Davis, George Foster, Cesar Geronimo, Wayne Granger, Tommy Helms, Barry Larkin (Sat./Sun. only), Jerry Lynch, Jim Maloney (Sat. only), Lee May, Joe Morgan (Fri./Sat. only), Gary Nolan, Jim O’Toole, Chris Sabo and Mario Soto.

1990 Team Members: Glenn Braggs, Keith Brown, Tom Browning, Norm Charlton, Eric Davis, Billy Hatcher, Barry Larkin (Sat./Sun. only), Hal Morris (Fri./Sat. only), Randy Myers, Paul Noce, Ron Robinson, Chris Sabo and Herm Winningham.

Fans will have many chances to meet and greet with their favorite HOF’ers and Reds players from the 1990 World Championship team at the Hall of Fame & Museum:

Friday, July 16
• 5 to 6:30 pm – Meet and greet with returning Hall of Famers (photos OK, no autographs)

Saturday, July 17
• 11 am to 3 pm – Meet and greet with select 1990 team members (photos OK, no autographs)
• 3 to 4:30 pm – Meet and greet with returning Hall of Famers (photos OK, no autographs)

All meet and greet sessions are free with Hall of Fame admission.

For full details and updated meet and greet schedules, please visit www.redsmuseum.org or call (513) 765-7923.

2010 HOF Induction Weekend – Full Schedule of Events

Friday, July 16 – Reds vs Colorado Rockies (7:10pm)
• FameFest at the HOF (5 – 6:30 pm)
• MC Hammer concerts (pregame and postgame)
• 1990 team celebration (pregame and postgame)
• Fireworks presented by Klosterman Baking Co. (postgame)

Saturday, July 17 – Reds vs Colorado Rockies (7:10 pm)
• FameFest at the HOF will include baseball instruction, cornhole, caricature drawing, games, meet and greets, mascot visits, a band, sponsor booths, inflatable for kids, and more (10 am to 4 pm)
• New Inductee press conference (5:45 pm)
• Chris Sabo bobblehead presented by John Morrell (free to the first 30,000 fans)
• HOF Induction Ceremony (pregame)

Sunday, July 18 – Reds vs Colorado Rockies (1:10 pm)
• Vintage baseball game (Noon)
• Powel Crosley Jr. Award presentation (pregame)
• Kids replica batting helmet presented by Furniture Fair (free to the first 10,000 kids 14 and younger)
• 2010 Induction Gala presented by Extra Bases at Duke Energy Convention Center (6-10 pm)
– Featuring the entire 2010 Reds roster along with current and former Hall of Famers

The irony is that just as my summer classes wrapped up, and I can watch baseball without the guilt of not reading my homework, the All-Star Break comes around, preceded briefly by four of the crappiest games the Reds have played all season.

I mean, sure, I have one whole late-game Joey Votto AB to look forward to, but this isn’t exactly a standard week of baseball. That’s probably a good thing, given those four crappy games I just mentioned. Clearly I’m not there, and I can’t say for sure that the team could use a few days off, but I know that, personally, I pretty much always could use a few days off.

In other news, MLB sent me an email with a “reward” for voting in the Last Man competition. Just think: 10 whole days of a free trial of MLB.tv! How did I ever get so lucky?

MLB almost tricked me into entering the Win a Free All Star Batting Practice Jersey contest, by sending the message through Reds.com. “Giving away 30 jerseys?” I thought, “among a hundred thousand people who will enter? I like those odds!” When I read closer and realized it was one jersey per team, so 30 jerseys among 20 million fans, suddenly I found myself not so willing to hand over access to my browser activity after all.

Home Run Derby is tomorrow, and it’s not exactly a magnet for the heavy hitters this year. I like how they’re spinning it on MLB.com

The cast in Monday’s State Farm Home Run Derby may not be as star-studded as in years past, but the intrigue has hardly taken a hit.

It’s “hardly” taken a hit. Just barely. Just entirely. Personally, I may take a nap. I can’t speak for the Reds, but I’m tired.

Boxscore

On a night when the Cardinals had already lost (not by bullpen-implosion for once), the Cincinnati Reds battled, but came up just short to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Johnny Cueto had another great start, allowing 1 earned run on 7 innings pitched. Unfortunately, the offense that so often scores in great big bunches for him was a little less loud tonight.

Newly minted All Star Joey Votto got things off right with a solo shot in the first, but the Phillies quickly tied it. They would take the lead in the 3rd, and then again in the 8th.

In the 9th, the Reds went to work against the broken Brad Lidge. Votto led off with a single. He reached third on a double play ball by Jay Bruce. Then Dusty Baker sent Miguel Cairo up to pinch hit. At this point, I was doubting that the Reds late-inning magic would be able to strike again. I was wrong.

Cairo doubled to left field, and Votto walked home to score the tying run.

The Phillies were held scoreless in the bottom of the 9th, so off to extras we went. Logan Ondrusek pitched a scoreless 10th, and then it was Jordan Smith’s turn. After getting through the heart of the lineup in the 11th, he started the 12th against the bottom of the order.

Smith got the first batter on a ground-out to Scott Rolen. But the second batter, Brian Schneider, homered on the second pitch he saw. That ended the Reds road, extra-inning games streak and prevented the team from going up 4 games on St. Louis.

The good news is this, though. The Reds will still be in first-place at the All Star break. They’re playing even with last year’s National League Champs, and they show no signs of stopping anytime soon.

And it’s about time!

Congratulations to everyone out there who did their part to get Joey Votto elected to the All-Star Game. From Reds.com:

Votto was a machine throughout the Final Vote. The Reds’ first baseman won wire-to-wire, powered by a fury of snub response and leading all vote-getters with 13.7 million en route to becoming the first Cincinnati player to win the All-Star Final Vote.

I think I’ll celebrate my finishing my Business Law final and drinking a Canadian beer. Go Reds!