In case you haven’t heard, the Joey Votto figurines that were the scheduled giveaway for the game on Saturday had some sort of supply chain problem and won’t make it to GABP in time.

The team’s doing a real decent job of compensating for the inconvenience, though, and personally I’d rather lug a voucher around the park than the actual figurine anyway. Not only am I less likely to spill beer on the voucher, but the voucher probably look more like Votto than this figurine does.

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Reds have announced the Joey Votto figurine giveaway for Saturday night’s game will not be distributed to fans this weekend. The delivery of the 20,000 giveaway items has been unavoidably delayed in transit.

To make sure fans receive the giveaway item, the Reds will be distributing vouchers to the first 20,000 in attendance at Saturday’s 7:10 p.m. game vs the Astros. The voucher can be redeemed after Friday, June 11 through the end of the season. The voucher also includes a coupon good for a half-price ticket to a remaining regular season Reds home game.

Fans will have three options to get their figurine (voucher is required for redemption):

1. Pick up during any Reds home game from June 11 through October 3 at Fan Accommodations behind section 119.
2. Pick up at the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum Monday through Sunday (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) from June 11 through October 3.
3. Mail-in redemption will also be available.

“We want to sincerely apologize for disappointing our fans,” said Phil Castellini, Reds Chief Operating Officer. “We could not control the delay in transit, but we can make sure that every fan with a voucher receives the giveaway as promised, along with a discounted ticket to a future game for their inconvenience. We thank our valued fans for their patience and understanding.”

Dammit, I’m sick of the Reds’ All-Star reps being limited to those required by the rules. This ain’t NCAA and ain’t no one asking for Title IX.

Especially when Cincinnati has a legit All-Star in our midst. Joey Votto leads all NL first basemen in:

• batting average (.307)
• home runs (10)
• RBI (32)
• OPS (.950)

Plus, for an extra bonus, he’s tied for the lead in:

• runs scored (29)
• stolen bases (6)

So thus begins the campaign to elect Joey Votto onto the starting line-up for the All-Star Game in July. There’s still over a month of voting left, but we’re going to have to start now if we want to dethrone “Prince Albert.”

You can vote online 25 times per email address.

Don’t worry if you forget to uncheck the “Send me a bunch of MLB spam” box one of the 25 times you vote; they’re going to send you the crap either way.

After you vote, grab the badge on the right and use it with pride, and tell your friends.

Boxscore

After the heart-breaking collapse in Atlanta, I was wondering how prepared the Cincinnati Reds would be for the Cleveland Indians interleague series. Apparently, I underestimated their fortitude.

The Reds won the first 2 games of the series and were going for the sweep on Sunday. The 2 wins put them back in first place, too, as they continue to go back and forth with the St. Louis Cardinals. I would love seeing that battle for the rest of the season.

Unfortunately, the Reds were unable to complete the sweep, and fell back into second place. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though.

With a tired bullpen and the need for a starter to go deep into the game, Homer Bailey came down with a tight shoulder in the 3rd inning. But the relievers pulled together and allowed just 1 run over 5 2/3 innings.

So often this season that has given the offense enough time to come back. They did tie it once–on Scott Rolen’s second home run of the game–but they never got hits to fall when threatening. Rolen was the sole source of runs this game.

But the series was won, and the Ohio Cup stays in Cincinnati. More importantly, the Reds have shown they can put terrible, terrible losses behind them and focus on the next game. That’s quite a bit different from previous teams, and it something to make me a little optimistic.