The Hardball Times is today celebrating the 10 year anniversary of one particular inning of infamy for Jason LaRue. This was before the days when “Jason LaRue” was synonymous with “career ended by Johnny Cueto’s boot to the head.” (Though, frankly, his career was already over, and I suspect all that hype was a machination of Tony LaRussa.)

But that’s neither here nor there. No, this post is about LaRussa committing the heinous act of three passed balls in a single inning when catching knuckleballer Jared Fernandez:

Two pitches after the walk, a knuckler got away from LaRue for a passed ball. Williams went to second. On the very next pitch, it happened again. Williams scooted to third and LaRue now had three passed balls on the day – and it was still just the first inning.

Two pitches later the ball made it to the backstop again, allowing Williams to score. At least this time it wasn’t a passed ball. This time it was a wild pitch, so LaRue was still at three passed balls on the inning. But in a single five-pitch plate appearance, three balls went to the backstop allowing a runner on first to score. Yeesh.

You’ll want to read the whole post on The Hardball Times. It’s a nice narrative. Plus it contains lots of other Reds-related anniversaries and day-versaries to satisfy your inner history geek.

Twitter trolls (I like to think of them as “twolls” for that Elmer Fudd ring) can be a serious annoyance. You’re going along, trying to contribute in a positive way to the Twitter-verse, and up pops some jackass who gets his jollies by poking you in the eye and seeing if you cry.

In light of recent events, the crack staff here at RHM thought it would be a good public service to offer some techniques for dealing with twolls.

For the sake of purely hypothetical argument, let’s say a twoll were to attack you with a tweet such as:

Now, you might reasonably want to beat the hell out of this guy, but telling him so just plays into the twoll’s desperate emotional need for validation. Ignoring the twoll is better, but it misses an opportunity to undercut the aggressiveness and establish yourself as dominant.

The best twitterers balance sarcasm (to show they have the wit to take you down) and self-deprecation (to show you’re not even important enough to use their wit on), but there are many techniques available. Here are a few for you to try:

The “I know you are, but what am I?” technique

The “it’s almost as bad as you said, but not quite” technique

The “yo’ mamma” technique

The “don’t talk to me about life” technique

The “redirection” technique

The “ironically focusing on the wrong clause” technique

OR

OR

The “misinterpreting a word” technique

The “damn straight” technique

Twolls are pathetic creatures, more worthy of pity than scorn. But just like grubs in your lawn or the Chicago Cubs, they still have to be dealt with. Go get ’em, tweeps!

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Reds (69-46)	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	3	6	0
Cubs (44-69)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0

Boxscore

Johnny Cueto won his 15th game Sunday, giving the Cincinnati Reds the series win over the Chicago Cubs and improving the Reds’ winning streak to 3.

Cueto pitched 8 innings of 3-hit, shutout ball. He walked 2 and struck out 3. Aroldis Chapman was brought in for the 9th to close the game out and succeeded in getting his 28th save. He allowed 1 hit and struck out 1.

The game was scoreless until the 5th, with Cubs rookie starter Brooks Raley matching Cueto’s excellent effort. With one out, Todd Frazier singled to left field. Then Jay Bruce stepped to the plate and broke his 0-13 slump with his 22nd home run.

Those two runs were more than the Reds needed with how well Cueto was dealing, but Ryan Ludwick added on another run in the 6th inning. With 2 outs, he homered to left field for his 21st of the season.

The Reds maintained their 4.5 game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates, who also won. The St. Louis Cardinals lost and are now 7 games back.

The Reds have Monday off. On Tuesday, they start a home stand when the New York Mets come to town. Chris Young is scheduled to start against Mat Latos at 7:10pm EDT.