As the Cincinnati Reds get more interesting to watch, the bigger channels start flexing their muscles to show Reds games. The June 10th game (this coming Sunday) was originally going to be showing on FOX Sports Ohio, but now it’s slated for national broadcast.

Well, “national” is as “national” does, I suppose. Sometimes when this option is picked up, it seems like fewer people end up seeing the Reds than if it had been left alone.

Still, you’ll be happy to see games like this picked up if:

1. You’re in the coverage area
2. You’re available to watch games during the day
3. You’re too far away (or just not planning) to see the game in person

And that’s because a Reds game picked up on the national scene means a day game that wouldn’t have otherwise been broadcast gets picked up by FSOH to make up for it. This time it’s the August 18th game:

As a make-up, please note that FOX Sports Ohio has picked up the Reds game on Saturday, August 18 at 1pm against the Chicago Cubs. The game will be preceded by Reds Live pregame show at 12:30pm and followed by Reds Live postgame edition.

This game is the first of a day/night double-header at Great American Ball Park, so FOX Sports Ohio will be back on the air that evening with Reds Live at 6:30pm as pregame coverage of the second game at 7pm.

I doubt you’ll remember that come August 18, so mark your calendars now.

John Fay is reporting that 31-year old LHP Jeff Francis has become a free agent and is testing the major league waters to see if anyone will give him a chance. He had an out in his contract that allowed him to elect free agency on June 1.

He’s rocking a 3.72 ERA with AAA Louisville, which is previous years probably would have gotten him a look. That 3-6 record he sports isn’t a shiny, but we all know how that can go for pitchers, plus he’s coming off a really great start against the Tampa Bay Ray’s minor league affiliate.

This isn’t the best team to be trying to bust in to with the way the bullpen has been performing, so looking around might uncover just the opportunity he’s looking for. If not, though, it sounds like he’s got the opportunity to come back to the Reds. There’s bound to be an injury at some point (knock on wood).

It’s just like two years never passed, and not just because the Reds are atop the division again (albeit feeling much less green this time around). I’m also talking about my RHM inbox, which features four emails that I’ve been holding on to since 2010. I was neck-deep in MBA coursework then, so I just held on to them thinking, “someday…”

I figure it’s now or never: everyone knows that 2-year old emails are OK, but there’s a strict 3-year expiration date on emails. So, let’s see what we’ve got…

July 2010 – New book exposes baseball pension scandal
On April 14, 2010 the book A Bitter Cup of Coffee; How MLB & The Players Association Threw 874 Retirees a Curve was released, detailing how guys who came up for a cuppa between 1947 and 1979 got screwed pension-wise.

If you’re interested, it’s just $18 on Amazon.

August 2010 – A request to be the exclusive diamond and watch dealer advertising on RHM
Not sure why I kept this one. I think they misunderstood what kind of diamonds I write about.

August 2010 – Interview with a female baseball memorabilia expert
Are female sports memorabilia experts unusual? Apparently enough so that it was worth drawing special attention to in this email I received about an interview with baseball memorabilia appraiser Leila Dunbar.

I dream of a day when people will fail to read this article because they don’t give a rat’s ass about Yankees’ memorabilia, and not because its subject is a woman.

August 2010 – A cool video of Seaver and Rose from 1977
Play that Funky Baseball is a blog obsessed with reliving baseball from the ’70s, and they posted this clip of Pete Rose and Tom Seaver on the Mike Douglas Show. Boy, the pace of television was a lot different back then. It was interesting to hear them talking about the controversy of this new practice of renegotiating contracts and explaining free agency “for the ladies who don’t know what it is.”

Boxscore

Unfortunately the Reds couldn’t quite put together the sweep of the Astros last night, as they lost the final game of the three-game series, 3-5.

Bronson Arroyo started for the Reds. He allowed 5 runs (earned) on 8 hits and a walk in 6.1 innings. The 2-run home run he gave up to Maxwell in the seventh inning was pivotal, though if I were Arroyo, I might be a touch annoyed that a team who came up with 12 runs the day before couldn’t come up with even half that much when I started.

After Arroyo, Sean Marshall came out for an inning, followed by one of the few guys who didn’t pitch the day before, Logan Ondrusek for .2. Both pitchers allowed zero runs.

On the offensive side, Zack Cozart had 2 of the team’s RBI and Joey Votto had the other. Only Cozart had more than one hit on the night, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Arroyo helped himself out a little with a hit and a run scored as well.

The loss brings the Reds record to 30-23, in first by 3.0 games. The Reds have an off-day today. They host the second-place Pirates in a three-game series starting tomorrow. First pitch at 7:10 p.m.