Well, we watched the taped game in its entirety. It's painful, painful entirety.

I guess I'm not surprised that the Astros swept the Reds after the Reds sudden incapacity to convert their hits to runs, but I'm still disappointed. I especially love it when the backups come in to win where the starters cannot; it feeds my fantasy that even I could come in to be the hero. If only they let girls play.

I was interested and intrigued by moving Joe Randa up to hit clean-up. Yesterday the Astros intentionally walked Randa twice, which did a surprisingly effective job at neutralizing the offense. It put me in the mind of last season when the Reds moved Wily Mo Pena up to clean-up when he was hot and needed some protection. Unlike Pena, though, Randa continued to hit well in the fourth spot today, a testament to the benefit of having a few people kicking around on the team who aren't intimidated by their own abilities.

I'm bummin'. It's already looking like the brief flirtation with greatness is already being crushed under the startling weight of reality. I think I'll stop dwelling on this by writing up on of my spring training memories instead. Here's hoping I don't have too many more of the opportunities to participate in this kind of denial.