Thanks to Redsfest this off-season, the Red Hot Family had three vouchers for free tickets to certain Reds games. We had the choice of Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, but since Tuesday was Bring Your Dog to the Game Day, we went with Wednesday. As if 250 dogs on a big concrete slab weren’t bad enough), I also bust out in serious hives when I come in contact with canine drool.

Our seats were all the way up at the View Level, which isn’t a short trip. So, we decided to take in some of the lower-level activities before heading up the Forever Ramp to the 500-level seats. After discovering the curly slide was closed (apparently for the rain, though I don’t think riding a slide in the rain is any worse than sitting in your seat in the rain) and that the Smokehouse special for the Giants series was salmon with dill sauce (we were expecting a giant hot dog or jumbo shrimp or something), we decided to take some shelter in the Machine Room Grill.

The last time I was in the Machine Room Grille, we got nachos and deep-fried Oreos. Yeah, that’s not happening anymore. The stuff on the menu sounded like normal food, but the descriptions made it clear that it wasn’t. For example, how many times have you had mac and cheese with New York Strip on it? But such lofty Kraft Dinner toppings did at least explain why it cost $9.

There seemed little hope of ordering something a kid would actually eat, so we decided to forgo dinner and just get a couple appetizers. We got the “Chips and Salsa,” which were actually pretty good. Sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese on a bed of dandelion greens, served with sesame seed crisps and flat bread. Sounds like all the chips and salsa you’ve ever had, right??

We also ordered the poutine, in solidarity with Joey Votto. Again, it was nothing like the actual dish. Since when does poutine feature mozzarella cheese and shredded beef? At least they left the French fries alone.

In fact, I think putting a gourmet twist on ballpark food classics isn’t a bad idea, but it doesn’t belong within the park itself. It just doesn’t fit alongside the disposable cups of Bud Lite Lime (which you have to order from the “specialty” beer list). Instead, I think this menu would work much better in some rooftop hotel restaurant near the ballbark.

There was one “fancy” thing to get excited about: the soft drinks at the Machine Room Grille came with straws. Straws! In a ballpark! Imagine that!

Most kids don’t really do the whole sun-dried tomatoes and dandelion greens thing, so after our trip to the Machine Room, we had to find some more kid-friendly fare. We made our way to the LaRosa’s over by where the FSN guys are set up and ordered a “Gourmet Pretzel,” which rang up as “Pretzilla” when we checked out.

It’s a giant soft pretzel made of pizza dough, and it’s really a meal on its own. I wouldn’t have minded if they offered some pizza sauce alongside the cheese (or better yet, stuff some pepperonis in there) but it was darn tasty as it was. It made me think of the gourmet stuffed pretzels they used to feature at Ed Smith Stadium, back when Reds’ spring training was in Sarasota, FL. I must say: I miss those days.

Eventually, we did make it up to our seats, which had a pretty good view if you aren’t too concerned about the heights. No big deal for me: the deathgrip I had on the handrail going up and down the stairs barely gouged out the paint. Not bad for free tickets and a winning night.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds closed out the series against the San Francisco Giants this afternoon by failing to sweep the Giants to the tune of 6-5.

Homer Bailey started for Cincinnati and turned in 6.1 innings of solid performance. He allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks. On the other side of the plate, Bailey also got his first hit of the season and brought in a run. Gotta love a pitcher helping himself.

Logan Ondrusek relieved Bailey and continued his scoreless season. In 1.2 innings of relief, Ondrusek allowed 0 runs on 0 hits and 0 walks. He even struck out 2. Sweet.

Sean Marshall pitched the ninth, and wasn’t maybe quite as poetic as Ondrusek in the way he went about his business. In his 1 inning of service, Marshall put a couple guys on base before striking out Ryan Theriot for the first out of the inning. Then, Angel Pagan’s home run happened, and the Giants took a 6-5 lead. Fortunately for Marshall, Pablo Sandoval lined out and Melky Cabrera got himself picked off first or else who knows what kind of hurt Buster Posey might have put on his ERA.

There was some good news on the offense. The best of which being Scott Rolen hitting a home run in his second consecutive game. This time it was a pinch hit homer in the seventh. It may be a little early still to declare Rolen’s slow start over and move him back to clean-up, but at least he seems to have found his late-inning stroke.

Jay Bruce also hit a home run (with a man on, even), but that’s hardly news. Young Bruce is turning into quite the slugger. His 3-for-4 day is noteworthy, though.

On the bad side, Joey Votto added another three strikeouts to his prodigious strike-out total. With no walks this game, his Ks are starting to pull away from his BBs in the tally chart.

The loss brings the Reds’ record to 9-10, ending that brief flirtation with above-.500 baseball. The Reds haven’t won more than they’ve lost since April 8. Tomorrow they host the 7-12 Houston Astros at 7:10 p.m. Mike Leake takes on the dreaded Wandy Rodriguez.

Boxscore

The march to .500 continues!

Apparently, all the Cincinnati Reds’ offense really needed was a weekend trip to the friendly confines of Chicago. Now, they’re ready to take on awesome pitchers like Matt Cain and make them beg for mercy. Or at least run up their pitch count and send them running from the mound.

The Reds got the scoring started against the San Francisco Giants in the very first inning. Drew Stubbs doubled and Brandon Phillips drove him in with a two-run home run.

After that, it was a pitcher’s duel, with Mat Latos showing off the skills that enticed the Reds to trade for him. And this time he even made it through the 5th inning! His final stats: 7 innings, 4 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 0 runs. Latos unlocked the code in terms of how to prevent getting a loss with this previously AWOL offense: don’t allow any runs. You may not get a win doing that, but you surely won’t get a loss.

But getting his elusive first win was no problem for Latos and the Reds tonight. In the 7th inning, Ryan Ludwick knocked Giants starter Matt Cain out of the game with a solo homer. The Giants bullpen came in and failed to find the strike zone. With the bases loaded, Brandon Phillips walked. Next, Jay Bruce hit a beautiful line-drive down the right field line to score a couple. And old-man Scott Rolen hit a double to drive in a couple of his own.

The 7th saw the Reds send 10 batters to the plate and score 6 runs. And that was pretty much the end. The Giants did score a couple in the 9th, but that was somewhat due to an old-fashioned bean-ball battle. Votto had been hit during the 7th, and Sam LeCure threw at Pablo Sandoval in the 9th. Both teams were then warned not to do it again, but there really is no better time to proteect your slugger than in the bottom of the 9th with 1 out and ahead by 9 runs.

All in all, it was a great game, for me as a fan and probably even more for the Reds players. The offensive explosion felt long overdue.

Game 2 of the series against the Giants is tonight at 7:10pm. Bronson Arroyo will start against Barry Zito.

Looks like there might be a good reason that LHP Bill Bray has been less-than-awesome so far this season, and it’s not that lingering curse from having been part of The Trade. The Reds have just put Bray on the 15-day DL retroactive to last Thursday with a left groin strain that’s been bugging him since spring training.

To take his place, the team has called up J.J. Hoover from AAA Louisville. With the Bats, young Hoover is throwing up a 2.00 ERA and 17 Ks over 9 IP. It’ll be Hoover’s first appearance in the majors, whenever Dusty Baker gets around to using him. If it takes as long for Hoover to get into a game as it took Frazier when he finally came up, we’ll see Hoover sometime this weekend.

I’m sure the Cincinnati Reds can use the day off after playing about 100 games in a row away from home and losing 80 of them*. But I always miss baseball, even after stretches like that. Of course, a bunch of those games were during the day while I was at work, so it was kind of like they were off days to me, anyway.

But today is an actual off-day before the Reds start a series at home with the San Francisco Giants tomorrow. Finding content when the team doesn’t play can be challenging.

• Redleg Nation listed reasons the season isn’t over.
• Red Reporter whipped out the calculator and the maths and stuff to see what kind of holes are in the Reds’ bats.
• And C-ing Red makes fun of a billboard that the Chicago Cubs have in the outfield.

But all that sounds like work. So instead, here’s a picture of Alfonso Soriano missing a routine fly ball.

He misses fly balls and could be yours for just $57 million over 3 years!