Come send off your NL Central Champion Reds to the playoffs!

CINCINNATI (Oct. 3, 2010) — The Cincinnati Reds announce “Reds Rally on the Square” to be held Monday, Oct. 4 from 2 to 6 p.m. at Fountain Square.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman will host the festivities, which will include speeches from Reds President and CEO Bob Castellini, President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty, Reds Hall of Famer Joe Morgan and Manager Dusty Baker.

Joey Votto, Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips and the entire Reds team and coaching staff will appear on stage as well.

The team will appear at the Reds Rally on Fountain Square at approximately 3:30pm, then will fly to Philadelphia.

“This is a unique opportunity for Reds fans to send off their team as we take the first step in the 2010 Postseason,” said Bob Castellini. “It’s sure to be an exciting experience for our fans, and we want to show our players, coaches and staff that all of Reds Country is behind them as they begin their playoff run.”

In addition to the team’s appearance, the rally will feature plenty of food, drinks and fun, including live music from Funky G and the Groove Machine. Reds mascots Gapper, Mr. Redlegs and Rosie Red and the John Morrell Reds Rally Pack will entertain fans as well.

Fans also will have the opportunity to pick up official Reds Postseason merchandise from a special Postseason merchandise trailer at the Square.

The Cincinnati Reds are dipping their toes into the social media promotions arena. Today they announced a TweetUp event for the Tuesday, September 28 game against the Houston Astros.

The Cincinnati Reds have a special evening planned for our Twitter fans during the final home stand of the season. Catch the Reds vs. Astros on Tuesday, September 28th in our special TweetUp Section at Great American Ball Park along with several of Cincinnati’s favorite Sports Bloggers and Tweeters. The group will be located in the Sun/Moon Deck seats (section 145) where seats are only $11 (regularly $22). There will be many “celebrity tweeters” on hand to participate in the night’s festivities and greet fans.

I wonder if they’re going to do anything to address the piss-poor reception AT&T has at the park. I know that every time I’ve been to a Reds game this year that Twitter and the internet has been inaccessible. If reception isn’t improved, they’d better be ready with a Fail Whale poster.

If you’re in the area and have a Twitter account, it sounds like a good time. Tickets can be purchased here.

The Cincinnati Reds have released their schedule for 2011 season. There are some major changes, with Opening Day falling on a Thursday instead of a Monday, as it has for years now. The start has been moved up to make sure the World Series ends before November, which is a worthy goal, I think. Still, starting early will take some getting used to at first.

The full press release is below.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds’ tentative 2011 schedule has been released by Major League Baseball.

The 2011 campaign will begin with Opening Day on Thursday, March 31, against the Milwaukee Brewers at Great American Ball Park. The Reds will wrap up their series with the Brewers on Saturday and Sunday, April 2-3, followed by three games against the Houston Astros to finish up the season’s first homestand.

Major League Baseball adopted the recommendation of The Commissioner’s Special Committee for On-Field Matters to begin the regular season earlier and mid-week to avoid playing World Series games in November.

Other featured matchups at Great American Ball Park in 2011 include a pair of weekend series against the National League Central Division rival St. Louis Cardinals (May 13-15, July 15-17), plus weekend battles with the Atlanta Braves (July 22-24) and San Francisco Giants (July 29-Aug. 1).

Highlighting the Reds’ Interleague schedule is a home series against the New York Yankees from June 20-22, New York’s first trip to Cincinnati since 2003.

Additional Interleague action at Great American Ball Park will include the Ohio Cup Series presented by the Ohio Lottery against the Cleveland Indians (July 1-3) and a three-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays (June 17-19).

Sorry this is so late, everyone. I had to register myself before I could feel good about posting it here 😛

Register now for your chance to purchase tickets for potential Cincinnati Reds Postseason games to be held at Great American Ball Park! Registration ends on September 9, 2010 at noon ET for the Division Series and will remain open for the National League Championship Series and World Series.

As part of a continuing effort to make tickets available to as many Reds fans as possible, the online drawing gives fans additional chances to experience October baseball in Cincinnati. Since there are a limited number of Postseason tickets available through this opportunity, applicants must fill out and submit a registration form to participate in this opportunity to purchase. In order to be eligible for this opportunity, you must be eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time of entry.

Fans will be randomly selected from the registration and sent directions on how to purchase tickets for each round. A random drawing will be held on or about September 10, 2010 to determine Division Series winners. Winners will be notified via e-mail and will have from Tuesday, September 14 at 9:00 a.m. ET to Wednesday, September 15 at 11:59 p.m. ET to purchase tickets.

Only fans that have completed the Ticket Opportunity form and have been selected to participate will have the ability to purchase tickets. Notification of selection and receipt of email does not guarantee tickets for any of the games. Tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to availability.

See the lovely email that Reds.com sent, in all it’s marketing-message glory.

MLB just issued a press release with the the results of fines and suspensions for this week’s brawl between the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds.

Major League Baseball has issued discipline to five players and the two managers as a result of the on-field incident that occurred in the bottom of the first inning of Tuesday’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati . Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball , made the announcement.

Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto has received a seven-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his violent and aggressive actions during the incident. Unless appealed, Cueto is scheduled to begin serving his suspension on Friday, when the Reds are scheduled to host the Florida Marlins. If appealed, the discipline issued to Cueto will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.

Reds manager Dusty Baker and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa each have received two-game suspensions and undisclosed fines as a result of their actions on Tuesday. Baker will serve the two-game suspension on Friday and Saturday as the Reds host the Marlins. La Russa will serve the two-game suspension on Friday and Saturday as the Cardinals host the Chicago Cubs.

Four players have been fined undisclosed amounts as a result of the incident: Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips and pitcher Russ Springer, currently a disabled list player who came onto the field during the incident; and St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina and pitcher Chris Carpenter.

So the only player to receive a suspension is Johnny Cueto. Both managers will have to miss a couple games, but that’s unlikely to have any negative effect. (The joke could be made by both team’s fans that those will be the 2 best managed games all year.)

I saw the suspension for Cueto coming. I don’t think it was malicious, as I’ve felt the panic when dozens of people press against you, cramming you up against an immovable object. The fact that he caused a concussion to Jason LaRue and was wildly kicking does require some response. With off-days, I don’t think it will affect the Reds much.

I am surprised that Chris Carpenter, Yadier Molina, and Brandon Phillips received nothing. Molina and Phillips started it, with the chest bumping and shouting at each other. And then something Carpenter did or said caused it to ignite once the first calm had been reached. Perhaps the video that MLB receives has audio, though, and lets them know things we weren’t privy to.