In 2005, my family made our first trip to spring training in Sarasota, Florida. My husband, 3-year old son, and I drove down from Indiana to a cheap extended stay hotel. The room was shoddy and required our own cleaning before we could sleep there, but the hotel pool was nice. We spent off evenings in the pool with our son, in his floatie, who bonded with the kids of the migrant workers who were also staying at the hotel over their enjoyment of Dora the Explorer, albeit in different languages.

We spent most days at games. We had tickets to every game. We’d get to the parks as soon as the gates opened and camp out. My son would do the toddler squat between rows of seats and play Pokemon on a Gameboy Advance SP. I loved it because it protected him from sunburn and foul balls. He couldn’t read yet, so he just walked his little character around in the tall grass until an encounter happened. We made sure he had a party that was overpowered for the area he was in, so all he had to do was press A until he’d beaten the Pokemon, then go back to walking. He’d repeat until his lead ‘mon ran out of PP for the first move in the list, then he’d turn the game off and on again without saving so he could go back to walking his little character around in the tall grass.

Back then, the Reds played at Ed Smith Stadium, and they would play the same playlist from the time the gates opened until the first pitch every day. We got to know the playlist by heart, ad we could tell how close we were to game time by the song they were on.

They had great food at Ed Smith, and with the money we weren’t spending on good accommodations, we could afford to eat whatever we wanted. We’d get our son unlimited cotton candy and ice cream cones that we had to eat most of to race the heat.

What I remember most about two weeks of nearly-daily baseball games was how good I got at knowing where the ball was going off the bat. In the first days, I didn’t know whether a contact would be a home run or a popup to the short stop. By the end, I could almost tell you where the ball landed just from the sound of the contact.

That was a pretty unexpected skill for me to gain. I had not grown up a baseball fan. I was the person with two after-school activities per night in high school and three part-time jobs at the same time in college. My husband, who had grown up a fan but had sworn it off in 1995 when the strike happened, had gotten back into it when Griffey Jr returned to the Reds. At first I thought it should qualify as grounds for marriage annulment; it was not fair that I did not know I was going to end up a baseball widow when I agreed to the marriage.

But the world was less serious back then, and I had the time to learn something new. As I watched broadcasts and asked questions, I could see the barriers to fandom baseball put up against its own prospective followers. I’ve made my career explaining technical things to beginners, and I saw a lot of opportunity to make baseball make sense to everyone.

Never was that need so obvious as one game I attended in person in Cincinnati. It must have been 2004, so it would have been Great American Ballpark by then. We sat two rows behind a young couple where the man obviously followed baseball but the woman didn’t. She’d ask him questions about what was going on and he’d sigh and shake his head and make fun of her for not already knowing. That’s when I thought I needed to start writing about baseball in plain language, someplace welcoming and free. I had a vision of that woman telling her boyfriend something she’d read on my blog and shutting him up with her wit and wisdom.

Blogging was a lot of fun back then. It was just hobbyists cracking themselves up. The Reds were always awful, but that doesn’t matter when you’re making jokes. If anything, that makes it easier. Bloggers would get together for online chats that we’d publish on our sites, and we’d meet up in person for occasional games. It was online friending.

As time went on, things got more complicated: in baseball, in my life, in the whole world. Blackout rules became insurmountable. I stopped enjoying the baseball, then I stopped enjoying the blog, then I stopped writing the blog.

That was probably the wrong order to do those things in.

Now it’s 20 years later. Spring training trips are charmless package deals. My son still plays handheld games, but now he also develops them, plus he’s too tall to comfortably sit in stadium seats, let alone squat down between the rows. I have another kid, and she hates baseball with a fervent passion. I spend my free time protecting the environment and democracy. But I also have a subscription that lets me watch Reds games again for the first time in probably 10 years.

Game 2 of the season just wrapped. It’s a win against the Giants! Maybe I’ll learn these new guys’ names. Maybe I’ll remember how to crack jokes–I certainly could use the laugh. Maybe I’ll get used to Joel being mentioned on every TV broadcast.

One thing I’m not going to do is draw anyone’s attention to the fact that I wrote this. No one needs to hear a middle-aged lady’s nostalgia about the good ol’ days of the mid ’00s.

In case you were wondering why all the baseball teams just suddenly stopped playing and the most recent score on your phone sports app is from Sunday, that’s because it’s the All Star break. The game was last night, with the National League losing to the American League 5-3, thanks entirely to the terrible pitching by the St. Louis Cardinals.

It was also the last All Star game for Derek Jeter. However, that was not because he was going to be a human sacrifice following the game as I originally thought. Apparently, he’s decided he sucks at baseball now and wants to quit instead of going after Pete Rose’s hit record.

That also was not what the game and the break has been about for me. No, for me, it’s been Todd Frazier blossoming on the national scene. First, he was selected to participate in the home run derby. This is the first time I’ve sat through an entire derby–three hours of batting practice, counting the rain delay–and it’s thanks entirely to Frazier. He was that much fun to watch.

After his initial round of only 2 home runs, I figured he was done. But then Yasiel Puig hit no home runs in his 5 seconds of trying, and Frazier tied with Justin Morneau. After Frazier won the tie-breaker, he advanced to the second round and easily dispatched Troy Tulowitzki 6-2. In the semi-finals, Frazier narrowly squeaked by Giancarlo Stanton 1-0.

That made Frazier the National League Home Run Derby champion, which is pretty cool. Sure, he was easily dispatched by the defending champion Yeonis Cespedes, but it was quite enjoyable to see Frazier competing with his oldest brother throwing the pitches.

Frazier walked in his lone at bat during the All Star game. And hopefully, we’ll get to see him and many more Reds take the field when the game comes to Cincinnati next year.

The Cincinnati Reds put first baseman Joey Votto on the DL today. From Reds.com:

The Reds placed their first baseman on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with an injury to his left quadriceps muscle, and they returned catcher Brayan Pena from the paternity leave list. Votto last played on July 5 and went 0-for-4 in a loss to Milwaukee.

Manager Bryan Price has said that he didn’t expect Votto to be at 100% all season, so it was common knowledge. And yet, General Manager Walt Jocketty didn’t see the need to be overcautious and do silly things like arrange for a back-up first baseman. Why bother when the team already has an overabundance of infielders and offensive threats?

I didn’t see this coming though. Even though we all knew Votto needed to go on the DL, I really expected the team to limp along with 24 active players until after the All-Star break. Kudos to the team for failing to fulfill my lowest expectations.

After 25 days of a quadriceps strain, Joey Votto is finally back!!

Will he be the silver bullet that pulls this team together? He wasn’t before the injury, so I don’t know why he would be now.

I’m excited anyway. I guess if I have to see a team lose, I’d rather watch Votto lose than the triple-A guys. (If I wanted to watch a triple-A team, I’d watch the Braves. They’re the youngest team in baseball, with an average age of just over 27, but they’re still leading their division. Maybe I *should* watch the Braves.)

Speaking of triple-A guys, to make room for Votto on the 25-man, the Reds optioned Donald Lutz.

You can tell that Cincinnati Reds so-called General Manager Walt Jocketty is so ineffective by the fact that Cincinnati sports columnist Paul Daugherty is defending him.

RHM favorite Paul Daugherty has decided that Jocketty is awesome and should be praised instead of criticized until he does something to earn his paycheck.

Props to Walt Jocketty.

Good job, helping The Club to three playoffs and two division titles in four years. Thanks for bringing in S Rolen, without whom the Reds don’t win the 2010 division title.

Yes, Jocketty has been the GM when the Reds have returned to the playoffs. That is true. Rolen was a valuable addition in 2010. Unfortunately, he killed the team in 2011 and 2012. The Rolen trade was a short-term boost that was a good move in 2010 that became a bad one later. Rolen is both a plus and a minus for Jocketty’s record.

Thanks for dealing for Mat Latos, who when healthy is a bull and a very solid No.2.

Hell, Latos might be a number one when healthy. That was a gutsy trade. I remember being excited about it when Jocketty made it back in 2011.

Thanks for A. Simon, acquired for nothing, off the waiver wire.

It was a no-risk move when Jocketty picked Simon up from the Baltimore Orioles in 2012. Without Simon, the team’s record this year would be even worse.

Daugherty forgets to mention the trade for Shin-Soo Choo in 2012, but since that coincides with Jocketty’s failure to replace Choo, I understand the omission.

Basically, Daugherty’s grand defense of Jocketty boils down to things the GM did years ago. Those things were good, and my criticism of Jocketty is made in comparison to those. In Jocketty’s first years with the Reds, he was active and competent. His moves addressed weaknesses and strengthened the team. But after the trade for Choo in 2012, Jocketty has become passive and incompetent.

Including the pickup of Simon as an example of a shrewd move by Jocketty does more to show his lack of them now. Have there been no other players available on the waiver wire that could’ve helped this team? Have there been no minor trades that Jocketty could’ve made to bolster the upper minors? With 29 other baseball teams, I find that hard to believe. There was someone out there who was available cheaply and at little risk who would have been better than an unable to play Joey Votto. Jocketty just isn’t trying.