Sweet game, and I'm glad I chose to go to this one, since I figured this was the game they had the best chance to win. We walked up around 5 and got front row, infield box tickets, literally in the first row behind the Diamond Club seats and two seats to the left of the Scout seats (Section 121, if you're ambitious and/or curious. Great seats, and you should be able to walk up day of game and get them. Best section in the ballpark, methinks). Pretty amazing seats for $36 a pop. We ended up sitting outside at the Machine Room Grille before the game and watched Reds BP. Dunn was launching the hell out of everything and David Ross had an upper deck shot. First time I've gotten to see Reds BP, so that was pretty sweet. The food at the Machine Room pretty much sucks, and my Dr. Pepper tasted very much like a Pepsi, but I think I'll probably recover.

On our way out of the Machine Room, there was an XBox 360 with MLB 2K6 on it, so we killed some time playing that a little. Fun game, but baserunning is a bitch. My dad and I went down and found our seats, and the usher was surprised, especially when we told him that we got them around two hours before the game was supposed to start. Once we got there, we spent some time trying to see how many Marlins players we could identify and then, with around a half-hour to kill, decided to take a trip around the ballpark. You don't really realize how great of a park it really is until you do that. I don't think there's a bad seat in the house, to be honest, and the whole place is real purdy, just like my favorite Reds blogger.

When we got back to our seats, most of the ones around us had filled in. I was rather unhappy to see children under the age of 7 surrounding us on three sides. Turns out only one was extremely annoying, and that kid, along with the one to our left, who was extremely quiet, were gone by the 5th inning. The kid to the right was actually pretty damn knowledgeable for his age, and not at all irritating.

The game itself was pretty fun. Claussen didn't pitch nearly as good as his line indicates, but I'll take it. Phillips looked pretty good, and the entire Marlins team seems like they've been taking fielding lessons from Adam Dunn. So many bobbled balls it isn't even funny. Freel was safe on his attempted steal of 3rd, but I think the ump decided we shouldn't be stealing up 5-0 already. Edwin is still taking too many good pitches early in the count, but hopefully he'll get over that. Dunn is just in an awesome groove right now, and I really think he and Kearns can both keep it up. Both will have their averages fall, but they should see a rise in their walk rate to go along with it, and a 3-4-5 of Griffey, Dunn, and Kearns should be nasty.

I've given up on Mike Burns, and I gave up on Hammond a while ago. Hammond's line wasn't that bad, but I expect it would've been largely different if it hadn't been people like Reggie Abercrombie that he was facing. Herr Valentin looked good, and maybe, just maybe, Scott Hatteberg will start to hit over .200. I really don't mind Junior being out right now, as long as we've got Freel in CF. We should hand Phillips the starting 2B job for a month or so and see what he's got, and Freel has to be in the lineup everyday. I firmly believe he's more valuable to this team than Junior is.

All in all, I'm glad I went, had a great time, and wish we could play the Marlins every day.

Some notes from RHM's crack “hard facts” staff on the upcoming series between the Reds and the Florida Marlins:

Brian Mohler starts game one for the Marlins tonight. On the season he's 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA and has been torched for 12 runs and 15 hits (three HRs) in the 7-1/3 innings he's worked so far this season. Lifetime against the Reds, he's 0-3 with a 7.06 ERA in four starts. He'll oppose Claussen.

On Tuesday the Marlins send Jason Vargas to the mound against Milton. Vargas in 1-1, 5.73 this season, and in his last start, gave up five runs to the Mets in five innings, but in his only career start against the Reds, Vargas was the winner, he's 1-0, 1.42 against the Reds.

Wednesday is the battle of aces as Dontrelle Willis opposes Harang. Willis has put up 1-0, 1.93 so far this season, and is 4-0, 0.97 against the Reds in five career starts.

Who's hot: Josh Winningham (.350, 3 HR, 11 RBI).

Who's not: Moehler, who's put up a BAA of .455 in his previous two starts.

Familiar faces: Former Reds player and manager Tony Perez, who is in the Hall Of Fame (class of 2000), is a special assistant to Marlins president Jeff Loria. He also managed the Marlins in 2001 after John Boles was fired.

Looks like Sean Casey is out for 6-8 weeks for my Buccos after taking a flying elbow in the back from John Mabry last night on a funky play at first. Thought you Reds fans might like a heads up and a “You told me so.”

Casey Out 6-8 weeks

It's Saturday again, the day I usually try to make a weekly entry on the Red Hot Diaries. A big thanks and a tip of the Reds cap to RHM for creating this for us…as for those of you who aren't taking advantage of it, a big “Shame On You” for leaving RHM hanging here!

As I sit here typing this, it's a little after 5PM on Saturday afternoon here in Buffalo, and the Reds have won today's game. Again. For the record, it was 11-9 over the Pirates. Harang made up for his Opening Day loss by matching a career high (for the fifth time) with ten strikeouts in 6-2/3 innings. Aurilia and Kearns homered. Freel went 3-for-4 with two steals and scored three runs. Dunn, who went 1,085 plate appearances from July 22, 2003 to June 29, 2005 without a sacrifice fly, had one today and now has two in five games this season. Our starting pitchers have gone have gone 25-1/3 innings without walking a batter. Griffey walked on four pitches with the sacks drunk to record his 1540th career RBI, tying Willie Stargell for 30th on the all-time list. And, the Reds have won four in a row.

While all this is going on, here we are shaking our heads wondering what Krivsky's up to with stockpiling this glut of catchers, middle infielders, and even outfielders. I've thought about this for a couple of days now since he signed Brandon Phillips, and I keep coming back to this: On November 29, 1971 (a day which will live in infamy for Astros fans), a bold blockbuster trade engineered by then-Reds GM Bob Howsam sent Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Jimmy Stewart to Houston for Joe Morgan, Jack Billingham, Denis Menke, Cesar Geronimo, and Ed Armbrister. The deal transformed a marginal contender into one of baseball's best teams of all time.

I can't put my finger on why, but I have this strange feeling Krivsky is stockpiling talent with an eye toward making a real humdinger of a deal here. Who knows, that might just end up on the list of all-time biggest deals in Reds history, along with the greatest trade in Reds history, Howsam's 1971 deal that put the finishing touches on the Big Red Machine.

In the meantime, hey, the Reds are winning, and they're ahead of the Cardinals, Cubs, and Astros in the standings. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, and hope Krivsky pulls a rabbit out of his hat that lets them keep this going all season long.

When Marty gets to keep saying “This one belongs to the Reds!” as often as he has this week? Hey, right now it is fun to be a Reds fan! When's the last time you could say THAT with a straight face?

Best regards to all, keep smilin', and GO REDS!

John, KC2HMZ

I dunno how you managed it, RHM, but Heartthrob is back.

Reds Final 25-Man Roster:

Catchers: Valentin, Ross
Infielders: Aurilia, Encarnacion, Freel, Hatteberg, Lopez, Womack
Outfielders: Dunn, Griffey, Kearns, Denorfia, Abad
Pitchers: Arroyo, Belisle, Burns, Claussen, Coffey, Hammond, Harang, Mercker, Milton, Weathers, White, Williams

Wagner is optioned to Louisville. LaRue and Wilson are on the DL. Cruz, Menechino, McCracken, Wise, and Buchanan go to (or remain in) the minor league camp also.

- HMZ -