Welcome to round 2 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Our final match of the quarterfinal round is going to be a doozy. Matt Belisle, hottie starting rotation candidate for the Reds goes up against cult hero Bubba Crosby. Belisle has been a fan favorite at Red Hot Mama since he came up, but Crosby brought down 78% of the vote in the first round against Bronson Arroyo is the most heavily voted-in contest of the tournament so far.


Bubba Crosby
ht: 5-11 wt: 195 dob: 08/11/1976

Matt Belisle
ht: 6-3 wt: 230 dob: 06/06/1980
[poll=23]

More stuff stolen from Reds.com…

Matthew Thomas Belisle was born June 6, 1980 in Austin, Texas. He graduated from McCallum High School, where he lettered in baseball and basketball, in 1998. Back in those days, he was named Sophomore of the Year for his district in baseball and was the district’s Most Valuable Player as a junior for baseball.

Belisle is a cutie-pie and a favorite of many of the lady Reds fans.

Matt Belisle is currently a relief pitcher for the Reds, but lots of people would like to see him given a chance to start, seeing as the third-through-fifth starter positions continue to be weaker-than-normal in the rotation.

Here’s stuff stolen from his bio page on Reds.com until I can get back to do this properly. At the very least, I’ll put this in bullet form so you can actually read it.

• In his first full season in the Major Leagues went 2-6-1, 4.09 in 55 relief apps and 2-2, 5.25 in 5 starts.
• made all 5 starts in his first 15 apps of the season, then beginning 6/9 made his last 45 apps of the season in relief (4.11era)
• in his last 10 apps of the season allowed 15 runs (9.1ip, 10er), a stretch preceded by 9 consecutive scoreless apps (6.2ip) that had lowered his ERA to 3.77 through games of 9/4
• began the season with 2 relief appearances but then from 4/13-4/23 made his first 3 big league straight starts (1-1, 6.23)
• during that span took the spot in the rotation vacated by the disabled Ramon Ortiz
• following that 3-start stretch, from 4/27-5/13 made 8 consecutive appearances out of the bullpen (0-2, 3.46)
• followed that stint in the ‘pen with starts on 5/25 vs Wsh and 5/31 at Hou (1-1, 4.09) and then finished the season with the 45 straight relief appearances
• in his 5 starts the Reds went 3-2
• twice was called upon to replace that day’s starting pitcher
• in those 2 starts went 2-0, 2.45 after earning a 6-5 victory on 4/13 at StL (replaced Ramon Ortiz) and a 12-3 win on 5/25 vs Wsh (replaced Aaron Harang)
• on 4/13 at StL made his first Major League start after Ortiz was scratched that morning with a groin injury
• in that 6-5 victory became the first Reds pitcher to win his first ML start since Luis Pineda on 6/25/02 at Chi (5-2 win)
• in the 11-10 victory on 7/4 at SF earned the first save of his professional career
• on 9/30 at StL allowed Albert Pujols’ 200th career homer (grand slam)
• on 5/31 at Hou, in front of 35 family and friends, produced an infield single off Brandon Backe for his first career hit.