In eight years of blogging, it’s amazing how much Reds-inspired music I have seen. Of course we know all Bronson Arroyo wants to be a rock star and you’ve probably heard tracks from Cincinnati Clutch hits, but it goes beyond that. The latest of these is the new offering from The Cincinnati Reds Wooo guy.

I think it’s pretty good, myself. Totally get-stuck-in-your-head-able.

Voting for the 2013 All-Star game will finally close on Thursday at 11:59 p.m. I believe it started sometime in January.

It’s looking good for Reds’ first baseman Joey Votto. According to the story on Reds.com, when the tallies were last announced Votto had 3,622,608 votes, which is more than a half-million ahead of his closest competition, Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks. It’s simply a fact that Votto is the All-Star first baseman of the NL. This vote doesn’t prove it; it just reflects it.

But while Votto’s lead is increasing, Brandon Phillips’ lead at second base is actually shrinking. Phillips’ 3,411,839 votes only puts him a quarter of a million ahead of the Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter. Now, I appreciate that some people, especially Cardinals’ fans, really hate Phillips, but BP is the most fun second baseman to watch–maybe ever. It would be worth putting in a few minutes to cast your votes for Phillips just to give the rest of the country the treat that we all get most every day.

And that does it for the Reds’ starters you’re going to see on the team. Jay Bruce and Shin-Soo Choo are All-Stars in our hearts, but back-up is the best they can hope for this year. I don’t know if it might be different if they voted by position instead of lumping all the outfielders together. This one-outfield-position-fits-all system that they have going is just weird to me.

The rosters will be announced Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on a special All-Star Selection Show they’re airing on FOX. It’s sure to be unnecessarily long and overdramatic. You still have time affect those rosters: go to the All Star Game Ballot to cast your vote.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Giants	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	0
Reds	0	4	3	0	1	0	8	11	0

Boxscore

I’ve never written a game wrap for a shortened game before. I wondered what the line-score would look like.

With a score like 1-8, you wouldn’t have guessed that this game was called after the sixth inning, but in fact, this was a complete game for Bronson Arroyo. In his 6.0 innings of work, he allowed just 1 run on 2 hits and a walk.

His opponent, young Mike Kickham, was not so lucky. This was only the third start for this lefty, but for a change the Reds’ offense beat up on a pitcher they didn’t already know. Everyone in the lineup except Arroyo and Shin-Soo Choo had a hit, and Todd Frazier got 4 of the RBI thanks in large part to a three-run homer in the third inning.

It’s been a rough time for the Reds lately, but 5.0 games back on the Pirates doesn’t seem so far coming off a win at home and knowing you’ve still got three more games against the Giants.

The win brings the Reds’ record to 47-36. They continue the series tonight in Great American Ball Park at 7:10 p.m. Homer Bailey (RHP, 4-6, 3.88 ERA) is coming off a good-except-for-one-inning performance against the A’s last week. He’ll face Tim Lincecum (RHP, 4-8, 4.64 ERA).

That animated GIF in the last post is seriously annoying, so I’m going to push it off the front page. Five rapid fire posts coming up!

Speaking of races, why not start off this frenzy of posts with a flashback to an old race. You younguns may not remember that, back in 2006, the Reds did not have a regular second baseman. Back in those days, we had a handful of backup infielders who were all vying for the spot. So we here at RHM decided to create this highly scientific simulator to help the Reds’ brass choose a winner.

Go ahead, give it a click and run the race!

(Game modified from a Flash template provided at Flash Kit.)
Get the latest version of Flash here.

One month after this went up, the Reds traded for Brandon Phillips, and now he’s the second-longest tenured Red on the team (Bronson Arroyo has him beat by 18 days). Boy, doesn’t that just make you feel old?

Those darn Pirates have won 9 in a row to take a 2.0 game lead in the NLC and a 5.5 game lead on the Reds specifically. It’s hard to deal with, while the Reds have gone 3-7 in their west coast road trip. But you can indulge in a little schadenfreude by watching the Pirate Parrot fall over the railing trying to catch a foul ball.

It’s a stretch to call this a fail, especially since mascots are supposed to be silly and slapstick. But it’s the only thing going at all wrong for the Pirates right now, so I guess it’ll have to do.