Reds at Astros – Skyline vs Sheriff Blaylock in a Cage Match EditionMinute Maid ParkTuesday, 7:05 PM on FSSW
Wednesday, 7:05 PM on FSSW
Thursday, 7:05 PM on KNWS
Notable giveawaysDouble Play Tuesday, where you get 2 cheap seats for $2 by bringing in a neck ring/label from a 32oz bottle of PowerAde. Gotta buy your tickets at the box office though.
Projected Matchupshttp://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/probable_pitchers.jsp?c_id=houReds aren’t going to send Matt Belisle out there so Coach Raup can maintain a strict Astros allegiance. We also get to miss Aaron Harang and his shit rising fastball that we can’t seem to hit.
On the plus side, with Adam Dunn back in town, Drayton can set the thermostat one degree higher. Dunn’s mighty swing-and-a-miss will keep everyone cool.
Injury ReportCincinnati – Everyday Eddie Guardado is spending everyday of the next few weeks on the 60 day DL. The Big Guy Arthur Carlson is still experiencing post traumatic stress from the botched Thanksgiving Day Turkey Give Away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZByndN_ffywHouston – Other than Jennings, nuthin’.
Sing a Song of Six PENCE!!!!I like “PENCE!!!!” as the moniker du jour for young Hunter. “ALL CAPS” is good as well. “Yeshua” teeters on the edge of good taste, but he is the offensive Messiah the sports radio prophets have been calling for. Anyway, my prediction is we’ll have a suitable nickname for him by the time Purp sends him back to the minors.
Till then, remember this....every inning Hunter Pence is in CF is one less inning Chris Burke is in CF. That, as Martha Stewart would say, is a good thing.
Adventures in HooliganismSo my daughter and I are starting to watch soccer together, and following some advice from Limey we have settled upon the Tottenham Hotspurs as “our” team to follow. Well, sure enough, their game this weekend was on the Fox Sports Channel so I tivo’d it and we watched it together on Sunday.
The Spurs, as us fans call them, won an entertaining contest versus Middlesbrough (I think they suck but am not entirely sure) highlighted by a sweet goal from some dude named Berbatov. Here’s the YouTube clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-od2HUWcTM.
My daughter thought the goal was neat so we proceeded to go out to the backyard to “recreate” the goal the best we could. Never quite got it down, but we had fun goofing off together so mission accomplished.
The point to all this is that we can “play” soccer a lot easier than we can “play” baseball. She’s not quite where she needs to be in terms of swing a bat, or catching/throwing a ball. But she can kick a soccer ball. Is where we are RIGHT NOW going to cause her to like soccer more than baseball/softball? While baseball is more popular than men’s soccer, I gotta believe women’s soccer is more popular than women’s softball. You hear a lot about how baseball is losing the black audience/players but I wonder if baseball isn’t also losing the female fans.
FACTS about the Red MenaceThe Josh Hamilton story is a nice one, as far as recovering heroin addicts go. Seems he is tying up the Reds official site’s mailbag much like PENCE!!!! has with the Astros site. Here’s the latest Mailbag from Cincy whihc offers proof the “hey, let’s put Player X at a different position” phenomenon isn’t limited to Houston.
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070430&content_id=1939213&vkey=news_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cinThe Reds are going to retire Dave Concepcion’s number. He was a fine player and all, but for a franchise that has been around since dirt and with a ton of great historical players, doesn’t this seem a bit much? I mean in terms of all-time great Reds he is clearly behind Rose, Morgan, Bench, Perez, Larkin, Frank Robinson and probably 5 or 6 more I can’t name off the top of my head.
Ryan Freel or David Eckstein. Which is the greater piss ant? Me, I go with Freel. He’s Wally Backman/Len Dykstra rolled into one.
Edwin Encarnacion has made only 3 errors this season. He’s due for a few these next 3 games.
David Weathers is getting it done as a closer. Not sure how much longer he can keep it up, but so far so good. Color me shocked. 2.70 ERA and a WHIP of 1.00. Yeah its early but he’s been fairly effective for the Reds the last 2 years. I’ll always love the guy for his one start against the Cubs in 2004 when he was with the Marlins.
Man, its easy to forget just how awesome Junior Griffey used to be. He’d hit 300 with 40+ bombs and play a legit gold glove caliber defense. Too bad Barry Larkin had to run his mouth about winning the title in 2000. That right there was what caused Junior and the Reds to spin right into the shitter. Take that Barry.
