Reds news
Today the Reds optioned to Class AAA Louisville RHP Matt Belisle and reinstated from the 15-day disabled list LHP Kent Mercker.
RHP Josh Fogg will start Saturday’s game against the Braves.

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Must read book

 

 

 

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Bengals news
The Bengals today made the following roster moves:
* Signed rookie CB Jerrid Gaines, a college free agent from Miami (Ohio). Gaines (5-11, 189) was signed as a CFA by Cleveland following the 2008 draft, and was released by the Browns on May 4.
* Terminated the contract of WR Doug Gabriel, releasing him to free agency. Gabriel, a fifth-year NFL player, was signed by Cincinnati as a free agent on April 8.

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You are watching because of fewer tatoos?
Fox Sports
Part of the reason more people are watching these playoffs is because the average fan isn't constantly repulsed by the appearance of most of the players on the court. Most of the key players left in the playoffs don't look like recent prison parolees.

 

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Show preview
Guests
Chuck Weber, Cyclones coach
Topics
Reds: Now 10-5 in their last 15....winners of nine straight at home. What does it mean? How does it feel?
10 Worst Reds hitters since 1980: Brandon Larson, Corey Patterson.......
NBA playoffs
Stanley Cup
Sports Six Appeal: See below
Jump in FORUM to discuss

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Thanks!
We wound up with 153 listeners at our Homer Outing last night. What a fun night.....with great weather....and a win. We had sections 103-104-105. I stood at the top of section 103 most of the night and talked to listeners. Great to see kids, parents, younger, older, men, and women all join us. Can't beat $9.50 for those seats. Thanks for Dave Ziegler and everyone at the Reds for extending the offer to us!

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Kirsten Allen update
She must be amazing! The Ryle HS softball pitcher tossed a one-hit shutout with 13 k's Wednesday in a 7-0 win over Highlands.
Check out these numbers from The Enquirer:
Wins: 30 this year, 128 career
Shutouts: 28 this year, 108 career
K's: 402 this year, 1789 career
ERA: 0.06 this year, 0.25 career
Ever see her pitch?
Ryle faces Conner at Dixie Heights for the 9th Region championship at 5pm tonight.

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Casey At The Bat

Casey is in year two of machine pitch. This at-bat last week resulted in his first career home run, a grand slam. He rocketed one over the left fielders head and circled the bases. He wound up with four hits.
His next game he went 0-3.....with three K's and was bummed. The next day I wrote down 10 major league players, that he knew, on a piece of paper. Those ten had gone a combined 0 for 37 the night before. His eyes lit up. I told him the game is never as easy as it appears or as hard as it can appear. I added that Pete Rose made more outs than anyone in the history of the game...10,328.

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SI this week

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Reds need more hitters like Dunn, not fewer
Bill Peterson, City Beat
Whatever happens, Adam Dunn is going to be fine. The Reds can sign him to another contract or not. If not, he goes to a ball club of his choice, perhaps his hometown Houston Astros, who don't have a spot for him at the moment, or the New York Yankees, where he could be a star as their designated hitter.
It's really up to the Reds to decide their direction.

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Tab Perry released
Sun Sentinel
Perry was signed on March 15 for a tad under $1 million. Because he was waived injured, he will receive an injury settlement.

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Could you substitute Chad for Urlacher in this column?
Sun Times
If Brian Urlacher hasn't noticed, life is passing him by in Chicago, much like Adrian Peterson blowing past him in the red zone. No longer is he this city's leading sports icon -- or even close. Carlos Zambrano is bigger now, if crazier. Lou Piniella is much more fun. He's even losing popularity votes to the nascent likes of Carlos Quentin, who will make $400,000 this year, and Geovany Soto, who will make exactly one dollar more

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Picking up the pace
Sitting in LF last night, I watched Adam Dunn at the end of each inning. He is now sprinting to the dugout after the 3rd out each time. Wonder if that is to avoid being left in the dust of Jay Bruce who makes a beeline to the dugout at the end of each inning? Dunn make a couple of nice plays in LF as well.

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Why Bruce wasn't called up sooner?
Beyond The Boxscore
Thus, by waiting until now to call up Jay Bruce, the Reds likely ensure that Bruce will only be arbitration eligible for three years. Therefore, in 2011, Bruce will likely make the league minimum of approximately $450,000, rather than somewhere around $10 million. That's a huge difference, and is well his spending two months in the minors in 2008. Additionally, the Reds are missing out on production of age-21 Jay Bruce for two months this season; in exchange, they are only going to paying age-24 Jay Bruce league minimum. As good as Bruce is likely to be this year, he's going to be even better in three years.
The Reds were right to keep Bruce in the minors until now. Their mistake was not finding a better stop-gap than Corey Patterson and his .295 career OBP.

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Perspective for tonight
From emailer Steven Sharp
Former Reds pitcher Phil Dumatrait will start for the Pirates tonight.
Did you know? Dumatrait is the last lefthander to start a regular-season game for the Reds. Oh, what a forgettable start it was on September 9, 2007.
Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, and Ryan Braun -- the first three Brewers batters -- all homered, leading off the game. Following singles by the next two batters -- Prince Fielder and Corey Hart, Dumatrait was removed, having not retired a single batter. Dumatrait did not appear in another game as a Red.
Since the start by Dumatrait on September 9, 2007, the Reds have played 72 consecutive regular-season games (the last nineteen games of the 2007 season and the first fifty-three games of the 2008 season) in which the Reds starting pitcher was a righthander.

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I'd love to hear from a Cyclones caller today with reaction to this below.
We left as the clock was ticking down...the kids were worn out and it was late.
I didn't see any of this.

Wranglers: Fans embarrass Cincinnati
Las Vegas Review Journal
"Their crowds were pretty nasty. It's kind of embarrassing what they did," said Las Vegas forward Adam Miller, who scored the winning goal with 4:20 remaining in regulation. "I saw water bottles half full and Coke bottles coming right at us. One of them almost hit (Lalande) in the face. He's got his mask on, but it doesn't matter. It was disrespectful to us and not good for their community."

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Thompson sharp in AAA debut
Louisville Courier Journal
Promoted from Double-A Chattanooga, where he was 3-2 with a 1.76 ERA in 10 starts, the 22-year-old Thompson (1-0) gave up only four hits and two walks against the Clippers.

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Headlines read
"Patterson sent down to get his swing back"-Enquirer
Isn't that assuming he once had a swing that he can get back?

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Maxim Hometown Hottie
Careful opening

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Jr perspective
From listener Scott
Did a little research last night on players batting 3rd in their lineups.
This was based on players who batted 3rd on Tuesday and based on stats through Tuesday night.
26 players had at least 150 AB this season.
HR - Griffey 5 - Tied for 16th with one other
RBI - Griffey 23 - 18th
Runs - Griffey 25 - Tied for 19th with 3 others
Avg. - Griffey .249 - 26th