A hodgepodge of my thoughts and opinions...

---Tonight's game:
Well, I didn't see the game, but I did see the box score. That's more than enough for me.

Claussen didn't make it through the sixth and gets his fourth loss of the season in the process. Shack gave up a dinger and now has an ERA. In great news, Chris Hammond's ERA is now under 10. Let's throw him a party or something - he's earned it! As for the 'O' - 3 hits. 3 hits? 1 run? At the Small Park? Come on, guys.

<I apologize for the excessive, scathing sarcasm - it's been a bad day outside of my baseball-fan-life.>

---Injuries, or non-injuries. Whatever. ...and cool bats:
It is official. I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing Dr. Tim Kremchek run around throwing out quotes like "It's not a serious injury," and "day to day." It's been a month. Griffey was on the DL for his 15 days and is now wandering around in unactivated limbo. Speaking of which, this seems a little off to me. You can have a player come off of the DL but not be activated for almost two weeks, but a player can only remain on rehab assignment for 30 days before he needs to be activated. It seems like if there is a rule about one, there should be a rule about the other... but I digress. Or is this some sort of "rehab assignment" where he does no rehabbing? Anyway. Back to the Doc... I understand that Junior is the one dictating the situation here, and I sure don't want to see him do further damage to his leg by returning before he is ready, but I don't want to hear that this isn't a serious injury because, frankly, this is taking a "serious" amount of time to heal. If Milton comes back from his surgery before Griffey is activated, Kremchek isn't going to be able to hide behind those statements any longer. I just want to know what is going on, as does every single Reds fan out there that is watching this offense take every other day off. Tell us, we can handle anything.

Speaking of rehab assignments, Cody Ross and his "injured" hand have done very well in 3 games in Louisville. .444 avg., .583 OBP. I'm just sayin'. Oh, yeah, and Chris Denorfia is riding the pine here in Cincy... that's exactly where he should be, not getting any regular playing time while Freel and his sub-.230 average are getting starts in CF. Don't get me wrong, I love Ryan Freel, I think that when he's on his game, he is one of the cornerstones of the Reds. Unfortunately, however, right now he's scuffling, and that ain't good for the leadoff man. I think he needs a minimum of three straight games off... I am a proponent of letting players play through their bad streaks, but not in this case. He was so hot the first couple weeks of the season, and then he hit a wall, and I don't see the wall crumbling anytime soon, and this team can't afford to have his cold bat in a lineup that is already missing Junior and is suffering from a semi-cool Felipe Lopez.

---Baseball luncheons and lobsters:
I enjoyed the Baseball 101 luncheon this afternoon. I can also officially say that I underestimated the power of the sun, and I now resemble a lobSTAR. My arms are burned, holy God, and the tan burn lines that I have are insane. Yeah, I have idiot moments from time to time.
I got to meet Red Hot Mama, see Felipe's tattoos up close and uncovered, and see Doug Gallant, Reds Head Groundskeeper, almost beat the **** out of Gapper. All in all, well worth the sunburn that will probably lead to skin cancer down the road someday. In the 'Most Surprising Turn of Events' category, we all received styrofoam bowls full of dirt and grass. The sheer amount of turf I saw divided up into bowls leads me to believe that there is no way in **** this actually came from the field as we were told - It would seriously take half of the outfield to amount to what was sitting on those tables. In any case, I now have grass from Ohio Stadium, pilfered after I rushed the field when the Buckeyes beat Michigan in 2004, and GABP, which I was given... with dirt... so I can put it in my yard?

Did I mention that I got to sit in the dugout? THATWASAWESOME.

I never thought I'd ever consider paying $215 to sit in the Diamond Seats. Kids, it's nice down there. I'll probably do it one time. Food and drinks are included, right?

---Conclusion:
I know there are about 3 million people out there who don't think Rich Aurilia does a single thing to help this team. I wholeheartedly disagree. He's proved that he can play anywhere in the infield and that he can hit in clutch situations. He's batting .295 with 5 HR and 13 RBI. Just as a comparison, that's 1 more HR and 1 less RBI than Felipe Lopez. In 9 fewer games. Again, I'm just sayin'. The team misses his presence in the lineup, I don't care how many people say otherwise. (Not to mention the record since he went down with the groin pull. What? 2-4. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I'd love to have him back in case it's not.)
Brandon Claussen is such a question mark every time he goes out on the mound. He has a great game, and then goes out five days later and gives up 4 homers. What gives? His control is suspect at times, and when his pitch count is up, like it usually is, he gets into trouble. It makes perfect sense... See the problem, fix the problem!

I've been working on this post entirely too long. If you made it all the way through, I applaud you.

As always, go Redlegs.