Red Reposter - Reds Lose Baseball Game, Breathless Public Brays for the Heads of Those Responsible

Welp, The Harangutan took another Opening Day loss
He's now 1-4 in his 5 Opening Day starts for the Redlegs. "I just got beat today, there's nothing we can do about it," said Harang. "I look forward to the next game and I'll go out and get them." You know, in the cold, sobering light of morning I can see the inevitability of yesterday's game. The Cardinals have Albert Pujols and he's going to win entire series' all on his own. I think Harang has resigned himself to the inevitability of it too, "I pitched him pretty decent, that's about all you can do."

Matthew Pouliot thinks Dusty wins the Stupid Opening Day Lineup Derby
I think it's a bit of a non-issue myself, but Matty earned the link with this gem of an opener: "It's usually about putting your best foot forward when it comes to setting a lineup on Opening Day. Dusty Baker, though, decided to lead with his head up his ass."

The Fay says it's tough to argue that the Reds should have walked Albert Pujols yesterday
in any of his at-bats. "Somebody’s getting him out," Dusty Baker said. "He ain’t hitting .800. He just started off hot. But you can’t walk him every time, especially with first base occupied and you’ve got (Matt) Holliday, a $100 million man coming up next. You’re asking for trouble." If you ask me, I'm not sure it's ever a good idea to pitch to Albert. I know Holliday is behind him, but jeez lah-weeze. He's not quite at Barry-Bonds-10-years-ago levels, but he's getting close.  Fear and respect.

Sheldon predicts the Reds are going to finish 3rd in the Central this year
with 84 wins. I think he's too high on the wins and too low in the standings.

Dusty says he's not commited to a platoon in the outfield
"You’ve got to go with what you think is best on that day...I’m not committed one way or another to a platoon. We’ll just have to wait and see." These two statements seem to be contradictory. On one hand, you say you have to play the player you think matches up best on that day, which usually means a lefty vs. a righty or a righty vs. a lefty. But you say you aren't committed to a platoon. Am I missing something here, or is this crazy talk?

The Reds officially designated Aaron Miles and Wladimir Balentien for assignment
They have 10 days to try to trade them before they can be claimed on waivers. My sources say the Marlins are interested, with a possible deal for Hanley Ramirez in the works. The Marlins would have to eat some salary though, so it could take the full 10 days to work it out.

Marc Hulet has some scouting reports on some of our young pitchers from the game on March 20
He doesn't have many good things to say about Mike Leake: "Leake definitely did not look like a former first rounder in this game… and he certainly did not look like a pitcher worthy of skipping the minor leagues all together. It will be interesting to see him pitch when he’s on his game." I don't really have much to say about this. Hulet saw him for a few innings and Leake didn't impress. BFD.