It's time once again for one of my favorite annual threads on Red Reporter!  That's right, it's time for the NBA Draft!  In the past these threads have produced lots of discussion, lots of good jokes & lots of trolling!  Let's hope tonight is no different!

It seems to be a foregone conclusion that Kyrie Irving is going to go #1 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but after that not much is certain.  Will the Cavs take a big man at #4 or trade away that pick?  The Internet has been going crazy with trade rumors & there is apparently a 3 team trade that's already been completed.  The Spurs for some reason are trying to trade Tony Parker for a Lottery Pick and it should be entertaining to see how many teams make a huge mistake & pass on the best player in the draft, Enes Kanter.

Other notables in the draft include Derrick Williams, Brandon Knight, Kemba Walker, Jimmer Fredette, Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris, Tristan Thompson & a couple of foreign players I've never heard of that apparently can't get out of their oversees contract.

Perhaps less notable are DeAndre Liggins, #Jorts, and former Louisville commit Jeremy Tyler. 

And, of course, it wouldn't be an NBA draft without several sightings of John Calipari!

via cdn.bleacherreport.net

And because Cleveland is likely to be the story of the draft, Rally Cavs Girl!

via www.nba.com

Pitchers: Dontrelle Willis

Ok, we are now nearing the end of June. We have 5 mid rotation starters, with all of them being very inconsistent.
The only starting pitcher that is not a mid rotation guy is Cueto. Volquez, Arroyo, Leake,Wood and Bailey are all inconsistent. Maybe its time to give Dontrelle Willis a shot for a few starts? Outside of Arroyo, he is the most experienced of all our pitchers. He still isnt pitching deep into games in AAA, but neither is anyone else.

Position Players:

Dave Sappelt, Zack Cozart, Danny Dorn, Devin Mesoraco(?), Yonder Alonso and Jeremy Hermida.

Mesoraco is the only one that doesnt have to be called up, our catchers play good defense and give us just enough offense. Edgar Renteria HAS to go. His defense is suspect and he looks lost at the plate. Janish is a very good spot starter and the best defensive replacement on our bench. But Cozart has to get a chance. Every report says his defense is above average and he has to be better than Janish at the plate. Ive seen Cozart in the field but he wasnt required to do much the days Ive seen him play.

Shoot me, but I like Jonny Gomes. Gomes is a high energy guy and he is picking it up in June. His defense is OK, but he does hustle.Fred Lewis or Chris Heisey need to be optioned. I would prefer Sappelt in their place. I have seem him play, he is very confident and competent at the plate and he does play good defense.

Hermida and Alonso would be best bets for trade bait out of this group. I personally dont see the MLB bat in Alonso. I think if we hold on to him he is gonna lose value. Hermida is an experienced and cheap option for some other team in the Majors. Dudes batting .349 in AAA and he is 27. Now is a good time.

Danny Dorn deserves his own paragraph. Dude has been in our system for awhile and this year has to be his best year so far. He is only batting .282, but he has 11 homers and 45 RBI's. Give him a shot! He has played outfield and only recently moved to 1st ( to get Alonso in left). Thats all I've got.

KG

Just in time for Father’s Day, obc’s 2011 Top 10 Cincinnati Restaurants.  This list will differ from Mo Egger’s and Cincinnati Magazine’s.  I did, however, include 1-2 chains (depending on your definition of chain restaurant)

10. Stone Creek  -(Urbanspoon 87% like)  I prefer the downtown Montgomery location.  The service has always been spot on and I really like the décor.  Originally I found this place when my pal Kevin Fox played an acoustic set in the bar area. I always grab the seafood trio appetizer, as im a sucker for crab cakes, calamari and seared ahi.  The salads are well above average and the entrees have been give an enthusiastic thumbs up by everyone I’ve eaten with at SC.  Prep the wallets, though, as this is not the cheapest location on the list.   Parking tip: there is a parking garage under the building.  Parking here allows one to walk by the Green Diamond Gallery. 
http://www.stonecreekdining.com/App_Themes/CRGdining/SCmMenu.pdf

9. Biagio’s Bistro -  (Urbanspoon 88% like) located in Clifton’s gaslight district, on Ludlow Ave next to the Esquire Theatre.   I am a huuuuge fan of open kitchens.  I have always sat at the tables right across from where Chef Biagio creates his dishes.  Having worked in restaurants and bars for years I greatly appreciate the opportunity to watch my food/drink be prepared, if desired.  Incredible Alfredo dishes.  And you simply CANNOT skip getting a canoli, or two, for dessert.  Best restaurant desserts in town! Parking tip: park in the IGA lot across the street, especially if you can get the covered spaces, then walk the alley up to Ludlow.  (this alley is where the late great sukr told a peace activist that he “was a war monger” when they attempted to pass him hipster literature. 
http://www.biagiosbistro.net/index2.html

8. Barnesburg Tavern – (Urbanspoon 83% like) it pains me to rank my Go To restaurant and bar this low, but it speaks volumes for the top 7’s quality.   BBT is famous for being the location where jch, peach, bk, ash, westie and I watched Ohio’s monumental blowout upset over Georgetown in the NCAA Tourney a couple years ago.  Best night to go is Saturday, Prime Rib Night (only 15.99) but the real star of the show are the half priced appetizers from 4-7pm. Too bad the seared Ahi isn’t included in that price reduction any longer.  Haven’t met a dish that I haven’t loved there yet.  Sign up for the email updates and they will regularly send you a $5 off coupon on $30 purchase.  That makes ordering one more tall draught craft beer sensible!  Also, fathers eat free on father’s day and mother’s eat free on mother’s day.  Parking tip: get there early or back in the hidden large lot around the back of the complex.  Ash does not recommend parking across the street in Soccer City (hat tip, BK!) and walking across the puddle laden lots. 
http://www.barnesburgtavernandgrille.com/

7. Sakura Steak House– (Urbanspoon 91% like) Not sure why they named this restaurant Steak House, it’s a Hibatchi Grill.  And my personal favorite Hibatchi in town.  Its located right off the Rybolt/Harrison exit off I-74, on the hill overlooking the freeway. Not the most glamorous exterior.  An abandoned motel shares its parking lot.  West Side!  Strong Side!  As always, always decide to upgrade to the Filet at a hibatchi grill, its vastly superior to the Steak option.  Pretty good (albeit pricy) sushi.  No website or online menu. 

6. Oriental Wok – (Urbanspoon 88% like) The granddaddy of Chinese restaurants in greater Cincinnati.   Much bigger restaurant than most people anticipate and easily the most luxurious Chinese in town. There is a private room upstairs and a large private banquet room that seats up to 250. Most nights feature a piano player tickling the ivories.  The bar area is almost always empty and a great spot for groups to meet up.  There is an indoor pond that runs all around the main dining area stocked with Koi and other critters and this feature is usually a big hit with the kiddos.  Mr Wong has amassed an incredible amount of artifacts and the décor is spectacular.  Best egg rolls in town.  Shockingly good Sea Bass entre. Pork lo mein is not to be skipped here either.  Tip: do not order the poo poo platter without reading how much it will cost PER PERSON! Also, there is a Graeter’s located next door which is an excellent dessert option. 
http://www.orientalwok.com/index.php

5.  Herb and Thelma’s – (Urbanspoon 100% like it) C’mon, you KNEW Opening Day was going to be featured on this list, right? Hand dig! A favorite of Red Reporter’s young and old, Chip recently added an Italian Sausage to the menu which is now a must order.  Skip the tamale.  Skip the chili.  Order a cheeseburger with grilled onions and chase it with the Ital Sausage. Easily the best burger per dollar spent in greater Cincinnati. Pray that Skip stocked Bud Select the morning before you arrived otherwise you might be stuck quaffing worse macrobrews.  tHan usually opts for the Stroh’s, BK rolls with the Coors Light.  I usually grimace and just accept whatever else they want to serve. I’m kinda shocked they don’t stock the new Hudepohl Amber or the retrofitted Burger.  I took a drive by the ole diamond in the rough yesterday and confirmed that the house next door is still For Rent!

4. New Orleans To Go – (Urbanspoon 97% like) Run, don’t walk, to wherever this Streetcar Named Desire is setting up shop next.   Usually found downtown at 5th and Race during lunchtime.  Best wings on the planet earth.  I am not a fan of catfish whatsoever but I will scarf theirs until my belly fills and causes me discomfort.  I have to pimp the Shrimp Po Boys also and she serves my absolute favorite N’Awlins style food in the area. (is it Cajun? Creole? Bayouian?)  Incredible bargain for the price. Follow them on twitter to see when and where they will be next, Father’s Day they are beginning to serve Sunday brunch at Eden Park. 
http://holdthemustardcincy.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-orleans-to-go.html

3. Gordo’s Pub and Grill – (Urbanspoon 87% like) home of the best burger in Cincinnati, the Jean-Robert. Nothing beats the mixture of grape compote and bleu cheese/goat cheese.  I guess I haven’t been since we convinced HLM21 that it was the best in town.  There are two new burgers which I am quite surprised to learn about, the Chocolate Stout Burger and the PBJ burger.  Be sure to visit the rooftop area, folks think its VIP access only or don’t even know its there.  Chef Gordo doesn’t publicize it.  Then again he snuck those two burgers onto the online menu without the RR burgerhounds knowing anything about it!
http://www.gordospub.com/gourmet_burgers.html

2. Pelican’s Reef – (Urbanspoon 92% like) Gimme oysters and beer, for dinner every day of the year!  Probably the only place I know that serves conch fritters.  Best Lobster Bisque in town, and best Grouper sandwich.  The PR always has 2-3 menus at any given time.  One is the regular menu, one is a quarterly special, and one is the weekly special. Fresh ingredients are the secret to their success.  A nautical, tropical theme fits despite the location in a strip mall.  The restaurant features high tables with paper towels in one half the restaurant and regular low tops in the secondadjoining  room, a recent addition to the original seating area. Beware, there’s usually a line out the door from 530-830pm.  Arrive earlier or later if you can’t handle a big crowd. 
http://www.thepelicansreef.com/

1.Matsuya – (Urbanspoon 88% like) Best sushi in three state radius.  And its not even close.  It rivals the PR for oddest location for a great restaurant.  It, too, is in a strip mall.  This one is in a fairly sparse area of Florence KY.  The building doesn’t face Dixie Highway so it’s a little hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for.   A wonderful retail store is located directly next door and its operated by the same owner.  A very traditional Japanese restaurant (no hibatchi here!). The main dining area is traditional Americano, located in the rear is a tatami room with floor mat table seating.  Feel free to order a pot of shabu shabu, this restaurant is one of the few places that offers that dining option.  I skip that and order sushi, and appetizers, exclusively.  I’d love to try more of the menu…but that would cause me to eat less of my favorite sushi anywhere.  Fist bumps to Chef Matsushita!!! 
http://www.matsuyaweb.com/

When I was a senior, there were two guys on my high school team that had been on the team since they were sophomores.  They also happened to be our top two pitchers.  As we practiced prior to the season, they told everyone that we'd neglected a team superstition the previous year, and that it had cost us dearly.  The superstition, so we were told, was that the first pitch of the home opener had to be thrown over the backstop.  We didn't do it the year before, and we missed the playoffs by one game.  The year prior - they claimed, as the only members of the team who had been on the team then - the team threw the first pitch over the backstop and were rewarded with a postseason berth.  As far as they knew, the same thing happened the year before they were on the team too.  Now, of course everyone was skeptical.  At the same time, these were our top two pitchers.  Why would they put themselves out there like that since one of them was likely to be on the mound for that pitch?

Continue reading this post »

Yeah, I have been skeptical too. How can a guy go from pretty much nothingness to the best slugger in the game without, you know, "help".  Hard to set aside that cynicism nowadays. Not knowing much about Bautista, kind of a default setting. Which is why this piece from Yahoo Sports earlier this week that I just ran across is such a superlative read, because it provides all sorts of background into who Bautista is and why this might be happening without "help":


http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201106/number-crusher-how-blue-jays-slugger-jose-bautista-experimented-his-way-greatness

There's a lot to like there. Smart guy who has worked hard to unlock and maximize his talent. That's a narrative that I can buy into after reading the piece. Oh, and it burns a bit that the Reds had identified him as an amateur and offered him $300K and then took the offer off the table when Lindner acquired the team and pulled the money.

More:

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Syracuse, NY (June 10, 2011) - The last game of the four-game series was Friday night.  Dave Sappelt was back in the lineup after spending over a month rehabbing his oblique in Arizona, and he played well (2 for 6 with a double), but the POTG was clearly Devin Mesoraco. He was a double short of the cycle: 3 for 5 with a triple and a home run.  Two runs scored, 3 RBIs.

And eyes that look right through you.

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  Some of the better looking and more enlightened denizens of this great site are going to head down to Saturday's game against the Blue Jays and since we're such a gregarious bunch we wanted to know if any of you would be interested in joining us? Looks like it will be Brandon Morrow against Edinson Volquez and as a special treat if you're one of the first 20,000 fans you'll get some ridiculous headdress with "spirit hair" on top. So whattaya say? Here's what the schedule will look like:

5:00 PM - Meet up for a beer or three at Newport On The Levee unless someone has a better place in mind

6:30 PM - Walk to GABP, buy $5 seats at the kiosk, and head in

Postgame - Hang out somewhere, suggestions welcome.

He hasn't been in the starting lineup for like a week.  I know they have a lot of more than capable bodies down there, but considering he plays both corner IF and both corner OF spots, it's odd they just stopped putting him on the field?  I mean, he's still leading all of the Reds minor leagues in Homeruns.  Is he injured, in the doghouse, part of a trade that's in the works?  Any insight is appreciated.

The South Side Sox (White Sox SBN blog) sim baseball league has an opening for someone to run the Reds. We're about to start the 2016 season, but the Reds still have Votto, Bruce, Cueto, Volquez and others you'll recognize.

It's free to play. You control your line-up, make trades, sign free agents. Sims twice a day on weekdays, but none on weekends. If you check your team once a day on most weekdays you should be fine. We have revenue sharing so being a small market is workable (Kansas City won the 2015 world series).

If you want to join, you'll need the league password. Email our commish and he'll set you up. hazymania@hotmail.com

After you get the password, go to http://www.baseball-manager-online.com/. Click "join now". Fill out the form and click submit. Click "verify signup", don't wait for a verification email because you won't get one. It will send you to a log in screen. Enter your username and password. Click "search for a premium league". Type "south" in the search for league name box. Make sure you check the "Show leagues with passwords" box! it will find our South Side Sox league. Enter the password and click join.

If you have questions, post them here and I'll be happy to answer.

Happened to sit next to a Cardinals scout at a AA game last night...a Cardinals scout who's a Reds fan from SW Ohio.  Assorted outtakes from our conversation:

On Yonder Alfonso: On his best day, he's not quite Jonny Gomes defensively

On Juan Francisco: I'd love to see him get his shot.  I think he'd hit 25 HR in the bigs.  'Course, he'd also hit .220...

On which Reds prospects he was most excited about: The two catchers definitely.  Mesoraco looks amazing.

On Cardinals wunderkind Shelby Miller: He's the real deal.  Could probably help the Cards right now.

On my surprise/annoyance on how well Lance Berkman has worked out for STL: He practically begged the Cards to sign him.  He insisted he was ready to play the outfield.  (why does this never happen for the Reds?)

Take all this for what it's worth of course; thought it was interesting...