... or, "I've Got a Golden Ticket, But What I Really Wanted was Platinum"

So I'm reading about Scott Bo-.. er, uh #2 overall pick Pedro Alvarez's sudden dispute with the Pirates over his contract, which includes a $6,000,000 signing bonus, and thinking there has to be more to the story.

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Maybe I'm a bit early, but the pre-season is starting in about 3 weeks.  Has anyone talked about doing another fantasy football league?  Last year's was good times.

Also, since I need to fill space, is anybody else planning on the series in DC at the end of the month?  Brendan, are there any tickets left?  The guy who is coming with me wants to know if there's another for his dad.  We don't want to take any that a RR might take, so if not he'll order his own.

First off, kudos to obc for recommending 4th St. Live in Louisville last season.  100% good times, for sure.

So I've recently secured tickets to a pair of Dayton Dragons games, and hoping someone familiar with the area can recommend a hotel and choice drinking establishment.  Preferably each within walking distance of the park, of course.

Also, in Newport, there's a certain hotel that we see every time we go and can never remember the name.  It's just across the street from the Levee.. not a fancy place at all, but very convenient-looking (walking distance from GABP/Gameworks).  Econo-Lodge?  Economy Inn?  Help?

Fourthly, any Indy residents looking at Bats-Indians games at Victory this month?  We'll be at a couple of them, at least.  It'd be an honor to buy a beer for a fellow RR.

<muncie>
The Muncie event was fantastic.  The local ESPN radio crew (1340AM) was there broadcasting a half hour Q&A session with the fans before autographs started.

Someone asked about Bedard.  Krivsky turned around and looked at someone behind him, and several members of the "crew" laughed.  Marty said they had 5 bucks on whether there would be a Bedard question or not.  He said, of course, that it's not happening.  Baltimore wants a King's Ransom.

Marty talked for awhile and told a couple of stories about Joe Nuxhall, though he said most of their off-air conversations were "not fit for a mixed crowd".

They gave away lots of swag, and people from cincinnatiUSA.com seemed to like snapping pictures of my son.  They took 4 of them throughout the day, and handed me a card with a web address to download them later.

BP signing my boy's hat

Gapper irritating the heck out of him

Phillips and Browning took the bulk of the questions.  When asked about locker room comedians, Phillips said the person who cracks him up the most is David Weathers.  He said he's always pulling pranks, and most people don't like them, but they crack him up.  Also "gotta give props to Dunner".  Browning said that aside from himself, Rijo and Luis Quinones were the clowns of his time.

Some lady from Chicago won the opening day tickets.

</muncie>

The Indy event wasn't good.  Champps was at capacity, and too many people were there just trying to have a meal.  There was no Q&A, and very little opportunity for photos.  

Of course the only reason I went was to pull this off:

Browning was the most amused.  "Can't get enough, huh?" he says.

Got this forwarded to me in an email, had to share..

Nice Squad Bowden

P - Ryan Wagner
C - Chad Moeller
1B - Dmitri Young
2B - (Pokey Reese or Bret Boone anyone)
3B - Aaron Boone
SS - Felipe Lopez
LF - Wily Mo Pena
CF -  (Griffey, Jr or Mike Cameron anyone)
RF - Austin Kearns

First off, let me apologize for 90% of my posts happening whilst intoxicated.  I tend to lurk daily and speak up when the booze commands it.  The unpleasant side effect of my favorite medicine is chronic idiocy.

That said, I've got a good buzz going, and I'm curious about this community.. I think most life-long baseball fanatics have fond childhood memories of the game..  So my questions are; What position(s) did you play growing up?  Who was the player you most idolized as a child?  What was it about that player that most appealed to you?  Do you think you're more or less critical of certain positions based on that hero?  Finally, what is your most cherished personal experience while playing the game?

From the Dayton Daily News:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/2007/06/19/ddn061907audible.html

I also caught the end of something on Sportscenter this morning saying that a reporter had asked the President about this, and he stopped short of saying he wouldn't consider it.

[Sarasota]

Sarasota won their division in the first half!

That's right, the Reds won the division.  That's what we're all here for, right?  The Sarasota Reds?  Obviously Jay Bruce led the way on offense.  Catcher Craig Tatum is 2nd in offensive impressiveness batting .320 with 10 HRs in 58 games (why is he still in single A with those numbers at age 24?  I suppose because we're stacked full of catching talent up here.  Six pitchers on Sarasota's roster have ERAs under 2 (with a decent # of innings pitched), unfortunately the average age of those single A studs is 25.5.

(disclaimer:  sabrmetrics #s are lacking above and below.  sorry for the lameness.)

[Chattanooga]

The Lookouts have dubbed their new arrival Bruce Almighty .  As a forever optimist, I have to approve.  The Lookouts are currently atop their division at 8-2, with Bruce batting .435 and 3 HRs in 5 games.  The 2nd most offensively impressive hitter (with real AA time logged) is catcher Ryan Hanigan, hitting .299 w/ 3 HR in 69 games.  Meh.

Johnny Cueto was impressive in his first start at AA, and Richie Gardner is 2-1 with 1.82 ERA in 6 starts since being moved up mid-season.  The forever pessimist that always has a backdoor into a Reds fan's ear points out that he's already 26 years old.  The optimist counters, 'maybe we get a good year or two out of him up here'.

[Bats]

Louisville hitters Joey Votto, Jeff Keppinger, and pitcher Phil Dumatrait have made the International League All-Star team .

Aside from Homer, the only other real honorable pitching mention there is closer Ricky Stone (4-4, 1.79 ERA in 40IP, 0.82 WHIP).   Of course somebody with those kind of numbers in our farm system is contractually obligated to be >= 32 years of age.

 The Bats are one game over .500, and a relatively impressive 7.5 games out of first.  Everything is relative, no?  

[The Show]
For my 2 cents, I have to agree with those who say a fire sale is a hasty decision.  In spite of the famine, I believe there is a solid crew of young'ins that could meld in the right place at the right time.  This assuming of course that we don't trade all of them off for flaky relievers.

Until another time,
m@

So a friend and I are planning a trip to Louisville to see the Bats this weekend, and neither of us have ever been in (only through) Louisville.  Anybody happen to be familiar with the area?

We're looking for a hotel close to the park.  Preferably so close that we can stumble or crawl back on foot after the game.  Any advice/suggestions are appreciated.

On FSN Indiana.  Us Hoosier Reds fans don't have the luxury of watching every game, though we're actually up to 95 of them this season (only 62 last year) since FSN Indiana was formed.  The last one we got to see was at Arizona on the 9th.  Kudos to all of you and the game threads that have helped me keep up this week.

Unfortunately, so far this year the Reds are 1-3 while being broadcast in Indy.