This and That

* Peter Gammons is apparently talking to Jim Bowden again:

Cincinnati is calling around in an attempt to acquire pitching. There are the rumors of the Mets and Nationals' being interested in acquiring Willy Mo Pena. The Reds also told the Astros they would move Junior Griffey to Houston - for four top prospects.

Highway robbery if that were to happen.  Of course Houston is probably one of the very few teams that Junior would agree to be traded to, since it's relatively close to his home in Florida.

The Mets are exactly the kind of team with which DanO should be exploring Wily Mo trade possibilities. We're talking about the team that traded Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano.  Ask for David Wright or Yusmeiro Petit with Lastings Milledge tossed in.

Ask for the moon.  It can't hurt, and they certainly don't have a right to get offended after the Kazmir deal.

*  The second round of cuts was made, with some surprises:

To Minor League Camp:

Rob Stratton, Randy Keisler, Ricky Stone

To AAA Louisville:

Edwin Encarnacion, Dane Sardinha

I'm very surprised by the Stratton move.  I wasn't sure if he was going to be the 25th man, but I felt confident that he'd make it to the last round of cuts.  The Reds really should have waited until that final cut, his performance deserved it.

*  A couple of non-Reds items:  I've been getting some hits from this NFL Cheerleader Blog.  Definitely worth checking out, if for no other reason than to see Lindsey doing the splits (scroll down a tad).

I also had to mention this thread which is one of the funnier things I've read lately:

Good drunken debate from a few nights ago.

The question: How many 5 year-olds could you take on at once?

The specifics:

• You are in an enclosed area, roughly the size of a basketball court. There are no foreign objects.
  
• You are not allowed to touch a wall.
  
• When you are knocked unconscious, you lose. When they are all knocked unconscious, they lose. Once a kid is knocked unconscious, that kid is "out."
  
• I (or someone else intent on seeing to it you fail) get to choose the kids from a pool that is twice the size of your magic number. The pool will be 50/50 in terms of gender and will have no discernable abnormalities in terms of demographics, other than they are all healthy Americans.
  
• The kids receive one day of training from hand-to-hand combat experts who will train them specifically to team up to take down one adult. You will receive one hour of "counter-tactics" training.
  
• There is no protective padding for any combatant other than the standard-issue cup.
  
• The kids are motivated enough to not get scared, regardless of the bloodshed. Even the very last one will give it his/her best to take you down.

I set my magic number at 30, but upon reflection, I think I could take on a few more. How many could you take on?

I really have no idea what I'd do with myself if it weren't for the internet.

And I think I could probably take out at least 40.  Maybe 50-60.