Red Reposter: The Reds are a financially solvent team with a winning record

Hall o' Famer Hal misses Baltimore 
But his crab cake-encrusted memories could not obscure the fact that the Reds were kind of lousy there. Both Hal and Daugherty mention Votto's non-use of sunglasses (he put them on after losing the pop-up). It's a fair point - he should've been wearing them - but it's also symptomatic of looking for easy answers that explain away the mediocrity and glossing over more systemic deficiencies of the team.

The fourth inning was the cruelest
Baker also fingers the lost pop-up as the culprit, saying it "opened the gates." Homer Bailey was more critically-minded, even acknowledging the existence of random fluctuations in BABIP: "After the ball leaves my hand, I only have so much control." This Faypost goes on to mention that Jay Bruce is going to be quarantined due to flu-like symptoms. Get well soon, Jay. If there's a silver lining, this allows me to conveniently attribute all his struggles to viral infection. Starve the fever, starve the slump.

MLB.com ledes with Gomes triumphal return to Tampa
Though Hellickson and Cueto are both equally compelling stories. Gomes is expected to get a warm reception from whatever fans are in Tropicana and can remember the Rays from 3 seasons a go. Rays' manager and footwear designer Joel Maddon is a Gomes fan, citing all the thing we like about Jonny, including his unheralded baserunning skill: "[He was] one of the better baserunners we had. I'm really happy for Jon, and I know the fans will ... acknowledge him in a very positive way." If FanGraphs base-running metrics are to be believed, this checks out.

Maddon offered some more equanimity toward the Reds 
though, given the style of his glasses, this quote may be laced with irony: "I don't have a toothpick and wristbands, I would never go there. He's way cooler than me. I'm not even close on the cool scale."

A review of Fifth Third Field, home of the Dayton Dragons
by Stadium Journey. Depending on how often you get to Dayton, this may be more or less useful than...

...A GABP urinal review from OMGreds
The fact that eliminating splashback hasn't been a priority for the Urinary-Industrial Complex is a source of great disappointment to me. UP NEXT: A review of the concourse level expansion joints.

Micah Owings leads pitchers in outhitting opponents
Owings' career 112 OPS+ is tops in baseball history for pitchers with 200+ PAs and at least 70% as a pitcher, but Mike Hampton was insane at Coors back at the turn of the Century.

The Dodgers file for bankruptcy
This whole thing is a big mess. But here's hoping for an activist judge who is a Reds fan to enforce the court-ordered Matt Kemp-for-Chase Weems trade demanded in the amicus curiae brief I filed this morning.