Im baaaaaaack

Wow. The last week was a whirlwind and now I'm finally back in town. I spent the last week in Cincinnati with my wife and we had a wonderful time. We drove up last Friday and caught both Friday and Saturday's Reds games, and they were some of the best I have ever witnessed. Friday night, after a long day of driving, we sat in the 9th row in left field stands at GABP and had to deal with some loud Braves fans, but I had fun calling Chipper Jones "Larry" all night, because he's known to hate that. The Larry chant got loud when BP's grounder went between Larry's legs to let in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th. Volquez is the real deal. He is as good a pitcher right now as the Reds have ever had.



Saturday was a different story all together. The wife and I had 9th row seats, this time in the section next to the Reds dugout, great seats. Before the game, Jay Bruce stayed out signing autographs for as long as Dusty allowed him. He was very gracious and nice to everyone. Of course, the minute his name was spoken over the loudspeaker, the now familiar chant "Bruuuuuuuuuucccee" rang out loudly throughout the stadium. No matter what Bruce does, he will get that chant for a loooong time in Cincinnati (and Philly too, if you listened closely to the telecasts against the Phillies).



In the first inning, we were treated to Griffey's 599th home run. Everybody in the stadium knew it was gone. My wife got a great picture of Griffey finishing his swing and dropping his bat. I'll be sure to post some pics from the game over the weekend. Bruce looked like a future superstar all game and Fogg looked like the below average pitcher he is. The crowd was electric and the 9th inning and finish were outstanding. Dunn walked in the bottom of the ninth, Reds down 7 to 6. Freel pinch runs for him, and eventually works his way over to 3rd base with one out. David Ross comes up, and hits a squibber back towards the pitcher. As soon as the ball is released in the direction of first base, Ryan Freel breaks for home and gets in just under the tag of Brian McCann to score the tying run. The throw beat him to the plate, but Freel had a great slide and made it under the tag.

All this led up the the best part of the game. I, for the record, was wearing a Jay Bruce Tshirt that I had purchased earlier that day to the game, and the game ended in the 10th inning, with one swing of the bat by Jay Bruce. Is there nothing this kid can't do???? His first major league home run is a walk-off home run against the braves??? Is he that good???

So much stuff happened on the trip, but the baseball games made the week start off great. That and the Skyline cheese coneys. I'll tell more later.

In the draft, the Reds picked the best bat available, Yonder Alfonso. He's a great all around hitter who, with the major league contract he's expected to sign, may contribute sometime next year.

I'll break it down more later, but I just wanted to get back and say a couple of things.

Maltzy