As Bronson Arroyo was leaving the game in the sixth, having been smacked around to the tune of six runs, including a homer by the pitcher, Chris Welsh commented something about this not being the Arroyo we’re used to seeing?

It’s not? What the hell Arroyo has he been watching? This guy’s been the suck for half of the season-so-far.

Not that I can blame the entirety of the Reds woes on Bronson Arroyo. He only goes out there every five days. I quibble with the roster construction, since I don’t much see where the offense is supposed to come from. I quibble with the batting order and the entire premise that speed alone is adequate reason to give Willy Taveras a spot on the 25-man. (Speed paired with a low salary and a Ryan Freel-like disregard for your own body when chasing down balls–that’s a different story.) I quibble with the manager on the field.

And oddly, I’m mad that the Reds of the freaking division is losing so badly, making the Reds record not look so bad by comparison. I know that ought to make me happy, but it feels like a consolation prize, like a copy of the home game and a year’s supply of Rice-a-Roni for the guy not proceeding to final Jeopardy.

At least they get to come back again tomorrow.

I’ve never given a flying flip about the futures game myself, but I know that some people care, so I’ll give it a little face time here. Here’s hoping the next Griffey (minus the injuries) will be playing.

North America, Europe, Asia, Central and South America Represented in All-Star Weekend Event; Over 30 Countries Now Represented In Professional Baseball In North America

( LAUSANNE, Switzerland) – Baseball’s global growth at the highest professional level continued this week with the announcement that up-and-coming players from 12 nations will play in the 2009 XM Satellite Radio All-Star Futures Game, which will be held in St. Louis, Missouri (USA) on 12 July as part of Major League Baseball All-Star festivities.

The twelve nations – the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Italy, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Japan, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and the Netherlands Antilles – is among the most diverse in the eleven year history of the game, which will be televised in over 200 countries.

The diversity in the Futures Game, which will feature the rising stars of baseball, coupled with the latest global fan voting for the All-Star game (which has players from five different nations leading at their respective positions), further shows the sport’s global growth at the Major League level in North America.

“Every week there is another example of the rapid international growth that baseball is witnessing, whether it is a large increase in Little League participation in Europe, new school programmes in Africa or Asia, or new sponsors in Latin America,” said IBAF President Dr. Harvey Schiller. “The diversity in nations that will be represented during the Major League Baseball All-Star festivities is further proof that the game at the highest level is also growing quickly, with many of these younger stars already exposed to international play through the Olympics, the World Baseball Classic and other events. This will help baseball gain even more exposure in emerging nations, and it shows that the future of the sport on a global basis is very bright.”

As of this week, over 30 nations from six continents are now represented in professional major and minor league baseball in North America, the highest amount of nations in the sport’s history.

About the International Baseball Federation (IBAF)
Founded in 1938, the International Baseball Federation is a non-governmental organisation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as administering men’s and women’s baseball at the world level. Located in Lausanne, Switzerland – the Olympic Capital – and counting 125 National Member Federations, the IBAF organises the IBAF Men’s and Women’s Baseball World Cup, the AAA (18U) and AA (16U) World Championships, the Olympic Games Baseball Tournament, and it sanctions the World Baseball Classic, among other international baseball tournaments. The IBAF works to develop and grow the game of baseball around the world. For more information, please visit www.ibaf.org.

Looking for something to do on the Fourth of July? What better way to celebrate your country’s independence than with a Jay Bruce bobblehead?

Tickets are still available.

Baseball really is a great way to spend the holiday, and I’ve made it out to Victory Field in Indianapolis for the games the last couple years. The weather is supposed to be fabulous this year (at least in Indy; I’d check my iPhone for the forecast in Cincy if my son weren’t busy playing Sally’s Spa, a game that I’m addicted to and got him hooked on, even though it’s a girl game), and I recommend everyone get out for some fun.

Tickets are still reasonably priced; beer and food aren’t, but you can always eat before you go, so it’s recession-worthy fun.

The baseball cards made up to honor/skewer some of the Reds pitching are pretty goofy, but I laughed in spite of myself.

So I guess I owe them a link.

Check out More Hardball to see them, and let me know if you understand what the YouTube of the guy playing the banjo is all about.

It’s so nice to come home from a long weekend, off the grid at Pokegon State Park, to find that the Reds seems to have remembered how to score runs. To think: while I was meandering the trails and swatting at mosquitoes, Homer Bailey was busy getting his first win since the beginning of time. While I was taking in the view from Hell’s Point, Brandon Phillips was celebrating his birthday with three RBI. And while I was tasting Indiana-made wines at the nearby Satek Winery, the Reds were doing nothing, because I did that today and they had the day off.

I’m not generally superstitious, but in this case, I choose to believe the Reds need me to be on vacation in order to return to form. If you need me, I’ll be at the spa until September.

Come to think of it, it’s never been funny.

On the one-year anniversary of his Worst Start Ever, Bronson Arroyo took the mound on the same day, against the same team, to suck nearly as badly. I was late coming home because of an after-work meeting (don’t go reading anything into it; it was only as wild as seven technical writers can get while talking about good-faith efforts to lead a chapter of an international society through troubled financial times. Over beer) and so the Reds were already down by 6 when I got in.

Several minutes later, I realized it was the second inning. Jeepers.

Now in the bottom of the 8th, the Reds trail 2-8 and Arroyo has been chased. For the second night in a row, the Blue Jays are trouncing the Reds. Are the blue birds even good? I’ll go check their standings. Hold on.

…

Third in the AL East. Oh brother. This interleague play is killing me. This is the freaking Royals all over again. And going to the Blue Jay’s website gave me the opportunity to see the headline for tonight’s game: “Blue Jays jump on Reds’ Arroyo again”

At least Votto continues to play. When the camera zooms in on him at the plate I wonder: is he tamping down the anxiety to get through this at-bat? Is the panic continuing to threaten, creeping in on the peripheries of his awareness? I hope not, and I recommend Xanax, if it doesn’t cause you to test positive for any MLB-rule-breaking substances. In a purely technical sense, it would be performance-enhancing, compared to dealing with the ailment.

Joey Votto is back, joining his team as they visit his home town in Toronto. FSOhio has been playing clips from an interview with him through the game, talking about the anxiety attacks that he’s been suffering from. I, too, suffer from anxiety attacks, sometimes for no reason that I can explain, so hearing him describe his experiences just sent a pang of empathy through me for a lad that I already have an uncommon affection for.

As I said, the Reds are playing in Toronto, which is, for those of your following along at home, home to an AL team. Which means that the Reds get to use a designated hitter. As is the traditional wisdom, they are having their pitcher sit out. A more dynamic manager might have recognized that since it’s Micah Owings pitching, they ought to have the pitcher leading off and DH for Willy Taveras.

The Blue Jays’ pitcher tonight has a nasty, ’70s ’stache that’s making me want to gag. I realize that styles come and go, and that facial hair is totally retro, but nasty ’70s ’staches are just the gross. Similarly, I do not like the beard that the actor who plays Jim on The Office (who’s name I can’t remember except that it’s really long) had grown for the movie he’s in with Maya Rudolph. Yuck. Way to ruin an otherwise perfectly good-looking dude.

Continuing on the topic of perfectly good-looking dudes returns us to where we began: even Joey Votto has not managed to help the Reds find their offense tonight as I sit here watching in the sixth inning. May the power of the anti-stache prevail before this night is done!

Rookies hope for a cuppa coffee in the majors where they can get a brief glimpse of the major-league lifestyle before, hopefully, taking it on full-time.

Meanwhile, Reds’ offense Joey Votto enjoys a relaxing cup of tea in single A Dayton, warding off his stress-related ailments with a lovely bit of hitting.

I’m hopeful that we’ll be seeing that relaxed smile again soon.

Perhaps not in those exact words, but The Wall Street Journal did insult the Reds intelligence yesterday in a piece that examined the overall education levels of teams and their managers. The Reds were the 27th worst.

Dusty Baker responded to this by again slotting Willy Taveras and Alex Gonzalez in the top of the batting order. Yes, those with the mighty 27.0 and 25.6 Not Out Percentages, respectively. Of course, both failed to get hits, contributing 1/3 of the game’s outs.

It’s as if Baker were saying, I’m not stupid; I’m insane. That’s assuming he actually expected a different result, though.

Either that, or the gobs of millions does

I saw this story about the growing closeness between Ken Griffey Jr and Ichiro Suzuki on Deadspin today.

Ichiro Suzuki spreads a towel on the carpeted floor in front of his locker, lies on his back and begins doing stretching exercises. From Ichiro’s blind side, Ken Griffey Jr. pounces, gets his hands deep under Ichiro’s armpits and digs in with his fingers. Ichiro’s laughter is almost childlike – genuine and uncontrolled – and after about five seconds he screams the magic word to make Griffey stop. Junior stands up, walks back to his locker and sits down. Ichiro lies quietly for a moment, letting his body relax, then goes back to stretching as if nothing had happened.

Baseball players are weird dudes. Apparently, Ichiro was unhappy with the team losing so badly last year, as opposed to all those players of sports who get lively thrills from getting their asses kicked on a daily basis. But the arrival of Griffey has changed that, and the two have become BFFs.

Of course, the Mariners are still losing more than they’re winning, but at least Ichiro has, at long last, found happiness.