The uniform jersey number 13 worn from 1970 through 1988 by Cincinnati Reds shortstop Dave Concepcion will be retired in ceremonies at Great American Ball Park prior to the Saturday, July 28 game against the Chicago Cubs.

At its meeting last week, the board of directors of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum voted unanimously to retire the uniform number of the Venezuelan native. Each fan attending the 7:10 p.m. game will receive a commemorative replica of a painting that will be presented to Concepcion that day.

“He was the best shortstop of his era and certainly one of the greatest in the history of our storied franchise,” said Reds president and chief executive officer Bob Castellini. “Number 13 deserves to hang next to the uniform jerseys of Bench and Morgan and Perez.”

Concepcion's 13 will be the ninth number retired by the Reds, joining Fred Hutchinson's 1, Johnny Bench's 5, Joe Morgan's 8, Sparky Anderson's 10, Ted Kluszewski's 18, Frank Robinson's 20, Tony Perez' 24 and Jackie Robinson's 42. Concepcion was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2000.

As the starting shortstop on the Big Red Machine, Concepcion was teammates with Bench, Morgan and Perez under manager Anderson on a club that from 1970-78 went 863-586 (.596) and won five National League West Division titles, four pennants and two World Series championships. The '75 and '76 Reds combined to go 210-114 (.629) and became the National League's first franchise in 54 years to win consecutive World Series titles. Concepcion was named team captain in 1973.

With 8,723 at bats in 2,488 games Concepcion ranks second in club history in both categories behind Pete Rose. Since 1900, he ranks among the franchise's all-time leaders in hits (2,326; 3rd), doubles (389; 3rd), stolen bases (321; 3rd), run scored (993; 5th), total bases (3,114; 5th) and RBI (950; 6th).

Concepcion, 58, was a 9-time National League All-Star, fourth-most in club history (Bench 14, Rose 13, Larkin 12), and his 5 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards are second only to Bench's 9 Gold Gloves. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 1982 All-Star Game, 3 times was a The Sporting News All-Star and twice won Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards. He was voted the Reds' MVP in 1981.

“By virtue of his 19-year career with the Reds, a claim to being the best shortstop of his era and his overall place in Reds history, Dave Concepcion richly deserves this honor, one that rightfully is reserved for those very few players whose careers truly represent extraordinary accomplishment,” said Greg Rhodes, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.

Concepcion's 13 will be displayed alongside the others below the press box behind home plate at Great American Ball Park.

The Reds came from behind abruptly this afternoon to win the game and the series with the Pirates. I got all grumpy watching the beginning of the game, and then I was in-and-out for the rest of it, so looking back on the day, I still feel sort of crabby about the whole thing, despite the score.

I suppose that it would be unreasonable of me to demand that the Reds get the lead from the first inning in every game. But what if I ask nicely?

Aaron Harang followed up on Matt Belisle's complete game yesterday with 8 innings of his own. He was shaky at first but pulled it together in the long run. He allowed five runs (earned) on 10 hits through eight plus innings. He walked one and struck out 9.

David Weathers was the only member of the bullpen not to get the second consecutive night off, finishing off the ninth inning. It was hardly a save situation, but it was nice for Stormy to put up a 0. Tomorrow is an off day for the boys, so the relievers ought to be good and relaxed going into Houston on Tuesday.

There was no need for pinch hitting in this affair where the offense actually made an appearance for a change. Adam Dunn and Alex Gonzalez each contributed a home run for three of the Reds' runs. Brandon Phillips brought in a couple runs, as did Harang. But the offensive star today was Edwin Encarnación who went 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored.

The win brings the Reds record to 12-13 and ties them with the Pirates for second place in the division after the Brewers. They take tomorrow to travel to Houston before facing off against the Astros. Bronson Arroyo goes against guy-I've-never-heard-of Matt Albers. Could be a tough one.

Tragic news today as former Reds relief pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a car accident. From STLtoday:

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock was killed early Sunday in an accident on Highway 40 (Interstate 64), just west of Compton Avenue, authorities said.

Hancock's Ford Explorer slammed into the rear of a tow truck that was parked in the far left westbound lane shortly after 12:30 a.m. The tow truck driver, who was seated in the vehicle at the time, was unhurt.

He told police that his emergency lights were on, and that he honked his horn when he saw the Explorer approaching in his rear view mirror, but that the Explorer didn't slow down or swerve to avoid the collision.

Our hearts are with the friends and family of Hancock, as well as everyone in Cardinals nation. Cards-Reds games won't be the same without Snax.

The Cardinals' game with the Cubs tonight has been postponed until further notice.

Things are changing, friends. Brad Salmon's in the hiz-owse!

Here's the line-ups, thanks C. Trent:

Ryan Freel CF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Josh Hamilton RF
Jeff Conine 1B
Alex Gonzalez SS
Adam Dunn LF
Edwin Encarnación 3B
David Ross C
Matt Belisle P

Duffy CF
Wilson SS
Sanchez 2B
Bay LF
LaRoche 1B
Doumit RF
Bautista 3B
Paulini C
Gorzelanny P

w00t! There's news!!

From C. Trent:

The Cincinnati Reds today acquired RHP Marcus McBeth as part of yesterday's deal that sent OF Chris Denorfia to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for 2 players to be named later and cash considerations.

McBeth, 26, is scheduled to report to the Reds' Class AAA affiliate in Louisville tomorrow. He is the 48th player acquired by executive vice president and general manager Wayne Krivsky since he was hired on February 8, 2006.

McBeth had been the closer at Class AAA Sacramento all season (8g, 1-0-5, 1.80, 10ip, 7h, 3r, 2er, 2hr, 1hbp, 3bb, 6k, .200oba). Last year, he combined to finish 3-3 with a 3.07 ERA in 59 appearances at Class A Stockton, Class AA Midland and Sacramento and ranked fifth among all minor leaguers with 32 saves.

I'm still hardly super-psyched to be saying goodbye to Denorfia for this fella, but I hope that once he makes it up to the team that he'll change my mind. In the meantime, it's just so exciting to have something new to talk about.

But wait, there's more!

And Cormier DFA'd and Salmon called up.

“Salmon has pitched well and we think he deserves the promotion,” Krivsky said.

Best of luck to you, young Brad Salmon. We're counting on you to make it all better. But no pressure or anything.

This week on the podcast, I need blood pressure medicine or a good stiff drink as we talk about:

• The trade of Chris Denorfia
• The Reds’ performance this week
• Narron’s shortcoming and whether there’s anyone better out there
• The CTS wants to see Bailey in the bullpen
• Other teams in the NLC that I could follow that would give me less gritting of teeth
• Tony LaRussa’s rant against this poem in a St Louis paper.
• Curt Schilling offers you $1,000,000 to vouch for his blood.

Episode 56: Deep Breathing (21.5MB, 31:19)

Great news! General Manager Wayne Krivsky has fixed the Reds! Everything is going to be OK now. As of yesterday, he traded injured almost-major-league outfielder Chris Denorfia to Oakland for two players to be named later and cash.

Chris Denorfia was, after all, what was holding the team back. That Minor League Player of the Year award was just hanging over everyone's head.

And what's better is what he got in return. Two players to be named later and cash. You know they've got to be hot commodities if it only takes two of them to be worth one injured Chris Denorfia. To put that in perspective, it would take, like 6 Gary Majewskis to be worth that. Plus cash!

Reportedly, Billy Beane had been asking after Denorfia since spring training, so clearly, he really wanted him. It's such a relief that Krivsky is dealing with Oakland this time around instead of, say, Washington. Because if there's one person in this sport with less of a reputation for getting the better of the people he trades with, it's Beane.

Some might argue that it's just a coincidence that this deal is going down now, but I think that the timing is the very best part of this move. When faced with a manager who can't manage, an offense that can't score, and a bullpen with more runs than a bout of salmonella, it takes a brave man to make the bold move of trading a hopeful young franchise player who was recovering from surgery.

So kudos to you, Kriv-dawg. I'm sure the Reds will start winning any day now.

Lineups per C. Trent
Freel cf
Hatteberg 1b
Phillips 2b
Hamilton rf
Gonzalez ss
Dunn lf
Encarnacion 3b
Valentin c
Milton p

Peglegs
Duffy cf
Wilson ss
Sanchez 2b
Bay lf
Eldred rf
Laroche 1b
Bautista 3b
Paulino c
Snell p

No Junior again….

The Reds have historically had problems with no-name pitchers or pitchers they haven’t seen a lot of. The term that Marty uses for it is Alex Madrid Syndrome, although I’ve always called it The Alex Madrid Factor. In any case, this begs the question of just who is Alex Madrid, and why do the Reds have an apparent curse named after him? I’ve been threatening to write this story for awhile now. Time to make good on it.

Sherman, set the wayback machine for the year 1982 (extra credit if you can explain this sentence, and the title of this diary, without resorting to a search engine).

I should probably explain that in those ancient times, there were two phases to the amateur draft. The first phase was held in June (after high school graduations), the secondary phase was held the following January and involved players who had been drafted earlier but did not sign with the teams that drafted them. This system was done away with in 1986.

Alex Madrid was a right-handed pitcher that the Reds drafted in 1982, in the secondary phase of the amateur draft, but he did not sign with the Reds. Prior to this, Madrid had also been drafted by the Cubs in the first phase of the 1982 amateur draft, but did not sign with them, either. In 1983, he was drafted in the first phase by the Rangers and didn’t sign. He finally signed with the Brewers after they picked him in the secondary phase of the 1983 draft.

Madrid spent some time in the minors first, then appeared in three major league games with the Brewers in 1987, compiling an ERA of 15.19 and subsequently being traded to the Phillies.

Madrid pitched in five games for the Phillies in 1988, including two starts against the Expos. In 1989, he pitched in six games for the Phillies, three of which were starts. The results of those three starts:

May 7, 1989 - Madrid earned his only victory of the year, pitching 6 2/3 shutout innings against the Reds while holding them to just five hits. Marty called this game as a Reds broadcaster and coined the term “Alex Madrid Syndrome” thereafter.

May 14, 1989 – Madrid lasted just 3 2/3 innings against the Dodgers, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 5 earned runs.

May 25, 1989 – Madrid worked 5 innings against the Giants, allowing 8 hits, 3 walks, and 4 earned runs.

Madrid made one more major league appearance after that May 25 start, pitching the ninth inning of a May 30, 1989 game as the mop-up man in a blowout against the Padres, giving up 2 hits, 2 walks, and an earned run. It was his 14th and final major league game. Less than a month after his masterpiece against the Reds, Alex Madrid's career was finished.

So now, every time another no-name pitcher like Cole Hamels (who took a no-no into the sixth against the Reds for Philly the other night) makes the Reds look foolish, you can think back to Alex Madrid, the guy who Marty credits for having started it all, way back in 1989.

HMZ

Gotta make this quick, 'cuz I'm at work and about to go on a dept lunch.

C. Trent gives us the line-up:

Reds
Ryan Freel CF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Jeff Conine 1B
Ken Griffey Jr. RF
Alex Gonzalez SS
Juan Castro 3B
David Ross C
Norris Hopper LF
Kyle Lohse P

Hopper, eh? Interesting. And former Red Randy Keisler is going for the Cards. Last time I saw him, he was in a different Lou--Louisville.