CINCINNATI (March 16, 2009) — Reds fans can bid now on reds.com for seats in the new Champions Club Boxes on Opening Day.

The Champion Club Boxes feature an outdoor bar area and in-seat service, in addition to access to the new all-inclusive FOX Sports Ohio Champions Club and its unlimited food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Packages of four, six and eight tickets are available, with auctions ending either Friday, March 20, at noon ET or Friday, March 27, at noon ET.

Place your bids here on the auction site.

The FOX Sports Ohio Champions Club (formerly known as the FSN Ohio Club 4192) is located on the first base side of GABP. The 2009 Opening Day game is Monday, April 6 vs the New York Mets. First pitch is 1:10 p.m.

All proceeds from the Champions Club Box auctions will benefit the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. All winning bids will receive annual memberships to the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.

Apparently, the Astros felt their team didn’t weigh enough when they tipped the scales this Spring. Upon watching the World Baseball Classic, they saw some extra weight that would help them greatly.

Are the weight puns too much? Sorry, but the Astros have signed catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. Well, pending a physical, of course. So unless Rodriguez shatters into a million pieces when he’s poked and prodded, he’ll be reporting to Astros camp in no time.

Reaction to the deal has been mixed, but I know someone who isn’t happy, now former starting catcher Humberto Quintero:

Despite his father’s almost Dusty Baker levels of managerial incompetence, Aaron Boone was always one of my favorite Reds. He’s struggled mightily since leaving the team, but I thought he might have a chance of rebounding with the Houston Astros this year.

I guess not.

Boone held a press conference yesterday where he talked about his need to undergo open-heart surgery to correct a congenital heart defect he’s been aware of since his college days. Open-heart surgery is scary stuff, and I wish him nothing but the best. It seems hard to believe that at 36, he’s already facing his second time of never playing baseball again.

It has nothing to do with baseball, or maybe it does. For when collapsed to two dimensions, is a baseball not a circle?

Today, March 14, is Pi day. And while it will pale in comparison to the festivities 6 years from now on 3-14-15, have a good one.

In case you had an unfortunate accident yesterday wherein a giant boulder rolled right on top of you, you might have missed that the Netherlands beat the heavily favored Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

No, that’s not a repeat of the other time the Netherlands beat the Dominicans. This time, it hurts more, since the WBC is a double-elimination tournament, at least in the first round. (Figuring out how the tournament works is damn near impossible from the WBC site. MLB loves usability experts as much as Marty Brennamen loves Adam Dunn.)

The Dutch advance thanks to the incompetence of Chicago Cub Carlos Marmol. That’s right, in the bottom of the 11th, he must have had a goat in his eye when he threw wildly to first, allowing the tying run to advance all the way to third. After that, I had a feeling he was toast. Cubs don’t exactly have a history of succeeding, especially in the face of adversity.