In a move no doubt to help the Cincinnati Reds at their battered catching position, the Reds sent Jerry Hairston, Jr. to the New York Yankees for minor league catcher Chad Weems. With Ramon Hernandez on the DL and Ryan Hanigan day-to-day, this probably had to be done simply to limp to the finish of the season. But it does leave the team even emptier in the outfield.

Plus, you know Dusty Baker had to have a single, solitary tear trail down his cheek. The only way he’d full-out bawl like dealing with Corey Patterson last year would be if golden-child Willy Taveras were traded.

In other, hard-to-deal-with-trade-deadline news, Walt Jocketty acquired his man-crush, Scott Rolen. The Reds had been linked with Rolen for weeks, but I’d kind of hoped it wouldn’t happen. The Reds gave up a lot for an aging, injury prone 3rd basemen: Edwin Encarnación, reliever Josh Roenicke, and pretty good pitching prospect Zach Stewart. Rolen will be a boost in defense over worst 3rd-basemen-I’ve-ever-seen EdE, but the price is steep.

The trade for Rolen has to be for next year. The Reds have zero chance this year. (The only way they have a chance next year is if Baker isn’t the manager. Regardless of off-season acquisitions.) Is the market for competent 3rd basemen really that empty?

We’ll see. Either Jocketty’s gone senile by working on a daily basis with Baker–he did sign Taveras for two years–or he’s simply attempting to rebuild his success with the St. Louis Cardinals. Literally.

SILVER SPRING, MD – The FDA this morning released a report containing previously unknown side effects of the drug Androstenedione.

Androstenedione is an anabolic steroid precursor; it is a steroid that does not itself cause muscle growth, but can be converted by the body into such a steroid. Known side effects of the drug included testicular atrophy, impotence, and the development of female characteristics such as breast enlargement.

The newly discovered side effects of the drug include unusually long hair growth, a predisposition to wear corn rows, and tendency to play shitty grunge guitar. Other rare but serious side effects, such as abnormally strong attachments to particular catchers, are still being investigated.

Upon hearing the story, Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo told reporters, “well that explains a lot.”

I’ve got reason to believe that the Cardinals can’t wait to get their claws into Paul Janish to turn him into a Cy Young winner. I’d throw in Harang too if they’d just take Dusty off our hands.

In other news, the Nationals are buying.

Joey Votto–sick of being shit on by umpires, opponents, and luck–got himself tossed from the game in the first inning of tonight’s game.

Whether that was an inspirational force for the rest of the team, leading to their offensive actually making an appearance, I’m not in a position to say, but I’m sure as hell sure that Dusty Baker should have been doing the same thing yesterday after that incompetent piece-of-crap call at the plate.

Why aren’t umps fined for bad calls? I’m not saying they should lose a day’s pay if they call a ball a strike, but just something to demonstrate that they have any reason to give a damn. As it is, it seems like they care more about not having players questioning them than about actually getting the right answer.

In other game night news, great performance from Homer Bailey, and a good thing since Micah Owings just went on the DL. And stellar offensive performances from Johnny Gomes and Laynce Nix, which is also good since Owings Chris Dickerson just went on the DL.

Three more games in this series. Can the Padres save Brook Jacoby’s job? Stay tuned.

Despite Aaron Harang realizing that he’s going to have to be the one to get himself some run support and knocking in three with his first career homer on Friday, this has been a painful road trip for the Reds. Right now, down 1-2 to the Cubbies going into the fourth inning, the Reds could be on their way to a sixth loss in a row and a 2-10 record since the All-Star Break.

I know the Reds are a first-half kind of team, but this is ridiculous.

Meanwhile, the Astros, the perennial second-half kind of team, are coming alive late yet again. I was prepared to declare them dead in the water but now they’re just two games back of the Cardinals and only half a game back from the Cubs.

Though, as I mentioned earlier, there’s a decent chance the Cubs will be doing their part to keep that differential at its current size.

The Reds have no offense, which isn’t the end of the world in baseball terms. Everyone knows that pitching wins championships. However, the pitching really does need to be backed up by quality fielding, which is not something the Reds have been bringing lately either. Last time the Reds were suffering from the ailment, Adam Dunn’s chair got moved. What furniture rearrangement is in store for us this time? I hope they re-upholster something.

Myself, I’ve got an appointment for a massage, so I’m going to be the most relaxed Reds fan around while everyone else is wondering what’s wrong with Micah Owings that caused him to leave the game. Doesn’t really matter, though: pitching is the only decent thing this team has, and any strikes against it aren’t good souvenirs to bring back from this brutal road trip.

The St. Louis Cardinals traded for Matt Holliday this week and dramatically boosted their chances to remain atop the NL Central. Again.

Everyone knew Holliday was going to be traded from the A’s this year, but the rumors were flying. Heck, even the Reds blogs were talking about how he might help the team. Unfortunately for Reds fans, the team is once again in selling, building for the future mode. Renting Holliday for the rest of the year wouldn’t have been enough to win anything. Unlike for the Cardinals, who are in first place but need a little offensive help to stay there.

Must be nice to follow a team who ends up in a good position when the draft deadline comes.

The Reds have done a great job over the last few years of building up the farm system. In my mind, a team’s prospects have two uses.

1. Provide cheap, good talent for future wins.
2. Use as payment for renting expensive veterans in a year when the playoff gods choose you.

Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker must think there’s another use, though: taunting young athletes who are superior to their overpriced crappy veteran counterparts (see Ramon Martinez and Willy Taveras).

Come to think of it, maybe that’s why the Reds are in the cellar again. Nah, couldn’t be. The Chicago Cubs were great when Baker was there.

Staying up late tonight to catch, at least part of, the Reds game in Los Angeles. I was surprised to hear Chris and George talking about Bronson Arroyo being on a hot streak because apparently I’ve missed his last two starts. And also apparently, I’m the bad luck charm because he promptly gave up the Reds first-inning lead.

During an earlier game in this series, someone was talking about Baker coming back to California to show off his shiny new team, but with its performance turning up a little tarnished, how he’d be glad to be moving on to Chicago. I agree: at least he didn’t have a rep of being a winning pitcher in Chi-town to live up to.

The Reds are hosting a Ladies’ Night on Wednesday, July 29. In addition to half-price tickets, ladies are going to receive “product samples.” My first thought was, “Wednesday? Why the hell is Ladies’ Night on a Wednesday?” Then I remembered that the Dodgers’ Broadcast for Girls was also scheduled for Wednesdays. So, either some research has shown that women are available for baseball in the middle of the week, or baseball teams are so desperate to get viewers on hump day that they’ll even resort to appealing to women.

My company had an outing at Victory Field in Indianapolis on Monday night, and I was surprised to see Little Ray Ray Olmedo playing third base for the Durham Bulls. My iPhone doesn’t take the best sports action shots–what with its lack of zoom or focus and the fact that I had to have the back of the head of someone in the stands in the shot in order for the lighting to be right–but I was so glad to see Olmedo that I just wanted to share anyway.

I was watching the MLB channel while I was waiting for this atypically late game to start. Man, Sean Casey has slimmed down. I think he actually looks younger and trimmer now than he did when he was playing. He’s more articulate, too (which I realize he didn’t really have anywhere to go but up). I guess the color role suits him.

A cheap, $20 printed-on-style jersey with Casey’s name on it was my first Reds-player-specific shirt. Though it was a crappy rip-off, it was certainly a lot more comfortable than those polyester things that cost $210 a pop. Since then I’ve added on a Kearns t-shirt that was on super-sale for some reason at the park once (seriously super: $5 I think), and a Freel t-shirt whose autographing I chronicled early on in the life of Red Hot Mama. I haven’t added on for a long time since then, but with my newfound love of Votto, I think it’s time to add him to the collection.

I think that’s enough of my stream of consciousness for now. I need to turn my attention to my Twitter feed, where I can see my last couple posts were fairly embarrassing, even though they seemed hilarious when I wrote them, three beers in to the evening. That’s pretty much the way that always goes, I think.

Nope, not me. But if you want to buy me a ticket and a beer, I’d probably be willing to be a smart ass in the seat next to you. Though I think I’d be more entertaining in front of a t.v. For one thing, the beer is cheaper. For another, you’d get to hear me say, “Shut up, Thom,” a lot more.

But I digress.

Watch a Game with George Foster: Reds fans can bid on a special opportunity to watch the Reds battle the San Diego Padres in the new FOX Sports Ohio Champions Club Boxes on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 in the company of Reds Hall of Famer George Foster.

The winning bidder will receive seven tickets to the game, seven Reds HOF memberships and get to watch batting practice from the field.

Bid online at: http://reds.auction.mlb.com.

Auction ends 07/23/2009 17:00 EDT

Auction proceeds benefit the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum and the George Foster Safe Youth Network.

Saturday night the Crack Technical Staff and I, along with some other members of the Red Hot Family, headed out to a game at Great America Ball Park. We had every intention of drinking some beer, enjoying some baseball, and recording another episode of The Eighth Inning Show.

And then the rain came. Unprotected by roof, we were unwilling to sit in the rain or to stand in the concourse waiting through what turned out to be a 2-hour delay. Besides the pain in the neck it would be to entertain our 8-year old through that amount of time, there was also the fact that we were beat. It had been a long week.

The game took only 2 hours to resume, but our plans to record a podcast took all the way until today. Nevertheless, the CTS and I just recorded episode 111 in which we talk about our weekend trip to Cincinnati, my visit to Victory Field last night, the All-Star Game (plus my plan to get Votto voted in next year), whose on the DL, and Brandon Phillips nibbling on pretzels.

Yippee, getting on the road in pursuit of Cincinnati and a Reds game. My brother’s never been to the Reds HoF and Museum, so we’ll make a stop by there as well, and maybe even drop in for the Reds Heads event, if they can find room for one more.

If all goes well, there might even be a podcast out of this trip. If all goes *really* well, a podcast about a win. In any event, there should be some good photos.