I'm apparently in the mood to taunt the Baseball Gods today because I'm calling for Reds fans everywhere to get out their Swiffer for the sweep of the Astros this afternoon.

The last time The Lizard pitched, he flat-out earned himself a second look. If he can keep it up today, we could be seeing this cute little fella long-term.

CINCINNATI, OH -- Ken Griffey, Jr. discovered that the Houston Astros' grip on first place was held together with pine tar this weekend when he replaced the tar with honey.

Griffey, a notorious prankster and bored during his continuing stint on the disabled list, snuck into the visitor's clubhouse before Friday's game. There, he cleaned the nasty-ass pine tar off Craig Biggio's batting helmet. In place of the tar, he covered the helmet in honey.

“It seemed to fit,” said Griffey of the prank, “they're supposed to be killer bees.”

Even Griffey didn't know that the tar was all that was holding the team together.

“I just thought it might attract gnats or something,” Griffey explained, “I didn't realize I was helping the Reds win.”

Helping the Reds win is not one of Griffey's priorities. He recently said he would be unwilling to consider a position change, despite the fact that the Reds have been performing better without him in center field.

“Look, I'm only 36, and I'm held together with the very best staples and duct tape that science has to offer,” said Griffey. “There's no reason for me to move.”

The Reds agree and have left Griffey on the disabled list going into Sunday's game.

I know we're not due to play the Cubbies again for a while, but I think last night's performance is worthy of note. Our favorite Chicago pitcher, Glendon Rusch, gave up seven earned runs in two and two-thirds innings. Those seven runs would turn out to be less than half of the opponent's score as the Cubs got beat 16-2.

Death has an open letter to Mr. Rusch. I remember when we felt this way about Milton.

The Reds won the game and the series against the Houston Astros this afternoon by a score of 3-6.

Pitching stud Aaron Harang started with the pitching and worked seven and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs (earned) on five hits and two walks to get the win.

Pitching--well, I don't want to say “dud,” but…--Kent Mercker finished out the eighth, but not before allowing an inherited runner to score on two hits. I was a little afraid of what might happen if Harang boiled over sitting in the dugout watching Mercker's performance. I can see how that fella can be pretty intimidating. But when Ryan Freel caught the final out of the inning and Harang cracked a smile, I released the breath I didn't realize I'd been holding, and all was well.

As is becoming commonplace, David Weathers worked a hitless ninth to get the save.

The Houston Astros have been out-homering the Reds this series. They first got on the board in the second inning when Jason Lane sent one flying out over left field while Preston Wilson stood on base. Score: 2-0.

The Reds didn't make an appearance on the scoreboard until the fourth inning. After getting Rich Aurilia out, Andy Pettitte walked Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns to set up Edwin Encarnación for the RBI double. Brandon Phillips used his superpowers to coax a bad throw to first from Pettitte to score Kearns and Encarnación while keeping himself safe on first.

Phillips advanced to second on a single by Harang, stole third base, and then scored when ball four to Freel got away from the catcher. Let me tell you, this play confused the heck out of me when it happened, because I couldn't figure out why Freel was running to first when he hadn't swung at the pitch. It took me a moment to realize that, though he had walked, he was running to get out of the way of Phillips. Score: 4-2.

Aurilia hit the Reds' first home run of the series (and only the second of the last two series) in the bottom of the fifth. Dunn then doubled, moved to third on Kearns' single, and came home two batters later when Phillips grounded into a fielder's choice. Score: 6-2.

The top of the sixth featured a truly remarkable catch by Jason LaRue. Willy Taveras popped up a bunt, oh probably six feet into the air and maybe four feet in front of the plate. LaRue managed to lunge forward and catch the ball right at the ground, then had the presence of mind to get up and double Craig Biggio off second base.

Felipe Lopez committed an error on the very next play that required Harang to face a couple more batters in the inning than he otherwise would have. The giving away of outs had been a hallmark of the Reds 2005 team that I wouldn't mind never seeing again. Nevertheless, the score remained 6-2.

Harang allowed a single to Chris Burke to lead off the eighth before getting Biggio and Taveras out. Still, Narron pulled Harang in favor of Mercker to turn around Lance Berkman. Berkman promptly singled to center to bring in Burke. Mercker then gave up a double to Ryan Ensberg before finally inducing the fly ball to center from Mike Lamb. Final score: 6-3.

The win brings the Reds record to 17-7 and gives them a one-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLC standings. The Reds go for the series sweep tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. Elizardo “The Lizard” Ramirez faces off against Taylor “Sweetie Face” Buchholz.

Denver Sport Zone, a sports blog, has uncovered a blanket policy of Major League Baseball to ban all blogs not associated with a traditional media outlet from press access to games. Denver Sport Zone thinks MLB giving access to bloggers would be a step in the right direction. However, JD says that he doesn't want a press pass anyway since he doesn't have any questions that the existing media doesn't already ask.

Yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with JD on this one, for at least three reasons.

Number one, I do have questions that the media doesn't already ask. I serve a niche audience looking for humor, quirks, and the human side of the sport. Among the most common non-porn related searches that lead readers to Red Hot Mama are queries for information on Felipe Lopez's tattoos and the marital status of Adam Dunn. You would be shocked at how many people looking for information on Raquel Aurilia end up right here.

The stuff you find on Red Hot Mama isn't the stuff you find in the Cincinnati-land papers. Well, it is, but it's aggregated into one place from little tidbits gathered from human-interest stories over the years. I could serve my audience more quickly, easily, and completely if I had more access.

Number two, it's not just the questions I would ask, but the way I would ask them. I have more-or-less the same information as every other Reds source on the Internet, yet the number of people who make their way to Red Hot Mama every day to read what I have to say continues growing. Why? People must love listening to my voice. I know I do.

Currently I can regurgitate the information I read in the papers and on other blogs in my own words, and I can give my perspectives on that information. Who knows what I would find if I could gather that information myself. Perhaps I'd still be posting up Human League entries that sound remarkably like the MLB bio, but maybe I'd be giving you all-together different content. I cannot know that without having the access to try.

Number three, press-level access for bloggers would keep the press honest. I don't know why big stories, like players using steroids, don't get reported in a timely manner, but certainly the fact that reporters have so much on the line has something to do with it. They have a steady job and a vote for the Hall of Fame and a press box with a loud-speaker to feed them their lines. The legitimate media has too much to lose to stay legitimate.

On the other hand, you let in a blogger and all bets are off. Even if the blogger doesn't report the news first, she'll be a constant reminder to the actual reporter that he'd better stay on his toes or he'll lose something more important than his free buffet: his credibility.

This may, in fact, be the single biggest reason that Major League Baseball (and the national media) doesn't want to give bloggers access. However, as blogs continue to grow as favored news sources, excluding bloggers will only give the impression that MLB has something to hide.

It would be smart and proactive of Major League Baseball to begin figuring out now how to make themselves available to the blogosphere, and the Reds are the perfect team to do it. They're the first professional team. The first team to play at night under artificial lights. They can be the first to demonstrate that they're not ashamed of their team operations by opening up to bloggers.

Lately the Reds have fallen out of their trendsetter role, but we've got a new ownership group with a Senior Director of Business Operations who told me to my face that the Reds would be looking for ways to incorporate weblogs into their marketing operations. Sure, he then failed to return every message I left him, but still it seems like a step in the right direction.