Woo-hoo! I'm home and available for a game thread! It feels like it's been forever.

C. Trent's got the line-ups:
Brewers
Weeks 2B
Hardy SS
Fielder 1B
Hall CF
Estrada C
Mench LF
Hart RF
Graffanino 3B
Capuano P

Reds
Ryan Freel
Brandon Phillps
Adam Dunn
Jeff Conine
Ken Griffey, Jr.
Edwin Encarnación
Juan Castro
David Ross
Eric Milton

We're two outs in and Milton hasn't given up a run yet. Freel had a bad-ass play.

From Reds.com:

CINCINNATI -- The Reds and infielder-outfielder Ryan Freel agreed Monday to terms on a two-year contract extension through the 2009 season.

The 31-year-old Freel, who stole 110 bases in his first three full seasons with the Reds and already has four stolen bases this season, was on the second year of a two-year deal he signed prior to last season.

I'll have to update later with numbers once I see them. C. Trent has equally limited information, but I bet he'll have an update soon.

Of course, there aren't going to be many people who are against this. I mean, Freel's a great, exciting player with an obviously positive impact on the team's performance.

I do wonder why now, though. General Manager Wayne Krivsky definitely has a penchant for extending contracts way earlier than they need to be, so maybe it's nothing. On the other hand, with the number of bloggers and podcasters for other teams that have expressed their desire to see Freel on their own team, I have to wonder.

UPDATE 7:22 p.m. -- Freel's getting $3 million in 2008 and $4 million in 2009. Check out C. Trent's comments on the matter. There are some quotes from Freel. There's also some totally rambling and irrelevant stuff about Rob Butcher, which I assume is an effort to give the PR man some good PR man himself after he didn't represent himself so well in a conversation with me.

I tried posting this while forgetting to enter a title, but the blog software here at Red Hot Mama promptly (and, I suppose, quite properly) scolded me for it. And so with apologies to The Blues Brothers, here's a contribution from the Crack Hard Facts Staff that some of you may find interesting…or maybe not:

1. The Reds pitching staff currently leads the major leagues with 91 strikeouts. The closest NL competitor is the D-Backs with 90.

2. Reds pitchers have allowed only 29 walks. Only the Brewers have issued fewer free passes among NL clubs.

3. Reds pitchers have plunked only one batter in 12 games, tying the Giants for the fewest in the majors - although the Giants have played ten games to twelve for the Reds. The Phillies seem like a notorious bunch of headhunters by comparison, they've plunked eight in 11 games.

4. The Reds' staff team ERA of 2.93 is the third-lowest in the major leagues. Only the Mets (2.69) and Red Sox (2.79) have lower team ERAs.

Unfortunately, the picture for the hitters isn't quite as rosy. On the positive side, Reds hitters have taken a walk 50 times, more than any team in the majors except the Phillies (69) and Braves (51). But:

1. The Reds' team BA of .226 is the NL's worst.

2. Only two NL teams have a lower team slugging percentage than the Reds' .344 mark - the Giants and the Nationals.

3. Reds hitters have struck out 86 times. There are only three NL teams with more (Rockies, Phillies, Braves).

4. The Reds have 13 doubles, fewer than any other team in the NL.

Yet they lead the division? Imagine what it would be like if these guys could hit!

While taking the self-guided tour of the sortable team stats on mlb.com that produced the above tidbits, I noticed that amazingly, only one stolen base has been attempted against the Brewers so far this season! That figures to change when they visit Cincinnati tonight and Tuesday. The Reds are currently tied with the Dodgers for the major league lead in stolen bases with 13.

HMZ