Welcome to round 2 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Today’s match-up is the only round 2 contest that doesn’t include a Red, ensuring that at least one extra-Cincinnatian will make it to round three. Chris Duffy of the Pirates goes up against Brad Ausmus of the Astros. Last time around, Ausmus took down a Pirate in Sean Burnett, but in round 1 Chris Duffy won over Billy Petrick with 83% of the vote. It could go either way.

Chris Duffy
ht: 5-9 wt: 180 dob: 04/20/1980

Brad Ausmus
ht: 5-11 wt: 190 dob: 04/14/1969


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Forget about his pitching, I am talkin’ about that funky hair-do!
That, dear reader, is the stuff of legends.

The hilarious hair along with his cherubic face might not win him a “Hottest Baller Award”, but it certainly qualifies him for “player most resembling a cartoon character.”

On a serious note: we find out today via an article by John Fay that Volquez met with Mario Soto literally a week after he was traded to the Reds. You might recall how I anticipated this obvious mentorship in the very first paragraph of my 2007 Year in Review. That’s right, you get nothing but top notch reporting and predictions here at Red-Hot-Mama, so stay tuned as the games officially kick off in less than 48 hours!

It does my heart good to hear Dusty Baker say stupid things. It helps me put my own problems into perspective.

Lest you think that “clogging up the base paths” nonsense that he sputtered while in Chicago stayed behind with the deep-dish pizza, Dusty’s been taking again:

“I’m big on driving in runs and scoring runs,” Baker said. “Guys in the middle should score about close to equal to what they drive in. On-base percentage, that’s fine and dandy. But a lot of times guys get so much into on-base percentage that they cease to swing. It’s becoming a little bit out of control.

“What you do is run the pitcher’s count up, that helps,” Baker said. “You put him in the stretch, that helps. But your job in the middle is to either score them or drive them in. The name of the game is scoring runs. Sometimes, you get so caught up in on-base percentage that you’re clogging up the bases.”

Thanks, RLN, for pointing out the link.

And you thought Dusty Baker overplayed the veterans.