CINCINNATI, OHIO – Cincinnati Reds starting center fielder Drew Stubbs and infielder Paul Janish are showing support for Jay Bruce by joining the fun at the upcoming Jay Bruce Baseball Camp, presented by CBTS and Fifth Third Bank.

Bruce, the Reds’ hot-hitting right fielder, will host his inaugural youth baseball camp July 19th through July 21st at Prasco Park in Mason, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The three-day camp is open to boys and girls, ages 6 to 14, but potential campers are encouraged to register soon, as less than 30 spots remain available.

Bruce will be on site each day of camp, directing activities and providing instruction with Indiana University head baseball coach Tracy Smith and other top collegiate and prep coaches from the Cincinnati area.

Campers experience various stations, specializing in fundamental skills and the team concept of baseball. Individual groups are small to assure that each camper gets maximum personalized instruction.

Each camper receives an autographed camp team photo with Bruce, a camp T-shirt, free admission to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, free tickets to a Reds home game and the opportunity to win additional contests and prizes.

Jay Bruce Baseball Camp is proud to be conducted in partnership with the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, Meijer, State Farm, Fox Sports Ohio and B105.

Cost of the camp is $199.

Additional information and registration is available at www.JayBruceCamp.com or call 513-793-CAMP.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds made it take longer than it should have, but eventually, they defeated the Chicago Cubs yesterday.

Travis Wood made his first professional start and pitched great. It helped, of course, that he was going against the Cubs, who have been terrible all year. Dusty Baker did make a questionable decision in leaving Wood in the game to start the 8th. Up to that point, though, Wood had breezed through 7 innings of shutout ball with a very low pitch count. Unfortunately, Wood was tired and walked the only 2 batters he faced.

The small, 2-run lead off of RBIs from Scott Rolen and Jonny Gomes, vanished quickly once reliever Nick Masset entered. Both inherited runners scored. Masset did shut down the Cubs for the rest of the inning, but he’s still got a ways to go to become the Masset we saw last year.

The bullpen was great from then on, with Jordan Smith getting the eventual win, and Francisco Cordero getting an almost uneventful save.

The Reds offense barely managed to retake the lead. They had opportunities in the 9th and the 10th, yet managed only 1 run, and that was thanks to Jay Bruce breaking up a double play and allowing the go-ahead run to score. 16 hits in a game is great; stranding 13 and scoring only 3 is not so great. Still, the team managed another win from their final at-bat. This team definitely has some confidence. Plus, they are in first place by 1.5 games thanks to a Cardinals loss. And that’s something that hasn’t happened this late in a season in a very long time.

The final All-Star vote tally before the one that decides the line-up is now available. Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Orlando Cabrera, and Jonny Gomes hang in there in their races, but Scott Rolen is actually within striking distance.

Ken Griffey, Jr. was on the All-Star line-up in 2007, and before that the last Red to appear was Barry Larkin in 2000. Two voted in the last 10 years? Don’t you think we ought to do something about that? Hell, Rolen himself has appeared in the line-up that many times in that many years. Let’s send him again.

Remember, you get 25 votes per email address. Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Gmail are your partners in making your voice heard.

It also appears you can vote 25 times per email address per day. At least I’ve been able to cast votes on different days with the same email address. Why not try it out for yourself?

Boxscore

Forget about the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. The danger of particles creating a micro-black holes large enough to destroy the galaxy is nothing compared to the danger of B-Phil and J-Roll on the same field at the same time. What would happen should these two middle-infielding celestial bodies collide? The gravity well of awesomeness might consume the Milky Way in three-tenths of a second (or the amount it takes to flip a double-play ball, whichever is shorter).

Or worse, we might be sent back in time to the Dave Miley era. Argh! Someone moved Adam Dunn’s armchair!

On this night, though, we escaped the galactic destruction and just saw the B-Phil side of the equation win out. Probably it was the universe evening out his recent arrest somehow. 72 in a 35? Hasn’t he seen the commercial where the lady stops just in time to avoid hitting the dumb girl who runs out into the road in front of her, only to be rear-ended herself? Talk about a Pay It Forward ending.

Johnny Cueto was kickin’ it, giving up one earned run on six hits and two walks through eight innings. Bill Bray was somewhat less awesome, giving up a two-run homer in his single inning of work. Lucky for him, the 18 ERA he earned in his first appearance in the majors this season wasn’t so much of a problem, what with the offense coming through with the seven runs and all.

Orlando “Lando” Cabrera, Joey “Vote” Votto, Ramon “Filling in” Hernandez, and Chris “Why must the outfield be so full” Heisey each contributed an RBI to that total, with Scott “Keep this inning” Rolen came through with the other three.

He also smacked his 300th career home run tonight, with him family in attendance and everything. Boy, that was easy. I remember when Ken Griffey, Jr. used to approach those big round numbers and it would take a damn month for him to actually hit it.

Tomorrow the Reds send Mike Leake out against Joe Blanton at 7:10 p.m.

On an unrelated note:
The other day, MLB sent me an email inviting me to return to the All-Star voting page. Of course, I had long since voted 25 times, but when I went back, I was able to cast 25 more votes. I took a glance at the rules, but it wasn’t clear to me whether you could vote 25 times per day, but why not go and try it for yourself?