Give Up After 2 Weeks

After a grueling 15 days without a pitching coach, the Cincinnati Reds took a page from the Nobel Peace Prize committee and hired someone earlier than necessary. Bryan Price, formerly of the Arizona Diamondbacks, will be the pitching coach for next year’s losing effort.

Many Reds fans had speculated that the Reds might pursue Dave Duncan, whose contract ends with the St. Louis Cardinals after this season. Of course, the Reds would have to, you know, interview people instead of hiring the first moron who they could lure into Cincinnati.

All I can figure is that with the Arizona Fall League stating, the Reds were going crazy with the idea of not having a pitching coach. I mean, how are the pitchers going know that they’re supposed to throw strikes instead of balls.

Here’s a panoramic shot of Wrigley Field during its final game of the 2009 baseball season. Check out those blocked sight-lines! Click to embiggen.

I saw this story today about Charles Trimble, a lifelong Reds fan who had a heart attack and had no pulse for almost 15 minutes during a Pirates-Reds game on August 23.

But there’s good news. Trimble was revived thanks to the quick efforts of CPR and a nearby doctor. He spent time in the hospital recovering.

But yesterday, he was sitting up in bed, surrounded by family members, and talking. He doesn’t remember anything from the baseball game.

Now he’s just going to give the Reds ideas. Although, considering they beat the Pirates that day, maybe not.

Still, Trimble knows who saved him.

In his hospital room yesterday, Mr. Trimble wore a Pirates cap — an homage to the park and the people who gave him his life back.

So there you go, Pirates. Now you know how to get more fans. Just lull them to the sleep of death and revive them in the nick of time. If that gets too difficult, you could always try winning.

Jon and I made a trip to Cincinnati this weekend to take in a little live music and a nice ball game. The Reds had their season-high streak of five games in a row to keep going, and we would have loved to have seen them stretch it to six.

Before the game, the Screaming Mimes played to a crowd of about 50 concert goers plus a zillion people in line for the $1 concession stand. Even an hour before game time, the line was already impressive, and showed no sign of slackening as the game went on.

After the show, we enjoyed the feature presentation…up until the sixth inning. We don’t like to think about that part, though. Instead, we’ll share the photo of a Drew “Stubby” Stubbs and Joey “Baby Kangaroo” Votto high five after the Paul “Soft J” Janish home run.

Alas, we didn’t have a lot that was good to talk about when we recorded in the eighth inning. Thankfully, the inning was short and so was the podcast.

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After this season, Dayton Daily News sports reporter Hal McCoy will be forced to retire. Apparently, that’s what it’s taken to loosen his pen concerning the Reds and their idiocy.

On famed crappy player Willy Taveras, McCoy wrote this.

As far as I’m concerned, and many other fans are concerned, Taveras can rot on the bench the rest of the season. I’ve seen nothing to merit the millions the Reds have flushed down the toilet when they brought this guy in.

Welcome to the club, Mr. McCoy! It’s kind of a depressing place, but it’s always better to let these things out than to hold them in.