Thank you, Milwaukee Brewers for also losing so as to offset the 2011 debut of Badroyo and keep the Reds in a one-game lead for first place in the division. I hope we can do it again sometime.

Of course, we the way we “do it again” is by both teams continuing to lose, we’ll have to start worrying about the Chicago Cubs. And, by extension, the end of the world.

The Cincinnati Reds started out this year with a bang and took an early lead in the division. With some really shoddy bullpen work from time to time, though, the Milwaukee Brewers are now just one game back. It wouldn’t matter if the Reds lost first place: the season is long and you don’t get bonus points for going wire-to-wire.

But it did have me thinking about the last time the Reds were in first place right out of the gate, and how long it lasted.

The most recent time the Reds even won their first game of the season (a requirement for this feat, unless every team in the division starts the season out of division and loses concurrently) was 2007, and the very next game they were knocked down to third in the NLC when they lost to the mighty power of Ted Lilly and the Chicago Cubs.

The next most recent time the Reds started off in first was 2005, that badass year when Joe Randa raked and Cincinnati totally owned the Mets through the whole first series. But it was all for naught, when they were out of first on the very next game, just four into the season.

The time before that was 2002, and we’re getting back into the very early days of my fandom here. I probably didn’t even know that there was a pitching rotation at that point (it seems natural to life-long fans, but the notion of a rotation is not obvious to the rest of the world). Again, the Reds had given up first by the fourth game.

And that’s it: the sum total of the times the Reds have even so much as won the first game of the series in the last ten years, and first place in the division was never held on to for longer than a week. No wonder people are so excited this year; this is uncharted territory, baby, and even if they lose it tomorrow (which, I guess they could only really tie for it) the baseball gods can’t jinx that away.

Now you, too, can add to the fun of baseball by introducing pencil and paper!

Learn how to score a baseball game on April 14 at the Reds HOF

Baseball Perspectives Series: Ron Roth, Reds Official Scorekeeper

CINCINNATI (April 11, 2011) — Have you ever wanted to learn how to score a baseball game?

Ron Roth, the official scorekeeper for the Cincinnati Reds, will teach fans the basics and finer points of scoring a game at the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum on Thursday, April 14 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

One of the most experienced and respected scorekeepers in the game, Ron will show more than 20 different plays from the 2010 season that MLB reviewed and give you the opportunity to make the call.

This event is free with Museum admission. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for students/seniors and $6 for active military/veterans. The Reds Hall of Fame & Museum is open seven days a week now through October and is closed on Mondays November-March. To purchase admission tickets or for additional information, visit RedsMuseum.org or call (513) 765-7923.

I was initially hesitant to link to this because I didn’t want to reward MLB’s draconian and asinine policies on sharing and embedding videos, but really, it’s worth it. I mean, my principles aren’t really worth not viewing this epic failure last night by the St. Louis Cardinals.

First, I’ll set the stage. The Cardinals’ offense continues to be non-existent, but it had scratched together a 1-run lead. Closer–and former Cincinnati Red–Ryan Franklin was on in the 9th. He’d managed two outs, but had also allowed two runners to get on.

That’s when former Houston Astro Miguel Tejada came to the plate and delivered this walk-off hit.

What I really love is that the loss was a team effort. It wasn’t just Franklin. Center fielder Colby Rasmus failed to catch the ball, and both Rasmus and left fielder John Jay failed to communicate.

I fully expect the Cardinals to rebound and become competitive this season. But that’s not going to take away any of my enjoyment from them starting off so horribly in 2011. They’re 2-6 and 4 games behind the first-place Reds.