Dear Bob: A Journey to Cincinnati, Part III - Sunday Afternoon at the Ballpark

Dear Bob,

I'm back to tell you more about our Cincy adventure last week. Today, I'm going to tell you about Sunday, the 1st of July against the hated Deadbirds. After walking over the Roebling Suspension Bridge (yes, that same Roebling who built the Brooklyn Bridge) a few hours before game time, snapping some photos, and getting Bronson Arroyo to wave to us as he rode to work in a Hummer (boooo!) driven by someone else, we entered the stadium to watch batting practice. Only there was no batting practice. Instead, your crappy relievers were out signing autographs.

Sure, it was still a thrill to get a signature from a Major League Baseball player, even as a 30 year old woman, but if you're not gonna have batting practice, the least you could do is send out a fan favorite or two. You're the boss, right? My old boss had no problem making me do all kinds of crap I didn't want to do, like print his documents for him (because it's too tough to click "print?") It wouldn't hurt to tell one of your players to spill a little ink, would it? I think not.

But I'm not complaining. I was perfectly content to stand there on the side of the field where maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to sit during a game.

I got Mike Gosling's autograph. While he was signing the glove of the kid next to me, the kid said something about how he was going to show his coach, and Gosling responded with something like, "He's gonna say who? and ask you why you didn't get someone like Ken Griffey Jr.'s autograph." It was rather amusing, and definitely humble. I now like the guy - before that I would have shrugged my shoulders, but now I really want him to succeed.

I was just happy to see ballplayers signing, though, no matter who they were, even crazy Matt Belisle, whose days on the team are numbered (give Dumatrait a try!), but he didn't get anywhere near us. I would have liked to get Jon Coutlangus' ink, as I am starting to believe that he is the closer of the future - the guy has shown some brilliant pitching, though he's also had his problems. He seems to have settled down recently. I'm glad you've kept him on the team! Marcus McBeth was out as well. I was surprised you guys sent him down since he, too, seemed to be doing well recently. I'm sure we'll see him up soon.

I had to start wondering where the position players were. Yes, it was a warm day, but you still need to loosen your muscles to play a game! We did see Juan "Manos de plomos" Castro out with his two children. It was cute to see the two little "Castro 9" jerseys on their backs. I took some photos but won't post them here out of respect for his family's privacy.
Bronson was out - it was like he wanted people to see him. I know he had to throw some, but he was running all over the field, taking a route by the fans instead of a direct one when he had to go out to the bullpen and flipping his glove over our way as he did run. He's not full of himself, though. I appreciate his efforts. That was a great thing you did, Bob, in signing him to that long contract and putting him on the media guide. It's nice for the Reds to have a national star (other than Griff, of course, who isn't so much "Reds" as he is "Ken Griffey, Jr.")

Kyle Lohse was out, too, thinking he was Mr. Cool. He's a good looking guy, but that little patch of facial hair looks pretty stupid. What are you guys going to get for him? I know there are teams out there desperate for pitching, but how desperate are they? Are we going to get a couple of good, young arms for him? Cash? And will Phil Dumatrait finally get his chance in the Bigs when Lohse is gone? (Doesn't it excite you, Bob, to know that we've got some awesome young talent down on the farm? I am really excited for the next few years!)

Thanks for giving us Homer this year, Bob. I do hope the demotion is temporary like the Reds officially say it is. I was thrilled to get to see him pitch, even if he did pitch pretty poorly. He sure did rack up a pitch count early! Still, just the excitement of seeing that "Bailey 34" was more than enough for satisfaction. I'm hoping the rotation works out so that I can see him pitch again when the team is in DC at the end of the month! Could you arrange it for me, Bob? ;)

As I stood at the bullpen watching Homer warmup, I felt like I was at a zoo. Every fence around the pen was crowded with faces trying to catch a glimpse of the greatest hope for Reds pitching since, well, since Soto? Browning? It's hard to compare Homerism to either of those, too, though, partly because they never had to deal with the media insanity of today's world. Even the security seemed to be extra (and yeah, Todd Coffey might make a better security guard than Major League pitcher!)

We sat in Section 108, one over from the previous night. Some drunk guy sat in front of us - yeah, he was drunk at 12:15 on a Sunday - so we moved down to one of the firsts few rows of the section. Some kid who looked like David Ross sat across the aisle from us. I should have taken a picture to show you instead of this empty seat two down from him. There were Deadbirds fans all around us, but at least they were nice. Supposedly, those we sat next to were going to Cooperstown on Monday and returning for Tuesday's game against the Giants. Apparently they thought it was somehow possible to drive from Cincinnati, Ohio to Cooperstown, New York, sleep, and see the Hall of Fame in 48 hours. For the mathematically challenged, that's 22 hours of driving, leaving 24 hours for sleeping, eating, and seeing the Hall. Two nights of sleep leaves about 8 hours for the Hall, eating, and whatever else. They called it a vacation; I call it a stupid waste of time. At least they were nice people. And the woman has the only known photo of me with my "FIRE NARRON" sign. (Little did we realize it would be Jerry's last day!)

It was awesome to see Junior hit number 585. That guy has been one of my favorite players for a long time, and it is great to see him having the year he is having. I have to admit, though, that I was a little worried about seeing him play, because I was in attendance when his arm fell off at that Chub$ game and when his toe fell off last September on that Bonds homer. Given that I haven't attended more than a couple of games each year, the possibility that his head could fall off was quite high when I was there.

This kid was awesome. While some brat in the aisle next to us never saw a pitch of the game, as she was up and down the whole time, standing and whining like a spoiled baby (thank god they left in the fifth inning), this kid watched intently for most of the time. He really knew his stuff, too. His dad took him and three of his friends to the game, and while the friends watched most of the game, it was not with the same intensity as this kid. We definitely need more young fans like him to rescue baseball from the excesses of the NFL.

Anyway, Bob, I've said quite a lot today, so I'll leave you with a few more photos. Tomorrow I'll tell you about the vintage exhibition game between the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Cincinnati Buckeyes that we saw after the game as well as our trip to the awesome Reds Hall of Fame to see "Pete: The Exhibit.