Cincinnati 8 - Los Angeles 1

The Mets' day game meant my morning was free for another game and I opted for KABC's broadcast of the Reds & Dodgers. Started off promising enough, but Hong-Chih Kuo fell apart in the 4th and the Reds got an easy win. Edinson Volquez (my fantasy team as is Ted Lilly) was impressive again yesterday. Three strong starts to begin the year. He's out-pitching everyone's fantasy darling Johnny Cueto so far.

By the way, Jeff Keppinger's hitting .329, in case you're curious.

Also, in case you're curious, Joe Torre is still over-using Scott Proctor, who still isn't getting the job done.

Rick Monday is the play-by-play man for KABC whenever Vin Scully's not there. He isn't too bad. He's not the most electrifying (then again the game wasn't either), but he's got a pretty much gimmick-free approach and an easy voice to listen to. He was teamed up with Jerry Reuss and the two worked well with Monday deferring to Reuss on pitching aspects of the game, but offering his own insights to hitting.

At one point Monday brought up the topic of superstitions (it was that sort of a game). Reuss sad he had none, but did have a routine. Monday then talked about the superstitions of Baltimore pitcher Mike Cuellar, who won the 1969 Cy Young for the Orioles. (He also pitched two strong games against the Mets in the World Series). Cuellar didn't like to have anyone hand or toss him the baseball. Other teams would toss him the ball intentionally as he was coming onto the field and Cuellar would run from it "as if was being chased by a wild alligator". I love that kind of stuff.

I also learned that the Dodgers and Reds have played over 2100 games. Dodgers have won 1084 to 1073 for the Reds.

Also, Edinson Volquez was signed originally as Julio Reyes. They never explained why he changed his name. Maybe Howie & Wayne will oblige when the Mets play the Reds.