A FEW MO' THINGS, 5/10/12 EDITION
Here is video of an unassisted triple play being turned in by a six year-old.....

What you don't see in the video is angry little league dad berating the other kids for horrible baserunning.

-I've never heard of a bad win, but yesterday's win, the Reds' 16th of the season seemed just a little more gratifying than the previous 15.

The Reds finished off a winning road trip because Johnny Cueto pitched like the ace he is and because Stubbs, Votto, and Phillips all epitomized clutch in the ninth.

And they won their fifth series out of their last six because of Dusty Baker

Earlier this week I criticized Dusty for being inflexible...his unwillingness to hit Jay Bruce fourth showed a rigid reluctance to back off his belief that you simply cannot have two Lefts hitting back-to-back in your lineup.  Yesterday though, he was flexible enough to yank his closer in a critical situation.

And Logan Ondrusek made his manager look good.

Maybe the initial decision to use the left-handed Sean Marshall against a slew of good righty hitters was a little misguided, or perhaps you think Chapman should've been allowed to hit for himself in the top of the ninth so he could stay in to pitch the bottom half (I'd strongly disagree), but a manager who's often criticized for an unwillingness to make tough decisions and who's frequent berated for refusing to operate outside his comfort zone did the right thing yesterday.

And he did it knowing that the move to pull Marshall and go with Ondrusek comes with questions: Should Marshall be the closer? If so, how much rope does he get?  If it's not him, then whom?  Should Ondrusek get ninth inning duty? How long is his leash if he does?  Can the Reds really afford to pay a setup man the kind of coin Marshall will be pulling in these next three years?  Is Chapman the answer in the ninth and what does that do to the idea of him starting? 

All are good questions, and we might be asking them even if Marshall stayed in to get the game's final out.  But they're amplified in part because Dusty was willing to make a tough decision.

Good for him.

Better yet, god for the Reds.

Aside from Johnny Cueto being Johnny Cueto, Votto and Phillips' ninth inning heroics, and the drama at the end of the game, this was the highlight of yesterday's Reds/Brewers tilt.

-Homer Bailey was terrible on Tuesday night.

And since coming to the Major Leagues in 2007, he's never come close to living up to the hype.

But we went into this season believing (or hoping) that Homer would be a back of the rotation guy.

Well, so far....

Homer has made six starts.  Four could be classified as "okay," two can only be classified as "awful."

The Reds lost his two terrible starts, and have gone 2-2 in the other four.  One of those losses was the Angel Pagan home run game at GABP.  The other loss came when the Reds scored but one run.

He's been okay at best, terrible at worst.

Know what that sounds like to me?  A back of the rotation starter. 

Or...exactly what we thought Homer Bailey would be when the season began.

-Jacob Bell is retiring from the NFL just a month after signing with the Bengals. From The St. Louis Post-Dispatch....
"There were a lot of factors that went into it for me," Bell told the Post-Dispatch in a phone interview Tuesday night. "I've had a lot of fun playing. I've seen a lot of things. I've played in a lot of games. The reality is that for me it came down to risk and reward. I think you've always got to weigh that out. At some point, you've got to kind of figure out what you're in the game for.

"One of my biggest concerns when it comes to the game in general is my personal health. One thing that's obviously on the minds of a lot of people lately is brain research and all the stuff that's going on with that. One of the big things that I thought about when I was considering this is how much do I love the game? How much can they pay me to take away my health and my future and being able to be with my family and just have a healthy lifestyle?"

Would Bell, who signed a one-year free-agent deal with Cincinnati less than five weeks ago, still be playing if Seau hadn't taken his own life?

"That's a good question," he said. "I've been thinking about some different things, thinking about health, thinking about the future of my family having to deal with some kind of crazy disease that nobody even knows about, where people want their brains studied after they're dead. Donating their brains to research.

"It's just crazy to see how someone like Junior Seau took his own life over — God knows what he was really struggling and dealing with. But you have to believe it came from the game of football. I want to get out before the game makes me get out, where I can get out on my own terms, and I can limit the amount of stress and negative impact that the game would leave on me."

The health concerns for NFL players obviously go beyond concussions.

"I played under a guy, Mike Munchak in Tennessee, and I used to watch him as he was running around the practice field for a half hour before practice, and I'd see the way he'd run," Bell said. "He played 13 seasons, he played all 13 seasons with no cartilage in his knees. And I thought to myself, I don't want to look like that. I don't want to be at the point where I'm jeopardizing my true health for money pretty much. For money and for celebrity."

In terms of concussions, Bell isn't sure how many he had in St. Louis or in the four years before with the Tennessee Titans. Then again, he wonders what the true definition of a concussion is and whether doctors, athletic trainers and other medical personnel have a true knowledge of what one is and how it affects the brain.

"Is a concussion, 'Oh, I saw stars.'?" Bell said. "Is a concussion, 'Oh, I got a little wobbly for a second — I'm OK now'? Or is a concussion, 'I got hit and I can't go back in the game because I truly don't know where I'm at and what day it is.'?

"If you're telling me 'I'm seeing stars' is some sort of concussion, then you're getting a couple a week. You're going to get a minimum 30 concussions in a season. That just gives you a ballpark figure of what people are truly dealing with."

I went into this yesterday, but it bears repeating.....

Jacob Bell is the NFL.  Aaron Rodgers isn't.  Neither is Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, or Peyton Manning.

It's guys like Jacob Bell that make up the vast majority of the NFL.

And guys like David Arkin, Kroy Bierman, Mike Tolbert, and David Ausberry.

Who?

Exactly.

Jacob Bell is one of over a thousand workaday NFL players, who are largely anonymous, well-off but not filthy rich, unable to really capitalize on their fame, and who will likely still need do something to make a living when their playing days are over.

I wonder how many are at least contemplating following in Bell's footsteps?  I wonder how many actually will.

Someone will take Jacob's place in the league and someone will always be there to fill a roster spot left vacant by a retiring player, but as questions about player safety mount, I wonder how many of the league's rank and file players will decide that what they're putting into a sport they love just isn't worth what they'll take away from it.

-The Knicks lost.  No analysis necessary.  I won't write about them again 'til October.  Watch this video.

Late on this, but Rajon Rondo....kind of a jerk.

-I'm not really sure what's going on here, but this song all the women's lacrosse teams are singing is pretty big so here you go.

-I'm a sucker for stories like this one.

-The wussification of America: Part 298,291

-Some dunce Canadian hockey announcer compared New York Rangers and Washington Capitals players to firemen and police officers, complete with 9/11 references. 

-People I don't feel sorry for: Terrell Owens. From ESPN....
Owens doesn't see any of his four kids -- two sons and two daughters by four women -- with any regularity because, he said, his schedule doesn't allow it. He doesn't send Christmas presents. He doesn't call on their birthdays. Until recently, he didn't do anything but pop in occasionally on short notice and send money at the beginning of the month.

Terrell Owens is a scumbag.  He's not deserving of our pity.  He's an irresponsible horse's ass who won't adjust whatever his schedule entails (I can't even imagine what has him so busy) to even see his children.

And apparently, going out and getting a job is above him.

This isn't a "man, he's having a hard time adjusting to post-football life" thing.  And it's not a "well he was fatherless and is only following the example set before him" thing.  And contrary to what T.O will tell you, it's not a "man, the media screwed T.O." thing either.

It's a Terrell Owens is a miserable and awful human being thing.

-"NFL players know what they're getting into."

I hear this in response to the discussion of player safety and what the NFL needs to do to insure it.

Dumbest rationale ever.

By this logic, automotive companies shouldn't make cars safer because you know, we know what we're getting into.

-I'm gonna get into a radio show this afternoon at 3:04 on ESPN1530.  You should listen.  And you should follow me on Twitter.  I love, you Jenny Love.