A Day in Cincinnati....

A cool breeze is rolling through the flat lands of Western Ohio this morning...a welcome breeze at that, however it would have been more welcome, if some rain had been brought in with it, alas, no such luck!  The sparse rains stayed west, then jumped to the east of Mercer and the surrounding counties...and we remain parched, with little relief in site.

The weather this morning, is much more pleasant for sure, than the blazing heat we had in Cincinnati at the Reds vs Twins Interleague game yesterday.

Twins 4 Reds 3____

I left for Centerville about 7:30 yesterday morning, there I would stop at youngest son Hal's place, where we would continue on to Cincinnati and meet up with my old friend Andy and his two young sons, A.J. and Daniel....they being Cleveland Indians fans, still like the Reds, and Hal had purchased up good seats....second row, lower deck of the left/centerfield area....the only drawback, was, like most of the seats, it was right in the direct sun, the direct sun of a 90+ degree day  We hope to make this a Father's Day tradition of sorts...but Hal and Lisa had decided against letting 7 month old Kasyn go along this time...a wise move.  It was too hot and he is just a bit too active at this point in his young life....hopefully down the road we can, or at least Hal can, start bringing him along. 

About the 3rd inning I headed up for some shade and stayed there for 3 innings...the Reds had jumped to a 1-0 lead, only to be tied by Minnesota.  I returned to the sunny seats as the Twins took a 2-1 lead, which lasted until the bottom of the 8th, when Reds slugger and top player, Joey Votto, shot a Home Run to left field, just to our right:

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22545867&c_id=cin

{If you look just to the left of the 379 marker, 2nd row, you can see Hal, in gray shirt with hands raised and me to his right with white hair and shirt to match...if you stop the video}

The 3-2 Cincinnati lead didn't last long...as the A-Train Chapman,  aka the Cuban Missile and Reds Closer,  continued to struggle of late, and gave up 2 runs, scored on a mammoth blast by Josh Willingham, and the Twinkies escaped with a 4-3 win....the Reds continue to lead the NL Central by 1 game over Pittsburgh and 2 over the Cardinals.

Before and After the Game...."Rock Bottom"___

Before the game we agreed to park at the garage on downtown Fountain Square in "The Queen City"...Hal and I parked and headed over to the combination bar/restaurant known as "Rock Bottom", which specializes in brewing their own beers on site....good food to go with those micro brews.

Andy and the boys showed up just after 11, we dined, I had a couple of dark brews, and we headed to the game....after the Reds lost, in our effort to beat the traffic, we headed back to "Rock Bottom" and cool off....I had Lemonade, Hal and Andy had same, with water, and the boys each had a root beer float.  We talked for another hour or so before heading back to the garage, after saying out good-byes and agreeing that we might make this an annual event, including Kasyn down the road.   Andy and the boys headed back to Louisville on the Kentucky side of the river, and Hal and I drove back to Centerville...wore out from the food and sun.

Despite the Reds loss, and the heat, all-in-all it was a great few hours....after we got back to Centerville, I jumped in the Nitro, and drove the remaining 93 miles back to Celina and home....arriving wore out just after 8pm....a shower and cold beer were in order.

No umpiring tonight....another day's rest before I get back to action tomorrow night at Lima Central Catholic.

back later>>>>

Photos-The Reds Ryan Ludwick, and teammates warm up before the first pitch, this was the view from our seas in left centerfield...the announced crowd was just around 35,000, many fans, including me, spent much of the time hiding in the shade. Andy, my 30+ year friend from our radio days at WCSM, and his boys A.J. front, and Daniel, in our section of Great American Ballpark.  The Entrance to "Rock Bottom" where they brew their own...and some of the brews and equipment behind the bar....a nice place to stop, both before and after the game.