Reds 5 Diamondbacks 4

Major League Baseball
Home Team: Cincinnati Reds (H. Bailey)
Visiting Team: Arizona Diamondbacks (B. Webb)
Venue: Great American Ball Park
Game Time: 7:05 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Brandi

Game Story | Official Box Score | My Photos

Tickets to sporting events are always a great present for me, which is something my lovely wife Brandi takes advantage of quite often. The tickets to this game were a present for my 30th birthday, so that was pretty cool. As much as I love going to Reds games, I got even more excited when terrible manager Jerry Narron was fired, and I got even MORE excited when I learned that phenom Homer Bailey would be pitching for the home team.

We got to the stadium pretty early in hopes of getting some autographs during batting practice. No dice, but we did get to watch batting practice right up close, which was pretty cool.

My only disappointment was that Homer pitched just five innings. He was pitching really well, and I wanted to see him keep going. New manager Pete Mackanin decided to take him out with a lead in hopes of getting a win, though, and I can't argue too much with that for a young pitcher, even though it didn't work out. The Reds did win the game, of course, but Homer didn't get the victory since the Diamondbacks tied the game after he left.

The great Reds bullpen strikes again. Todd Coffey gave up a 3-run homer to Eric Byrnes to tie the game, and I had a pretty bad feeling at that point. The combination of Brandon Phillips and Norris Hopper got the Reds a run in the bottom of the eighth, though, and then David Weathers shut down the D-Backs in the ninth to secure the win.

We had great seats, saw a great game, and had a great time. All in all, I'd say these tickets were a great present, and a great way to bid adieu to my 20s.