....why is this ball smiling?

CINCINNATI - Moments after Jay Bruce caught a routine fly for the final out, the public address announcer called everyone's attention to the standings board behind the right-field seats, the one that was about to reflect a seismic shift in the NL Central.

Finally, the Cardinals had been knocked off their perch. The Cardinals had been in first place since July 31. The defending champions opened a five-game lead before going into a pronounced downturn, losing nine of their last 12.

Now, for the first time since the middle of last season, they're looking up.

Alerted by an announcer, the 26,712 rain-soaked fans pointed at the NL Central standings board and cheered when it reflected the change at the top after the final out. The Reds moved into a half-game lead by winning seven of eight.

Cincinnati hasn't been in first place this deep into a season since June 8, 2006.

I grew up with the ‘Big Red Machine’ so I am looking for any “little” victory I can find with the Reds today…(keep your eye on Bruce in right field)….

Ahhhhh… The Big Red Machine

In 1975, the Big Red Machine lineup solidified with the starting team of Johnny Bench (c), Tony Perez (1b), Joe Morgan (2b), Dave Concepción (ss), Pete Rose (3b), Ken Griffey (rf), César Gerónimo (cf), and George Foster (lf). The starting pitchers included Don Gullett, Fred Norman, Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham, Pat Darcy, and Clay Kirby....but it didn't start off that way.

On Opening Day, Rose still played in left field, Foster was not a starter, while John Vuckovich, an off-season acquisition, was the starting third baseman. While Vuckovich was a superb fielder, he was a weak hitter. In May, with the team off to a slow start and trailing the Dodgers, manager Sparky Anderson made a bold move by moving Rose to third base, a position where he had very little experience, and inserting Foster in left field. This was the jolt that the Reds needed to propel them into first place, with Rose proving to be reliable on defense, while adding Foster to the outfield gave the offense some added punch. During the season, the Reds compiled two notable streaks: (1) by winning 41 out of 50 games in one stretch, and (2) by going a month without committing any errors on defense.

In the 1975 season, Cincinnati clinched the NL West with 108 victories, then swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in three games to win the NL pennant. In the World Series, the Boston Red Sox were the opponents. After splitting the first four games, the Reds took Game 5. After a three-day rain delay, the two teams met in Game 6, one of the most memorable baseball games ever played and considered by many to be the best World Series game ever. The Reds were ahead 6–3 with 5 outs left, when the Red Sox tied the game on former Red Bernie Carbo's three-run home run. It was Carbo's second pinch-hit three-run homer in the series. After a few close-calls either way, Carlton Fisk hit a dramatic 12th inning home run off the foul pole in left field (which is considered to be one of the greatest TV sports moments of all time) to give the Red Sox a 7–6 win and force a deciding Game 7. Cincinnati prevailed the next day when Morgan's RBI single won Game 7 and gave the Reds their first championship in 35 years.

Now that...was baseball.

...remember the 'Pelican Brief?'

1993: In suburban Georgetown a killer’s Reeboks whisper on the front floor of a posh home… In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly strangled to death… The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief… To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite.

Darby Shaw, a Tulane University Law School student, decides to research the two justices' records and cases pending before the Court, suspecting the real motive might be simple greed, not politics. She writes a legal brief speculating that the assassinations were committed on behalf of Victor Mattiece, an oil tycoon wanting to drill for oil on Louisiana marshland which is a major habitat of an endangered breed of pelicans. A court case on appeal, filed on his behalf to gain access to the land, is expected to make its way to the Supreme Court.

Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder — a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust — an ambitious reporter after a newsbreak hotter than Watergate — to help her piece together the deadly puzzle. Somewhere between the bayous of Louisiana and the White House’s inner sanctums, a violent cover-up is being engineered. For someone has read Darby’s brief. Someone who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence of an unthinkable crime….but wait, was the crime the murders or the off-shore drilling?

2010: In the month since an offshore drilling platform exploded, killing 11 workers, BP has struggled to stop the leak, trying in vain to activate emergency valves and lowering a 100-ton box that got clogged with icy crystals. Over the weekend, the oil company finally succeeded in using a stopper-and-tube combination to siphon some of the gushing oil into a tanker, but millions of gallons are already in the Gulf.

Oil spills have long been known to wreak havoc on coastlines, blackening otherwise sandy beaches and killing off birds, turtles, fish and other wildlife. This time could be even worse. Louisiana’s coastline, which has become the latest battleground against oil’s slimy march, is made up of miles and miles of delicate marshland — shallow waters comprised of high emerald green grass.

This habitat is a perfect breeding ground for small fish, shrimp and crabs that support a multimillion—dollar fishing industry. Exotic animals like alligators also reside in Louisiana’s swamps, while a huge variety of birds attract watchers to the state’s national parks.

Louisiana’s fragile marshes face long—term destruction if the grass comes into contact with some of the heavy oil that is making its way through the Gulf of Mexico….and now

…. Chemicals being sprayed underwater are helping to disperse the oil and keep it from washing ashore in great quantities, but researchers said that in recent days they have discovered miles-long underwater plumes of oil that could poison or suffocate sea life across the food chain, with damage that could last for a decade or more.

....snap!! Wake-up...this isn't a book..and BP doesn't know what to do...