Reds 9, D-Rays 7

HUDSON TO RETURN:

Redszone is reporting that Luke Hudson will be up after one rehab start to pitch Thursday night's game against Tampa Bay. For a guy with a history of shoulder problems and an organization with a historical inability to develop healthy pitchers, this seems from the outside like a recipe for disaster. However, I'm not feeling too rational at this point in this disastrous season; Hudson's was quite studly last summer, and he unquestionably has good enough stuff to pitch every 5 days for the 'Legs, so get his butt up to Cincy, pronto. Designate Aurilia for assignment, then after Milton gets lit up like a pile of dry leaves tonight by TB, put him on the DL with shin splints and go with Hudson-Harang-Claussen-Keisler-Belisle. That leaves a pen of Mercker-Wagner-Elizardo-Weathers-Stone-Coffey (by my calculations).

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OTHER NEWS & NOTES:

--Randy Keisler stole the show last night from both on the mound and at the plate. It's nice to see someone forcing management's hand because I'm not sure that Wilson/Milton/Ortiz would be dropped from the rotation otherwise, despite how poorly they've pitched.

--The next round or two in the rotation should be interesting. If Milton and Ortiz continue to get lit up like Onterrio Smith's bong (opponents are hitting .360 off of "Baby Pedro" this season, who's allowed 83 baserunners in 44+ innings, while opponents are hitting a mere .312 off of Milton, who's allowed 107 baserunners in 65 innings with a 7+ ERA), we could soon see a rotation of: Harang, Claussen, Belisle, the Lizard and Keisler. That excites me (boy, it's tough being a Reds fan in 2005).

--Wily Mo is just a monster. I have come full circle with him and now believe that if I was GM of the Reds, he would be the least touchable of Dunn/Kearns/Junior/Pena.

--Apparently Peter Gammons reported last night on BBTN that Griffey's been pressuring John Allen to fire Miley. I'm not the biggest Miley supporter in the world, but I never like to hear this kind of childish crap from big leaguers. Something certainly seems to be amiss between Miley and Dunn, and if it takes exiling Miley to get Dunn to perform up to his potential, then get Miley on the first bus to Newport.

-- Tonight's matchup is a real doozy -- Doug Waechter v. Eric Milton. I didn't check the run total line for last night's game, but I'm going to have to do so prior to tonight's tilt. Waechter is coming off of 5 shutout innings his last time out v. Seattle, but in his other starts this season's, the run total allowed was 5, 4, 6, 2, 6, 4, 4, 5. If Milton pulls a groin early and Ramirez comes in and "pulls a Keisler", the Reds may have a shot at 2 straight wins.