Did everyone enjoy the off day? Good. I spent it eating 27 jellybeans and two pieces of celery for dinner because I understand that balanced eating is just fuel for my workouts. Today I passed the morning driving around the city buying 50% off Easter candy.

I’m not exaggerating on this. I take my priorities and Fawn’s dark chocolate covered Oreos very seriously. Started at Kroger’s for a sheet cake and gum, hit up Fawn’s, then made it to Supreme Candy and Nut. Also next Lent I’m giving up radioactive soil remediation instead of sugar.

In less important news, the Reds begin a three-game series against the Braves today. They are back home after a semi-disastrous road trip which could have been more disastrous but still wasn’t the good clean kind of three-way fun Skyline brings, either. It’s kind of like how today I found out that an essay I submitted for publication wasn’t accepted, but one of the editors wrote me a personal note to let me know they liked parts of it, but not enough of the whole thing to give me money for it. In writerdom that’s called “the personal rejection” and is considered a moral victory because while you haven’t made any money, a human being took the time to tell you why. So when Josh The Pilot called to find out how my day was going, I passed along the excellent tidings that I was not getting published.

Enjoy the fact, then, that the Reds are back from the road trip. I guess.

Mr. Votto is back in the lineup after sitting out due to oldness. But the biggest update is that Matt Kemp is on the DL with a broken rib with Erving called up to replace him. Here’s John Fay announcing on Twitter that Matt Kemp is on the DL with a broken rib with Erving called up to replace him:

Kemp on DL; Ervin called up #reds

— John Fay (@johnfayman) April 23, 2019

If you want me to call it the “IL,” we’ve already discussed this.

Starting Pitchers

REDS
Sonny Gray is pitching for the Reds. Gray was also pitching the last time I wrote a game thread and I used up my picture of Don Johnson in a pastel jacket. That’s all I got.

BRAVES

Remember how in the 80’s the Braves home games were on TBS and that always wreaked havoc with watching the sitcoms they’d otherwise show in the afternoon? And how all the shows on TBS started at five past and 35 past the hour?

That was stupid.

Bullpen

I’m proud that I am a fan of a baseball team which does not use a bullpen cart. It’s about as dignified as a dachshund with its leg in the air.

Starting Lineups

REDS

BRAVES

News and Notes

My man on the ground at Great American Ball Park, in the form of my nephew standing around by the fence, just texted to inform me that he heard Joey Votto drop an f-bomb during batting practice.