Alright folks. You know the drill.

Opponent/Enemy: Dusty Baker's Cincinnati Reds.
In the Octagon with me: Red Hot Mama herself... $49.99 on PPV.
The Wisdom of Byron: Hah! (Think Chris Matthews Hah!) - Link

Q: I think Cubs fans almost feel sorry for Reds fans this year. What was your reaction to hearing that Dusty was signed as manager?

Rage burned within the depths of my soul with white hot intensity to outshine the very flames of hell. Such was my anger with the Reds failure to fulfill their promise to perform an extensive manager search that I changed Red-Hot-Mama.com from a Reds blog to an all NLC-blog.

Admittedly, no one has seemed to notice, but it's a philosophical protest.

Q: What do you predict the Reds record will be at the end of the season?

Right now, the Reds are on pace for a 75-87 season, and I think that could be about right. This is, after all, a team fielding Corey Patterson and Juan Castro on purpose.

Q: How good is Johnny Cueto? Will he beat out Fukudome for Rookie of the Year?

Johnny Cueto was off to a hot, hot start. Even after the Pirates tagged him for five runs in his last outing, his ERA remained under 4.0. It's too early to say how the season is going to work out for him, but if history is any indication, the Reds will find a way to screw him up somehow. You may be surprised to learn that dealing with young pitchers has been a bit of a bugaboo for their manager.

As for Fukudome, he's hardly a rookie. He played at the Japanese major league level for, what, nine years? Giving him the ROY would be like letting the kid who was held back for three years win the pull-up competition.

Q: Aside from the acquisition of Corey Patterson and Paul Bako, who are the off-season additions to the Cincy squad. Who left? Is the team better or worse than last year?

Fransisco Cordero is the biggest name acquisition for the Reds this year, filling in the closer spot. Josh Fogg and Jeremy Affeldt are some smaller names on the roster. We already talked a little about Johnny Cueto, who came up through the minor league system. There's also Edinson Volquez, who came to the team from Texas in exchange for Josh Hamilton.

The majority of the offense remains the same, with Adam Dunn in left field, Ken Griffey in right field, Edwin Encarnacion at third, and superstar Brandon Phillips at second.

The pitching is better. There are five real pitchers taking their turn on the mound, where in past years it's felt like two real pitchers and a handful of understudies. The bullpen doesn't (currently) include Gary Majewski, which is something anyway. The offense should be about the same: lots of power but you can't count on it when you really need it. I don't expect Baker's anti-OBP (i.e., pro-out-making) philosophy to help in that arena.

Q: Please, tell us about your starting rotation?

Aaron Harang starts things off in his usual awesome way. He's like Carlos Zambrano, with less tendency to punch his catcher.

Bronson Arroyo comes next, usually pitching well but often losing anyway. Last season the bullpen blew a freakish number of leads for Arroyo and the offense utterly failed to come to his aid. This season he stars in a couple awesome commercials, which is more important than double-digit wins anyway.

Josh Fogg, freshly off the Colorado Rockies' ascent to greatness, is third, though the three, four, and five slots are already starting to get all mixed up. But last season the Reds started with Eric Milton in the third spot, so it's hard to complain.

Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez fill in the fourth and fifth spots. They're young, but so far Baker has managed to avoid having them throw 120+ pitches per game, and they're earning their keep.

Once more, a hearty thank you to RHM for taking part in our Back-Channel Relations series, and also for her longtime friendship with the Goat.

Update: Back-Channel Relations Directory