Reds kick off June play

The Cincinnati Reds visit Houston tonight with Aaron Harang getting the start. Harang hasn't hit any batters this season, but he might just be saving his plunks for Craig Biggio. He's never plunked Biggio before, but this could be the day. Craig Biggio has never been plunked on June 2nd.

In the news, ESPN.com has a couple of articles using Craig Biggio as the poster boy for the alleged debate on the subject of body armor. They've got a nice slide show of the various elbow pads batters such as Biggio, Bonds, Mo Vaughn and others have worn over the years. They don't mention that when the league put in new rules on the matter, Biggio went out and got a smaller elbow pad.
They also don't seem to be able to think of any other similar rules in other sports that protect offensive players and get vigorously whined about by defensive players to draw a comparison with. Certainly the NFL would never do anything like that... protect offensive players in ways the defense feels is unfair. Because the NFL knows you're there to see those defensive linemen in action, smacking around 3rd string quarterbacks because the top paid players in the league are injured. Just like when you go to a baseball game, you don't want to see David Ortiz or Albert Pujols (well, not in Houston), you want to see those quality 4th and 5th starters and middle relievers the league is filled with, and you want those guys to be free to put as many All-Star sluggers on the DL as they want. So sure, lets keep complaining about the body armor, since there's such a lack of compelling stories in the league.