THE BEST THING about last night’s Reds L was the clip FSO had of Kyle Schwarber’s tee shot at either the 9th or 18th hole at Shaker Run. (Haven’t played up there in awhile.) See it?

He swung at it like a hanging curve and simply eliminated a dogleg around a very big lake. Put the ball on the green and over 250 yards of water from well over 300 yards out. Much incredulous laughter.

THE CLUB IS O-FOR-4 since its 17-inning L at SF, and so the topic of ties in MLB has resurrected itself. The notion of doing in the Bigs what they’re doing in the bus leagues – start every extra inning with a runner on 2B – is a (small) part of the talk.

Let’s not go there, or anywhere close. No ties, OK?

All we need to do is look at what Bud Selig’s legacy will be. He’ll get credit for increased attendance and (eventually) a credible drug-testing plan. He’ll be equally remembered as The Guy Who Canceled the World Series and The Guy Who Ordered a Tie in the All Star Game.

The argument for ties is the damage extra-inning games do to pitching staffs, and the fact that the audience dwindles with every extra out. Understood.

But this isn’t soccer. Or football, for that matter. The NFL needs ties, because of its physical nature. Even gladiators needed a break from the arena. If a manager is worried about the health of a pitcher’s arm in the bottom of the 15th, let the CF throw an inning.

Here’s a nice defense of No Tying in Baseball.

MEANWHILE, The Reds and Cubs combined for 7 HRs last night. The wind played a part, as it can at Wrigley. Is it more than wind?

SI.com’s always insightful Tom Verducci says this year, the jacks are out of whack:

Home runs per game per team are at an all-time high (1.19), while the rate of hits per game (8.50) is at its lowest level in the 45 years since the adoption of the DH.

Read that again: even with home runs flying out in record numbers, there are fewer hits in a baseball game today than at any point in almost half a century.

• Home runs per game in April jumped 11.9% from last April—and a whopping 29.2% increase from April 2015.

• The surge has happened quickly: home runs are up 38% since 2014.

(At the current pace) there will be more home runs hit this year than the 1974 and ’75 seasons combined.

A generation of players has been trained to hit this way. “Hitting for average” is dead. Strikeouts are up for a 12th straight year. We are just getting started with this home run era. There’s a saying going around baseball: There is no damage on the ground. The damage is in the air. And damage means money.

Is this a problem for you?

MLB more than any sport over-analyzes itself. It’s easy to do, given all the numbers at its disposal. Let the game be the game. The NFL doesn’t fret when scoring is up or down. It just re-balances itself. Defensive coaches figure ways to counter the newest offensive trend, and vice versa. Personally, I’d rather see 8-7 than 2-1.

I MEANT WHAT I SAID ABOUT PEOPLE BEING MORE INTERESTING THAN NUMBERS IN SPORTS. Here’s today’s TM column about an ’09 Sycamore High grad playing for the Florence Freedom. Mike Morris will be 26 on May 30. Still runnin’ down the dream, goin’ wherever it leads.

MY NEW FAVORITE GUY is Gregg Popovich. I don’t start following the NBA until right about now, so the Spurs coach isn’t on my radar the other 11 months of the year. But man, in his own curt, condescending, arrogant way, this guy’s a fun quote. After his Kawhi Leonard-less team lost 136-100 to Golden State in Game 2 of the West Finals Tuesday night, Pop summed it up thusly:

“The only way I can process this is it’s not about O’s and X’s, rebounds, turnovers or anything like that,” Popovich said. “Kawhi being gone, I don’t think as I watched … I don’t think they believed. And you have to believe. I don’t think as a group they really did, which means probably a little bit of feeling sorry for themselves psychologically, subconsciously, whatever psycho-babble word you want to use. I don’t think they started the game with a belief, and it showed in the lack of edge, intensity, grunt, all that sort of thing. That was disappointing.”

A lack of grunt, yes. Wish I’d written that.

SPEAKING OF POP, SORT OF. Big ups to Me! Me! Me! for the restraint I’ve shown in not commenting on the daily doings of our beloved president. It’s like a guy walking away from a bully. We in the sports world call that mental toughness. V. Burfict would be proud.

SPEAKING OF V. BURFICT, here’s a nice feature our Men maven Jim-O did on Burfict, if you’re interested. Among other things, Burfict says it’s time for him to start mentoring young players. Great. Also, he’s healthy, meaning he should be fit entering training camp. Great.

Moving right along. . .

DID SEATTLE SIGN KAEPERNICK YET? NFL owners are fine with extorting cities, gouging fans and collecting money for nothing (See: $17 million per owner when a team moves, called a “relocation fee’’) but they’re capable of big religion when a player exercises his Constitutional rights? Interesting, and not in a good way.

Seahawks DE Michael Bennett on Kaepernick:

“I think you look at the things he’s done over the years, on this team, we’re a running-based offense, and [to] be able to play the [read] option would give him a lot of opportunities to be able to be a featured player in the NFL again,” Bennett said. “I think we’ve got a great system, great players and we’ve got Russell, who’s won a lot of games too. So it’d be good for him.” (ESPN.com)

TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY, so thank you to Cincinnati City Council for allowing me to say a few words yesterday afternoon re hiring citizens with disabilities. And thanks to the city for taking the issue seriously. I’m still not patronizing your bars, shops and restaurants, though.

I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT BETWEEN-INNINGS BALLPARK MUSIC should have a purpose or a meaning, same as walk-up music. I remember the epic ’91 Series, Twins and Braves, Games 6 and 7 in the old Metrodome. The place rocked like no ballpark I’ve ever visited, before or since. The Twins came home for Games 6 and 7 down 3-2. They won both. Late in each, Tom Petty’s Won’t Back Down blared over the PA. It was perfection.

Can you think of any situation-specific songs The Club should play?