On the even of baseball's Opening Night on Sunday - here are some last-minute tidbits from around the rest of the division.

The Pirates start the year with reliever John Grabow on the 15-day DL, and as of Friday it wasn't known whether 2006 NL batting champ Freddie Sanchez will start the season on the DL or not. Even if he plays, he had only seven ABs during ST so he might show some rust. Also, their closer, Salomon Torres, had a brutal ST with a 14.21 ERA over 6-1/3 innings.

In St. Louis, it looks like Edmonds will avoid starting the year on the DL. But the Cardinals have replaced three of their five starters since the end of last season. Two of the new starters have never started a game in the majors. The third hasn't won in double figures or posted an ERA lower than 4.55 since 2003. One of the two returning starters has yet to pitch his 100th Major League inning. Their right-handed setup man was shut down for the year due to elbow surgery. And the guy who was expected to start in RF will open the year on the DL. So LaRussa must not only battle the bottle and the pitching problems, but juggle a RF-by-committee situation as well.

In Milwaukee, Corey Koskie's return from post-concussion syndrome continues at a brutally slow pace. Several Brewers relievers struggled in ST. Still, the Brew Crew starts the year mostly healthy and could get off to a fast start in the division race.

The Astros are also healthy for the most part, although Brandon Backe is probably through for the year. The main question marks in Houston are in the back end of the rotation after the loss of Pettitte and, probably, Clemens.

That leaves the Cubs. For 99 years that's been the ultimate goal of almost everyone who has played for them - to leave the Cubs. In case you haven't noticed, I do love to pick on the Cubs. Popular Communications Magazine, April 2007 issue, page 76, last paragraph on the page, in a discussion about the chronology of disasters, part of an article dealing with radio communications during disasters:

“Not all disasters are of the 'natural disaster' genre, of course. We humans have time and again proven that we can conjure up some pretty serious disasters on our own, and I'm not just talking about FEMA's response to Katrina, or the last 99 years of Chicago Cubs history.”

This year, things were going to be different, they said. So now, with the Cubs presumably already on their way to Cinci for Opening Day, Prior starts the year at AAA. Wood starts the year on the DL. Oh, wait, this is supposed to be about news. Sorry. Oh, how I do love to pick on the Cubs.

HMZ

Our week is up and it's time to head back to Indiana. The countdown of minutes until Opening Day is begun!

Go Reds!

The regulars were out of the game earlier than usual, but got the job done before they left in this 0-5 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Friday.

Matt Belise got the start, or rather, the first start of the game. His line isn't so hot for just two and two thirds innings, allowing three runs (two earned) and a walk on five hits. But he did strike out four, including the batter immediately prior to his being pulled. The crowd was a mite confused.

But in came in Kirk Saarloos, who perhaps was getting an audition. His line looks better: zero runs on one hit in two and a third. To be fair, though, the further you get into a spring training game, the easier it is.

Rheal Cormier, David Weathers, Mike Stanton, and Jared Burton also each got an inning apiece. Cormier was the only one to allow a run. Honestly, is he trying to hurt his trade value?

The first inning was fun. Even when the Reds have won these spring training games, it doesn't feel like they've strung together a lot of offense consecutively. John Fay has an odd take on the inning:

Ryan Freel singled. Adam Dunn popped out bunting (maybe the No. 2 spot is going to his head). Brandon Phillips singled. Ken Griffey Jr. singled in Freel. Juan Castro, in the lineup because Edwin Encarnación is sick, doubled in Phillips and Griffey. Scott Hatteburg doubled in Castro. Alex Gonzalez singled in Hatteberg. Chad Moeller then mercifully ended the inning by grounding into a double play.

“Mercifully”?? The Reds were doing well! How jaded to you have to be to this game to complain about this inning? Oh, please stop the bleeding! I just can't take any more scoring by my own team!!

I guess that's why he's a reporter and not a fan.

Personally, I thought it was great. It's always nice to see the Reds walk away with a victory. The win brings the Reds' spring training record to 18-10. They'll play the Florida Marlins today in Dayton at 2 pm.

Our camera can do some unusual things. It can take photos in rapid progression, record audio, and record short video clips. In a pinch, you could probably open your beer with it. The CTS recorded a few videos from the game yesterday to help give you the full feel for the spring training experience.

Bronson Arroyo Pitching

Brandon Phillips' Homerun Trot

Javier Valentín At Bat

Since this game is a day old and Opening Day is painfully close, it's clearly old news. Plus, it was a horrible, painful loss. So, here's the pictures with little-to-no commentary. I hope to have the photos from today's game up later.

Isn't this a cool picture? The CTS might as well have lined him up to have a halo. But that's really much more like something that Church of Baseball would do.

This is a picture of Jeff Conine chatting with Jerry Narron. What do you think they're talking about? Strategy for the game? Golf scores? Their favorite recipes for prunes?

Mr. Red and the Sarasota Reds' mascot Ralli Gator were very much available throughout the games this week. My son really liked the Gator, especially when he plopped himself down in seats near us to entertain the nearby children. Does make you wonder though: what did they do with The Gapper?

Paul “Soft J” Janish tossed to get ready for his appearance in this photo. He hung around after today's game to sign autographs, including my son's Smokey the Bear baseball. They were the free giveaway, and we did take time to talk about campfire safety. We did not talk about the fact that RHM's primary freebie is a book of matches.

Billy Hatcher chats with Dewayne Wise here. Hatcher has been a crowd favorite lately, making trips to the wall to chat with the fans.

The CTS took this photo. I claim no responsibility.

This game kinda sucked. It'll be good to move on to today's game instead.

If you're up for the wackiest commentary on the Reds since Red Hot Mama, check out The Reds Rocket.

Finally, you too can know the secret to why The Latin Love Machine won't be learning to play the banjo any time soon.

So says John Fay:

Outfielder Norris Hopper will not be coming north with the Reds.

“He might be DLed,” Jerry Narron said.

Does that mean Chad Moeller gets the last spot for a position player?

“He's got a good chance,”Narron said.

Hopper will go on the DL and stay here to rehab. Dewayne Wise also make the trip to Dayton, so there a chance he could make it if the Reds decide they need an outfielder. Remember, Ryan Freel hasn't played since he hit the wall in Clearwater. He is in the lineup today.

So I guess that leaves us with just Jeff Conine to back up the outfield, which is super-awesome. When Griffey hurts himself this season, I hope they realize they're not going to be able to do their normal screwing around pretending he's day-to-day for two months before putting him on the DL. They're going to need that roster spot immediately.

We were sitting in the last row of section 4 today, which was apparently a great spot to notice people walking by in the walkway.

I called C. Trent over when he walked by just before the National Anthem. We chatted for a moment before he headed off for the press box. You'll be glad to know that he really is better looking than the photo on his blog. Significantly less Igor-like.

Hal McCoy also walked by later, but I didn't stop him to chat. He doesn't have a blog, after all.

Rob Butcher came by, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to flag him down. Butcher's a character that I've always found sort of intimidating, but the Reds legitimate media always have such nice things to say about him that I thought it was time to introduce myself.

I wasn't asking for a press pass, but I mentioned that I'd heard that other bloggers had, to which his response was “never going to happen.” When I asked why, he said they were too hard to control.

So, you legitimate media types ought to be happy to know that you're apparently easy to control.

I said “hi” to Bob Castellini when he walked by. The woman with him actually seemed to recognize me, and I've seen her in the stands, which makes me think that she has an excellent memory for faces. How nice.

Though it was a crummy game, the evening of celebrity sightings was topped off when Javy Valentín waved to me when I called out to him after the game. Short of a win, what more could you ask for?

Lots of interesting things going on today:

• The Reds optioned to Louisville Gary Majewski. I did not see that one coming, but it's nice that he won't be taking up a spot on the active roster to begin the season. Here's hoping he can get his game together with the Bats.
• Bobby Livingston will be joining Majewski in Louisville.
• Jerry Narron says it looks like it will be Matt Belisle or Kirk Saarloos in the role of fourth starter. He said fifth starter, but we already know that's really Eric Milton.
• The final bullpen spot is down to Victor Santos, Jared Burton, and Jon Coutlangus. I'm crossing my fingers for Coutlangus, personally.
• Jeff Keppinger, Bill Bray, Elizardo Ramirez, Jerry Gil, and Eddie Guardado are DL-bound. So, if you're keeping count, we won't be seeing ANY of the players we got in The Trade on Opening Day. Way to improve the team.
• Chris Denorfia, who seemed on the brink of making the Opening Day roster, will be out for six months recovering from Tommy John surgery. Dammit! With The Heartthrob out of the picture for the moment, the final roster spot appears to be between Norris Hopper and Chad Moeller. I bet I'm not the only one who thinks that Wayne Krivsky was premature in sending down Bubba Crosby.

This week on the podcast, the Crack Technical Staff and I broadcast from our vacation condo in Sarasota, Florida, the home base of our wacky spring training adventures. We talk about the rotations, the line-up, our favorite away park, Red Hot Mama’s mention in Sports Illustrated (don’t forget to vote! For RHM, of course!), and the fancy schmancy car owned by someone affiliated with MLB that we saw at the Cody Roadhouse in Bradenton last night.Episode 51: Live! from Sarasota! (27.2 MB, 39:41)