It was Aaron Harang and the Reds over the Pirates in Sarasota yesterday afternoon.

Harang did not have an excellent outing, giving up three earned runs on 10 hits in five innings. Harang has hardly had an outstanding spring, but it's really nothing to worry about. Not only does he appear to be limiting the pitches he's showing the opposition, but there are also the last two years of goodness to take into consideration. And now that Harang's been declared the Opening Day starter for the second year in a row, maybe this low-key pre-season will set him up not to get thrashed by the Cubs again.

Also getting chances on the mound were Victor Santos, Gary Majewski, and Jared Burton. Santos followed Harang with two scoreless innings on one hit. Majewski also had a good, hitless inning. Burton gave up one run on two hits in the ninth.

Section 113 is the place to be if you want to hang with the general manager. Both times I've seen Wayne Krivsky at Ed Smith Stadium, he's been sitting right here. This photo looks strikingly like the photo we took last year.

Section 113 is also the section right in front of the press box, where you can get intermittent Internet connection on your PDA if you sit up in the last row, which we did. Speaking of the press box, I said “hi” to John Fay in the concourse before the game, but neglected to explain who I was, so he just waved blankly, clearly not knowing whom he was waving at.

We finally got a good look at this Adam LaRoche, the guy that Pirates fans seem to think is going to single-handedly pull them out of the cellar. Nevermind that he's Craig Wilson junior. LaRoche went 0-3 on the afternoon, but he makes some mean conversation at first base.

On the Reds' side, Adam Dunn and Edwin Encarnación hit back-to-back solo shots to lead off the sixth inning, and you get the feeling that we could be seeing a bit of that in the middle of this line-up. Dunn was hitting third in this game, but he's been hitting second in most of them.

Ken Griffey, Jr. and Dewayne Wise had an RBI apiece, and Chad Moeller his a two-RBI double in the seventh to give the Reds the lead for good.

The win brought the Reds' spring training record to 17-9. Tonight they host the Twins in Sarasota at 7:05 pm.

Two years ago when we first set foot inside Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater, my son was 3 years old, and not particularly interested in baseball. The CTS and I used to entertain him by taking turns going for walks around the stadium while the other tried to catch a few innings of the game. That's how I stumbled across the Kids' Zone: a playground, inflatable jumping house, and kid-centric concession area that we didn't get to leave from until the park was actually closing well after the game was over.

Every year since then (and even when going to regular season games) Winter would ask if we were going to the place with the playground. Last year we made a special trip out there when the Reds weren't even in town. This year, we went last night.

And Winter got bored before the game even started. We were back in our seats with Dippin' Dots before the first pitch. They grow up so fast, don't they?

Well, maybe not everyone. After a caught-stealing in the first inning, Ryan Freel just couldn't hold back his enthusiasm in the bottom of the first with a headlong dive into the wall. Adam Dunn was waving for help before the dust had even cleared from Freel hitting the ground.

After not moving very much for a distressingly long period of time, Freel did stay in the game to finish the inning. However, Josh Hamilton replaced him in the second inning. Drew Stubbs replaced Hamilton in center a little while later, and you could definitely tell that it wasn't Freel out there.

On the other hand, Ken Griffey, Jr., showed quite a bit of maturity. With the shift on for him leading off the second inning, he didn't try to blast one over their heads just to spite them. No, he laid down a nice easy bunt for a base hit. Barry Larkin did that in the very first Reds' at-bat of the very first major league game I ever attended, so I have a certain respect for the maneuver.

And a good thing Jr. got on, too, since little Edwin Encarnación smacked a big ol' home run to give the Reds their score.

Kyle Lohse got the start, and was not as good as I'd like him to be now that I've dubbed him the third starter. He gave up two earned runs (solo shots) on five hits in his four and a quarter innings. Jon Coutlangus was much better as he finished out the fifth inning, and his continued adequacy makes me irritated that we've got Rheal Cormier on the roster, especially after nights like last night. He surrendered three earned runs on three hits in the seventh, prompting me to yell, “You're on our team now, Cormier!”

Todd Coffey and Dustin Hermanson also got turns. Coffey pitched a scoreless sixth. Hermanson gave up one in the eighth.

It was an unfortunate showing from the Reds that brought their spring training record to 16-9. They continued their campaign today when they hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium.

Josh Katzowitz, the guy who does the work at C. Trent's blog, has the line-ups for us today:

Reds
Josh Hamilton CF
Alex Gonzalez SS
Adam Dunn LF
Edwin Encarnación 3B
Ken Griffey RF
Jeff Conine 1B
David Ross C
Juan Castro 2B
Aaron Harang P

Pirates
Duffy CF
Wilson SS
Bay LF
LaRoche 1B
Nady RF
Castillo 3B
Don Kelly 2B
Cota C
Duke P

No Ryan Freel today, which is hardly surprising after the face-plant into the wall yesterday.

The games at Ed Smith Stadium always sell out when the Red Sox come to town, but today was even specialer than that because one Daisuke Matsuzaka was taking the mound for the Sox. He pitched five innings of no-hit ball with six strike-outs, but there were plenty of baserunners thanks to an error that allowed David Ross to reach in the second and FIVE walks. He was pretty good, but not the kind of dominator that you'd expect for $100 million, which also seemed to be the sentiment of the Sox' fans in the stands all around us.

Later in the game, Daisuke attempted to bunt, and didn't look so hot doing it. It prompted one guy sitting near me to ask his friend whether they have the DH in Japan. He also walked once, which is unbelievable to me. It was the only walk issues by Livingston.

Meanwhile, taking the mound for the Reds was Bobby Livingston. In his five scoreless innings, he gave up just one hit and one walk with four strikeouts. All this for the league minimum!

Since the Internet connection was down yesterday and I wasn't able to post, I ought to clarify that this is the game that was going on at the same time that Eric Milton was getting smacked around by the single-A Pirates in the adjacent practice field. The CTS and I now consider Milton the fifth starter, with Kyle Lohse moving up to third and the big competition being for the fourth spot. He's a little overpaid for a fifth starter, but then again, he's just overpaid in general, so there you go.

There were no home runs this game, which is always a surprise when you watch the Reds, especially when they score five. Jeff Conine, Brandon Phillips, and Paul Janish each contributed an RBI, with the other two coming from the Latin Love Machine himself, Javier Valentín.

It's not too often that you see a line score with five runs and three hits. I guess seven walks, one error, two HBP, and a passed ball can add up.

The win brought the Reds' record to 16-8. Yesterday they went on to send Kyle Lohse to the mound to face the Phillies in Clearwater.

As we pulled into the Ed Smith complex today, we noticed a minor league game going on in one of the practice fields. It looked like the Pirates.

In fact, it was some guys from the Pirates' organization. A-level, I guess. However, Eric Milton was pitching for the Reds, getting his work in. John Fay has the details:

Eric Milton gave up five home runs in six innings to the Single-A Pirates. He gave up 11 hits and threw 93 pitches. The wind was blowing out, but it was less than 100 mph.
…
You can't put much stock in the spring stats, and Single-A players swing from the heels against a big leaguer, but Milton is becoming PR nightmare for the Reds. Matt Belisle has a 2.08 ERA; Bobby Livingston has a 1.23 ERA and one of them is going to start the year in Triple-A. Milton is 16-23 with 5.89 ERA in two years with the Reds and he's getting a spot on track record.

Rumor has it that the Reds are still actively looking for pitching (yeah, but who isn't?). Maybe they're not looking for yet more competition in the fifth slot, huh?

We're just about to head off to the game, so be on the lookout for more photos forthcoming. Josh Katzowitz filling in for C. Trent has the line-up:

CF Ryan Freel
LF Adam Dunn
2B Brandon Phillips
RF Ken Griffey, Jr.
3B Edwin Encarnación
1B Scott Hatteberg
SS Alex Gonzalez
C David Ross
P Bobby Livingston

I guess Hatteberg is feeling better, and I'm glad to hear it. We do not need Dunn trying to fill in at first again.

In other news, Mark Bellhorn was cut today and has a couple days to decide whether he wants to accept minor league assignment. Also cut were Ryan Jorgenson, Anderson Machado, and Dewayne Wise.

Yesterday the Reds were in Dunedin facing the Blue Jays, so, like the seasoned reporter I am, I skipped the away game and screwed around in Sarasota instead.

After putting up several photos from the game on Saturday, we headed to The Broken Egg for brunch and it was off to the Mote Aquarium to go on a nature boat ride. The ride didn't leave until 4:00, so it was off to the Smuggler's Cove miniature gold course for some wacky putt-putting fun before our boating adventure.

It's our annual tradition to putt putt at Smuggler's Cove, but this year was something special because that's where we spotted Marty Brennaman. He's working on his short game, I guess. I said hi and mention it here and now it's a business expense. Gotta love it.

Today and every day from here on out we're back to the baseballing. I'll continue to post photos about them, though my unbelievably pathetic showing in the Sports Illustrated poll has me wondering whether anyone even cares. Oh well--it's an honor just to be nominated, right?

We rode into town for a monumental game. It was Ken Griffey, Jr.'s first game of the spring, and he was starting in right fied.

When it came time to warm up with some long toss, Griffey threw with Adam Dunn. In left field. From right field. He made Ryan Freel warm up with the ballboy.

Why did Griffey do such a thing? Perhaps he was demonstrating that even though he's not in center, he's still calling the shots. Perhaps he was easing in to his position change. Perhaps he was giving Freel the cold shoulder, or was confused about what he's supposed to do in right. Most likely, he thought it was funny.

For the first pitch of the game, Jr. was straddling the right field foul line, all the way back at the fence. When the first pitch didn't head for the right-field wall, Griffey gave a shrug and headed back toward a more neutral position. He's still working on the logistics of his new position.

Before the game, the photographer had a couple of the players out to take some of those posed pictures that they use on the big board when the player comes up to bat. One of those was Bubba Crosby.

Since the photographer was taking advantage of these poses, the CTS, acting as Crack Photography Staff, figured we might as well get them as well.

This one will be very intimidating on the big board when he's at the bat.

It's like he was posing just for us. Except for the fact that he's looking down a little bit.

Considering they were taking these photos yesterday, it was surprising to find out later that he'd been outrighted to Louisville. I would imagine, though, that if he stays with the organization that they know they'll be using them before too long.