Last Game
Edinson Volquez started against the Milwaukee Brewers Sunday and was wild, allowing 5 runs on 2 1/3 innings. The relief corps, including Dontrelle Willis and Aroldis Chapman, allowed plenty of runs, too, but the pitching staff was bailed out by the offense. Both Todd Frazier and Chris Heisey homered, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 9-8 victory.

Next Game
Bronson Arroyo heads to the mound for the Reds against Michael Pineda and the Seattle Mariners at 4:05pm EDT. This game, like all remaining Spring Training ones, will be broadcast on 700 WLW.

Fayman Gives Shortstop Prospect Hamilton Nickname
Cincinnati Reds beat reporter John Fay had a neat little blurb about up and coming Reds shortstop Billy Hamilton.

“We were playing on this field the other day. The left fielder just lost a ball,” [Bill] Doran said. “Billy took off. We were all like, ‘what’s he doing?’ He caught the ball over his shoulder, about 10 feet from warning track.”

In the title of the post, Fay dubs Hamilton, “Billy the Kid.” I only hope that Mr. the Kid deals with the oddity of shortstop with the greatest of ease, just like he dealt with the oddity of time travel.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
The Reds start the 2011 season against the Brewers. This will be just the second Opening Day match-up between the two. The last one was in 2000, which ended in a 3-3 tie after 5 1/3 innings.

Last Game
Mike Leake had his best outing of Spring Training, allowing no runs over 4 innings, and Todd Frazier gave the team the lead with a solo shot in the 4th inning. That single run was almost enough to win, but the Reds added on in the 5th, 7th, and 8th innings. The final score was 5-1.

Next Game
The Chicago Cubs come to town today. Carlos Zambrano will go to the mound against Sam LeCure at 4:05pm EDT.

Blame the Green on the Reds
Every year, most baseball teams wear special green hats on March 17 for St. Patrick’s Day. Also every year, people complain about the sacrilege of teams adding in green where there was no green before. Apparently, the Cincinnati Reds are to blame for all of this.

[Reds General Manager Dick] Wagner had the team’s equipment manager, Bernie Stowe, order a roster’s worth of green uniforms, with specific instructions of where and when to deliver them, under a veil of airtight secrecy.

This was done back in 1977, before there was any real celebration of St. Patrick’s day in Major League Baseball. The green uniforms created quite a stir.

When, lined up single file with Anderson in the lead, the Reds — er, Greens — marched out of the clubhouse and onto the field.

“It was a total surprise,” recalled Hal McCoy, the Hall of Fame-recognized baseball writer who, in retirement from the Dayton Daily News, still covers the Reds through his blog on the newspaper’s Web site. “And it created quite a shock.”

Hordes from both the Cincinnati and Tampa media were on hand, having been alerted that they wouldn’t want to miss something special, without having a clue of the mysterious goings-on. And when the secret was revealed, reporters and photographers had a field day, starting a news-flash brushfire that continued raging the next day, with national network television coverage.

Bob Hertzel, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s cheeky baseball writer, got in the spirit in his coverage of the Reds’ 9-2 victory over the Yankees by Irish-izing all the players’ names in his game story. Pete O’Rose, Johnny O’Bench, George O’Foster and Joe O’Morgan were all Cincinnati Reds for a day.

This sounds like another first “feather” we can stick into the Reds’ cap, along with first night game and first to sell beer at games.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Chris Heisey and Kris Negron lead the team this Spring with 7 runs batted in.