The Reds wrap-up Spring Training 2013 this afternoon as they once again take on the Arizona Diamondback.  After a scheduled off day Sunday Cincinnati opens the 2013 Regualr season Monday agains the L.A. Angels.

Shin-Soo Choo and Todd Frazier are two of the keys to the 2013 Reds.

Balls and gloves just laying on the ground is not somethine you'll see
once once the regualr season begins.

Ryan Hanigan's catcher's mask and mitt.

Ryan Hanigan will be behind the plate Monday afternoon as Johnny
Cueto makes his second staright opening day start.

Chase Field
I paid my first ever visit to Chase Field Friday night.  The Roof was open and so  was the pool.

Being a lifeguard at the Chase Field Pool would be the best summer job
ever.

Bronson Arroyo Looks Ready to go
Bronson Arroyo thought he broke his pitching hand last Sunday when he was hit by a line drive.  Last night he showed that he is tougher than the Energizer Bunny.  Arroyo pitched 6 strong innings allowing just 1 run on 7 hits with a strikout and no walks.  He will make his first start of the regular season next Thursday in the finale against the Angels.

Bronson Arroyo pitched 6 strong innings in his final tune-up before the
regular season.

Chapman ready to go
Aroldis Chapman entered the game in the 7th inning last night and faced two batters. He got Nick Ahmed to groudn out and struck out Eric Chavez to end the inning.

The infielders look on as Aroldis Chapman warms up in the 7th inning
last night.

 
The last cuts of the sprign are always the toughest for Reds manager
Dusty Baker.


Cesar Izturis is one of the three players battling for the last infield slot

Reds manager Dusty Baker expects the final cuts to come sometime today. "You know we have a couple tough cuts left . Our utility infielder, whoever that is and a couple tough cuts coming out of the bullpen.". He told Thom Brennaman on the pregame show.   There is no question that one of the hardest parts of being a big league manager is having to tell a player he's cut, "This is the toughest time of the year for me especially when I'm the one who has to tell them."

Mat Latos' day
Reds right hander Mat Latos was not feeling well yesterday and it showed in the Cincinnati's 8-3 loss to Kansas City.  He dodged bullets in both the 1st and 2nd innings but he couldn't get out of the line of fire in the 3rd.  He gave up 5 runs and a couple of home runs off the bats of Alex gordon and Salvador Perez.

Offensive Problems early
In the first 2 innings of Thursday's game, the Reds collected 6 hits and a walk yet only scored 1 run.  After Joey Votto doubled home a run in the first, Cincinnati had runners on second and third with no outs but Ryan Ludwick and Jay Bruce both struck out and Todd Frazier grounded out to end the inning.  Hitting with runners in scoring position was one of the Reds weak points last season.  colectively they scored 435 runns in those situations which was 12th out of the national League's 16 teams.

Now that's a tall one

Reds minor leaguer Loek Van Mil worked in the Reds-Royals game
Thursday.  Van Mil is the tallest player in baseball at 7' 1"

Alfredo Simon

Simon The long man
Alfredo Simon has made the team as the Reds long relief man, "he did a great job for us (in 2012) and saved our pitching staff."  Being a long reliever is a job not everybody can do, "you gotta bestrong number 1" said baker. "You have to know how to keep yourself ready."  The long guy may have to go 10 days or so without pitching. "One of the perils of that job is that I get you work just for the sake of working and then I need you the next day and you were waiting for this opportunity for awhile so it's a pretty tough job."

 Dusty not quite ready for opening day
After tomorrow's game against the D-Backs the Reds head make home to get ready for Opening Day.  Reds Manager Dusty Baker has been in Arizona going on 2 months now but isn't real anxious for Opening Day yet.
"I'll probably be eager once the plane leaves, spring training is officially over once the plane leaves."  With a few exceptions, Baker has been going to big league spring training since 1968 so does it ever get old? "No, baseball doesn't get old.  Spring training has always gotten old but necessary for what you have to do."  He compared it to being in school, "I don't think anybody really likes doing homework but if you don't do homework you can't pass the test.  Spring training's fun for the fans and the youth. Spring training is work."

Photos from batting practice

Brandon Phillips takes ground balls during batting practice Thursday.

Dat Dude flips the ball to second after fielding a ground ball.

Mike Leake made his last start of the spring count Wednesday afternoon.  The Reds right hander allowed just 1 earned run on 5 hits and struck out 4.  It was a good rebound from  his two previous starts in which he allowed 9 earned runs in 8.1 innings.  Leake finishes the spring allowing 11 earned runs on 26 hits in 19.1 innings.  He also struck out 12 and only allowed 3 walks the entire spring.

Mike Leake only walked 3 batters in 19.1 innings of work this spring.

Mike Leake prepares to throw a pitch against the Padres Wednesday,

Leake will follow Homer Bailey in the Reds rotation this season.

Choo, Ludwick, Votto all go deep
Shin-Soo Choo hit his second home run of the spring yesterday, Joey Votto hit his 4th and Left fielder Ryan Ludwick finally go the monkey off his back as he went deep for the first time this spring.  Ludwick's shot cleared the left centerfield wall and drove in both Choo and Joey Votto.  The Reds left fielder has struggled this spring.  Going into yesterday's game he was hitting just .184 with 2 rbi's. The first four in the Reds batting order (Choo, Phillips, Voto, Ludwick) produced 7 hits, 7 rbi's, and scored 6 times yesterday.

Shin-Soo Choo heads back to the dugout after hitting his second home
run of the spring yesterday.

Praise for Johnny Cueto

Johnny Cueto watches Wednesday's Reds-Padres game from the
dugout.

One day after pitching his best game of the spring Dusty Baker had nothing but praise for the Reds Opening Day starter. "Johnny, he's one of the best competitors I've ever been around."  and it's not just his pitching that impresses Baker, "When he first got here he couldn't bunt, he couldn't spell bunt but now he's one of the best bunters we have.  He realizes all these things can help him, help us win games."
The Reds manager was asked why Cueto was so good getting out of bases loaded jams last season. (he did it again Tuesday against the Cubs)
"The thing about Johnny Cueto is that he can pitch to what he needs.  That's the difference between him now and when he was younger."  Baker went to relay a story about when he ask Cueto what he was trying to do one night pitching against the Cardinals."He said he was just trying ot get the guy out.  And I said okay and even though you got the guy out and you have a two out situation now you got Albert Pujols to face, you're still not out of the fire so what you want to do is throw your best double play pitch and try to get two outs on one pitch and let Pujols lead off the next inning.  So that's how you learn to pitch. so Johnny (now) has a pretty good idea of how to get out of trouble."

Votto Sliding
Joey Votto has spent a considerbale amount of time working on sliding this spring in an effort to avoid reinjuring his knee.  "You know he wasn't a very good slider before (the injury). He would slow down slide. He woudl be safe and then make himself out but now he's working on it because he doesn't want to have a weakness in his game and he's accelerating to slide which is what you should do."  So is that what gets you hurt, when you decelerate to slide?.."That's what gets you out."  said Baker