I was reading Reds: Five things you should know, a part of CBS Sportsline's Reds season preview, and saw this:

5. What's new with Ken Griffey Jr. this spring? His number -- he's changed to No. 3, from 30. The thinking, he says, is that it will honor his three children. What -- he's not expecting to pump out 27 more?

Hmm. That joke seems very familiar.

The Cubs won their game today. The Pirates won theirs, too. But the Reds have not fared so well. At least they're in good company: the Cardinals lost to the Mets 12 -7 today.

What a mess today. Ben Kozlowski, starting in place of Eric Milton who's out with a strained calf, did a decent impression of 2005 Milton by giving up a home run to Tigers' lead-off batter, Ivan Rodriguez. He also allowed three runs in the second inning, putting the Reds down 4-0.

The Reds rumbled into scoring form when newly acquired first baseman Scott Hatteberg hit a solo shot in the fourth inning. The Tigers scored again on Elizardo Ramirez in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-1, Tigers.

But the Reds were rolling. In the fifth, right fielder Ryan Freel stole second just in time for second baseman Tony Womack to knock him in. And you guys said he couldn't hit. In the sixth, DH Jacob Cruz doubled and scored, and the score was 5-3 Tigers after six.

Faltering Tigers' pitching allowed Cruz to walk in a run in the seventh, followed by catcher Miguel Perez sacrificing in another to tie the score 5-5 in the middle of the seventh. Unfortunately, that's about the time that Ryan Wagner gave up a solo home run to Reggie Taylor, followed by Omar Infante's two-run double that brought the score to where it would stay: 8-5 Tigers.

Pitching continues to be the festering wound of this Reds' team, but I'm even more dispirited to see that Wily Mo Peña followed up his two-walk performance yesterday with three strike outs today.

Tomorrow Justin Germano takes on Tigers' pitcher Mike Maroth at 1:05 p.m. in Sarasota. Meanwhile, Michael Gosling will be facing Brad Radke in Fort Myers, also at 1:05 p.m.

You may remember a story on February 25 about the possibility of the Reds joining forces with the Pirates during spring training to build a joint baseball complex in Sarasota.

Well today Pittsburgh's CEO, Kevin McClatchy, denied the report, or at least his personal involvement in the discussions. Way, way down at the bottom of this page on the Pittsburgh Pirates' official website, you'll find this quote:

Quotable: “I never spoke to the Cincinnati Reds about a joint facility in Sarasota. Where that came from, I'm not sure. But we're very happy with the relationship we have with the City of Bradenton and the county. We've been here longer than most teams have ever been in their Spring Training facility. The people of Bradenton have been great to us and we look forward to a long relationship here.” -- McClatchy, on reports the Pirates were considering moving their winter home to Sarasota.

Our friends at Bucco Blog is suspicious of McClatchy's motivations:

If you know McClatchy's doublespeak, all he really says above is that HE never spoke with the REDS, that he didn't know where the source came from, and that the org is happy in Bradenton.

He did NOT say the organization didn't speak with anyone.

I don't know McClatchy well enough to know about that, but I'd be pretty irritated to be called a liar if I were the Reds official who talked about this story to the press.