I can't even tell you the thrill I get from filling in the ol' boxscore again.

Ya know, when I was a kid, my family didn't follow any sports. My parents were more into yoga and making their own yogurt than sports.

When I was 11, my younger brother Matthew first took an interest in basketball, and soon I and my hippy parents were cheering right along with him as he watched his favorite team, the University of Michigan Wolverines, take the championship in 1989.

My college years were the reign of Drew Brees at Purdue University. Though I have never once set food inside Ross-Aid Stadium, the CTS and I used to get up early on Saturdays (yes, it was early for us) to make up a bunch of taquitos and chili dip before settling in to watch the game.

It wasn't until the return of Griffey to Cincinnati in 2000 that the CTS let show his baseball fandom that had lain dormant since the strike of 1994. Good thing I was OK with it, because I'm pretty sure that secret baseball fandom is grounds for annulment, even after six years of marriage. Pretty soon I was an enthusiast myself, and before you know it, Red Hot Mama is born.

Well, not so much “born” I guess. Perhaps more “spawned.” Whatever.

The point of all this nostalgia is to say that I can't believe how excited I am for the season to start. Here I am, a woman who regarded baseball as “boring” and “too long” well into my adulthood, suddenly realizing that Marty's voice on the radio represents something that feels like it's been missing from my life forever.

So, it's with a goofy grin and a contented sigh that I say the Reds won their first spring training game against the Pirates in Bradenton this afternoon.

Eric Milton took the mound and didn't suck, though some wind-aided home runs make his line a little ugly. Paul “and you thought I'd never pitch again” Wilson got the win. Kirk Saarloos, Rheal Cormier, Todd Coffey, and Brad Salmon each took a turn as well, and all of them were adequate.

Ryan Freel stole a base successfully once and unsuccessfully once. Adam Dunn, Brandon Phillips, Mark Bellhorn, Jeff Keppinger, and Josh Hamilton each hit a home run, with Hamilton's being the subject of some discussion. C. Trent says that the majority of the sportswriters in Sarasota now believe that the Reds will break camp with Hamilton, when before they weren't so sure. Personally, I never doubted that Hamilton would head back to Cincinnati, I just wondered whether he'd deserve it. Wouldn't it be great if he did!

The win brings the Reds' spring training record to 1-0. They'll go on to play the Twins in Fort Myers on Friday at 7 p.m. Kyle Lohse will take the mound against Ramon Ortiz.

In an earlier diary (“Good Enough To Dream”), I wrote the following hopefully self-fulfilling prophecy: “…or maybe they get Dustin Hermanson and he has a year like he did with Chicago in 2005.”

Well, the first part happened today. According to the official release on the club website, which also quotes his glowing stats from his 2005 season with the White Sox, the Reds signed Hermanson, who's 34, to a one-year minor league contract, along with the obligatory invitation to help himself to the various amenities in Sarasota for spring training. He apparently was scheduled to take his physical in Cinci today, and is expected to report in Sarasota tomorrow.

I think it's a good deal. This is a guy who was arguably among the game's best closers as recently as 2005 (the last time he was healthy), and has pitched in the NLCS twice and in the World Series. If he makes the 25-man roster, he'll make $500,000 according to Trent's blog. If not, there will be one more arm for Rick Sweet to wave in from the bullpen in Louisville.

And if he returns to his 2005 form with the White Sox, the Reds will become the most recent team to pull their closer off of baseball's scrap heap, surpassing last year's Marlins (Joe Borowski) and Mariners (J.J. Putz), Kriv-Dawg will look like a genius, and all it will cost them is half a million recycled lithographs of George Washington.

TO make up for that embarrassing Eric Milton Diary post, I have decided to begin a new Spring Training tradition here at Red Hot Mama. FOr those of you unfortunate souls who do not have MLB radio, I will serve as your ears and provide you with game highlights as they happen right here in the Diaries section.

So check in often and I'll keep you up-ro-date on what's happening.

According to C. Trent Rosecrans this is our lineup:

Freel CF
Phillips 2B
Encarnacion 3B
Dunn LF
Bellhorn 1B
Hamilton RF
Gonzalez SS
Ross C
Milton LHP

which is interesting because one of our insiders who saw the posted lineup provided us with the same lineup except he had Jeff Conine at 1B. So we have to assume a switch was made inserting Bellhorn instead of Conine. is the old man feeling rusty after striking out to Homer Bailey yesterday? Maybe, maybe. We'll try to find out for you.

Also, I listened to marty's final Hot Stove Report yesterday and to say he is high on Homer Bailey would be an understatement. He said the Reds would be “asses” not to include Bailey on the big league roster if he has a lights out Spring. he says he is mature beyond his years and is showing command with his offspeed pitches, which was the question mark. He is convinced if the Reds had had the guts to call him up last September the Reds would have made a legitimate run at the playoffs. He lobbied hard for him to be the #5 starter out of the gate.

he then later said Paul Wilson looked exceptional and fully recovered and said he belongs in the rotation too. So who does marty want out of the rotation. He didn't say, but I am guessing Eric Milton is his least favorite Reds pitcher. Maybe we'll get more on that from today's radio cast. And, this is Marty's first broadcast with his son Thom Brennaman, and also jeff Brantley will be making his debut as well.

STAY TUNED. More updates coming, posted as comments to this thread.