About this time the Reds are making me feel a mite stupid for wondering where the offense was going to come from this season. Sure, spring training doesn't matter, blah, blah, blah, but they won over the Twins 1-14.
Aaron Harang led the change and worked his two innings adequately, allowing one run on five hits. If Jeff Brantley is to be believed, he was pounding his fastball all afternoon.
Speaking of Jeff Brantley, I didn't like him. I'm sure he's a heckuva guy, but something about his style just rubbed me the wrong way. I found myself wanting to disagree with everything he said just out of spite. I'll try to keep that under control, but if you notice that I've started going off on rants just to be contrary to Brantley, feel free to call me on it, and I'll feel free to glare at you and go grumble in the corner for a while.
Bobby Livingston and Victor Santos each allowed a hit in their scoreless pair of innings apiece. Kerry Ligtenberg, apparently pronounced “LITE-en-berg” despite not having an H, didn't even yield a hit in his two innings. Brian “Love” Shackelford walked a batter in the scoreless eighth.
And if you thought it took a long time to run down the pitchers, the RBI are even more prodigious!
First, the home runs: Scott Hatteberg and Brandon Phillips each contributed one. Mark Bellhorn, David Ross, Chris Denorfia, Paul Janish, Jeff Keppinger, Dewayne Wise, and Joey Votto also knocked in runs. Beyond that, it's all a blur. You can read an inning-by-inning account on C. Trent's blog, where he also takes some time to admire a particular lady in the stands. It's like the male version of RHM!
The win brings the Reds' spring training record to 3-0. Tomorrow the Reds will go up against the Pirates in Bradenton at 1:05 p.m. I thought they said Homer Bailey would be taking the mound, but that might be later in the week.