Just three more games in Sarasota for the Reds, including this one. It's the last time this season they'll face the Rays and it's a rubber match of sorts as the teams are an eeven 2-2 against each other this Spring.
Pitching for the Reds today is Bronson Arroyo, who I believe is throwing to Ramon Hernandez under game conditions for only the second time this Spring and the first time in over a month. It'll be interesting to see how they click, though I don't expect Arroyo to perform all that well. It sounds like he's still trying to wear his arm down so that it's not tired during the season.
The Reds will face Scott Kazmir, a pitcher that Jim Bowden and crew passed up on for Chris Gruler in the 2002 draft. Of course they also passed up on Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Jeff Francis, Jeremy Hermida, Kahlil Greene, Cole Hamels, James Loney, Jeremy Guthrie, Jeff Francouer, Joe Blanton, and Matt Cain, all of whom were taken in the first round of that draft. But, they did get Joey Votto in round 2, but only after taking Mark Schramek with a supplementray pick. Don't worry, I won't mention that Brian McCann, Jon Lester, Jonathan Broxton, and Jesse Crain were all taken in the 2nd round as well. There was a ton of talent in that draft and the Reds somehow managed to miss a lot of it despite having the 3rd pick in the draft. Any wonder as to why the Reds had such a dearth of home grown talent for so long?
See the lineups after the jump.
Game time is 1:05pm. The Reds are on the radio today, or you can check them out on Gameday.