The time has finally come, Reds fans. Mat Latos is set to make his Reds debut today. In what should be a thrilling two-inning pitching duel, the Reds newly acquired ace will square off against Felix Hernandez. It's hard to find anything to say about Latos that we haven't already said here, here, here, here or here. But one thing is for sure, a lot will be expected of Mat this year, and it will be nice to see him start off strong today. Also pitching today are prodigal sons, Brett Tomko and Andrew Brackman. This will be the first time Tomko has pitched for the Reds since he threw two scoreless innings of relief in a losing effort against the Brewers on October 2, 1999. Brackman, the lanky Moeller High grad, was said to have been "impressive" in the intrasquad game and has an outside shot of making the bullpen this year.
Unfortunately, the lineup. After the offensive explosion we were treated to yesterday, we get to see a slap-tastic infield consisting of Janish, Valdez and Negron (all at the same time!). Chris Valaika is scheduled to get some reps at 3B at some point in the game after he went 0-3 in the B-game yesterday. Daryl "I didn't even know he was in the organization" Jones gets the start in center. Make your predictions on how many balls leave the infield against King Felix in the comments.