The Reds will divide forces and battle on two fronts Friday night. Their toughest obstacle will be what the locals call some wet stuff that falls from the sky.
The locals don't see much rain here in the valley but that is what they are seeing when they look out the window today.
The Reds are scheduled to take on the Cubs in Goodyear and the Dodgers in Glendale.
The lineup against the Cubs is:
Shin-Soo Choo CF
Emmanuel Burris SS
Jay Bruce RF
Neftali Soto 1B
Xavier Paul LF
Henry Rodriguez 3B
Jason Donald 2B
Ryan Hanigan C
Jack Hannahan DH
Tony Cingrani P
The lineup against the Dodgers is:
Billy Hamilton CF
Zack Cozart SS
Ryan Ludwick LF
Donald Lutz 1B
Todd Frazier 3B
Miguel Olivo C
Chris Heisey RF
Cesar Izturis 2B
Corky Miller DH
Bronson Arroyo P
Emmanuel Burris, a Kent State grad, is taking advantage of Brandon Phillips' absence. While Phillips is playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, Burris is getting a chance to show the Reds what he can do.
Manager Dusty Baker is familiar with the 28-year old native of Washingtion, D.C.
He was originally selected by the Giants in the first round of the 2006 draft. In 2009 at 24 years old, Burris was the youngest opening day starter since Robby Thompson in 1986. He was the secondbaseman that day.
"He was a starter for the Giants until he broke his foot," Baker said. "Sometimes you lose your job when you get hurt. He cracked his foot twice. He has speed. He has good hands."
Burris is starting at shortstop against the Cubs. "Burris is a good athlete," Baker said. "We were told he is a better secondbaseman. It looks to me like he can play both (shortstop and secondbase). He can play thirdbase. We have had a chance but we want to try him and (Jason) Donald in the outfield."
As a non-roster player he has to play significantly better than the others for the Reds to put him on the 40-man roster. That would require losing a player that is already on that roster.
Neftali Soto is another player that has impressed Baker in camp. Baker has seen him before but this spring Soto has been very good.
Soto broke his wrist on a swing two years ago playing for Double-A Carolina. He was promoted to Louisville for four games at the end of the season. Last year Soto started out slowly for the Bats but turned it on the second half of the season.
"I made an adjustment and started to hit better," Soto said, the right-handed hitter.
"I had lunch with Orlando Cepeda, yesterday," Baker said. "I told him that Soto reminded me of him because he can take the ball to rightfield. He gets in trouble when he tries to pull the ball. He can hit the ball to rightfield with power. I can always teach someone to pull. It is harder to teach them to go the other way."
Cepeda told Baker, "That used to be called swinging late but with two strikes you don't want to strike out plus with runners on base there are more hits over there on that side."
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| Professionally edited by ML Schirmer for proof reading services call 513-240-3120 |
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