The Cincinnati Enquirer

MEET THE REDS: Todd Van Poppel

Position: Pitcher

Age: 32

Height/weight: 6-foot-5/235 pounds

Throws/bats: Right/right

Born/resides: Hinsdale, Texas/Southlake, Texas

How acquired: Signed as a free agent, Dec. 8, 2003.

Favorite TV show: "With three kids running around, I don't watch much TV. I watch Headline News more than anything."

Favorite movie: Big Jake with John Wayne.

Other than play baseball he likes to: Fish, hunt and do woodwork.

Trivially speaking: He maintained 4.0 GPA throughout high school.

INJURY REPORT

The Reds placed third baseman Brandon Larson, who is suffering from turf toe, on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 26.

GAME REPORT: Reds 8, Twins 2

The bats: Ryan Freel went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a stolen base to raise his average to .333. Barry Larkin, Ray Olmedo, Wily Mo Pena and Corky Miller had two hits each. Austin Kearns hit his second home run of the spring. Pena is 8-for-14 with two homers and eight RBI in his last five games.

The arms: Aaron Harang started and went 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits. He struck out six and walked one. Mike Matthews allowed the other run in two-thirds of an inning. John Riedling pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and walking two.

The rest : The Reds have won six of their last seven games to improve to 16-15 this spring. They need to split their last four exhibition games to finish spring training at .500 or better for the first time since 1997.

Up next: The Reds play the Toronto Blue Jays at Ed Smith Stadium. Jimmy Haynes (1-1, 3.86 ERA) will start for Cincinnati.

MINNESOTA					CINCINNATI
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Stewart lf	3	0	1	0	Freel cf-2b	4	1	3	2
Davidson 2b	2	0	1	0	Larkin ss	2	1	2	0
Offerman 1b	3	1	0	0	Olmedo ss	3	0	2	1
Jones rf	3	0	0	0	Casey 1b	1	1	0	1
West rf	1	0	0	0	Valentin 1b	1	0	0	0
Hunter cf	2	0	0	0	Riedling p	1	0	0	0
Ryan cf-lf	1	0	1	1	Norton p	0	0	0	0
Koskie 3b	3	0	1	0	Kearns rf	5	1	1	1
Scanion 3b	1	0	0	0	Pena lf	5	1	2	1
Punto ss-cf	3	1	2	0	Miller c	4	1	2	1
Blanco c	3	0	1	0	Hummel 3b	3	1	1	1
Rincon p	0	0	0	0	Castro 2b	3	0	1	0
Lorraine p	1	0	0	0	Matthews p	0	0	0	0
Rodriguez 2b	3	0	1	0	Cruz 1b	2	0	0	0
Thomas p	0	0	0	0	Harang p	1	0	0	0
Morales ph	1	0	0	0	Clark 2b	1	0	0	0
Munro p	0	0	0	0	Denorfia cf	0	1	0	0
Sandoval ph	1	0	0	0
Balfour p	0	0	0	0
Marsters ph-c	1	0	0	1
Totals	32	2	8	2	Totals	36	8	14	8

Minnesota	000	001	100-2
Cincinnati	210	000	41x-8

E-Hunter. DP-Minnesota 1, Cincinnati 2. LOB-Minnesota 8, Cincinnati 12. 2B-Punto, Ryan, Olmedo, Hummel. HR-Kearns (2). SB-Freel. S-Casey, Harang. SF-Marsters.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Minnesota
Thomas L, 0-2	2	5	3	3	2	0
Munro	2	1	0	0	2	1
Balfour	2	1	0	0	0	2
Rincon	1	5	4	4	0	2
Lorraine	1	2	1	1	1	1
Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Harang W, 3-0	5 2-3	3	1	1	1	6
Matthews	2-3	4	1	1	0	0
Riedling	1 2-3	1	0	0	2	1
Norton	1	0	0	0	0	1

HBP-by Harang (Rodriguez), by Rincon (Clark). T-2:50. A-3,345.

Calendar

March 30-31 - Opening series, New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay, Tokyo.

March 31 - Last day to request unconditional release waivers on a player without having to pay his full 2004 salary.

April 4 - Opening day for other teams. Active rosters reduced to 25 players.

June 14 - Hall of Fame game, Atlanta vs. Minnesota, Cooperstown, N.Y.

July 13 - All-Star game, Houston.

July 25 - Hall of Fame inductions, Cooperstown, N.Y.

Oct. 5 - Playoffs begin.

Oct. 12 - League championship series begin.

Oct. 23 - World Series begins.

Dec. 10-13 - Winter meetings, Anaheim, Calif.