Greetings from Ed Smith Stadium where the Reds are hosting their final Spring Training opener in this ballpark. Cincinnati is moving its Spring Training to Goodyear, Ariz. next year and one sign of their impending departure was the “less than full” crowd on hand for Thursday’s opener.

Here are the lineups for today’s contest

Twins:
Denard Span, LF
Carlos Gomez, CF
Brendan Harris, 3B
Brian Buscher, 1B
Luis Matos, RF
Dustin Martin, DH
Matt Tolbert, 2B
Jose Morales, C
Trevor Plouffe, SS
Pitching: Nick Blackburn

Reds:
Willy Taveras, CF
Jerry Hairston Jr., SS
Joey Votto, 1B
Brandon Phillips, 2B
Jay Bruce, RF
Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
Laynce Nix, LF
Ramon Hernandez, C
Jeff Keppinger, DH
Pitching: Micah Owings

Here is some other news and nuggets:

• Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Thursday that the club will continue to take it slow with infielder Steve Tolleson (strained oblique). Although Tolleson has reported that the muscle is feeling better, the skipper doesn’t want to take any chances. “We are trying to tell him to calm down,” Gardenhire said. “They said three days and go from there. But I think we all know with the oblique, it’s like a 10-day or two-week thing if you’re lucky. It can go further if you bother it again. So I don’t want him to do too much right now.”  

• Gardenhire also said that he’ll use the upcoming games to make sure all of his World Baseball Classic participants get in their work. Justin Morneau and Nick Punto each started on Wednesday night while Joe Nathan, Jesse Crain and Luis Ayala all threw out of the ‘pen. Infielder Luke Hughes, who will play for Australia in the event, was expected to see time at third base in Thursday’s game against the Reds.

• Wayne “Big Fella” Hattaway celebrated his 69th birthday on Tuesday. Hattaway, a longtime clubhouse attendant in the organization, is considered now to be the Twins’ director of team morale and he’s beloved by all of the players. That’s why it was no surprise that Hattaway got a few special visitors to the clubhouse on Tuesday to give him birthday wishes in person — former Twins pitchers Brad Radke and Johan Santana. 

• The MLB Network has announced that it will air a 96-minute documentary called “We Are Young: A Baseball Family” on Monday night at 8 p.m. CT. It focuses on Twins outfielder Delmon Young and his older borther, Dmitri, over a seven-year period. The documentary covers everything from the influence of their father, Larry, on their careers to Dmitri Young’s battle with diabetes and Delmon’s suspension for flipping a bat at an umpire.

• The Twins Triple-A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, announced that the club will be filmed as part of a 13-episode reality show for PBS. The show will be filmed during the 2009 season but won’t be broadcast until 2010. Cameras will be allowed access to most areas of the Minor Leaguers life. The one exception is that cameras will not be allowed on long bus ride. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle had a nice article on the show.