Carlos Gomez is into fast things. The Brewers center fielder quickly jumps from subject to subject and lists a bevy of hobbies that include watching world class sprinters and shooting guns at firing ranges. Oh, and he thinks a sprint against 100-meter champion Usain Bolt would be closer than you think.

By COLIN FLY AP Sports Writer

Joey Votto homered for his first hit of spring training, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-1 victory over a Milwaukee Brewers split-squad on Thursday. The first baseman was 0 for 9 before his long solo drive off left-hander Chris Capuano, who is trying to resume his career after elbow problems kept him out of the majors for the last two seasons.

As I read the news, watch bits of ESPN ,and look at videos on the Internet, I see some parallels between Houston Astros pitching this spring training and one particular scene from the 1988 movie Tucker: the Man and His Dream .

The movie was about Preston Tucker, whose way-ahead-of-their-time cars featured futuristic designs (including seatbelts) that scared the Big Three and ultimately resulted in his demise. They were great cars, I’m told by both my Dad and Dad-in-law (both mechanics), but he ran into a brick wall against Ford, GM, and Chrysler.

The movie features one scene where Tucker’s getting ready to show off a car to a crowd. While talking to the crowd, people rush behind curtains to prepare the car for display and handle some minor catastrophes (such as a fire that must be put out). Tucker stalls and finally shows off the car.

And as Tucker readied to make his car ready for production, the Astros are readying to get their pitching ready for the season. They need probably three more starters to go along with Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez. Oswalt must show he’s doing better physically while Rodriguez is preparing to get into the swing of things.

In the bullpen, there are more holes to fill in both middle relief (including holders and Jesse Orosco-style lefthanders who specialize in sending left-handed hitters crying back to the dugout). The bullpen? Wow. Opening day is less than a month away and we have no idea who will be Houston’s new closer.

Oswalt looked pretty good in his first spring training start against the Atlanta Braves on March 6. In 44 pitches, he yielded no runs and only one hit along with three walks. Maybe someone told Roy O to pretend it was game six against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2005 NLCS.

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Yesterday against the Florida Marlins, Houston lost 16-4 as the game seemed to be a microcosm of last season: Shaky pitching while Houston hitters appear to have taken a vow of not swinging their bats. Rodriguez, whose weakness has been giving up home runs, yielded back-to-back home runs in the first inning. Wandy also yielded four earned runs and six hits in three innings.

It’s spring training, I know, and it sometimes takes time to work the kinks out. Countless players have had dazzling springs, only to flop once the season begins. Besides, considering Rodriguez will be a free agent this next off-season (whether restricted or unrestricted I can’t tell), I’m sure his pitching will come around. He has this thing called incentive.

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Looks like the Astros so far may have something promising with Taiwanese pitcher Chia-Jen Lo.

Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports the most difficult thing Jo has had to do this spring training is deal with the language barrier . (For those interested in learning more about Mandarin Chinese, visit the website www.zhongwen.com . )

I understand Lo was successful in his ventures last year with Class A Lancaster and Double-A Corpus Christi. That being said, Wade said in McTaggart’s article he expects Lo to start the season at Triple A Round Rock.

Wade feels the Taiwanese right-hander has a good arm, good stuff, and something else he’ll need against teams like St. Louis, Chicago, and Los Angeles—poise.

Lo’s lack of understanding English may work very well in his favor: When he pitches on the road, the phrases “You suck!”, “Your Mama’s a [INSERT NC-17 insult]!”, and “Go back to Taiwan!” will mean little to him.

Years ago, I studied Mandarin Chinese for eight months at the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey, CA. Taiwanese Chinese is a little different from Mainland Chinese (the Taiwanese also prefer to use the older, more complex characters rather than the simplified ones introduced during Mao Zedong’s time). For Astros fans reading this, here are a few phrases you can shout at Lo during a game:

Haojile (How-jee-luh)!—Great!

Bu cuo! (Boots-woe)!—Not bad!

Wo men ai Chia-Jen Lo! (Woe mun I Chia-Jen Lo)! We love Chia-Jen Lo!

If I can find a site with Chinese lingo for baseball, I’ll try to post it.

No, I will not post translations of American profanity into Chinese.

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Pitcher Matt Nevarez may be heading to the minors and may have some shoulder soreness to deal with, but it appears Houston likes what they see in him so far.

Actually, for Nevarez to head to the farm might be a good thing to help Houston replete its minor-league system. They say he can pitch in the 90s, but at this stage he’s not ready yet. Besides, considering he had Tommy John surgery and had to sit out the 2007 season, perhaps it’s best this way.

Nevarez’s numbers so far in his minor league career definitely show promise: 139 K’s, 71 BB’s, and a 2.96 ERA in 115 2/3 innings.

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On March 9, the Astros defeated the New York Mets 8-4. Always a good thing to get a win over the Mutts, even if it’s a Spring Training game.  I was relieved that Brett Myers and Matt Lindstrom, along with Sane Loux, all had good games for Houston on the mound.

Richard Zowie is a lifelong Houston Astros fan who’s been e-mailing and calling an Astros star from the 1980s in hopes the slugger will give him an interview. Post comments here or e-mail richardzowie@gmail.com .

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Milwaukee's biggest offseason acquisition is working on a nice spring with his new team. Randy Wolf struck out four in three scoreless innings Thursday, but Gabe Gross hit a two-run triple against his former team in the seventh and Michael Taylor added a three-run homer in the eighth to power the Oakland Athletics to a 7-3 win over a Brewers split-squad.

The Brewers and right-hander Yovani Gallardo agreed to disagree, at least when it came to his value in 2010.

Unable to reach agreement on a salary for this season, the Brewers renewed Gallardo’s contract for $450,000. He made $414,000 last year, and he had a much bigger raise in mind.

Problem is, the Brewers use a formula for pre-arbitration players (zero to three years in the majors) to determine their yearly salaries. And, trying to be fair to every player, they do not waver from that system.

What hurt Gallardo is that the Brewers incorporate the Elias rankings into their formula, which takes into account the player’s previous two seasons. The 24-year-old budding ace missed most of the 2008 season with a knee injury, so he fell off the Elias radar.

“‘Yo’s…

Sean Gallagher and Mat Latos are on track to make the battle for the fifth spot in the San Diego Padres' rotation interesting. Both pitchers allowed a run over three innings, and Will Venable hit a three-run homer to help a Padres split squad rally for a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.

With young sluggers Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Corey Hart grabbing most of the headlines, pitching often can be an afterthought for the Milwaukee Brewers. But if the team hopes to contend in the National League Central in 2010, pitching will have to pick up the pace. The starters are doing their part so far this spring.

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Tim Redding, vying for a spot on Colorado's staff, started and allowed three hits and run in the Rockies' 8-6 victory against a Milwaukee Brewers' split-squad Saturday. Redding is in camp on a minor league deal. The Rockies might be in need of a starter if Jeff Francis isn't ready to begin the regular season after missing all of 2009 following shoulder surgery.