Eccentric Latos answers Reds' alert in nick of time

• Pitchers overcome Cueto's Game 1 injury and now are one victory from the NLCS
• Reds lead the Giants 2-0 in the series
• The five members of the rotation did not miss a start this season

CINCINNATI -- Mat Latos wasn't even wearing socks, let alone spikes, when it was time to save the Cincinnati Reds' season.

The Reds, with a 2-0 lead, have the San Francisco Giants on the verge of elimination in this best-of-five National League Division Series with Game 3 scheduled for 5:37 p.m. ET today at Great American Ball Park. But if not for Latos in the opener, Cincinnati could be gasping for breath.

It took one batter in Game 1 for one of the most reliable starting rotations of the last 40 years to be in crisis.

Reds ace Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati's first 19-game winner in 24 years, threw eight pitches before stepping off the mound, flailing his arms in disgust. He was done for the game. Out with back spasms.

The Reds frantically searched for a savior. They summoned Latos, asking him if there was any way he could take the ball even though he already had pitched a bullpen session and lifted weights earlier in the day.

What, Latos worry? This is the same guy who was caught shooting pool at the Reds stadium club 30 minutes before a start this summer, so no reason to get serious now.

"If it were anybody else, it would have been so hard to do," veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo says. "But not Mat. He was clapping. He couldn't wait to step on the mound."

Now Latos, 24, and the Reds are one victory from their first NL Championship Series since 1995.

The Reds say they don't know who will start Game 4 if they lose today. They don't even know Cueto's status the rest of this series, let alone the rest of the postseason. Yet this is small stuff for a team that survived playing two months without 2010 MVP first baseman Joey Votto, went through three closers during the season and was without its manager two weeks ago as he recovered from an irregular heartbeat and a ministroke.

"We don't know when, or even if, Cueto will pitch again," Arroyo says. "But I don't think anybody is really panicking about it because we know we're deep enough."

The five members of the rotation — Cueto, Latos, Arroyo, Homer Bailey and Mike Leake — did not miss a start this season.

They were the eighth group in major league history with five pitchers making at least 30 starts. Four pitched at least 200 innings, the first by a Reds team since 1943. And their 3.74 ERA was the lowest by a Cincinnati rotation since 1992.

"We've flown under the radar most of the year," Arroyo says. "It's part of the culture here. We play in a small market. But the further we go, I think the more attention our rotation will get."

They have stifled the Giants lineup, yielding two runs and nine hits in the first two games. San Francisco doesn't have a hit with a runner in scoring position.

"People talk about the Big Red Machine and all of that," Latos says. "Hey, those guys had some great hitters, but look at our pitchers. You've got to have great pitching if you're going to win.

"We got that pitching."

Yes, and perhaps for the first time all season, Latos' teammates finally can agree with him.

"Usually, all you hear is people in the clubhouse yelling, 'Shut up, Latos!'" Reds manager Dusty Baker says, laughing. "He kills me, man. He's a free spirit, all right.

"He'll piss me off one minute and then crack me up at the same time."

And right now, he has a whole city loving him and a team that has no idea where it would be without him.

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Cult of personality

The Reds certainly have an eclectic group of starters. The only thing they might have in common is that they're all right-handed.

"All five of us, personality-wise, are extremely different," Arroyo says. "I like music and play the guitar. Homer likes to hunt and kill animals. I don't like to kill animals. Cueto had to play this game just to have a chance to survive in this world. Leake is a laid-back Californian.

"And Mat, well, he's got reptiles all over his house and his wife tweets 24 hours a day. Let's just say he has a whole different thought process than the rest of us."

Indeed, what other pitcher do you know whose body is covered in tattoos, including one of the Major League Baseball logo on his left arm and another of Family Guy cartoon characters Brian and Stewie on his right leg? He loves snakes, alligators and 600-horsepower cars, not necessarily in that order.

And, yes, Latos is the pitcher who was shooting pool out in the Reds stadium club this summer — 30 minutes before he was to start a game.

"True story," says Bailey, who threw a no-hitter Sept. 28. "We had a rain delay to start the game, and then they told us it was starting in 30 minutes. And Mat Latos is nowhere to be found. We are looking everywhere. Finally, somebody looks through the glass windows at the Diamond Club. There he is, actually playing pool."

So one minute he's hanging with fans, the next he's on the mound, as if he paid $5,000 to be in a fantasy camp.

"He's a cool dude, but I can say he's more different than any other teammate I ever had," Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips says. "I'll tell you one thing. When he's pitching, he's a competitor. When he's not pitching, he's a clown."

Says Bailey, "Deep down, you know he's a pretty good guy, but really, kind of wacky."

Yet wacky enough to be unfazed when called upon in Game 1 for his first career relief appearance. Latos surrendered one run in four innings as the Reds won 5-3.

"I was shocked when it happened," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty says. "But when I went downstairs to the trainer's room and saw that Latos was on the training table and warming up, I had a pretty good feeling. He wanted to be in that situation."

And it's why Jocketty wanted Latos, trading for him last offseason from the San Diego Padres. The price was steep. Jocketty gave up starter Edinson Volquez and three of his top prospects — first baseman Yonder Alonso, pitcher Brad Boxberger and catcher Yasmani Grandal.

The trade was panned, with former general manager Jim Bowden calling it baseball's version of the the 1989 trade of Herschel Walker that netted the Dallas Cowboys a slew of draft picks.

"In modern times," Bowden said, "I can't remember a trade that was this far lopsided."

Funny how a torrid second half by Latos, going 9-2 with a 2.43 ERA in his last 19 starts, to go along with a division championship, has a way of silencing critics.

In the Twitter words of his wife, Dallas Latos: "Funkblast BROTHER!!!"

"Hey, whatever it means," Latos says, "we're all free spirits. We're not afraid. We don't want to be those cookie-cutters, those guys that sit in front of their locker and read a book or whatever. I went through that in San Diego.

"I'm not going to say I didn't rub some guys the wrong way in San Diego. But you know what, I was 21 years old and in the big leagues. If I rubbed them the wrong way, or offended guys on that team, too bad.

"All I know is that I'm in the playoffs. They're home watching me. I think things worked out pretty good."