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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > March > 17 > Entry
Cueto’s escape act
For most of this spring it has been like a day of leisurely sailing on placid Sarasota Bay for rookie pitcher Johnny Cueto — no issues, no roiling waves or sandbars.
That changed Monday against the Detroit Tigers, and instead of sinking to the bottom of the bay the 22-year-old rookie pitcher responded with the savvy and verve of a pitcher twice his age — like his opponent Monday, 45-year-old Kenny Rogers.
In the first inning, Cueto was up to his neck in hungry alligators. Four of the first five Tigers reached base. And while two scored, the damage could have been much more dire. Instead, Cueto got out of that mess and pitched three nearly perfect innings after the first — no runs, no hits, one walk.
That’s a commendable worthy of a guy with 20 years on his resume.
Manager Dusty Baker was, of course, impressed with Cueto’s escape act and said, “He seemed unfazed and you know it upset him. But he handled it like a veteran and demonstrated damage control.”
With two weeks to go, is Baker ready to put Edinson Volquez and Cueto into the rotation? Not yet. Not officially, but he did say, “They’re painting a good picture.”
One significant move was made when Baker on Monday told rotation candidate Jeremy Affeldt that his quest was over, that he is in the bullpen. The leaves the five-spot argument contestants at seven, with two spots occupied (Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo). Barring a catastrophe, Cueto and Volquez are three and four or four and three, with Josh Fogg, Matt Belisle and Homer Bailey (Louisville-bound) the other candidates.
Baker tipped his hand a bit before his team’s 5-3 win over the Tigers by asking Detroit manager Jim Leyland about bringing in young and inexperienced pitchers from the minors to the majors, the way the Tigers did with Joel Zumaya and Justin Verlander.
Leyland smiled and said, “If you don’t want Cueto, we’ll take him off your hands.” And that was before he saw him pitch. Afterward, Leyland said, “Some of the best crude stuff I’ve seen. Good velocity, good breaking ball. One of the best-looking young pitchers I’ve seen. Very impressive.”
And remember Kenny Rogers? It was 2002 and the Reds were in second place, 4 1/2 games behind the Cardinals. Reds GM Jim Bowden made a trade with Texas for Rogers, but Rogers turned it down, didn’t want to come to Cincinnati.
On St. Patrick’s Day, manager Dusty Baker thought a moment about his team and said, “Let’s see, I guess St. Patrick’s Day is like New Year’s Eve to (catcher) Ryan Hanigan.”
At that moment, Hanigan was sitting by himself at a table in the middle of the clubhouse and the only green near him was some flakes in his cereal.
Ken Griffey Jr. looked around the room and said, “I guess I have to find our leprechaun for the day,” and chose Norris Hopper.
It is fast becoming drudgery time for everybody in spring training, two weeks until Opening Day. Even Baker notices it and sympathizes with the writers.
As we all sat staring at our notebooks at 8 a.m. Monday, Baker said, “Getting hard on you guys, too, huh? It’s to the point where you guys are asking, ‘What ifs?’ and ‘How abouts?’ Pretty soon it is going to be, ‘How comes?’ “
That’s when the big cuts begin and that should be soon. As soon as the writers left Dusty’s office, general manager Wayne Krivsky and special advisor Walt Jocketty walked in. The door shut behind them. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Meanwhile, in the clubhouse the talk was about Sunday afternoon’s karaoke party — a command performance for the veterans by the rookies and newcomers.
Who won?
“It’s like the PGA Tour — the brother won,” said Griffey. “Marcus McBeth. When he sung Snoop’s Wine & Juice, it was all over. Bobby Livingston was second with Girls, Girls, Girls. And, yeah, we had some crash and burns. Johnny Cueto said he didn’t like ‘Born in the USA,’ so we gave him a song with Spanish lyrics and he couldn’t do that, either.”
Then there was Canadian-born Joey Votto. Canadian prime minister Steven Harper spent the weekend at a condominium on Siesta Key, heavily guarded by Secret Service personnel.
Asked if he knew Harper, Votto said, “I don’t know him, but we went to the same high school. I did a Wikipedia search on my high school once (Riverview Institute in Toronto) and it listed its graduates as Steven Harper and Joey Votto. And I said, ‘That’s the best they can do?’ “
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Comments
By Dennis
March 17, 2008 10:51 PM | Link to this
I’m not sure how sincere Leyland was in calling Cueto one of the best young pitchers he’s seen. He also said the Reds have one of the best offenses in baseball. Do you believe that?
By Tom
March 17, 2008 8:19 PM | Link to this
Those were quite the compliments that Leyland gave Cueto. I am excited to see him pitch in Cincy!
By jarrod
March 17, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
i posted this morning i felt like he would struggle and i guess he did to some degree. the trick was how he would respond and its hard to say he didn’t respond well. i also feel this will be good for him in the long run.
By Gary Maloy Jr.
March 17, 2008 4:12 PM | Link to this
I just listened to my first game of the year - managed to get my MLB radio subscription processed in time for the game. J.Cueto impressed. My first thoughts were - typical! Now that I’m listening, the kid’s showing his true colors. I got the feeling that he collapsed a bit after the two bloop singles to right (E.Renteria and P.Polanco) to start the game. He then faced two studs, Ordonez and Cabrera and walked both of them before composing himself (after a visit from Dick Pole) and getting a(n rbi) groundball and a strikeout. He showed absolutely no mercy, and was clinically free for respect the second time through the Tigers batting order. 1-2-3 innings in the 2nd and 3rd, before giving up a lead-off walk in the 4th before getting 3 straight outs. The kid impressed. Maybe not as much as Volquez yesterday, but there were only two Tigers who are expected to play on opening day whom didn’t start today - CF C.Granderson and C I.Rodriguez. Cueto proved his mettle, and the bullpen did a good job, too. It seemed as if Cordero was trying to work on something in the 8th inning as he gave up a double and two singles and a run before tightening up his belt for back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. OTHER THAN those 3 hits, the bullpen scattered 3 hits and 2 walks, allowing 1 (earned) run and getting 4 strikeouts over 4 innings. All-in-all, a good game. Good enough for this transplanted Reds-idiot, anyway. I wish all games started at 1 pm so I could catch the game - and at the same time irritate the wife by keeping score - while eating dinner! Go Reds! Gary Maloy Bjerkvik, Norway