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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 > April > 13 > Entry
Pittsburgh is the pits
The headline speaks for the Cincinnati Reds, not for me.
Pittsburgh is the pits for the Reds after they lost three straight games in PNC Park over the weekend and isn’t that just what burns your socks.
Just when it seems the Reds have something going, a 6-4 start against three top-level teams - Arizona, Philadelphia, Milwaukee - they come to Pittsburgh and break your heart like your first high school flame who married the football captain and left you holding a dead corsage.
The Reds left wringing their hands. How could this happen? How could a team that every respectable baseball publication in America picked to finish last deliever a 1-2-3 to the Reds?
Baseball, what a game.
OK, so what do I like about Pittsburgh? Taking a cab to the airport mostly. And there is the nice clerk at the hotel who gave me two free cartons of chocolate milk late Saturday night when I was sitting in the lounge pecking away at my laptop.
I love Pittsburgh when I can see the sun, which I haven’t seen in three days. I love Pittsburgh when I walk over the Roberto Clemente Bridge and see the sludge in the Allegheny River flow under it.
I love the way Pittsburgh’s streets go off the main streets at angles. There are no blocks in Pittsburgh, just triangles. I’d leave bread crumbs when I walk the streets but the pigeons would eat them.
OK, OK, so Dayton isn’t Paris, but the only similarities between Pittsburgh and Paris is that both began with ‘P’ - and I could say something here, but I won’t.
The sorry Reds left town late Sunday afternoon, bound for Chicago. For some reason, I chose to stay in Pittsburgh overnight and now I have to try to find a restaurant that is open after 6 p.m. that doesn’t have arches or a drive-thru.
Don’t take it seriously, Pittsburghers. Maybe I’m just down on life at the moment because if the Reds win more people read my stories. Who wants to read about a 6-7 team that has fallen into fifth place behind the, uh, fourth-place Pirates.
Hey, the pierogies taste good.
As for the Reds, I hate to seem like I’m picking on the kid, because Edwin Encarnacion is a nice kid. But, geesh. Mix in a hit. Mix in a good throw.
Encarnacion was the poster boy for the Reds this weekend, the coverboy for the Magazine, “Leave ‘em on, Gang.” Four times during the three losses Encarnacion came to bat with the bases loaded. Four times he made outs - a grounder to third for the third out, a pop out to short for the third out, a fly to left for the third out, a fly to left with two outs.
Amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable. Almost impossible to do. He came up FOUR TIMES with two outs and the bases loaded and made outs ALL FOUR TIMES.
He also made two throwing errors in game two that didn’t cost the Reds. Thank the baseball gods for that or somebody might have had to escort the poor kid across the Clemente Bridge and encourage him, “Don’t look down and don’t jump.”
Does he need another shock treatment to Class AAA Louisville this early, or do they want until Alex Gonzalez comes off the DL to play shortstop (whenever that is) and move Jeff Keppinger to third? Or do they play Ryan Freel at third right now?
Meanwhile, why do I have to stay in Pittsburgh an extra day and the Reds get to go to Chicago. I didn’t strand any of those 32 guys they left on base in the three games and I wasn’t part of crew that went 6 for 35 with runners in scoring position.
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By DJ
April 14, 2008 10:57 PM | Link to this
BTown, Please know your facts before you post. GABP’s first season was 2003 and the Jake’s first season was 1994 - not 20 years if my math is correct. Rather go to Cincy ANY day of the week than Cleveland, no matter how nice the ballpark.
By Pete
April 14, 2008 1:35 PM | Link to this
PATHETIC! & for those who are saying “Relax, it’s still early?” Take a good look @ what these idiots are doing & how they’re going about it. Dunn looks like a dunce @ the dish. Griffey still lolly-gags on the bases. If Hopper doesn’t take out the infielder @ 2nd yesterday, Griffey’s out @ 1st by a year. EE couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. & Patterson, Phillips, et al., are swinging @ a lot of 1st pitches, & making a tons of outs doing it. Mark it down, folks. This team won’t finish @ .500 again this year
By Tim T.
April 14, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this
IF EE could return to the AAA it would be A-OK with me and many Reds fans.
By Tim T.
April 14, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this
IF EE could return to the AAA it would be A-OK with me and many Reds fans.
By tom
April 14, 2008 12:28 PM | Link to this
It’s a long season. Lets not panic in April. Real fans stay with them thru thick and thin. The Reds need a leader; hopefully Brandon Phillips will step forward with something more than a great smile.
By Howie Feltersnatch
April 14, 2008 9:34 AM | Link to this
No need to panic but there is a need to get E.E, out of the lineup. The visit to the minors did help last year why not try it again? Let Freel play third for a while until E.E. can recover his swing.
By Joyce
April 14, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this
Mom and I got a nice Reds nap in Sunday afternon. Didn’t miss much, either. Why do they always play in downpours in Pittsburgh?
By Joyce
April 14, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
Mom and I got a nice Reds nap in Sunday afternon. Didn’t miss much, either. Why do they always play in downpours in Pittsburgh?
By Joyce
April 14, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
Mom and I got a nice Reds nap in Sunday afternon. Didn’t miss much, either. Why do they always play in downpours in Pittsburgh?
By steve t.
April 14, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this
Great comment Broadway, Jr. would need a rake handle to reach some of the balls he is trying to pull out of the ballpark. How about some less selfish ab’s from this team. Ever heard of get em on, over and in Dusty? Enough with the Earl Weaver approach, it just aint workin.
By donb
April 14, 2008 7:48 AM | Link to this
With regards to Encarncion and the bases loaded, I do believe Adam Dunn walked at least twice to load those bases. The last time I looked, Dunn was getting all the bucks for homers and driving in runs. What good is he if he just walks and leaves a lesser mortal to handle the pressure? If it’s good pitches he needs to hit, let’s put someone else behind Dunn, so Dunn can get strikes thrown to him, more often in these situations.
By James E Webster
April 14, 2008 7:29 AM | Link to this
Hal, If you don’t like coming to Pittsburgh, then please stay away. You don’t have to come here in person to do your job. You can just as easily report on the pitiful Reds from the comfort of your mansion in your beautiful, warm city of Cincinnati. Please leave us in peace so we can eat our fast food and drink the swill from our rivers. Maybe someday, we will rise up from our filth and construct a first class city like Cincinnati.
By Kurt
April 14, 2008 4:59 AM | Link to this
Relax, the season just started, going 0-3 in a series early in the year does’nt hurt the team, like it would in Septemember. Perhaps a short stint to triple AAA, could help Edwin. Hal I do like the idea of putting Keppinger at third, or Freel. maybe even trade Edwin, for a LHP. I’m sure Dusty and company will make the adjustment. It’s pretty obvious, there’s a gapping whole in that position as well as the batting rotation.
By Kyle
April 13, 2008 9:18 PM | Link to this
Hal, permit to vent for a moment. Dusty, were you asleep during the game on Friday night? I saw Adam Dunn look terrible against Marte, yet when he came up late against him Saturday night, you let him hit with all those right-handed bats on the bench. I really think Dusty Baker is the worst move the Reds made this spring. Now, let’s talk Votto. Joey, you aren’t going to make any friends in the infield when your best effort on a skipped throw is to swipe at it while leaning your body and turning your head into right field, twice in a row. The Pittsburgh pitching staff no longer needs to count sheep. Any time they are having problems falling asleep, they just imagine Edwin at the plate with the bases loaded and they drift right off. Apparently Dusty slept through those at bats too because I just kept seeing Edwin up there without any changes. Even though Griffey and Phillips couldn’t hold onto the ball to make plays, the Pirates must have been using some magic fairy dust to make their throws. And finally, George Grande, they are the Pirates, not the Bucs, Bucos, or Buccaneers. The Buccaneers are a football team in Tampa Bay. Grrrrr, this team frustrates me.
By Btown
April 13, 2008 9:11 PM | Link to this
The Buccos busted out the broom on the Reds..knocking out the two most talked about pitchers on the Reds staff. Also, at least there is life in Downtown Pittsburgh. There are actually bars and restaurants right next to a beautiful stadium. GABP reeks of a wanna-be Jacobs Field that can’t hold the Jake’s jock even though it is 20 years younger.
By Jim
April 13, 2008 8:36 PM | Link to this
Relax everybody, the Reds will be just fine.
By Broadway
April 13, 2008 8:18 PM | Link to this
There is a guy named Bruce—who IS making contact, as in, two home runs recently. He surely couldn’t hurt anything, if called up from “Louey’s village”! And, why take Votto out of the lineup today when he started making better contact yesterday? Give Freel third for awhile/give Bruce left for a while—and right field after that—so as to rest those not handling the pressure at the moment. Ask Mr. Griffey to move closer to the plate. He’s too far away from it{especially when he is trying to pull everything}. Force opponents to try to jam him—taking away from them the curves and sliders away.
By Broadway
April 13, 2008 7:50 PM | Link to this
So sad—they were really bad! But, they aren’t REALLY that bad.They are just trying to hard.The thousands of us who believe this will be a special year, will stay behind them—and believe this will all turn around when we least expect it—perhaps when the sun shines again!