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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 > 29 > Entry
Everybody into the pool
So here we are in St. Louis, where from the rooftop press box in Busch Stadium III I can see Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania.
A moment ago an American Airlines flight on its glide path to Lambert Field flew UNDER us. I’m looking DOWN on the Gateway Arch.
On the field, it looks as if two armies of red ants are doing battle.
Nowhere do I see a swimming pool. Not one. Bronson Arroyo finds them, though, and uses them to his advantage. He may look like Ichabod Crane, but he is doing his best to be another Johnny Weissmuller (for the old folks) or Mark Spitz (for the younger set).
Those are swimmers, folks.
And that’s what Arroyo credits with the velocity he found Monday on his fastball that helped him record his first victory this year, 4-3, over the St. Louis Cardinals.
With his velocity drooping at 88 the last two starts, Arroyo decided to try something different in his training routine. Swimming. Find a Y. Find a Boys Club. Even a Girls Club. So he and strength/conditioning coach Matt Krause went swimming four straight days to strengthen Arroyo’s shoulders.
Suddenly his fastball was back to 90 and 91 and for the first time this season he finished six innings, giving up three runs and six hits.
Afterward, he felt like shouting, “Here’s a news flash! Cannonball,” then jumping butt first into the nearest bank fountain.
“I finally had some zip on the ball, much stronger than any other start,” he said. “It’s great when you feel you can beat guys by throwing a fastball by them, especially when you get behind in the count.
“I felt like my stuff was there, other than the lack of a fastball,” he said. “You look at guys like Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling, guys I played with in the past, and the times they were down three or four miles an hour on their fastball, even they had trouble getting guys out. You give guys a lot more time to react when you are throwing 84, 85, 86 miles an hour than if you get it up there 90 and 91.”
OK, are you ready for this? Manager Dusty Baker believes that in the near future third baseman Edwin (E as in Error) Encarnacion can win a Gold Glove. Know what? I agree.
EE makes incredible plays, out of the ordinary plays. Then he botches a 22-hopper right at him or picks up a routine ground ball and throws it to Pete Rose Way.
On Monday he made two wondrous plays. The first, a diving stop in the seventh with the Reds up one run with two runners on base, ended the inning. Then he ended the game with the tying run on base with an injury-defying slide against the dugout fence to snag a foul ball.
Said Baker, “Eddie saved the game with that play on Molina (in the seventh). That was a tough play, a great play, sliding into the fence to end the game. He has made some great plays. It’s just a matter of consistency and keep working. Because he works hard. He is conscious of it and does extra work and some day he has a chance to win Gold out there.
“Most of his errors are throwing or simple errors,” Baker said. “He guides the ball. But he has been playing some baseball.”
Encarnacion agrees.
“When you focus, you have opportunities to make plays like that,” he said. “On that last pop fly, I say in my mind, ‘I’m going to catch that ball no matter how.’ I don’t care if I hit the wall or the fence. Defense is how your team wins the game. That’s how we win tonight. Defense is part of winning games.”
Gold?
“I know I can do it, I just have to keep working, going forward, and I know I’ll play great defense the rest of my career.”
Maybe he can go swimming with Arroyo.
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By John
April 29, 2008 7:50 PM | Link to this
I agree that EE is great defensively when he doesn’t have time to think, but he needs to stop leaving the bases loaded. He did it for the fourth or fifth time this season last night. Hal, your stuff is great, and your reading never gets old.
By Reds Authority
April 29, 2008 5:58 PM | Link to this
Hal, Some here have made valid points on the deteriorating quality of your posts and articles. It is not so much the substance of your material. Rather, it is the countless and increasing number of errors-of-fact and especially grammatical and spelling mistakes. I realize you lost a great deal of your visual acuity in the last few years and have difficulty even seeing the computer screen in front of your face, but PLEASE have someone at the Dayton Daily News PROOFREAD your work!
By preacher franklin ohio
April 29, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this
wait and see geter done for jesus god bless you all.
By Randy Plessinger
April 29, 2008 3:32 PM | Link to this
Hey Lisa, your comment is worth a lot. What you said is correct. EE thinks too much sometimes. He’s much better when he only has time to react. He reminds me of Davey Conception when he started. It seemed like every throw to first base landed in the stands. The rest is history.
By mikegordon
April 29, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this
Arroyo has not recovered. He was lucky that he was able to be bailed out by Burton and Cordero. Their offense is finally starting to work together, which is nice. However, Arroyo and Belisle should be playing in the minors for a while.
By Lisa
April 29, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
I remember from my tennis-playing days that the easiest shots were the ones I ALWAYS messed up. If I didn’t have time to think, my body did what it “knew” to do with no help from my mind. I suspect something similar goes on with EE. If he has time to think about it, he seizes up. Just my two cents’ worth. For what it’s worth—not much!
By James Humphrey, Jr.
April 29, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this
Bronson needs CrossFit, not swimming time. 21-15-9 Thrusters and Pullups, titled “Fran”.
By Cait
April 29, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this
Glad to see Arroyo and EE coming to life. Hope it sticks. Also, Hal, can you get someone to go into your game story and change the hit runner reference? The ball hit Phillips, not Griffey. Otherwise, keep up the good work. Errors happen to EE and Hal, so lighten up, Brian.
By LArry
April 29, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this
Is it too late to package Freel, Patterson, Hatteberg and Belisle and send them to Texas for Hamilton?
By Rick
April 29, 2008 7:59 AM | Link to this
Brian, Why don’t you worry about your own mistakes? Since you’re nit-picking it should be “your” not “you” and Hal should be capitalized. Dude it’s a blog, not a regular newspaper article.
By Rick
April 29, 2008 7:57 AM | Link to this
Brian, Why don’t you worry about your own mistakes? Since you’re nit-picking it should be “your” not “you” and Hal should be capitalized. Dude it’s a blog, not a regular newspaper article.
By Rick
April 29, 2008 7:56 AM | Link to this
Brian, Why don’t you worry about your own mistakes? Since you’re nit-picking it should be “your” not “you” and Hal should be capitalized. Dude it’s a blog, not a regular newspaper article.
By Kyle
April 29, 2008 7:50 AM | Link to this
Shut up, Brian. EE seems worth putting up with slow start now.
By Brian
April 29, 2008 6:40 AM | Link to this
hal, you need someone to proof read you articles. They’re full of mistakes.
By Ryan
April 29, 2008 4:12 AM | Link to this
You know, I agree with Eddie E being able to be a gold glover. He’s got some excellent reflexes, and can really make some jaw dropping plays. All of his errors are just stupid mistakes. He has enormous potential, and although he gets ragged on a lot, I’m glad he’s on this club.