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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 > May > 05
Monday, May 5, 2008
Weather-ing a storm
There was a victory sighting down on the river Monday night — an honest-to-God victory by the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3, over the Chicago Cubs.
What made it even more fun was a sprinkling of controversy after the game, engineered by pitcher David Weathers throwing down the gauntlet to Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley. And they’re friends.
But after the game, Weathers was waiting for the media. He wasn’t angry and actually smiled through most of it.
On Sunday, during a hideous loss to Atlanta, 14-7, Brantley said on the air, “It is obvious there are players on this team playing much harder than others.”
Weathers heard it driving home from a workout.
“We take a lot of pride in what we do and sometimes when you hear things about your teammates — I’ve been on the DL watching and listening — sometimes you have to defend your teammates,” said Weathers.
“I don’t feel like we have anybody quitting,” he added. “Do we have guys struggling? Yeah, we do. But that doesn’t mean you quit.”
Weathers and Brantley are friends, but Weathers said, “He played and he is a guy who knows the game and should know about struggles out there. Sometimes you feel like you’re climbing a cactus. It’s hard. I don’t mean it to be a big deal — I feel like I’m on The View and said something to Barbara.”
A few minutes later Brantley was en route to the clubhouse to chat with Stormy.
A couple of noteworthies in this one, a win that stopped five games of enough bleeding to send the entire team to the blood bank for transfusions.
After a couple of sessions with his mentor, Mario Soto, 22-year-old rookie Johnny Cueto was back into a smoother groove. He went six innings and gave up three runs and six hits, striking out eight. Very impressive. Mr. Soto, take a bow. And don’t ever leave.
There was a lucky, two-run broken-bat single by Jeff Keppinger during a three-run first, then Adam Dunn also drove in two runs. He didn’t break his bat, but chipped the paint on some red seats in right field with a two-run, 463-foot home run, a home run that actually meant something.
The ninth inning was a huff and a hoot.
Francisco Cordero came in to protect a two-run lead and turned into a tee-ball extravaganza.
The first two Cubs singled. Pinch-hitter Daryle Ward lined a 3-and-2 pitch devastatingly hard, but right at center fielder Corey Patterson for the first out.
Then Cordero walked the bases full. With one out and the sacks jammed or loaded or full (three on), he bounced a pitch off catcher Paul Bako’s chest protector and it rolled about 10 feet to the right of home plate.
Mike Fontenot tried to score from third, but Bako scrambled after the ball and threw a better pitch to Cordero, covering home, than Cordero threw to him. Cordero blocked the plate and Fontenot was out.
Now he walked another, refilling the bases and bringing up Derrek The Dangerous Lee, while manager Dusty Baker and the boys in the first-base dugout covered their eyes.
Cordero hung a slider.
“Usually that pitch is hit out of the park,” said Cordero. “I was lucky. He swung and missed. Then I threw him a fastball.”
Lee pulled it to Joey Votto at first base and Votto slid feet first into the bag, narrowly retiring Lee.
Just another victory, a victory that was about as difficult as getting the first olive out of a jar without spilling juice all over your hand.
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The Cincinnati Reds clubhouse was not a fun place Monday afternoon - and it had nothing to do with five defeats in a row and being the bottom feeders of the National League Central.
Ken Griffey Jr. walked up to writers and said, “Frank died at 12:28 this afternoon. Basically he bled to death.”
Frank is Frank King, about whom Griffey once said, “He is not only my best friend, he is my only friend.” King and Griffey were childhood friends and King went to Cincinnati Aiken High School, but has been living near Griffey in Orlando.
He contracted rectal cancer last July and has been in and out of intensive care. He was 38, married four years, with a 3-year-old daughter. When manager Dusty Baker heard about it, he scratched Griffey’s name from Monday’s lineup.
As soon as Griffey finished talking with writers, he excused himself by saying, “I’m going to see Dusty to talk about this lineup thing.”
Griffey talked his way back into the lineup and it was fine with Baker. “Griffey said Frank would have wanted him to play. When I was with San Francisco, Barry Bonds’ best friend died and he, too, wanted to play.”
Baker said one of the things he told the team during a closed clubhouse meeting before Sunday’s game was for them to play for somebody besides themselves, somebody sick or somebody dying or a close friend or family member.
The Reds have had their share of tragedy already this year and Baker ticked them off on his fingers — Norris Hopper’s father, Mike Stanton’s brother, Kent Mercker’s mother, Alex Gonzalez’s grandmother, Bob Howsam, Joe Nuxhall, Chief Bender.
Baker stopped ticking them off on his fingers and said, “A tough year. Let’s stop counting.”
It is always tough to watch a player throw his gear into a travel bag after he has been sent back to the minors, and that’s what pitcher Bill Bray was doing. He was optioned back to Class AAA Louisville to make room for David Weathers, activated off the DL.
Tough times?
“Not so bad, really,” said Bray. “It’s no big deal. I knew Weathers was coming off the DL and I’m just glad he wasn’t hurt bad. For me, well Louisville is going to Norfolk, where I’m from, so I’ll be home and I’ll stay at my grandparents, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Baker emphasized to Bray that the manager is happy with what Bray did and this was not a performance demotion. It was a roster move, an option move - and he emphasized to Bray that he should go to Louisville and keep pitching well and he’d be back “sooner rather than later.”
And there was another visitor in Dusty’s office. Pitcher Bronson Arroyo. After Arroyo’s awful performance Sunday, Baker suggested that something must be physically wrong with Arroyo and that maybe he would be checked out.
Before visiting Baker’s office, Arroyo said, “My body feels great. I’m getting beat fair and square. My velocity is much better. Physically I feel great, nothing I can complain about - my knee isn’t bothering me. I don’t have a headache. Nothing.”
Arroyo conveyed this to Baker, who later said, “The trainers checked him out. Nothing. I just said that about getting him checked out because I’m at a loss (over his 1-4 record and 8.63). The writers asked me if he was OK and that’s all I could think of to say.”
Just another day in a pregame clubhouse where everybody is searching for answers.
“We’ve come home (from a 10-day trip) and we’re sleeping in our own beds, clearing our thoughts, doing our laundry and now let’s win some ball games,” said Baker.
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