Firefighters dress up for softball game
House fire in Dayton
You've Been Spotted: SummerFest
Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > May > 13 > Entry
What’s a team to do?
Let’s forget Josh Hamilton, OK? Yes, he is good. Damn good. He is the hottest thing in Texas this side of a branding iron.
But he’s gone. He is no longer with the Cincinnati Reds.
Concentrate on what the Reds received in the trade - arguably the best pitcher in baseball right now. Edinson Volquez IS the branding iron.
The Reds traded Hamilton for him and received exactly what they hoped they’d get. Except they got more.
I get message after message: “Why didn’t the Reds trade Adam Dunn for him? Why didn’t the Reds trade Ken Griffey Jr. for him?”
Plain and simple. The Texas Rangers did not want Adam Dunn. They did not want Ken Griffey Jr. They wanted Josh Hamilton and Josh Hamilton only. To get Volquez, that’s what the Reds had to give up.
Everybody always proposes outlandish trades. If they are Reds fans, they want to dump the malingerers and malcontents and miscasts onto another team for that team’s best players.
Let’s trade Corey Patterson and Scott Hatteberg and Javier Valentin to Houston for Lance Berkman. Yeah, right. Houston is going to say, “OK, and we’ll throw the Alamo into the deal, too.”
That’s why Hamilton is gone and that’s why Volquez is here, dazzling the baseball world with 95 miles an hour fastballs and deceptive change-ups that wrap hitters into human pretzels, with or without mustard.
He was at it again Tuesday night against the first-place Florida Marlins, who tried to approach him as if their bats were sticks and they were trying to beat a snake.
He went six innings, slowed only by his pitch count of 110, giving up one run (as always) on seven hits. He has made eight starts this year and given up one or fewer runs in all eight - the first pitcher to do that since Oakland’s Mike Norris in 1980.
“That’s some big-time company there,” said manager Dusty Baker. “What I like about Volquez is his will to win. He wills himself to win.”
His changeup doesn’t hurt, either.
His only real problem was the fifth inning when the Marlins scored one and had the bases loaded with two outs, and were down only 3-1. Dan Uggla, arguably Florida’s best hitter right now, went down swinging.
“Probably my best pitch of the night,” said Volquez. “A changeup.”
Speaking of problems, the Reds are likely to be missing shorstop Jeff Keppinger for a long time - too long. He fractured his left knee in the second inning when he fouled a ball off it.
Tough customer that he is, he played for another two innings, without crutches, before he told Baker, “No more. I can’t go any longer.”
An X-ray revealed the fracture and an MRI Wednesday will show how serious it is.
“That’s a big loss, a big-time loss,” said Baker. “You have two choices. You can feel sorry for yourself or you can figure out a way to get the job done.”
A call was immediately placed to Louisville and shortstop Paul Janish, who had two hits in two at-bats and two RBIs, was immediately pulled from the game. He is hitting .293.
Tlhe Reds would admit that Janish is coming up, but Baker said, “He is a top candidate. He is a slick fielder, a real slick fielder. And he has some pop in his bat, especially on high fastballs.”
So what does a last-place team do when it loses its best players?
With one-fourth of the season gone and three-fourths dead ahead, we shall see, won’t we?
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment |
Comments
By will
May 14, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
Takes talent to get talent. Its that simple. Also its too early to judge this trade. Lets wait till the end of the season and then see how this trade turns out. Oh and for those who cannot forget Josh Hamilton, may I suggest cheering for that team in Arrlington?By will
May 14, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
Takes talent to get talent. Its that simple. Also its too early to judge this trade. Lets wait till the end of the season and then see how this trade turns out. Oh and for those who cannot forget Josh Hamilton, may I suggest cheering for that team in Arrlington?By Ron
May 14, 2008 12:17 PM | Link to this
Just for the record, Hal. The Alamo is in San Antonio, not Houston. The Astros don’t own it to offer it.By bill
May 14, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this
Like days in the hourglass, The Reds, and their soap opera continues, “As your Stomick Turns”By nllspc
May 14, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
officially MOOT!!! lolBy Mark
May 14, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this
Hal, I too am sick of people who think they know baseball and suggest trades that no team in their right mind would go for…you hear them on the radio call-in shows, half-drunk, saying,” I don’t know why the Reds don’t trade Javier Valentin and Corey Patterson for Roy Oswalt.” A close second is those guys who want a firebreathing coach—” Ah like ‘im cuz he gits after ‘em!” Give me a personal break!By Scott
May 14, 2008 8:45 AM | Link to this
Hal, Those outlandish trades do occur sometimes. I remember one from December of 1976 when the Reds agreed to accept Woody Fryman and Dale Murray from the Expos for Tony Perez.By HuberTucky
May 14, 2008 3:13 AM | Link to this
A terrible team just got a whole lot worse losing their best player. Keppinger is the best player on the team this year and was also for the second half of 07. And he was a throw in. Go figgure. But did you notice that the Reds won while Griffey rode the bench. Now if we can just off the Big Strike Out King Oaf. Overall, it’s a very sad day in Mudville. And no Hal, we ARE NOT going to forget Josh Hamilton, okay!?By Ryan
May 14, 2008 1:30 AM | Link to this
People seem to STILL be hung up over the Josh Hamilton trade. I am extremely happy with what we got out of the deal; a little Pedro Martinez. Hamilton has played 1/4 of the season, but who knows how long he’ll last. Although, I’m sure Texas is saying the same thing about Volquez. How long will he stay this good, or did the change of scenery for him really get him on track? Like you said, Hal, we shall see.