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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 > 18
Sunday, May 18, 2008
West usually is not the best
What is it about the west coast that puts the fear of Mephistopholes into the Cincinnati Reds?
They bolted Great American Ball Park Sunday afternoon to Los Angeles to open a seven-game trip - three in LA, four in San Diego - after winning six straight at home, topped off Sunday with a 6-4 victory and three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians.
Noe it is the west coast, where hopes and dreams to go die for the Reds.
Is it the time difference, playing games past their bed time? Is it stage fright, with all those celebrities in Dodger Stadium?
Remember when Hugh Hefner and a half dozen of his wholesome American next-door neighbor girls showed up at Dodger Stadium and sat behind home plate with more skin showing than fabric?
Three catchers left the game with sore necks.
Is it the fear of Tommy Lasorda plopping down next to them in a Beverly Hills restaurant and eating all their linguine? And stiffing them with the check?
Remember a few years ago when the Reds went west in first place and lost every game and came home 4 1/2 games behind and slipped away to oblivion?
And it isn’t just a few teams. Marty Brennaman and I remember The Big Red Machine going west and getting more than their eggs scrambled.
Something happens when you go west. I can remember one year going to Old Town in San Diego for a Mexican lunch. Never, never, never do I drink alcohol before covering a game. On this day, though, I drank two (not one, TWO) fish bowls full of margaritas. Somebody had to keep jabbing me with a ball point pen that night in the press box to keep me awake.
I’ve spent all night on the beach in La Jolla - watched the sun come up. I’ve spent all day at the La Brea tar pits smelling mastodon bones, all day on the Santa Monica Pier smelling dead fish, all day on Venice Beach watching the societal dropouts.
There was the time I tried to, uh, “bring” back some Cuban cigars from Tijuana and was stopped at the border. A couple of customs agents enjoyed some fine cigars for a few days - at my expense.
So I know exactly what Reds manager Dusty Baker is saying about this trip.
“As Bill Walsh (former NFL/49ers coach) always told me about trips, emphasize that they are business trips, not pleasure trips.”
Baker said he can’t understand why the Reds have so much difficulty on the left coast, even The Big Red Machine. Yes, there are distractions.
“There are a lot of things to do and not just at night,” he said. “Weather is nice, but you have to limit your time at the pool, limit your time with the family, make sure you get your rest. There is Sea World, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Tijuana, the beach, all kinds of stuff,” said Baker.
“I’ve reprimanded quite a few guys for coming in from the beach,” said Baker. “I had one guy who was supposed to play couldn’t walk because he got blisters walking at Universal Studios all day.”
They know how to put you in a foul mood. A driver once parked the team bus across the street from the hotel. A policeman stood nearby. As the players came out the hotel door and jay-walked to the bus, the LA gendarme furiously wrote tickets.
There was the time former first baseman Nick Esasky missed time on the coast when he ate at a diner counter and swallowed a broke-off piece of fork. Not pork. Fork.
Heading west, the Reds are on a natural high and Baker says, “Surf’s up.”
“If you’re going good, you don’t think about it going bad,” he said. “You just keep thinking about it going good. I have a lot of buddies who surf and they catch a good wave a ride it all the way to the beach. If you think about falling off, you’re going to fall off. So you ride the wave and keep on riding. Don’t worry about the wind or if you are going to fall.”
Adam Dunn has four homers in four games and a couple of defensive notches on his belt and a smile back on his face.
Paul Janish, the guy they said who could field like Omar Vizquel but hits like Omar the Tentmaker, made his first start Sunday and had a walk and three hits. His average is .800 and he said with a laugh, “That’s quite the torrid pace.”
The Reds ripped Cliff Lee, who was 6-0 with a 0.67 ERA for six runs (five earned) and 10 hits in only 5 2/3 innings. He was beaten by Edinson “High-Voltage” Volquez - two runs, four hits over six innings.
Volquez now leads the majors in ERA, 1.33 to Lee’s 1.37 and Volquez is 7-1.
Off to LA and SD with WG on their mind (winning games).
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