Home of the Week
Madison graduation 2012
Warren County CC graduation
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 > 19
Monday, May 19, 2008
Homer Simpson and Homer Dunn
I knew it, I knew, I knew it. I just knew it wouldn’t be long before Homer took the mound in front of the Cincinnati Reds. It happened Monday night in Dodger Stadium.
Homer Bailey? Uh, no.
It was Homer Simpson, or a guy dressed up like Homer Simpson. He threw out the game’s first pitch. He bounced it and I won’t make any derogatory comments about it resembling something Homer Bailey is throwing lately.
Anyway, it was Bronson Arroyo pitching for the Reds — the new, improved Bronson Arroyo. He had the Dodgers digging dirt with ground balls in the first two innings, getting the first four outs on grounders.
But it didn’t last. After leading 4-0, Arroyo gave up four straight one-out hits in the fifth inning for three runs and a 5-5 tie.
The Reds scraped one hit over the last four innings and lost, 6-5, on a walk-off bases-loaded single off David Weathers by Blake DeWitt.
It was the first loss by a member of the Reds bullpen since April 19, and this one really wasn’t Weathers’ fault. The inning started with a ground ball that shortstop Paul Janish made a nifty play on, but he threw the ball on the fly into the Reds’ dugout.
The official scorer ruled it a single and an error, but had Janish made a good throw, the runner would have been out. It should have been a straight two-base error.
Anyway, that forced manager Dusty Baker to issue two intentional walks to fill the bases and DeWitt, a left-hander, poked one between short and third to end it — and end the Reds’ six-game winning streak.
Welcome to the West Coast.
Arroyo gave up a couple of hits in the second, but got another grounder for an inning-ending double play and had thrown 14 straight scoreless innings at that juncture.
Meanwhile, the Reds chomped away at LA’s Brad Penny in the third three innings — four runs and six hits. Didn’t Penny used to be good? How about decent?
And guess who homered for the fifth straight game? Yep, that guy who isn’t worth all that money they’re paying him to hit 40 homers, drive in 100 and score 100.
Yep, Adam Dunn’s 11th homer of the season drifted into the right-field bleachers, tying him with some high-falutin’ people for hitting home runs in five straight games, a club record — Ted Kluszewski, Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey Jr.
“Some pretty good company,” said Dunn.
It also gave Dunn at least one RBI in eight straight games. Can we have a hamster dance for the big guy?
Oops! Sorry I mentioned Arroyo’s scoreless streak. It end at 14. The Dodgers scored two in the third, but it wasn’t entirely Arroyo’s fault — except he had two outs and nobody on.
He walked Juan Pierre and Andre Ethier doubled. But that should have been it. Russell Martin tapped a slow roller toward shortstop. Jerry Hairston Jr. charged in erratically, then threw low and ugly past first base, a two-run throwing error.
Time out for a quiz: Why in the name of Phil Rizzuto isn’t Paul Janish playing shortstop? Seriously. Uh, maybe that ninth-inning throw by Janish answers that question, too.
Baker said it is because both Hairston and Janish are playing well and by holding back Janish he can use him late in the game to double-switch, moving Hairston to left field and Janish to short, removing Dunn for defensive purposes.
“I do worry about Dunn’s spot in the order coming up in a tie game or if we fall behind,” said Baker. “That’s always on my mind.”
Dunn, probably whistling that old Jerry Reed song under his breath, “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” produced another run in the fifth, following a Phillips triple with a hard-shot single to right field to make it 5-2. Right now Dunn seems dead-center on every pitch
Arroyo caved in the fifth, again swith two outs. He had two outs and one on when he gave up four straight singles to three runs and a tie game, 5-5.
Then came the ninth and a long, quiet bus ride back to the Century Plaza.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment |
TweetA day in LA-LA land
As I sit in the Dodger Stadium pressbox writing this, awaiting the Cincinnati Reds-Los Angeles Dodgers game Monday night, I peer over the right field bleachers and see the San Gabriel Mountains.
It is close to 80 degrees and a girl with a violin is screeching a practice rendition of the National Anthem behind home plate. Hope she failed the audition. She sounds like Reds Authority trying to make a point.
By the way, most of you use your real e-mail addresses to post comments. Reds Authority hides behind xxxx@xxx.com. What a coward. Anybody out there think I should block his comments?
The Reds stay at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, a nice hotel in a great location - Ronald Reagan’s favorite hotel, when he could remember how to find it.
But the place is far, far way from Dodger Stadium, which is why I stay at the LA Marriott on Figueroa, five minutes from the stadium. Figueroa. Love that name ever since as a kid I heard Jack Webb (Joe Friday) say it over and over on Dragnet.
And this even happens nearly every time the Reds are in LA.
Jeremy Affeldt and Paul Bako had lunch and Bako, a wise veteran, said to Affeldt, “I’ll pay for lunch and you pay for the cab to the park.”
Affeldt thought he’d make out on that deal. Until they got in the cab.
“There was a wreck on the 110 and the cabbie took surface streets,” said Affeldt. “Took us over an hour to get here and cost $55. We stopped twice for coffee.”
Ken Griffey Jr. suggested that the cabbie probably took the scenic route, “A tour through Watts and Compton.”
Joey Votto took his first look at Dodger Stadium and was bug-eyed.
“Love this place, but I’ll let you know how much I like to hit in it in about three days,” he said.
Why does he say that?
“Well, I hated going to Clinton, Ia. when I played for the Dayton Dragons,” he said. “Just a really bad place, my least favorite place to go. But once I stepped into the batter’s box I loved the place because I always hit so well there. Why? I don’t know.”
Votto paused and added, “And now the people in Clinton are going to hate me.” For what he did to their baseball team, they already do.
Fabled Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully stopped into manager Dusty Baker’s office to say hello.
“As a kid, every day I listened to two people, Vin Scully and Chick Hearn (famous Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster). Those were my two favorite announcers. Then I played in LA and became friends with both.
“One thing about Vinnie, though,” Baker said. “He always calls me Johnny Lee Baker. I’m Johnny B. Baker. I used to correct him all the time, now I just let it go and he calls me Johnny Lee. That’s OK. He can call me anything he wants.”
Edwin Encarnacion, struggling at the plate, got Monday off, replaced at third base by Ryan Freel. It was fortuitous timing because Freel is 7 for 17 (.412) for his career against LA starter Brad Penny.
Baker said he could see slow hands on Encarnacion and frustration in his eyes after at-bats. He told him Sunday night he would rest Monday and Baker knew he was doing the right thing when Encarnacion didn’t argue.
It’s almost ball time. The Reds are 0-for-two-years (0-6) in Dodger Stadium.
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment |
Tweet
