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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 > June > 28 > Entry
Cueto: One for the road
Bob Feller walked up to me in the press box, stuck out his hand, and said, “What d’ya say, young fella?”
Talk about making an old guy feel good. Young fella? Usually people come up to me and say, “I’ve been reading you since I was a kid (and they’d be 50 years old),” or they say, “My grandad read you.”
So here was MY big chance and I took it. “Well, Mr. Feller, when I was a kid my dad took me to Cleveland Stadium to watch you pitch.”
True, too. Feller is 90 and doesn’t look a day over 89. I hope I look as good as he does when I’m…ah, forget that.
Another true story. Growing up in Akron, I always read baseball writer Jim Schlemmer of the Akron Beacon Journal. He’s the reason I’m in this business.
Well, one time when Feller was pitching, he got hit by a line drive in an, uh, sensitive area of his anatomy. So in the Akron Beacon Journal the next day, Schlemmer wrote, “Feller got hit where only a feller can get hit.”
You think Feller could help The Lost Soul in Louisville - Homer Bailey? Somebody needs to help him - and fast. In his outing at Louisville Friday, Bailey pitched only 4 1/3 innings because he threw 110 pitches - in 4 1/3 innings!!!
He gave up five runs, eight hits, walked three and struck out five. And lost. He is 4-6 with a 4.41 ERA and it wouldn’t be surprising if we never see H.B. in a Reds uniform again. He’s trade bait, if his value hasn’t decreased to zippo.
Remember Ryan Freel? Somebody asked about him a few days ago. We’d all pretty much forgotten about him since he went on the DL June 4 with an injured right hamstring.
Well, he’s not close to coming back. Manager Dusty Baker said he gets medical updates every day and the only thing it says about Freel is that he is still a long way away from coming back.
A national columnist recently wrote that two or three teams are interested in Freel (with a bad hamstring)? If that’s true, the Reds wouldn’t ask for much to dump a contract that will cost them $4 million next year.
OK, OK. I agree. Why does Corey Patterson EVER play? He was in Saturday’s lineup and came up with the bases loaded and one out in his first two at-bats. He stranded all six. the first time he struck out into a double play.
Fortunately for the Reds, the second time Paul Bako picked up Patterson by pushing a three-run double to left field.
IN BETWEEN innings, they showed celebrity birthdays on the scoreboard, complete with pictures. When they showed former Denver QB John Elway, the crowd booed. Why? Well, there isn’t a Cleveland Browns fan who doesn’t remember The Drive. I was there. I booed then and I booed tonight.
I REFUSE to mention The Ohio Cup. Oops, just did.
MISSING FROM the Indians roster due to injuries: Starting pitchers Jake Westbook and Fausto Carmona, catcher Victor Martinez, 1B/DH Travis Hafner, infield Josh Barfield.
Missing from the Reds roster due to injuries: Nobody of significance.
So the Reds should be pounding this team, right?
THE CLEVELAND hot dog race. Bogus, bogus, bogus. A very bad rip-off of the Milwaukee hot dog-sausage race. Cleveland should have a bowling pin race.
WHAT’S WITH Johnny Cueto’s home-road differential? Before Saturday, Cueto was 4-3 with a 4.11 ERA at Great American Ball Park and 1-5 with a 6.49 ERA in enemy territory.
On Saturday, he was spotting his fastball, throwing it hard inside. He even hit a couple of Tribesman while on his way to 6 1/3 shutout innings as the Reds beat the Tribe, 5-0.
Cueto gave up no runs, five hits, walked three and hit two - what they call in the business as effectively wild - or, if you dig in, you better hang loose.
He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second and two-on and one out mess in the fourth.
For some good quotes about his outing by him, manager Dusty Baker and shortstop Jerry Hairston Jr., check daytondailynews.com/sports or daytondailynews.com/reds. Check out Ask Hal, too.
So the Reds are 4-4 on this sojourn through New York, Toronto and Cleveland, with one game remaining on the trip. If they win Sunday, they’ll go home with only their second winning road trip of their last 22.
Hey, everybody has to have some goal, no matter how menial, right?
THIS ISN’T one that’s going to frighten the bejeezus out of the Chicago Cubs, but general manager Walt Jocketty admitted, “We’re short of bodies at Louisville.” So he signed 32-year-old journeyman Rob Mackowiak to a minor-league contract. He took batting practice in Toledo with the Class AAA Bats Saturday.
He started the season with Washington and hit .132 in 58 bats before they took away his uniform.
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto
Comments
By Cincyfan
June 29, 2008 10:36 PM | Link to this
you spell it HARANG Not HARRANG by the way. EE should not be on the untouchable list. i agree with three that are on the list, those being Volquez, Bruce, and Votto, but you have to add Brandon PHILLIPS over EE for sure, and i’d much rather have harang or keppinger as the Fifth “untouchable”By FedUp
June 29, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this
I know the game’s not over (6th), but this is a pleasure to watch the hot & cold Reds actually playing as a team and it seems nearly everyone is contributing and playing loose. Like someone ordered them to have fun. And Arroyo’s pitching like a keeper. Man, it sure is good to have Kepp back…as though his presence has give this team a needed transfusion of enthusiasm.By KR
June 29, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this
Boys, boys boys. There are two reasons Patterson continues to show up in the line up. #1, he’s Bakers bobo; and #2 Baker’s tired of hearing how bad he is so he is determined to keep him in the line up just to remind everyone he is the boss. Todcon; batting Patterson 10th is still too high in the line up.By HuberTucky
June 29, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Sorry for the Freudian slip. Should have read “interesting stat that Marty shared last night.” My bad.By HuberTucky
June 29, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
Interesting stat that Marty hatred last night: Corey Patterson has the lowest on-base percentage of any Reds player in the last 48 years.By tom
June 29, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this
So Baker misses Hamilton. I think he would miss Volquez more if he wasn’t here. I personaly miss Pete Mackannin.By michael
June 29, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
While I agree that Cory Patterson has no place with the Reds, if you look at his career stats you can see why Dusty gave him a chance. Why is he still in the Lineup? We already have one liablilty in Right Field and hitting 3rd. Griffey is a hall-of-famer, that can’t be denied. But he did it all as a Mariner for sure!By Bob
June 29, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this
I wish someone would take over the responsibility of filling out the lineup card. Jr. in the 3 hole with a .208 RISP and .240 overall and Patterson in and Hopper out. Righty lefty certainly can’t apply to Patterson. He can’t hit, period. And to lose Andy Phillips because they didn’t option Patterson is criminal. Castinelli does’t deserve any better fate with the team than Carl Linder because no one calls Baker’s hand in this dumb assed crap going on.By AP-FLORIDA
June 29, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this
could save money by dumping baker thus improving attitudesBy AP-FLORIDA
June 29, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this
could save some money by dumping baker and improve attitutesBy MAC
June 29, 2008 9:15 AM | Link to this
Mike no offense, but that’s the exact thinking that has the Reds in the shape they’ve been in since 1990. This organization has been trying to rebuild on the cheap for years now and look what it’s gotten them. As you mention, there is no more help on the way anytime soon; Mahoney? (LP) Belise and Bailey might be the only exceptions and that doesn’t look too good right now. The Relief pitcher (Roenick?)is doing well @ AAA and might be capable of combining w/ Weathers (if we keep him) and Burton and allow the team to move Coco? Cordero has the potential to bring a good player in and what’s the point of keeping an expensive All-Star caliber stopper around for a club that isn’t ready to win? Most likely, Gonzales is done; an injury settlement get’s them a little cash (6M) there. Other than that, they need to dump payroll by not bringing Griffey back; there’s an extra 9M and somehow getting something for Dunn which would bring additional cash to the team. Problem is, you can’t wait for all that to happen before you make a move for C.C. because he’ll be gone. As for payroll, Mr. C needs to stop talking about winning and start spending money on GOOD players; Sabathia? is a very good player who could help the Reds win (probably another 4 years) w/ the other young pitchers in place. As I mentioned earlier, Harrang may need to be offered? He’s expensive, and seems to be on the decline; we have 3 very good young RH SP’s, but need something from the left side to compliment them. It’s past time to start thinking outside the box and try and change the makeup of this team. You most likely don’t get it done IF you don’t offer up some of our good young players in a package deal? What about giving up EE and keeping Keepinger @ 3rd? Package EE w/ one of the expensive vets and maybe Bailey to dump payroll and get A or AA prospect in return?By Todcon
June 29, 2008 8:41 AM | Link to this
I think Patterson should bat tenth.By Mike-Cinci
June 29, 2008 8:41 AM | Link to this
The signing of Mackowiak to play at Louisville shows the awful state of the Reds farm system. There is no further help on the way. The Reds can’t compete for C.C. Sabathia. They don’t have the money and could never fit him within their $75 million payroll. He will get a long term deal for $15-$20 million per year. I bet on the Yankees giving him a 6 year, $120+ million contract.The Reds already have $35 million tied up in Arroyo, Harang, and Cordero. Unfortunately it is time to rebuild on the cheap.By Wayne Lackey
June 29, 2008 5:10 AM | Link to this
He may be a great man, but why does Corey Patterson still in the lineup, or on the team period, for the Reds?By MAC
June 29, 2008 2:20 AM | Link to this
Nice to see Cueto maintain good mechanics/discipline on the mound: he spent less time falling off the mound and in turn found some bite w/ his breaking ball and located pitches in and out of the zone. The hit batters came on fastballs where again he appeared to be off balance (poor mechanics/discipline) and over-throwing the FB? As for Bako’s hit, well what is it they say about a blind squirrel? Nice to see him come through tonight, but I still feel Valentine would provide more offense w/ the same number of bats and provide enough Def to help the team win. Bako had another passed ball tonight; maybe he was crossed up? Lastly, no surprise there has been no talk of the Reds taking part in C.C. sweepstakes. Frankly, I don’t see our lack luster Off. turning around anytime soon to include next year. If they truly want to win, why not bring in a quality LH SP who can turn opponents around and keep the score close for our anemic Off? This guy is the real deal from the left side and can provide some quality starts and leadership to our other young pitchers. In case Reds’ management hasn’t figured it out yet, the makeup on this team isn’t right; make some moves now to improve it next year. I doubt Cleveland or anyone else is interested in Dunn, Arroyo, or Griffey, but perhaps a salary swap using Harrang and another prospect or two could get the deal done?