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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 > June > 30
Monday, June 30, 2008
Still some glory days left
OK, be honest. How many of you Griffey-haters and Griffey-baiters (I know you’re out there in droves) were mumbling something like: “He has to bunt, he has to bunt.”???
Sure you were.
Ninth inning. Reds down, 3-2. David Ross, who had doubled, was on second. Griffey, who took the day off and came into the game as part of a double-switch in the top of the ninth, came to the plate.
Yes, you have a normal guy bunt the tying run to third. Griffey, even at 38 and not close to the player he once was, still has a flare for the dramatics.
The surprising thing was that Pittsburgh manager John Russell didn’t walk him intentionally, but the rule of thumb (fractured or not) is you don’t intentionally put the tying/winning run on base, especially on the road.
So Russell had closer Matt Capps pitch to him. Second pitch. Bang. Game over. It ended a humorous day during which Reds manager Dusty Baker’s 9-year-old son, Darren, told Grifffey he wasn’t playing Monday because he can’t hit left-handers and because he is old.
Maybe Baker should instruct Darren to drop some insults on Ken Griffey Jr. every day, a few Rodney Dangerfields here and there.
If it produces what it did Monday in Great American Ball Park, a game-winning walk-off home run, then why not?
The Cincinnati Reds made it three wins in a row and climbed out of last place in the National League Central (by .001 percentage point) with a 4-3 decision over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The igniter? Griffey. The ignitee? Little Baker, or as Griffey called him with a smile, “Half-Baked.”
Griffey didn’t start the game, getting a day of rest, but came in to right field in the top of the ninth as part of a double switch.
Before the game, Griffey kiddingly asked Darren why he wasn’t playing and Darren said, “Because you can’t hit left-handers.”
Griffey told him he hit 21 homers off left-handers in 1996 and Darren said, “It’s not 1996 and you’re old. About 50.”
After hitting his 10th homer this season and the 603rd of his career, Griffey said he is going to start calling Darren, “Baker-and-a-half.”
Before the game, Adam Dunn asked Griffey why he wasn’t playing and Griffey said, “GSP, a good, solid benching. I figure it worked out for you, so they’re just giving me a jump start.”
Griffey, though, made it clear he prefers to play nine innings and shake hands, not less than an inning and shake hands.
“I don’t like those (days off), but it’s OK. Well, no it’s not,” he said. “You want to be out there all the time. So you just try to contribute when you’re in there.”
Before that, it was familiar territory for starter Aaron Harang. He pitched seven innings and gave up three runs, but his so-called friends could only score two for him.
“Harang threw a pitch low-and-in for Adam Roche (who hit a home run) and he likes the ball low-and-in,” said Baker. “We wanted to get Aaron the victory, but we got the victory and we’ll get one for him next time.”
Pittsburgh scored first after a leadoff double in the second inning by Ryan Doumit and he scored on Adam LaRoche’s sacrifice fly.
The Reds tied it, 1-1, in the third on Jerry Hairston Jr.’s second home run, a drive into the left field seats.
LaRoche struck bigger and better in the sixth when he followed Xavier Nady’s double with his eighth home run, a blast over the right field wall to make it 3-2.
The Reds had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth, but scored only one. Jay Bruce’s grounder to first scored a run, but David Ross struck out, leaving the Reds in arrears, 3-2.
Putting the first two on base in an inning didn’t do the Reds much good, except raise the frustration level.
The first two reached in the first inning against starter Paul Maholm, but nothing came of it because Brandon Phillips popped up and Joey Votto grounded out.
The first two reached in the eighth against relief pitcher Damaso Marte, but Votto missed on two horrible bunt attempts and struck out, Edwin Encarnacion struck out and pinch-hitter Javier Valentin grounded out.
Then it was time for The Old Man Like LaRoche, he likes the ball low-and-in, too, and that’s where Capps put the fastball that Griffey dispatched with alacrity.
“You know what Bill Cosby said, ‘Kids say the darndest things,’ ” said Griffey. Wasn’t that Art Linkletter?
“That was a tremendous at-bat by Ross before the home run, falling behind 0-and-2 before working the count to 2-and-2 and then doubling. “We haven’t had one of these in a long time and I’m extremely happy for Junior,” said Baker (the father/manager, not the son).
“We left guys on in the first, the sixth and the eighth, but we won in the ninth and that’s all that matters,” Baker added.
And here are Griffey’s career game-winning walk-off home runs:
—Monday, Pittsburgh (Matt Capps), ninth inning.
—May 11, 2006, Washington (Joey Eischen), 11th inning.
—August 8, 2002, Los Angeles (Omar Daal), 13th inning.
—August 20, 2001, St. Louis (Andy Benes), 11th inning.
—August 24, 1998, New York Yankees (John Wetteland), ninth inning.
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TweetTelling it as (like) it is
Out of the Mouths of Babes Department:
Ken Griffey Jr. was not in Monday’s lineup and he saw 9-year-old Darren Baker standing i n the clubhouse.
“Why am I not playing tonight, Darren?” asked Griffey.
“Because you can’t hit lefthanders,” said Darren, son of manager Dusty Baker. “And you’re old.”
“How old am I?”
“Fifty.”
“If I’m 50, how old does that make your daddy?”
Adam Dunn got in on it, too?
“You’re not playing tonight?” he said to Griffey.
“Good, solid benching,” said Griffey. “He figured it worked for you so he’s just giving me a jump start.”
“I didn’t get bench, I was a DH,” said Dunn.
“Same thing,” said Griffey.
And the real reason?
“Were the writers standing there when Darren asked Griffey?” said Baker. Told there were a few, Baker said, “Oh, man. Well, don’t ask kids, man.”
Addressing the issue directly, Baker said, “This guy is tough on lefties (Paul Maholm) and Dunn has hit him pretty good and Griffey hasn’t. Just trying to find a way to get some righthanders in the lineup and Griffey will be back in there tomorrow.
“The guy tomorrow (Zach Duke) has been tough on Dunn,” Baker added. “Like I said, I’ll be mixing and matching to have the best lineup in there for that day.”
Dusty must have been reading the numbers upside down: Griffey is hitting .278 (5-18) with a home run and five strikeouts against Maholm. Dunn is hitting .136 (3-22) with seven walks and nine strikeouts.
BY THE WAY, Pittsburgh manager John Russell batted his pitchers eighth in the order, making it three managers doing that, all in the NL Central. He joins Tony La Russa (St. Louis) and Ned Yost (Milwaukee).
Why? Don’t ask. It’s so much gibberish - same nonsense that comes out of La Russa’s mouth.
ADAM DUNN dumped a pile of bats on the floor and said, “That’s it. These are done. Batting practice only for these. I’m going back to ash.”
Dunn has been using maple but is tired of bats shattering in his hand. “I hit one right on the screws, right on the sweet spot, right on the barrel against C.C. Sabathia, and the bat was in pieces. Most bats late three weeks to two months, but not these. Back to ash.”
Dunn also said he was feeling some pain in his kidney after he was hit by a pitch Sunday. In fact, he was hit twice in a row by Cleveland pitcher Aaron Laffey. Before Dunn faced Laffey again, catcher Kelly Shoppach ran to the mound and said, “Please don’t hit him again. He’s bigger than both of us combined.”
“I wasn’t sore yesterday, but I am today,” said Dunn. “I know he didn’t do it on purpose, but I’m glad he was throwing 87 instead of 97.”
Griffey was uncarting packages of batting gloves and shoes sent to him by Nike.
“They finally got the batting gloves right,” he said. “They haven’t been paying attention. You’re at the bottom of their barrel when the Olympics roll around.”
As he unpacked the shoes, Javier Valentin said, “All-Star shoes, huh?” Griffey, who’d rather be in The Bahamas than at the All-Star game, is running second in the balloting, meaning he’ll start.
Can’t let this go without throwing Continental Airlines under the bus (can you throw an airplane under a bus?). I’ve nailed U.S. Airways, United and Delta, now it’s Continental’s turn.
Arrived at the Cleveland airport at 6 p.m. Sunday night for a 9:15 flight to Dayton. After dinner at Max & Erma’s (great burgers) I went to the gate and the plane was there - always a good sign.
But at 9 o’clock, came the dreaded announcement. “The plane is here, but the crew isn’t. The crew is on its way from Portland, Maine, and won’t be here until 10:01. Not 10, but 10:01. That’s when we were supposed to land in Dayton.
We boarded at 10:30. We blasted down the runway. We were just about to take off. The pilot applied the brakes. I white-knuckled the arm rests. The pilot got it stopped and mumbled something about a light glowing on the control panel. “And by the way we have to sit here for 15 minutes because now the brakes are hot.”
Got home past midnight, a couple of hours late. And changed my underwear.
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