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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 > August > 01
Friday, August 1, 2008
What happened to Homer?
Just when it appears that Homer Bailey found a personality, he misplaced his talent.
On Wednesday night in Houston, he was standing stark naked by his locker right next to Adam Dunn’s. Dunn hit two homers that night and a TV camerman switched on his lights.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” said Bailey. “Let me put on my pants. I don’t want to end up on some video or on YouTube.”
On Friday afternoon, I was sitting in the hotel lobby when a pert young lady walked by, a real head-turned. So I turned my head. Natural, right.
Bailey was walking the other way and saw me and said with a big smile, “What are you looking at?” As if he didn’t know.
Not exactly back-slappers or gut-splitters, but it shows a personality that didn’t exist outwardly last year. Progress.
If he could only show that on the mound, but right now he is regressing. What to do? What to do?
After giving up five runs (four earned) and 15 hits in his previous start against Colorado in 4 2/3 innings, he last only two innings Friday, giving up five runs and seven hits in only two innings.
And this was against the Washington Nationals, a team that had lost nine straight and were 21 games out of first place.
Back in the days of Vaudeville (even before MY time), the Washington Senators were bad, bad, bad and the on-stage gag was: “Washington: First in war, first in peace and last in the American League.”
Only the league and the nickname has changed: “Washington: First in war, first in peace and last in the National League (39-70).
And Bailey can’t get past the second inning, is now 0-5 and is probably Louisville-bound. Again.
New arrival Nick Massek replaced Bailey, one of the two players the Chicago White Sox pushed on the Reds for Ken Griffey Jr. He has been a starter, but his job description has been relief pitcher lately.
That could change. Quickly. He pitched three innings and gave up no runs and one hit. Coiuld he start in Bailey’s place next time through the rotation? Well, he needs stretched out. He was mostly pitching one and two innings in relief for the White Sox.
For his part, Bailey remains upbeat and mentally defiant.
“I was putting it on the tee for them,” he said. “I’m sure there were some good things to take from this and I know there is a whole lot of bad things - including the line score.
“What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, unless they cut your arms off,” said Bailey, flexing both arms. “They’re still attached. You know what? I’ll wake up tomorrow, get in here, bust my butt and keep pushing forward, one way or another. I don’t give a damn. I’m not going to let a couple of bad outings knock me down. I’m going forward no matter what it takes.”
Said manager Dusty Baker, “He is not hitting the corners. He is over the heart of the plate. Those are low percentage spots if you are going to get hitters out at the big-league level. A lot of those balls were down the heart of the plate and they got a lot of hits again in a short period of time.
“They tell he is great in the bullpen and hitting his spots, but he has trouble to transferring it from the bullpen to the mound. I don’t know what that is. A lot of time it is mental when you have it down there and when the game starts you don’t have it.”
Uh, yeah. Ken Griffey Jr. was 2 for 3 with two RBIs in his White Sox debut.
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TweetIt’s time for Bruce, Phillips
The view from the new Nationals Stadium press box is so high it seems as if we’re looking down on the Washington Monument. The Capitol Building dome is easily seen beyond left field from up here — as is Virginia, Maryland and parts of Kansas.
As the Reds open a three-game series tonight, it is the dawn of a new era in Cincinnati Reds baseball, or as manager Dusty Baker called it, “End of the Ken Griffey Jr. Era and the start of the post-Ken Griffey Jr. Era.
“He was one of the finest guys I’ve ever been around, one of the finest superstars I’ve been around,” said Baker. “It’ll be different without him, but it is an opportunity for him — he sure picked up a bunch of games in the standings (with the Chicago White Sox) and creates opportunity for somebody else here.”
Before he got into the future, Baker planned a pre-game clubhouse meeting to talk to the team about the Griffey trade, to let them know how it came down and the ramifications.
As for opportunity for other players, one right now Is Jay Bruce.
To start the post-Griffey era, Baker has installed Jay Bruce into Griffey’s No. 3 spot in the batting order and Griffey’s spot in right field. The No. 3 spot fits him like an old chewed-up slipper, but right field is more like a catcher’s mitt.
Is this for the long haul?
“I don’t know,” said Baker. “We still have to win ballgames. I’m going to give him time. We’ll see. I talked to him about hitting third, about what I required a third hitter to do. Without taking away his aggressiveness, I’d like him to be a little more selective at the plate. Pick his pitch.
“He has batted third most of his life and now we’ll see,” Baker added. “We want the guys in the three, four, five spots to drive in runs as well as score runs. Cut down on the strikeouts. We talked about the more accomplished hitters he could be become — like Carlos Lee to drive in runs and just an outstanding hitter like Lance Berkman.”
Bruce said he is ready, willing and hopes he is able.
“I’ve hit two games No. 3 in the big leagues, but no matter what, it is where I’m used to hitting,” said Bruce. “With Ken here, there was no question who was hitting third and I don’t make out the lineup. I’m just ready to play every day. I will say, I’m used to it and that’s where I’ve hit.
“Leading off was certainly a little different for me,” Bruce added. “I made the best of it, but hopefully this will let me get a little more comfortable and back to normal. Dusty told me I need to focus on quality at-bats and swinging at good pitches. Sometimes I don’t give myself a chance and it’ll come with experience.
“I’m ready for everything that’s coming,” Bruce added. “It is going to be different now that Ken’s gone. It’s a new era. He was the franchise since 2000 and now he’s gone and we’re starting a new time with the Reds. And I’m ready for that.”
What Bruce doesn’t prefer is his switch from center field to right field and said, “I’m more comfortable in center than right, but the plan from the beginning was for me to play right and I welcome that.”
Now that Griffey is gone, who becomes The Face of the Reds? Brandon Phillips said some day he would like to be the face of the Reds and, in fact, said he would like to be what Barry Larkin once was, “The captain. Wear that ‘C’ he wore. But I think they lost that particular ‘C’, ” Phillips said with a laugh.
As for the Face of the Reds, Phillips said that’s up to the organization who they promote, who they push, who they put on billboards, who they put on the cover of the Rolling Stone.
“And you guys, the media, have a lot to do with it,” he said. “You come up with Bruce Almighty and that catches on for Jay Bruce. Whatever you want and whatever the organization wants.
“But I think it is about time for me to step up and fill those shoes that Griffey left, do even better than I’ve done,” Phillips added. “With Griffey gone, it is time for the team to step up and do what we have to do. I’m sad he’s gone. He helped me, made me what I am. Before he left, he told me, ‘Be yourself.’ And that’s what I’m going to do.”
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