The Real McCoy

About The Real McCoy

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.

Get more from Hal

Hal's e-mail newsletter is the only place you can get his weekly commentary on the Reds. Sign up

September 2008

RSS Syndication

XML The Real McCoy
XML More 'DDN' feeds

More recent entries

• Jottings on a quiet day
• Mistakes, mistakes and more mistakes
• Is all this a big joke?
• CC Sabathia DIDN'T pitch a no-no
• Corey Patterson: right or wrong?
• Another good change-up artist
• Cueto close, Masset injured (slightly)
• Cease and desist - NOW!!!
• Another fast (losing) getaway
• Votto loses, but loves the battle
• More entries...

Archives

• September 4, 2008
• September 3, 2008
• September 2, 2008
• August 31, 2008
• August 30, 2008
• August 28, 2008
• August 27, 2008
• More archives...

Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > September > 03 > Entry

Mistakes, mistakes and more mistakes

By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, September 3, 2008, 11:11 PM

Elimination Day was inevitable, a foregone conclusion for the Cincinnati Reds, and it came on a hot steamy September 3 night in Great American Ball Park.

A 6-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates officially eliminated the Reds from the National League Central title race, but unofficially they eliminated themselves in early May when they first hit double figures in the games behind column.

Of more immediate significance, Edinson Volquez did not get his 17th win, turning over a 4-4 tie after seven. But Jeremy Affeldt and Mike Lincoln gave up two runs in the eighth to leave Volquez at 16-5.

Manager Dusty Baker was mightily disturbed after the game over a missed hit-and-run sign that ended up in a double play and a wild pick-off throw that led to a tie-breaking run.

“Mistakes, man. We just have to quit making mistakes,” he said. “You especially can’t make ‘em in one-run games.”

Volquez pitched well enough to be 17-5, but it wasn’t to be after he gave up four runs, six hits, one intentional walk and struck out a career-best 13.

Volquez was at his Eliot Ness best for three innings — untouchable (nine up, nine down). He needed only 35 pitches for those three innings.

Then he singled in the bottom of the third and ran the bases and, as he said, “That’s never usually a good thing for me.”

The economy and efficiency evaporated in the fourth when he needed 27 pitches for that one inning, giving up two runs on three doubles.

The Reds tied it in the fourth with two runs, all the action coming with two outs and nobody on. Joey Votto homered, then Edwin Encarnacion walked, took third on Jay Bruce’s double and scored on a passed ball.

Chris Dickerson’s sixth home run in his 19th major-league game with two outs in the fifth gave the Reds a 3-2 lead. It was a 425-foot drive the opposite way, to left center, and Baker said, “

Pittsburgh retrieved the lead, 4-3, in the sixth when the first four reached base, including run-scoring singles by Ryan Doumit and Adam LaRoche, ending LaRoche’s 0 for 16 slide.

The Reds tied it, 4-4, in the sixth when Votto tripled to the right field corner and scored on Encarnacion’s single over third base.

Affeldt replaced Volquez in the eighth and the Reds resumed their sloppy ways.

Nate McLoth singled and then came the errant pick-off throw. Affeldt’s attempt eluded first baseman Votto and Baker said, “That ball was just air mailed (with not enough postage, obviously).” McLoth ended up on third and scored on another Adam LaRoche single.

“Mike Lincoln made two great pitches on LaRoche, then hung a slider,” said Baker. “Another mistake.”

Andy LaRoche then poked a one-out single for the 6-4 margin.

The Reds scored once in the eighth on pinch-hitter Ryan Hanigan’s bases loaded walk, cutting it to 6-5, but pinch-hitter Andy Phillips struck out.

And there were two incidents in the seventh — a positive one for the Reds and a negative one.

Pinch-hitter Wilkin Castillo led the inning with a single. With one out, the hit-and-run sign was flashed. Castillo missed it and Jeff Keppinger hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

“Young guys coming up (Castillo) have to learn and get the signs,” said Baker. “We were happy for him getting his first major-league hit, but then he missed the hit-and-run sign.

“Keppinger hit that ball right where he was supposed to, right at the second baseman,” said Baker.

But Castillo wasn’t running on the pitch, so the second baseman didn’t rush to cover second. Instead he fielded Keppinger’s ball and started the inning-ending double play, “When we should have had first and third with one out. That was big.”

As ever, Volquez was smiling and upbeat after the game, claiming that 20 victories was not on his mind.

“If I win two of the next five or if I get 18 or 19 wins, I’ll be happy,” hew said. “This is my first year and that’s pretty good. That would be great.”

Volquez said he was ready to go back out for the eighth inning, when the Pirates scored their two winning runs off Affeldt and Lincoln, but they stopped him.

“I was ready and I was feeling good, but I had 117 pitches and they said that was enough,” said Volquez.

“He had 107 after six and normally that would have been enough,” said Baker. “But we let him go out for the seventh to give him a chance to win his 17th.”

And, yes, the Pirates came to town with a 10-game losing streak before decking the Reds two nights in a row.

Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment |