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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 > September > 28
Sunday, September 28, 2008
All over (for the Reds), including the shouting
The Cincinnati Reds didn’t go away like a sly, slinking fox; they went away like a wounded fox with a fear factor complex.
They couldn’t have made a louder thud than if they had, as a team, leaped from the top of the Gateway Arch, losing their last five games of the 2008 season.
And the finale Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals was a microcosm of the way the Reds played when games counted.
The Reds, playing defense as if the baseball was a round piece of dry ice, were obliterated by the Cardinals, 11-4.
Adam Pettyjohn’s first major-league start since he nearly died from colitis in 2001 was not pretty, but a lot of it was because of little help from his friends.
Pettyjohn gave up eight runs on seven hits in two-plus innings, but defensive lapses by second baseman Danny Richar, right fielder Jay Bruce and center fielder Corey Patterson enabled the Cardinals to keep swinging when innings should have been over.
In other words, it was the way the Reds played in April, May and early-June, when they buried themselves into oblivion.
“We were playing well, then the last five games they kind of beat us up,” said manager Dusty Baker. “We ran out of gas a little bit. They gave me all they had and gave me effort. We didn’t play very well today, made some costly mistakes and Pettyjohn deserved a better fate.
Pettyjohn gave up a two-run homer in the first to Ryan Ludwick, then had two outs and nobody on in the second.
Pitcher Brad Thompson lobbed one behind first that first baseman Joey Votto and second baseman Richard converged upon — clearly Richar’s ball. But he pulled up and it dropped for a single. Four more hits and three runs followed.
“In that second inning there were a couple of balls we didn’t get to that we should have and that cost us three runs and next thing you know the gates are open,” said Baker.
Baker, though, sees better days ahead and as writers cleared his office for the last time, he smiled and said, “I’ll be talking to you after we make those blockbuster deals.”
But he was more serious after the 74-88 season in which they finished fifth, 23 1/3 games behind the first-place Cubs and 11 behind the fourth-place Cardinals.
“People are going to hear from us. And soon,” he said. “We have a great group of core players and other players around the league are telling me that we’re not that far away. I believe it. I feel the same way.
“We have a couple of things we have to add and I think the experience we had going down the stretch this year will help us next year,” Baker said.
“We have some young players who had to find out if they belong here and they did and now they have come away with the idea they can play here and play winning baseball,” he said.
Joey Votto singled, homered for the 24th time and drove in two runs, making a push, probably too late, for Rookie of the Year. His 24th homer gave him one more than Chicago Cubs rookie catcher Geovany Soto.
Unfortunately for Votto, ballots were due from baseball writers by the end of Sunday’s games and many may have missed his 11-game run down the stretch during which he hit .452 (19-42) with eight multi-hit games, five homers and 12 RBIs.
Nevertheless, Votto is ready to shut it down.
“I’m happy the season is done,” he said. “I want to see my family — my mom, my brother and my girl friend. I thought I could do what I did and I’m happy with the way I finished strong.
“I thought I made big strides defensively and I’ve become part of a team that can do something in 2009,” he added.
Of his shaky day, Pettyjohn said, “I wish I had thrown better and gone deeper into the game. I felt fine and it probably was the long layoff. But it is hard to hang your head after what my wife and I have been through and I just want to thank the Reds and Dusty Baker for giving me this chance.”
Baker, though, admits it is time to shut it down this year.
“Now the year seems long,” he said. “End of the race, end of the road. And you kind of realize where you’ve been and what you have been through.
“But the good thing is that guys see, feel and believe about where we’re going — which is up,” he said.
And with that, Baker yanked shut the zippers on a couple of travel bags, closing the 2008 season, the eighth straight losing year.
BAKER IS LOOKING forward to the offseason, a period of rest, but his itinerary sounds like anything but rest.
“First, I’m going to try to do nothing, which is very difficult for me to do,” he said. “I’m sure I have a bunch of honey-do’s around the house. When you’ve been gone since February 15, the woman of the house is ready for you.
“I have some farming to do, too,” he said. “I have to tend to my grape vines and they’ll produce grapes next year. I’ll spend some time with my dad and my son’s (Darren) various events. He had his first football game yesterday and scored a touchdown and they tied.
“I’ll take some time to go hunting and fishing, I have a couple of speaking engagements and before you know it it is December and time for the winter meetings,” he said.
As for baseball, it is never far from his mind.
“I’ll always be thinking about helping (general manager) Walt Jocketty get this team together,” he said. “Part of the job is trying to talk to free agents (to come to Cincinnati) and I’ll be on the phone quite a bit.
“What you have to do most is take the time to re-charge for next season,” he said. “You have to take the time to re-charge. You have to start the season with the tank full, not three-quarters or half-full. You don’t later want to run out of gas.”
BAKER WAS talking about all the last-season turmoil this year to determine wild card and division champions and remembers fondly a few in which he was involved.
“I remember days like this, the last day when it was decided,” he said. “We had a couple of them with the Dodgers — down to the wire. Going down to the wire? Ain’t nothin’ better than that. Going down to the wire, going neck-and-neck.”
Reds media relations director Rob Butcher is working the World Series this year, helping Major League Baseball, and Baker said, “Next year you are going to be too busy doing your own work.”
Implication? Reds in the World Series.
SOMEBODY CONGRATULATED Javier Valentin on his pinch-hit home run Friday, the sixth pinch-hit home run of his career.
And he said, “I have to do something. I’m a free agent. I have to feed my kids.”
The Reds have nine possible free agents — pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, catcher Paul Bako, pitcher Josh Fogg, infielder/outfielder Jerry Hairston, Jr., pitcher Mike Lincoln, pitcher Kent Mercker outfielder Corey Patterson, Valentin and pitcher David Weathers.
It is likely the Reds will try to re-sign Affeldt, Hairston and Lincoln. Mercker plans to retire and Weathers said he plans to test the market.
“I’ve never had that many free agents on one team,” said manager Dusty Baker, “and when we started the season we had three more (Scott Hatteberg, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn).”
FIVE PLAYERS on the Reds roster are eligible for salary arbitration — third baseman Edwin Encarnacion, pitcher Matt Belisle, infielder/outfielder Jolbert Cabrera, pitcher Gary Majewski and infielder Andy Phillips.
For sure, the club will offer a contract to Encarnacion, but the rest are dubious — 50/50 at best.
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