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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 > 2009 > February > 24
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Votto off-and-running early
SARASOTA, Fla. — Joey Votto usually is semi-ambulatory during spring training and those who haven’t peeked at the back of his baseball card wonder, “Can this guy hit at all?”
Well, it is 2009 and Votto showed on Day One under game conditions, “It’s a new year and it’s a new me.”
Votto saw two pitches Tuesday in an afternoon workout that evolved into an intrasquad game.
Pitch One — run-scoring double.
Pitch Two — three-run home ru
Vott’s white-pants Home team scored a 7-3 five-inning victory over the gray-pants Visiting team.
Aaron Harang pitched the top of the first, a 1-2-3 10-pitch inning, “That was free and easy,” then threw 20 more pitches in the bullpen.
“Trying to get out of here quick today,” Votto said of his two-pitches and two hits day.
Votto, 25, has reason to have his skills tuned early this spring. He leaves in a few days to join the Canadian World Baseball Classic team,
“Those were two decent pitches that I was able to put two decent swings on,” said Votto.
Decent? A stinging double? A ringing home run?
“Sometimes you have a bad spring, but once you make the team all that matters is that you have a good season,” he said.
Votto did not have a good spring last year (.206, two homers, seven RBIs in 63 at-bats)), but hit .308 the first month of the season and kept it going, finishing at .297 with 24 homers and 84 RBIs to finish second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.
“I just want to be ready to play winning baseball when the season begins for the Reds,” he said.
“First, though, I’m happy to play for my country and in Toronto, in front of family and friends,” he added.
Of his slow start last spring, Votto said, “That was last year and I’ve proven myself, so I’m not worried about anything.”
Votto appears to have lost weight, but says hard workouts have made him, “Stronger and leaner.”
Hearing that, lockermate Chris Dickerson said, “Don’t forget faster, too.”
And Votto is upbeat about the 2009 Reds.
“We have a leadoff hitter who is completely locked in to batting leadoff (Willy Taveras) and there is no debating that.
“Adding (catcher) Ramon Hernandez is a big deal and getting shortstop Alex Gonzalez back (if he doess come back) is probably the most important move of 2009,” Votto added. “He is a shortstop who plays good defense with a solid bat.”
Votto and Jay Bruce were contributing rookies last year and now know what The Show is all about.
“It is really important for a young player to get that first full year in and know what the grind is about, to know how difficult it is throughout the whole year.”
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TweetCordero doused with hot coffee; he’s OK
SARASOTA, Fla. — You know it is a slow news day when the biggest thing to happen early in the morning involved me and Francisco Cordero.
I ran into him in the clubhouse Tuesday morning. Literally. I was carrying a just-filled 16-ounce cup of steaming coffee when Cordero and I collided. As the coffee splashed on him, I had visions of putting the Reds’ closer on the DL.
But he quickly brushed it off and said, “Hey, no problem. It’s OK.” They grow ‘em tough in the Dominican. And polite and understanding.
BEFORE TUESDAY’S workout, Aaron Harang, David Weathers, Homer Bailey and Mike Lincoln were spotted in Gus’s 12th Street Cafe, across from Ed Smith Stadium, partaking of breakfast.
Harang finished first and left. When the others finished and went to pay their bills, they were told by Gus’s wife, Diane, “It’s already been taken care of. Harang paid it.”
AFTER today’s afternoon workout — (shhhhh, we’re not allowed to call it an intrasquad game because intrasquad games are not permitted by the players’ union until Wednesday) — the Reds open their exhibition season Wednesday in Port Charlotte against Tampa Bay, the AL’s World Series representative.
Outfield candidate Jonny Gomes, who played for Tampa Bay last season, will face his old teammates.
“I have nothing bad to say about that organization,” he said. “They treated me with respect and dignity and they helped make me the player I am today. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them. It will be fun going back to see the guys.”
EVEN MANAGER DUSTY Baker said it is time for exhibition games to begin.
Every morning at 8 a.m. he meets with the three beat writers and the topics are running thin: Who’s in left, who is No. 5 in the rotation, how is Alex Gonzalez, who is batting where?
“Yeah, I’m saying it is time to see some game action,” said Baker. The meetings are becoming like Groundhog Day — the same things over and over.
EDINSON VOLQUEZ and Johnny Cueto will pitch Wednesday in Port Charlotte, their only appearances before they leave for the World Baseball Classic. Also leaving are Joey Votto, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Ramon Hernandez and Pedro Viola.
“With three guys going, that leaves us a little thin in the pitching,” said Baker. “But we have a bunch of position players I need to see. We don’t have any split-squad games this year, so I have to figure out how to see how these guys in games. And I need to get the position guys who are leaving for the WBC (Votto, Hairston, Hernandez) a lot of innings in the next four days - 7 to 9 - to get them ready for the WBC.”
AN OUTSIDER asked Baker about the dynamics of the clubhouse this spring with Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn gone.
“It’s a natural reaction for things to be different when superstars leave,” said Baker. “But time goes on and the game goes on. They left pleasant memories. Sometimes I listen for Griffey’s infectious laugh or Dunn’s humor and wit. But they’re gone.
“Of course, they were gone late last season, so that makes it a bit easier this spring,” Baker added. “There is a period of adjustment. When Hank Aaron left the Braves and wasn’t in spring training in 1975, man, that was strange.
“Nobody in the clubhouse is a lightning rod,” Baker said. “That’s what Griffey was, a lightning rod. Dunn was a little lightning rod.”
SOME HAVE asked my opinion on the Reds leaving Florida for Arizona.
In a word, “Rats.”
Sarasota is perfect — a medium-sized city (not too small, not too large) with all the amenities one needs. I stay in a condo in Siesta Key, on the beach. My wife, Nadine, says she doesn’t want to leave Florida for Arizona because there is no beach and I tell her, ‘Honey, it’s all beach in Arizona, all sand, but there’s no water.’”
And I’m not fond of rattlesnakes.
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