2012 senior class photos
2012 West Carrollton graduation
Home of the Week
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 > March > 21
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Bailey says bullpen woulde be ‘OK’
The only breeze in hot Ed Smith Stadium Saturday came from the way Homer Bailey was breezing through the Pittsburgh Pirates - for three innings, anway.
In the first three innings, he gave up no runs and one hit. Trouble, though, surfaced in the fourth when the first four Pirates reached base. He walked Freddy Sanchez and dNate McLouid homerede. Ryan Doumdit singled and Adam LaRoche walked, but Bailey got a double play out of Eric Hinski and struck out Ramon Vasquez.
He didn’t make it through five innings. Jack Wilson, 0 for 23, doubled hard into the left field corner, pitcher Paul Maholm bunted him to third and Nyjer Morgan flied to center, scoring Wilson and ended Bailey’s day.
During his problem fourth inning, Bailey threw a boatload of pitches, with a bushelful left over, in going 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs, four hits, two walks and striking out four.
The suddenly run-starved Reds put two on with no outs in the second on back-to-back singles by Edwin Encarnacion and Jay Bruce, but Maholm then struck out the side - Jeff Keppinger, Chris Dickerson and Ryan Hanigan.
Maholm held the Reds to no runs and three hits over six innings and is unscored upon in 15 2/3 innings. He’ll pitch Opening Days for the Pirates.
Once the Pirates took out their regulars, the Reds scored two in the seventh and three in the eighth but fell short, 6-5, their seventh straight loss
The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth and Joey Votto was called out on strikes on a 3-and-2 count, a call that didn’t fit manager Dusty Baker’s view of the pitch.
“Was that even close? I didn’t think so. That’s awful, man,” he said. It appeared maybe umpire Wally Bell didn’t want extra innings.
Bailey and Micah Owings remain locked in mortal battle for the fifth starting spot and when asked if woiuld be amenable to bullpen duty, Bailey said, “Anyway I can help. It doesn’t matter to me. Being that I’ve never done it, it would take a while for me to learn, but with the guys we have in the bullpen with a lot of experience, they would help me out a lot. It’s like anything. You just have to learn how to do it.”
Of his start Saturday, Bailey smiled and said I avoided a ball to the teeth, that was pretty big.” That came when he covered first base on a 3-6-1 double play, “Joey was about to w2hip the ball to second base and I hit the deck,” said Bailey. Then he got up and covered first to complete the double play - and a good one it was.
Bailey said he began to rush, speed things up, when trouble surfaced in the fourth.
“My stuff was average, not stuck out in my head that was exceptional,” he said. “Then I started rushing instead of thinking to just step back. When you are out there, it is not something to want to think about. You want to focus on getting outs, hitting the glove. As soon as I noticed, I thought, ‘Now I know what I need to work on tomorrow.’”
Baker was non-commital, other than to say, “Yeah, he possibly could pitch in the bullpen. If he did, it would be in long relief so that wouldn’t be such a big adjustment. He’s throwing the ball good. He wasn’t quite as sharp tonight and was throwing the ball high. But he has come a long way.”
BRANDON PHILLIPS was in Saturday’s lineup, but when he showed up in the clubhouse looking like an emergency room candidate, he was sent home with flu-like symptons.
MUCH-TROUBLED closer Francisco Cordero was banished to the back field with the minor-leaguers to work on what ails him and pitched one inning against a Class A Baltimore team, giving up one hit and striking out two in one innings that consisted of 16 pitches, 12 strikes.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment |
TweetLeft is right with Reds beat writers
Dusty Baker paused in the middle of his early morning briefing with the beat writers in his office and said, “Damn, do you have to be lefthanded to be a writer?”
You do to cover the Cincinnati Reds. The three beat writers all are lefthanded - John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and me. Sheldon leaves camp today to be with his wife, Sheryl, who is expecting a baby March 28. Sheldon’s replacement, Jonathan Mayo, also is lefthanded.
And the previous two beat writers for the now defunct Cincinnati Post were lefthanded - C. Trent Rosecrans and Mark Lancaster.
What does it mean? It means left is right, as far as beat writers are concerned.
AS THE REDS begin play today at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates, they have lost six straight games - scoring 1, 4, 1, 3,1 and 2 runs. And their last win was 1-0.
“Been a little rough,” said Baker. “We’re not getting any breaks. It seems like we’re not hitting because we’re not getting hits. By that, I mean were hitting the ball hard but not getting hits.”
The regular lineup was to play against the Pirates today, all but shortstop Alex Gonzalez (seven innings) and catcher Ryan Hanigan (seven innings) scheduled to go nine. Then the regular won’t make Sunday’s trip to Bradenton to play the Pirates again.
MEANWHILE, the much-struggling Coco Cordero is going to try to get some of his stuff together by pitching in some minor-league games on the back field, beginning today at 1 o’clock.
THE REDS have their third off day of the spring Tuesday and when asked what he planned for the team that day, Baker said, “Rest.” It will be Bronson Arroyo’s day to pitch and he will join Cordero on the back fields to pitch against the minor-leaguers.
ILLNESS CONTINUES to make its way through the clubhouse. Norris Hopper is absent, sent home with bronchitis. Darnell McDonald and Daryle Ward have missed time with sickness and Baker said, “If they show up sick, we just send them home. No use spreading that stuff around if we can stop it.”
CHRIS DICKERSON sat down at a table in the middle of the clubhouse and the other occupants of the table were: Jim Maloney, Cesar Geronimo, Mario Soto and Eric Davis.
“I hope you realize you are sitting at a table full of history and legends,” somebody said.
“I do,” he said. “Indeed I do. I’m hoping a lot of it rubs off.”
JAY BRUCE still doesn’t have his car. It was kidnapped by Jonny Gomes, who wanted Bruce to drive an old SUV painted red with white baseball stitches all over it and used by the Sarasota Reds.
When Bruce refused, Gomes said, “If he keeps this up, he is going to be riding a Huffy with squirrel tales and a jacked-up seat.”
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment |
Tweet
