Madison graduation 2012
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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 > May > 18
Monday, May 18, 2009
Votto still ill, examination Tuesday
The mysterious case of Joey Votto continues. It’s sad to see his face these days, so sad because he is unable to play due to continued dizziness and an inability to focus.
Votto twice left games on the six-day trip to Arizona and San Diego, both times when he became dizzy and reported an inability to maintain his focus.
He left last Tuesday’s game in the fourth inning in Arizona and didn’t play Wednesday. He underwent a battery of tests and nothing was found. He returned to the lineup Friday in San Diego and hit a long home run. On Saturday he hit two long fly balls to deep center field his first two at-bats, then again left in the fourth inning.
He didn’t play Sunday and was supposed to return to Cincinnati Sunday night with the team, but when he experienced light-headedness and was taken to the E.W. Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif., for overnight observation. He was to return to Cincinnati Monday and be examined by an internist Tuesday.
His case reminds me of Nick Esasky, a former Reds first baseman who later played for Atlanta, but not for long. He contracted Lyme disease and was quickly out of baseball. Votto’s symptoms are not the symptoms of Lyme disease, so thankfully that’s probably not his problem.
Votto is an extremely important player for the Reds, maybe THE most important. He is missed greatly when he is out of the lineup. More importantly, though, is his health and well-being. Let’s hope they find the problem, it is minor, they treat it and he gets back on the field, where he wants to be.
MEANWHILE, the Reds will make their expected roster move Tuesday when, as expected, relief pitcher Nick Masset goes on the DL - only the second roster move the Reds have had to make in their first 37 games - an extraordinary feat. The other move was when Edwin Encarnacion (cracked wrist) was placed on the DL.
The Reds are expected to recall pitcher Ramon Ramirez. While Masset is a relief pitcher, Ramirez was a starter for Class AAA Lousiville and was 0-3 with a 5.08 ERA in seven starts. Masset was lights out for the Reds - 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 11 appearances. In his last five, he had given up no runs and only one hit.
FOR SURE, RHP Edinson Volquez will take stairs one step at a time from now on. Volquez was moving quickly up some steps before the Reds went on their last trip and took them two steps at a time and felt something in his back. He left his start Saturday in the sixth inning with minor back spasms.
He received treatment Monday and reported no pain and is expected to take his regular turn Friday against the Cleveland Indians.
AND THE problems continue for lefthanded relief pitcher Bill Bray, who has had nothing but injury problems since the Reds obtained him July 13, 2006, in a massive trade with the Washington Nationals. Bray will undergo elbow surgery Tuesday from Dr. Tim Krermchek.
And that was some trade, eh? The Reds traded OF Austin Kearns (a No. 1 draft pick), RHP Ryan Wagner (a No. 1 draft pick) and SS Felipe Lopez (a No. 1 draft pick) for SS Royce Clayton, INF Brendan Harris, RHP Gary Majewski, RHP Daryl Thompson and Bray.
Kearns is still a Nationals regular. Wagner has spent most of his time on the DL. Lopez is now playing for the Diamondbacks.
And the Reds … Clayton played one year and was gone. Harris was briefly with the Reds in ‘06 and was quickly gone. Majewski was thought to be damaged goods when the Reds got him and never amounted to anything helpful and is gone. Bray is injury-prone and Thompson was up briefly with the Reds last year and is struggling this year at Louisville.
OK, I’M WRITING THIS blog at 11 p.m. Monday - because I JUST GOT HOME. Thanks again, Delta.
Here’s the latest odyssey - and that’s it. No more. Fool me once, your fault. Fool me a half dozen times and I’m the fool. Stealing a line from the movie “Network,” I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more. I’m telling my travel agent, “No more Delta. Never. Ever.” I’d rather take another airline and make three connecting flights than take one Delta non-stop because even making connecting flights I’d probably still beat the Delta non-stop.
I started Monday morning in San Diego at 7:45 for a flight to Atlanta. We were late arriving in Atlanta. No problem. I had plenty of time to make my connecting flight to Dayton.
When I got to the gate, there was a long line at the podium. I asked a guy who had just left the podium, “What’s up?” He said they were kicking 20 people off the flight because they changed equipment from a 70-seater to a 50-seater. Guess who was one of the lucky 20?
How in the world can they sell 70 tickets and wheel up a 50-seat plane? Delta, all the way.
They put me on an 8:17 flight - a mere four-hour wait - but told me to hang around the gate in case something opened. About 45 minutes later, they called me to the podium and I was one of the lucky two to get on the flight originally scheduled for 4:15. Whoopie!
But the whoopie was premature. We didn’t leave at 4:15. They said they were waiting on the aircraft, but anybody who looked out the window of Gate C-50 could see a plane sitting there. Now it’s 4:45. Then they announced they were waiting for one member of the crew. They changed the time to 5:05. Then 5:30. Then 6 p.m. Then 6:30.
At 6:30 they announced, “There has been a gate change for Dayton. All Dayton passengers should go to Gate D-33.” They needed more than two hours to discover this?
Going from terminal C to terminal D in Atlanta means boarding a shuttle train. In the meantime I paid $10 for a ham and cheese sandwich that could have doubled for home plate in Great American Ball Park.
Finally, we boarded and left at 6:30, a mere 2 hours and 15 minutes late. And the weather was superb. Who I really felt sorry for were the three people in wheelchairs. They sat in those chairs at Gate C-50 for more than two hours. Then they had to be wheeled over to D-33, where they were forgotten. Everybody else was boarded before them.
Call me cranky. Call me curmudgeonly. But don’t ever call me for a Delta flight again. I’d rather ride an Overland Lines stagecoach.
LHP Bill Bray was examined today by Reds medical director Timothy Kremchek, who tomorrow will perform surgery on Bray’s left elbow. Bray has been on Louisville’s disabled list since April 16 with a strained left elbow.
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TweetVotto will be examined Tuesday; Volquez is OK
Medical news just in from the Reds:
Reds 1B Joey Votto became light-headed following yesterday’s game at San Diego. Instead of flying home with the team, as a precautionary measure he was admitted for tests at Scripps Clinic at San Diego. He will be examined again in Cincinnati tomorrow. Votto missed 5 games last week with the flu and twice more left games with dizziness.
RHP Edinson Volquez today received treatment on his back without complaint. Volquez left Saturday’s start with mild spasms in his mid-back. He is not expected to miss a start.
LHP Bill Bray was examined today by Reds medical director Timothy Kremchek, who tomorrow will perform surgery on Bray’s left elbow. Bray has been on Louisville’s disabled list since April 16 with a strained left elbow.
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