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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 > 24 > Entry
Alex Gonzalez: No longer the whipping post
Now we’ll all have to find another goat to beat with a rattlesnake whip, another fall guy to accuse of slowing the progress of the Cincinnati Reds.
Alex Gonzalez is back. At least he was back in this week that was for him.
His double in the 11th inning Sunday afternoon gave the Reds a walk-off win over the Cleveland Indians, a 4-3 win. Gonzalez also singled home a run in the fourth and singled home a run in the sixth, driving in three of the Reds four runs.
Gonzalez is 9 for his last 20 (.450) and finally looks as if the bat in his hands is for something other than swatting cicadas.
HAVE NO IDEA what umpire Rob Drake was looking at in the seventh inning when his call permitted the Indians to tie the game, 3-3. It should have been 3-2 and NO extra innings.
The Tribe trailed, 3-1, in the seventh and had a runner on second with two outs. Grady Sizemore hit one into the right field corner, easily scoring the runner from second. 3-2. Right fielder Jay Bruce had difficulty chasing down the ball and Sizemore motored to third.
Bruce threw to relay man Jerry Hairston Jr. and his throw skipped past third baseman Adam Rosales. Sizemore leaped to his feet and headed home. But left fielder Jonny Gomes had sprinted about a mile-and-a-half from left field to back up third base in front of the Cleveland dugout and fielded the errant throw.
His throw home beat Sizemore and umpire Mark Wegner called him out. End of inning. Reds lead, 3-2.
Nope. Not so fast, rosin baggers. Third base umpire Rob Drake said third baseman Rosales obstructed Sizemore’s path home and ruled that Sizemore be awarded home plate. Tie game, 3-3.
Replays showed that Rosales never touched Sizemore. Rosales was never in the basepath. Never in Sizemore’s way. Whatever Drake saw didn’t happen.
Said Gomes, “My best play of the year and I get nothing for it. I’m chewing rocks.”
But it gets better. Replays also showed that when Sizemore slid home, catcher Ryan Hanigan missed the tag. So Sizemore was safe anyway. If Wegner gets that call right and there is no obstruction call on Rosales, it’s still 3-3.
All in a day’s 11-inning work.
DURING DAVE MILEY’S dying days as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, both Marty Brennaman and I kept telling Miley, “Manage your way. You can’t manage the way you think somebody wants you to manage. You are going to get fired eventually anyway, so get fired doing it your way, not somebody else’s way.”
But he didn’t change. He kept managing with one eye on the field and one eye on the GM’s office. Miley was a popular choice to manage the Reds. He had worked in the Reds minor league system for more than 20 years, winning at every level and winning consistency.
Then the man who hired Miley, GM Jim Bowden, was fired and Dan O’Brien was hired. Miley wasn’t O’Brien’s man and the two never were on the same page. But that’s when Miley started trying to manage the way he thought O’Brien wanted him to manage, not the way Miley managed his entire life. And he was afraid to say anything to the media.
One of his favorite sayings, though, through the bad times (and he said it kiddingly): “What do you want me to do? I’m only one man?” That didn’t sit well with the front office and he was asked to quit saying it.
I bring all this up because after all this time, Miley finally talked about it to somebody: former Cincinnati TV anchor Dan Hoard, now play-by-play announcer for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Miley manages the Yankees AAA affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Hoard asked Miley if he would do anything differently if he had the chance to manage the Reds again and he said:
“This is probably the first time I will answer that. I’ve been asked that question by John Fay (Cincinnati Enquirer) and Hal McCoy (Dayton Daily News) over the years. I think I would have done it more my way. It was a situation where I was a first and second-year manager with a new G.M. and different things. There’s no finger pointing or anything like that. I just think that if I had done it my way, things may have been different - maybe not, who knows - but I think if that opportunity ever comes again that’s what I will try to do.”
If only he had listened to Marty and me back at the time.
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By rossthecampfollower
May 27, 2009 9:46 PM | Link to this
What ross does is read others comments so he has something to copy. Lots of dummies on this blog.
By ross
May 27, 2009 4:30 PM | Link to this
timb..I agree with your post 100%..a .228 phenom, dusty has done a good job as well as his staff..because you look theres not a ton of talent on this roster..give him his due and quit whining about Janish, dickerson, Hanigan which are all minor league type players..role players at best
By blogcopwatcher
May 26, 2009 10:32 PM | Link to this
Hey dipshit: How many managers have you seen in the history of baseball who are dumb enough to send their ace back out to the mound after a two hour rain delay? After last year’s episode out west, you’d think the idiot would be at least smarter than you. Guess you are both stupid.
By timb
May 26, 2009 7:55 PM | Link to this
You know, blogcop, no one here is consistently and annoyingly mistaken as you are….what possible effect would a manager have on a pitching staff? Certainly the manager doesn’t determine who starts, who relieves, or how many pitches the starter threw, or that a bunch of re-treads and never weres are in a position to succeed….No, managers having nothing to do with a team’s success, well, unless you say they do. Clown, you wouldn’t know the truth if it smacked you (which it just did.) Just go get your shine box and stop bothering your betters.
By blogcopwatcher
May 26, 2009 5:31 PM | Link to this
Giving Baker the credit for our great pitching efforts; and one run wins this year, is yet another stretch by timbuck2, who likes to squirm around the truth.
By wizard
May 26, 2009 5:23 PM | Link to this
timb: And you too have many good posts-some of which I agree with, not all. And, today with your Hernandes suggestion, you have done what you accuse me of. Hanigan is every bit as good defensively as the starter, perhaps better. He may not be the hitter Hernandes is; but then he doesn’t get the same playing time, either-and, the season isn’t over yet. What I say,{and others won’t because they have preconceived ideas of who should rule}is: this team has a LOT of players who are just about equal in talent and abilities-so, it really doesn’t matter, one hell of a lot, who is in the lineup from day to day. Debates can be interesting but, much of what is said cannot be proven: for example-since Janish and Hanigan haven’t been afforded equal playing time, yet—neither you, or anyone else can prove me wrong! All you can do is talk about past records; I care about playing to the level of one’s competition!
By timb
May 26, 2009 1:29 PM | Link to this
One additional point: You can whine all you people want to about Dusty (and he is not my favorite), but he has taken a team whose best hitter has yet to play regularly for 2 weeks, whose supposed phenom is hitting .228, and whose starting 3rd baseman is on the DL, and has them with a winning record. You all want to blame Dusty when something goes wrong, but this dude has this no hit wonder of a team with a winning record through Memorial Day. That’s sort of a testament to his ability to manage, I imagine.
By timb
May 26, 2009 1:23 PM | Link to this
Wizard, you are a smart guy. You take my general argument and apply to one specific game out of 162 to make a specious point. You then pivot on “one time the #8 player won a game” and tell me a guy who can’t hit CAN hit because he has over 40 whole AB’s!!!!!!! 40 AB’s?? I guarantee I could posts here where you would tell all of us how terrible Ramon Hernandez was 40 AB’s into the season, but now, he’s fine! 40 AB’s!!!!!! Doesn’t exactly warrant a “hey, magically in one off-season he moved from all glove/no stick to Superman.” I mean, unless you are a wizard who magically conferred those powers upon him?
By Wizard
May 26, 2009 9:56 AM | Link to this
One additional point: Paul Janish may, or may not, be the future’s answer at SS; but to this date he has outplayed the manager’s choice at SS. IMO that does not bode well for the future manager decision-making!
By Wizard
May 26, 2009 9:42 AM | Link to this
The Reds record when Gonzo plays-and doesn’t play, and McCoys ‘LOGIC’. This is as ignorant as Jim and Timb’s clear-as- mud logic. ‘It is 10-15 with Gonzalez and 11-4 without him. Hmmm. But blaming one player — a third baseman or a shortstop — for a team’s losing is like blaming an NFL team’s losses on an offensive tackle or a center. Doesn’t compute. It’s a team game and just because Gonzalez played in a game the team lost doesn’t mean they would have won if he hadn’t played.’ The McCoy speaks. Yesterday, and the day before, when Gonzo DID HIT, with runners in scoring position, FROM THE EIGHT position, good things happened, including a win! So to suggest an ‘eight’ position hitter can’t make a BIG difference with the stick is ludicrous. To suggest that a different player hitting, could not have made a better difference, than one who continually FAILED-is assinine! Since Janish has been hitting better than Gonzo the entire year, until the past two days,how is it that we should think Janish would not have hit with runners in scoring position, if his Mgr. had inserted him into the lineup, when Gonzo WASN’T driving in those runners? The logic of those trying to make their point, is BS. The Reds could have more wins right now had Janish been playing in place of Gonzalez! If it is true that in many games Gonzo could have made a difference, by driving in runs available to him, or any other player, hitting in his ‘eighth’ position, then saying eight hole hitters are irrelevant, unimportant or whatever, is simply ignorant of the reality that is. The point is: Janish and the REDS got screwed, because Baker would not bench Gonzo, when Janish could have helped the team win a few more games, with his BETTER HITTING! SO if his defensive stats now proves he is better defensively; and his average,and fielding range is BETTER-why isn’t he playing more at SS? OH, that’s right, he has a ‘past history’…! DUH.
By timb
May 26, 2009 8:30 AM | Link to this
Jim’s dead on. Janish came up last year and couldn’t hit and he went to Triple A and didn’t hit there. Thinking Paul’s the answer to offensive troubles at SS is foolish. However, his defense has been, according to defensive stats by fangraphs, much better than Alex’s. Hopefully, Alex regains his range as well, but Janish deserves to spell him to see if he really can field that much better. It always make me laugh when “fans” seem to believe their team’s offensive salvation involves hitting better from the eight hole. If your team isn’t scoring runs and you expect the 8 hitter to do it, well, you’ll be constantly disappointed. After years of constant disappointment you may turn as bitter and negative as Marty. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
By MAC
May 26, 2009 12:57 AM | Link to this
Good to see A Gon doing well. His major problem is that “HE” gets himself out too often. Like J Bruce, he has very little patience or discipline AB; both guys swing at just about anything near the strike zone no matter what the count or situation. As for the SS position, the Reds future is not bright there IMO. I saw the AA team play twice this weekend and Zack Cozart? doesn’t look to be anything special. Good looking ball player, but diffently not 5 tool. The Frazier kid played LF as has all year long; I doubt he is even in the mix @ 3rd or SS any longer? Perhaps Valikie? is the answer?
By Blogcopwatcher
May 25, 2009 11:09 PM | Link to this
According to Jim and others, concerning Janish, and players like him: ‘One should never believe their eyes’. ‘One should only believe what has gone before’; not what they see NOW. With that kind of ignorance, Orville and Wilbur would have been run out of town too soon. Janish should be playing as much as possible. He’s earned it.
By Bill from Florida
May 25, 2009 3:56 PM | Link to this
I’m still looking for the brain!!! please, somebody help me, where is this guy?
By Shawn in the ATL
May 25, 2009 2:10 PM | Link to this
Jeez dude.
By Someone with a brain
May 25, 2009 12:51 PM | Link to this
As usual Bill From Florida, you are clueless about everything … not only are you wrong about writing “tonight’s lineup” as it is a day game, your lineup isn’t remotely close to the one the Reds announced lineup. You simply are just wrong when it comes to the Reds. Perhaps you should follow the Marlins or the Rays seeing as you are dumb as a stump on the Reds. Wake up, then go away.
By Mark in Sun Valley
May 25, 2009 11:04 AM | Link to this
Hal, how do you feel about the very limited opportunities the press gets to ask officials about plays like the one Drake missed? There is no doubt that umpires, officials and referees have difficult jobs and replays bare out that they get the calls right an astonishingly high percentage of the time. But do you think they have an obligation to explain what they saw and defend calls that are suspect, or even apologize when they make a mistake?
By Jim
May 25, 2009 11:02 AM | Link to this
Steve M……you do realize that Janish has a career minor league batting average of .261? There is nothing in his career numbers that suggest he is a good hitter. His mediocre hitting is what’s keeping him from becoming an everyday major leaguer.
By Mark in Sun Valley
May 25, 2009 10:59 AM | Link to this
I have to wonder how people would feel about Gonzalez if he had been allowed to spend 2-3 weeks in April on a minor league rehab to get his stroke back. Or if he had been properly DL’d with the oblique strain and not rushed back to the line-up 6 days early and gone 0-everything. A-Gon is not what he once was, but he is an above average SS and a decent .260ish hitter with a little pop. I like Janish as the future, but A-Gon is doing a fine job. I just wish Dusty would give Janish a shot once in a while, especially if Alex has another cold spell.
By Bill from Florida
May 25, 2009 10:00 AM | Link to this
Current Active Roster, May-25. Pitchers: Bronson Arroyo, Jared Burton, Francisco Cordero, Johnny Cueto, Carlos Fisher, Aaron Harang, Daniel Ray Herrera, Mike Lincoln, Micah Owings, Arthur Rhodes, David Weathers. Catchers: Wilkin Castillo, Ryan Hanigan, Ramon Hernandez. Infielders: Alex Gonzalez, Jerry Hairston Jr., Paul Janish, Brandon Phillips, Adam Rosales, Joey Votto. Outfielders: Jay Bruce, Chris Dickerson, Jonny Gomes, Laynce Nix, Willy Taveras. Next Roster Moves: Nick Masset back from DL, Mike Lincoln down to AAA. Edinson Volquez back from DL, Jared Burton or Carlos Fisher down to AAA. Edwin Encarnacion back from DL, Wilkin Castillo or Adam Rosales down to AAA. I’d expect also a move with Micah Owings if he fails again his next start. Maybe a move to the bullpen and Maloney could get a start to see how he performs in the majors (Ramirez and Bailey both failed). Tonight’s line-up (w/o Votto & Philips) against the Astros (W. Rodrigues, LP): Taveras CF, Hairston LF, Rosales 3B, Hernandez 1B, Gomes RF, Hanigan C, Gonzalez SS, Castillo 2B.
By Mike-Cinci
May 25, 2009 9:49 AM | Link to this
Gonzalez is an excellent fielder. It is nice to see his bat coming around. Dave Miley is a nice guy but he was around baseball long enough to know he had to be his own man as manager. The problem is rarely the manager. Teams lose because other teams are better. Overall talent, lack of injuries, and career years from some you don’t expect makes the differece,
By Jim T
May 25, 2009 9:23 AM | Link to this
y-city jim, no range are you joking or what. Did you see that pop up in short left field Sat night he caught. How about the range behind 2nd when he turned at least 2 DP’s.Agon will hit about 250 and give you great D. If we have some one on the team who can perform better let me know. janish is not the answer. His a batting average will fall with increased playing time not rise. He is a good fielder though.
By AP-FLORIDA
May 25, 2009 9:17 AM | Link to this
OHDAVE- Is it pole or Mario Soto that we should congrats? Good thing about watching Reds on MLB-TV is you can listen to the other teams announcers, not limited to George Bland,Chris Belch, and or Calboy. Good for A Gone but do not get your hopes up too high. Won’t hurt as much when we are let down….Move Rusty now….
By Former Umpire
May 25, 2009 7:13 AM | Link to this
The only thing worse than Sunday’s phantom obstruction call was hearing George Grande trying to explain it.
By Kyle
May 25, 2009 12:16 AM | Link to this
What a ridiculous call. That has to rank right up there with an umpire making sure he affects the outcome. Stupid call. He really needs to be reviewed for that one.
By Steve M.
May 24, 2009 9:49 PM | Link to this
I’m glad AG had a good game today, at the plate and in the field. But I’m still not sold on him as the best fit for the Reds everyday SS. Paul Janish would also be getting hits, and they wouldn’t be so rare that you’d have to write a column about them. Go Reds!
By ohdave
May 24, 2009 7:46 PM | Link to this
Went to the game today, and had three thoughts: 1, it’s obvious that Joey Votto is the only Reds hitter who inspires fear in opposing teams. Even with no one on, the Indians weren’t going to throw him anything anywhere near the strike zone. 2, the Reds need a productive Jay Bruce if they are going to stay in this race. Right now Bruce looks clueless at the plate. 3, Cueto is the real deal. Dick Pole has done a great job with him. Ok, one more: I hate Indians fans cheering at GAPB.
By Y-City Jim
May 24, 2009 7:42 PM | Link to this
Gonzalez is still the whipping post because he still has no range at SS. On the blown call play, why did Hairston throw that ball in the first place? I tend to agree with Marty and Kelch in that Hairston had no business throwing it.
By Don Carpenter
May 24, 2009 7:26 PM | Link to this
Hal, it is always great to get those unaswered questions answered. Miley seemed to me, to be a good baseball man, but with a wild and reckless GM, (whoses Karma) is coming around) it must have been a nightmare!
By Aaron B.
May 24, 2009 7:06 PM | Link to this
Those were terrible teams in Miley’s days, he was doomed no matter what he did. But yea if you are doomed why try to please the front office. Miley provided us with one of the funniest Reds moments in history when he evicted Griffey and Dunn’s massage chairs. And it was also one of his finest moments. Enough of the prima dona act, he was saying through his actions. You guys don’t deserve to live the good life. Griffey and Dunn’s laid back attitude was infectious and caused the whole team to play lazily. It might have worked for them offensively, but Dunn could have been a much better player for the Reds has he hustled more.HIs defense and baserunning were pretty atrociouos. He had one good moment on the basepaths when he laid that football tackle on the catcher and then he never did anything like it again which was very disappointing to me. Anyhow after the massage chair fiasco we joked about it by saying Miley was reminding us of Mickey from the Rocky movies: “Your gonna p**s lightning and crap thunder, kid. And stay away from dames. Women weaken legs!”