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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 > June > 16 > Entry
Back home with an intimate gathering
Remember when I told you last week about my $69 cab ride from the Kansas City airport to the hotel? My dad told he bought a car for cheaper than that when he was a kid.
On Sunday night I approached a woman at the front desk of the hotel and said, “Is there any way I can get from this hotel to the airport without purchasing a cab?”
She looked at me as if assessing my character and the probability of me pulling a Sig Sauer on the driver. Then she reached behind the desk and pulled out a card. “Call this number and tell them Victoria told you to call and they’ll take you for $45.”
My wife, Nadine, laughed and said my ride probably would be a pick-up truck with me riding in the back with pigs. But on Monday morning at 5 a.m., a Lincoln Town Car arrived and for $45 he took me to the airport. No pigs in the back seat, either, just nice plush leather.
AS EXPECTED, after losing four straight on the road and with the threat of rain, there weren’t enough people in Great American Ball Park Tuesday night to start a good bar brawl. The place was a prairie of red (from empty seats), guaranteeing about one out of very three fans a sourvenir baseball.
SPENT A FEW minutes on the visiting clubhouse before Tuesday’s game with my favorite viisting manager who has never managed the Reds, Bobby Cox. Always deliver him a cigar or two.
Cox is always willing to sit and chat. He has no sympathy for the Reds. His Braves had lost seven of 11 and he said, “We aren’t hitting, either. Oh once in a while we hit, but not regularly. It’s kind of rampant in baseball. The Cubs aren’t hitting, either. You know, when the Cubs lose Aramis Ramirez and the Reds lose Joey Votto, well, it’s like the Cardinals losing Albert Pujols and where do you think they’d be without him?”
I READ THE vitriol some of you spit at Willy Taveras and at Dusty Baker for playing him (yes, he is in Tuesday’s lineup) and then you Taveras sitting forlornly in front of his locker. You know he cares. You know he isn’t TRYING to make 32 straight outs. It’s embarrassing, yes, and it is tough to hold your chin up, but Taveras is trying.
As Tuesday’s game with the Atlanta Braves began, Taveras was 0 for 32, but he wasn’t at the point of throwing up his hands and surrendering. His smile was in place as he sat in front of his locker trying to figure things out.
Bother him? Oh, yeah.
“I know I’m a key part to this offense,” he said. “If I get on things get going. With the pitching we’ve been getting, we’re always close, never out of many games, so me getting on and scoring runs is the difference. If I’m on, I can show my game.”
Taveras didn’t play Sunday in Kansas City. He spent time in the dugout next to Dusty Baker getting a tutorial on his approach.
“Dusty talked to me a lot and hopefully what he said is going to help me,” Taveras added. “No team in the division is playing very good and with the pitching we’re getting if we can get our hitting going to can win it.”
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By RampantRedsFan
June 17, 2009 3:55 PM | Link to this
Gary, What funk are you talking about? The guy’s career OBP is 329 and its 281 right now. If you ask me his whole MLB career is a funk.
By Greg
June 17, 2009 10:32 AM | Link to this
If ‘everybody has to play’ how’s come the worst get to play more than the those with better stats? Are we trying to win, or lose?
By Bruce
June 17, 2009 10:24 AM | Link to this
Yep, you betcha… They all{eventually} get out of their slumps, but, meanwhile, in Taveras case, no runs score and losses mount…for the past TWO months!
By Allbutt The Fraud
June 17, 2009 10:05 AM | Link to this
Whatever, Maloy!
By AP-FLORIDA
June 17, 2009 1:35 AM | Link to this
I haven’t seen any of Rusty’s prize students sitting next to him. Are they wearing dunce caps? Do they have a toothpick in their mouth?
By Gary Maloy Jr
June 17, 2009 1:06 AM | Link to this
The last 3 months, Bruce?! Three months ago, we were dating our checks the 17th of March… The season is barely two months old. Give it up, man. Tavaras will come out of his funk. I’m thinking he could simply bunt 4-5 times in a row. He’ll get on half the time. When he suckers the 3rd baseman in, he can slap the ball down the left side. He’ll get out of his slump - as they ALL do. I like Dickerson, too, but everybody has to play. Personally, I’d use him everywhere in the outfield. Our all-world right fielder is exactly setting the house afire, either…
By Bruce
June 17, 2009 12:26 AM | Link to this
I do believe, however, that Taveras has a lot more opportunities at bat, than does Dickerson. Playing time is what the difference is,imo. You can’t be expected to get into a groove, unless you get to play. Dickerson is a better athlete and covers more of center than Taveras, I believe. He made some pretty good defensive plays, that you might go a long time, before you see them again. He hasn’t been terrific with the bat, I agree. But, when you look at both of their swings, It has appeared to me, that Dickerson has hit the ball, with more authority, but often right at someone.
By Mike-Cinci
June 16, 2009 10:43 PM | Link to this
Taveras has been awful but Dickerson has not been any good either. Taveras is hitting .229 with 33 runs scored and 12 SB’s. Dickerson is hitting .234 with 14 runs scored and 2 SB’s. Dickerson has walked more but he has struck out 30% of his plate appearances.
By Bruce
June 16, 2009 9:23 PM | Link to this
So is Chris Dickerson trying…to get into the starting lineup. What a big let down he must have felt today. He got to start two days ago, then yesterday was an off day, and today he’s on the bench again. He isn’t getting a fair chance, to have a fair amount of consistant playing time.No one can get into a defensive or offensive groove, with such haphazard amounts of playing time. He IS the best centerfielder on this team; and when Taveras goes 0 for 32, Chris deserved to be playing an equal amount, at least. I am coming to realize that I am going to forget this team and its manager, and professional baseball—because I don’t believe in the almighty dollar dictating who plays. That is a bunch of crap! Wonder how many runs could have been scored, or rally’s continued, during the past three months, if someone else had been hitting and playing in place of those who haven’t been?