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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 > 25
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Votto’s little twin brothers mean a lot
THERE WERE TWO little kids with dark hair, wearing miniature Reds uniforms, running around the Reds clubhouse Thursday. They were twin 9-year-olds, Ryan and Paul.
Their last name is Votto. They are Joey’s youngest brothers and it snaps you to reality, makes you realize what Joey felt when his 52-year-old father, Joe, died last August.
Not only was Joey without a father, but there were two 9-year-old boys who didn’t understand. And it was Joey wondering how his young brothers would survive without a father and with big brother running around the country with a baseball team.
Joey Votto knew what was more important. Baseball was his life. But real life was the health and well-being of a couple of cute little guys with broad smiles and no knowledge of the real world.
So I doubly salute Votto now for realizing what is really important and for his deep feelings that eventually led to depression and anxiety. It is a tough burden to bear.
WITH HIS LITTLE brothers in the clubhouse before the game, Votto took charge of the game Thursday night with four hits, three RBIs and a game-winning home run.
Votto’s double in the first drove in a run that helped the Reds construct a 4-0 lead. But just as he did in his last start, when he couldn’t protect a 5-0 lead against the Chicago White Sox in the Reds’ 10-8 loss, Cueto couldn’t protect a 4-0 lead in the first and a 5-1 lead in the second Thursday against the Blue Jays.
Votto gave him the fifth run in the second inning with a two-out single. Then when Cueto permitted the Toronto Blue Jays to tie it, 5-5, Votto blasted a first-pitch leadoff home run in the seventh for the lead.
Willy Taveras had three hits, two of them bunts. One was a suicide squeeze bunt in the eighth that he turned into a run-scoring hit for a 7-5 lead and the final score.
But the night belonged to Pal Joey.
“It was really nice to have my brothers in the clubhouse,” he said.
Some thought it too much pressure for Votto to come off rehab and return to play in his hometown of Toronto. But he thrives on it.
“I always want to play well and definitely in front of family and friends I want to play well,” he said. “If we had lost with the kind of night I had it would have been very disappointing to have left here swept. Playing well and winning was very big.
“The beautiful thing about baseball is that there is always a new game, another day,” said Votto. “It kind of parallels life sometimes in that every single day, you always get a new one. It was nice feeling good and not having to think about the problems I was having.”
Said Baker, “He said he wanted to come here and play and we were surprised he was ready to play so soon after playing only three games on rehab (four, actually). It means a lot to him, his family and his countrymen. And it certainly means a lot to us.
“Joey is an honest guy, as honest as you’ll find,” said Baker. “And he said he was ready. When he says he is ready we welcome him back with open arms.”
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TweetIt’s official: Bailey pitches Saturday
As if everybody didn’t already know, including Homer Bailey, the Cincinnati Reds made it official today: Bailey pitches Saturday in Cleveland.
The wait to make it official is because general manager Walt Jocketty prefers to inform the player first, and they don’t inform the player until it’s time to pack and go.
That is in case something happens between the time the player is informed and it is time for him to pitch, such as an injury.
Bailey, 8-5 with a 2.71 ERA at Class AAA Louisville, gets his second start of the year for the Reds and the first-round draft pick in 2004 gets his second chance this year against the Indians.
He made a one-start cameo appearance on May 23 and it did not go well. Bailey gave up six runs on three hits and six walks in 4 2/3 innings in Great American Ball Park. He hasn’t won a big-league game since 2007 when he was 4-2 with a 5.76 ERA in nine starts.
Last year he was 0-6 with a 7.93 ERA in eight starts.
At Louisville this year, he has won five of his last six starts with three games in which he gave up no runs and one in which he gave up only one.
Has he improved?
Bailey faced the Columbus Clippers on June 12. Using his newly acquired split-finger fastball he pitched 8 2/3 innings, giving up six hits and one run while walking two and striking out nine.
Clippers pitching coach Scott Radinsky told Columbus Dispatch writer Jim Massie that the split-finger “was dropping like a Kamikaze on a battle ship” and he had never seen him better.
Reports said Homer was throwing 94 in the first inning, 95 to 96 in the middle innings and 97 in the ninth. And the baseball doesn’t move any quicker in Columbus than it should in Cleveland.
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TweetTaveras back at leadoff, Votto bats fourth
MOST OF YOU aren’t going to like this: Willy Taveras is back in the lineup Thursday, back in center field, back in the leadoff spot.
Leadoff? Why? Chris Dickerson is in the lineup, too, but he is in left field and batting ninth. If it’s me - and I’m not a manager, just an observer - I bat Dickerson leadoff and Taveras ninth. But then Dickerson isn’t setting any offensive noteworthies, either.
Manager Dusty Baker made one slight tweak. He flip-flopped Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips, putting Phillips third and Votto fourth (his first role as clean-up this season).
THE LINEUP: Willy Taveras CF, Jerry Hairston Jr., Brandon Phillips 2B, Joey Votto 1B, Jonny Gomes DH, Ramon Hernandez C, Jay Bruce RF, Paul Janish SS, Chris Dickerson LF, Johnny Cueto P.
WAYNE GRETZKY is in trouble - and I wanted to help him Thursday. But a gigantic thunderstorm with a lightning bolt that seemed to hit about 100 feet away stopped me.
Gretzky is making $8 million a year as coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes are in trouble and there is talk of moving them to Hamilton - Ontario, not Ohio.
Even though he is Canadian, Gretzky wants to stay in Phoenix. A story in the Toronto Globe & Mail the other day asked Gretzky if he would take a pay cut from the $8 million a year to $1.5 million. He said yes. Poor guy. Just $1.5 million.
So I was going to have lunch at his restaurant in Toronto, just two blocks from my hotel. Help him out, y’know. Just a three-minute walk, a bellman said. Just as I was about to leave, the thunderstorm intervened.
Sorry, Wayne.
THEN I decided maybe I’d take a trip to the top of the CN Tower, a cement pillar with a restaurant on top. Until 2005, it was the tallest free-standing building in the world at 1,815 feet. Then I found out it cost $32 to go to the top. Are they donating to Gretzky’s salary?
I’ll pass and see Toronto from up above when my flight leaves at 6:45 a.m. tomorrow.
THERE WAS QUITE a bit of noise and loud music from the room next to me last night. When I left my room this morning there was a large pile of red athletic jerseys outside the door. I could have picked one up for free, but they were dirty and sweaty.
Later I saw a gentleman folding the jerseys and asked, “What team?” Said he, “The New York Red Bulls.” For the uninitiated about the world of soccer, the Red Bulls play in the Major League Soccer - same league as the Columbus Crew.
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