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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 37th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > July > 11 > Entry
Bruce’s immediate future not determined
I watched it as in unfolded and I watched it once on replay, then turned my head. The TV ghouls kept playing it over and over and over.
Well, maybe everybody isn’t as squeamish as I am. When I see somebody fracture a bone, I don’t want to see it over and over and over like a guy returning a touchdown 102 yards.
Jay Bruce tried to make a diving catch Saturday night in the first inning of a 4-0 loss to the New York Mets and Johan Santana. He landed on his gloved hand that forced his wrist to bend in the way wrists are not supposed to bend.
Snap!
Bruce fractured the hand and is to have an MRI in Cincinnati Sunday to see the severity of the injury and to see if surgery if required. If it is, Bruce is probably done for the season. If it doesn’t require surgery, you can wager he’ll miss several weeks.
For those expecting a Drew Stubbs appearance, don’t. Won’t happen. They just need a body for one game Sunday before the All-Star break. They’ll wait until they see how bad Bruce is before they make a post-All-Star break decision.
Enmeshed in a 0 for 14 slump, Bruce sat in the dugout the last two games, “Clearing his head and observing,” said manager Dusty Baker.
Baker had Bruce back in the lineup Saturday and had him batting second. He struck out against lefthander Johan Santana in the first inning, then trotted to right field.
Angelo Pagan led with a single off Cueto and Luis Castillo walked. Bruce was playing deep for David Wright when Wright lofted a shallow fly ball.
Bruce charged in hard and tried to make a diving catch, jamming his left hand into the turf and bending it backwards. He was in obvious deep pain when he stood up and his arm dangled in a grotesque manner.
Bruce left the game immediately, replaced by Chris Dickerson. He will be checked today in Cincinnati by team medical director Dr. Tim Kremchek for a prognosis on how long he will be incapacitated.
“Just trying to make a play,” said Bruce after the game, his arm heavily encased in wrappings. “I had the ball. I caught the ball. But when my glove hit the ground it came out.”
And that’s when he knew he was in trouble.
“I didn’t know it was broken, but I knew it wasn’t good,” he said. “It hurt pretty bad. I was some bad pain. Part of the game, I guess. I watched the replay and it didn’t look good.”
After Bruce left, Wright’s single filled the bases and with one out newly acquired Mets right fielder Jeff Francoeur blooped a two-run single down the right field line. Francoeur was playing his first game for the Mets after he was acquired in a trade Friday for outfielder Ryan Church.
After a walk to Daniel Murphy, Cueto gave up a run-scoring singler to Omir Santos for a 3-0 lead.
The Mets made it 4-0 in the second on a triple by Pagan and a single by Castillo.
Cincinnati’s only early threat against Santana was in the first when Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips produced two-out singles, but Ramon Hernandez flied to the fence at the 415 mark in center.
After that Santana retired 16 of 18, giving up harmless doubles to Dickerson in the third and Edwin Encarnacion in the fourth.
Cueto was done after five innings worth of 101 pitches that resulted in four runs and nine hits.
Manager Dusty Baker, of course, was more concerned about the long-term prognosis for Bruce than the short-term failures on this trip of Cueto, who gave up nine runs in less than an inning in Philadelphia Monday.
“A bloop and Bruce ends up with crack in his wrist,” Baker said with a shake of his head. “That’s tough news. Seems like we get one guy back and we lose another guy. We’re being tested for some reason, but enough’s enough. We just have to keep pushing.”
Baker said a player would be called up for the final game today before the break, but last Saturday night he wasn’t certain who it would be.
“A tough blow, just a tough blow,” added Baker. “I didn’t even want to look at the replay because I saw it live and I knew something bad happened. That’s what happens when you can’t get your glove cleared out of the way. All your weight comes down in that very fragile area of the wrist and the hand. Another inch and he clears (the ground) and catches it and none of this happens — but that’s not the way it happened.”
Baker paused for a deep breath, fearing the worst, and said, “I just hope Jay is not hurt too seriously and let’s hope we don’t lose him for the season.”
Of the game, Baker said, “You give Santana a lead and he is extremely tough. He’s tough without a lead. Cueto’s ball were sinking out of the strike zone for walks and then he centered some balls over the heart of the plate, especially to Santos (three hits).”
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Comments
By Wizard
July 13, 2009 10:35 AM | Link to this
RC, JACK SAYS July 13, 2009 10:19 AM Not nice to post erroneous jibberish! RC-Rollings was dropped in the order, down to sixth at one point, also benched several games. Big Papi sat out for a week. So, yes, other managers actually try to do things. Yes, Mike-Cinci, this team has an overall lack of talent, something I have said since day one, but Baker does not help (Jocketty is not helping either).By Mike-Dayton
July 12, 2009 1:02 PM | Link to this
Uhhh Scott, not celebrity judges, the manager of the team is the guy who decides who should play based on talent and/or match-up and Dusty does not think much about stuff like that and he has the wrong set of guys to no-brain a lineup everyday … so get better players or a different manager because this alignment is not working.By stupid is stupid does
July 12, 2009 12:39 PM | Link to this
its time to sink or swim. will reds ownership throw us a life jacket, or hit us with the anchor?By Scott
July 12, 2009 11:39 AM | Link to this
So the question now is how is “talent” found? By a panel of celebrity judges? I say take the same 8 guys and trot them out there everyday. They are the ones who should be producing. Stop tinkering with the lineup and simply let the players play.By Mike-Dayton
July 12, 2009 9:25 AM | Link to this
Mike wrote - “When they win, ride with them till they stop.” … that’s pretty limited thinking when you consider that this team has three good hitters - Votto, Phillips and EE … this team has to play match-up to win each game as the talent is not there to just throw the same guys out there every game. Therefore it is the manager’s job to figure out which players complement the three good players they have each day based on the pitcher they are facing. Baker is not very good at that aspect of managing - so they don’t have the best talent and they don’t have a match-up thinking manager - sounds like a bad combo.By Wizard
July 12, 2009 9:10 AM | Link to this
Cueto’s great stuff is nullified,i.e.his changeup, when he flails so violently toward first base. This has been pointed out by JB and CW, both former pitchers. Until they get him demonstrating better mechanics than this, he will continue to fit well into this roster of failures.By Scott
July 12, 2009 8:56 AM | Link to this
Jay Bruce will be back and healthy by Spring Training 2010.By MAC
July 12, 2009 8:56 AM | Link to this
Cincy-Mike, I think Johnny has improved his mechanics some, but overall I agree w/ your analysis. I’m not sure why, but he has lost his change-up which is forcing him to throw more sliders/curves and IMO much more likely for him to be injuried as U point out…See Volquez!By Mike-Cinci
July 12, 2009 8:37 AM | Link to this
Cueto has great stuff but he throws far too many pitches. His delivery seems complicated, ie. too many moving parts and he appears to be over extending himself. Some pitchers appear effortless. Cueto is not one of them. With his motion he is an arm injury waiting to happen. Throwing 100 pitches in only 5 innings is not a recipe for success. Maybe Mario Soto can help.By Mike
July 12, 2009 1:35 AM | Link to this
I hate to see Bruce get hurt but lets face it, he wasn’t hitting. Now maybe they will find a hitter for the time he is out. Everytime Bakers fields a team that hits and plays well he seems to wants to fix what isn’t broke. When they win, ride with them till they stop.By MAC
July 12, 2009 12:15 AM | Link to this
Duffer, I said much the same thing on Cueto last week. He threw a couple of good change-ups tonight, but no where near the movement w/ it he’s had in the past. I thought he pitched in very effectively tonight, but as Hal pointed out he kept missing down and when he brought it up…it was too often in the middle of the plate. Hopefully Johnny will get w/ Mario over the break and get things back to where he was early in the season.By Mark in Sun Valley
July 12, 2009 12:03 AM | Link to this
Any outfielder they bring up will need to go on the 40 man roster, I so I think you’re right Hal. They’ll probably bring Sutton back for tomorrow and then decide if Bruce goes on a 60 day DL or if they need to expose someone to waivers. Then after the break, we’ll probably see Stubbs or Heisey. I live in fear of them calling up McDonald.By duffer21
July 11, 2009 11:17 PM | Link to this
I was at the game Monday in Philadelphia when Cueto got pounded. WHAT happened to that awesome change-up he had a year ago? Where did it go? He is now in love with his slider and centering fastballs over the plate. When will they call Mario Soto to get him to start throwing the change up correctly again. That was what made him special; without it, he is getting hit and hit hard.