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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 > August > 19
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
A long, scoreless day-night at the ballyard
For various reasons, it has been a very long day that got me to the ball park very early today. Then with a 40-minute rain delay made it even longer.
Not complaining, mind you. This is what I do and this is what I love and it will be a sad day soon when it ends.
Normally, I don’t do this. I write an entirely new blog after a game. Frankly, my eyeballs are spinning and my head is splitting. So what I’m going to do is post most of my game story I wrote for the paper.
Here, though, is a promise. My mother-in-law is undergoing eye surgery tomorrow (Thursday) so I won’t be at the game. But I plan to post a blog with my opinion on where this franchise is or isn’t going, based on what is being said by the front office.
Now, here is the stuff from Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants, dropping the Reds 19 games under .500. Who would have thought this could happen when the Reds were still contending at the All-Star break.
I expected the bottom to fall out, but I didn’t expect the entire iron pot to disintegrate.
When did Labor Day slip past unnoticed? Usually, it is Labor Day when major-league baseball teams buried in mediocrity call up their minor leaguers and put a Triple-A lineup on the field.
It was only August 19, though, and the Cincinnati Reds fielded a team against the San Francisco Giants that was recognizable only to relatives and close friends.
And the result was predictable: San Francisco Giants 1 Cincinnati Reds 0. And the Reds had two hits.
The Reds didn’t have a hit until Adam Rosales singled to right with two outs in the fifth.
The only player on the field who was on the field Opening Day was second baseman Brandon Phillips. And there were five players on the field who were not on the Reds roster on Opening Day, including all three outfielders (Drew Stubbs, Wladimir Balentein, Jonny Gomes).
Stubbs, the team’s No. 1 draft pick in 2006, made his major-league debut and led off the game by swinging at the first pitch he saw and flying to left field. Welcome to the bigs, Cincinnati Reds style.
On his second at-bat he looked at two called strikes on breaking pitches from Barry Zito and then tried to check his swing but was called out.
On his third at-bat in the sixth he nubbed one over the first baseman’s head that landed just inside the right field line for a double, but he led off the ninth by taking a called third strike.
“I had a great time and it was a good experience for me,” said Stubbs. “My first hit was awesome, even though it wasn’t the way you’d like it, a line drive, but a double was great. And it was pretty neat coming off an established veteran like Zito.”
And the medical news, like the nightly TV news, continues to be bad. Joey Votto played the top of the first then left the game with blurry vision and will be evaluated today.
“He had trouble chasing a pop foul in the first and said he couldn’t see it and when a player tells me that an alarm goes off,” said manager Dusty Baker, adding that the vision problem had nothing to do with his stress-related issues earlier this season. “I think he’ll play (today).”
The Giants didn’t get the memo that they were playing the Louisville Bats, although there was evidence when the Reds had no runs and two hits over six innings against Barry Zito, who was taken down for a pinch-hitter when it was 0-0, the ninth time the Giants have not scored a run with Zito on the mound.
That’s because Reds starter Bronson Arroyo was stringing zeros like a math teacher, extending his scoreless innings streak to 17 straight before the Giants scored in the eighth on a single by Edgar Renteria and a double by Nate Schierholtz that left fielder Balentein took a dive on and the ball whizzed past his outstretched glove. Game over.
“You knew sooner or later something was going to break and the breaks aren’t going our way,” said Baker. “We’ve dove for five balls in the last week and we haven’t caught any of ‘em.
“Arroyo was dealing and Zito was dealing and rarely do you see a 1-0 game in this ball park,” Baker added. In 547 games at Great American Ball Park, this was only the fifth 1-0 game.
Said Arroyo, “It was one of the games where you look at the board and say, ‘Well, he’s given up no hits and I’ve given up five, so maybe I’ll sneak out with a win. A lot of times that happens, the guy who throws a little bit better early loses.
Not on this night.
“I left a 1-and-2 pitch up and he (Schierholtz) had been hitting me hard all night,” said Arroyo. “He hit one in the gap and we tried to make a great play, it just didn’t happen.
“Just a good overall baseball game and they just beat us,” Arroyo added. “Losing gets old, but every game is a new story. When Joey went out and I saw all the different players behind me that weren’t there earlier in the season, I figured I might have to throw a shutout to win. We keep piling up injuries and it’s tough to score runs without guys you usually depend on.”
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TweetNews: Stubbs, Cueto, Rolen, Bruce
Lots of news and tidbits involving the Cincinnati Reds today involving Drew Stubbs, Johnny Cueto, Scott Rolen and Jay Bruce.
Stubbs is up, Cueto is about to go down, Rolen is about to go down and come back up and Bruce is headed out of the country.
STUBBS, THE soon-to-be 25-year-old first-round draft pick in 2006, was called up from Class AAA Louisville today and inserted into the lineup at leadoff and in center field, the spot occupied most of the year by Willy Taveras, an abject failure at doing what he was brought in to do. Taveras was placed on the disabled list.
Now they’ll see if Stubbs can do what Taveras couldn’t. Stubbs led the International League in stolen bases with 46 in 54 tries.
“I’ve been looking forward to this day all my life,” said Stubbs.
JOHNNY CUETO is headed for the disabled list with “a little inflammation in his shoulder,” said manager Dusty Baker (nod, nod, wink, wink). Micah Owings will come off the DL and start Friday in Pittsburgh.
“Johnny isn’t happy about it and that’s a good sign. We’ll back him off from a couple of starts and he’ll be ready on the 31st,” Baker added.
SCOTT ROLEN took batting practice and ground balls the last two days, then ran on the treadmill, “To get my heart rate up over 80, which about killed me,” said Rolen. He did that program Tuesday and today.
Now he is headed for Indianapolis to play two rehab games with the Class AAA Louisville Bats, “And if all goes well I’ll join the team in Pittsburgh and play Sunday when I can come off the DL.”
FOR THE FIRST time in his career, Jay Bruce is going to play winter ball, “Just a month in the Dominican Republic and I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “Never done it before, but I need the at-bats.”
The cast is off Bruce’s broken wrist, but he still has a brace. He is running, lifting and throwing and hopes to play by early September.
“You have to let broken bones heal, can’t rush them, and with the way things are there is no hurry to get back. But I am anxious and excited to get back and hope I can finish strong and be ready for next year.”
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TweetIt’s official: Drew Stubbs is here
Drew Stubbs, the No. 1 draft pick in 2006, is in the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse and has been activated. The 24-year-old outfielder was recalled from Class AAA Louisville this morning.
A corresponding roster move will be announced as soon as the club locates the player and tells him.
Wasn’t Willy Taveras injured last night? Shouldn’t he go on the disabled list? We’ll see. Ah, yes. It is Taveras. The Reds are placing him on the DL.
And Stubbs is in the lineup tonight, batting leadoff.
Stubbs was hitting .268 at Louisville with only three homers and 38 RBIs. His asset is speed afield and speed on the basepaths - 46 stolen bases in 54 attempts.
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TweetStubbs on his way to Cincinnati?
There’s plenty of chatter today about the Reds calling up outfielder Drew Stubbs from Louisville.
We’ll update this story as we get new information.
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