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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 > 2010 > March > 09
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
No need to worry: Harang, Baker
Color me confused and I prefer fuschia or chartreuse, the colors I preferred in my leisure suits back in the 1970s.
What’s up with Aaron Harang? I know, I know. It is ONLY spring training and that was only Harang’s second appearance this spring when he couldn’t make it out of the second inning Tuesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He was supposed to pitch three innings, but only made it through 1 1/3 because he reached his limit of 50 pitches at that juncture, using 28 in the first inning.
At this time of spring training, it is always the same. A pitcher who can’t retire his Aunt Matilda says, “I was just working on things.” Or he says, “I’m just trying to build my arm strength.” Or he says, “I’m just getting in my work and I’m not worried about results.”
They all say it and Harang said it Tuesday after giving up three runs, four hits and a walk while retiring only four batters.
HE IS WORKING on his new mechanics, some tweaking in his delivery after he lost 32 games in the last two years.
Nobody loves Aaron Harang more than I do - a great guy, never makes excuses, takes the ball without question at any time, loves his wife and kids. What more can one ask?
BUT DOESN’T he worry you Reds fans? He should. This is going to be the Opening Day starter against the St. Louis Cardinals and so far this spring he has had two putrid performances.
Both Harang and manager Dusty Baker were happy with the way the baseball was coming out of Harang’s hand. “Nice and smooth.” Apparently, the Cleveland Indians (his first opponent) and the Diamondbacks were happy with the way it came out of his hand and sped to the outfield.
With Harang, I’m more than willing to give him the benefit of doubt after doubt after doubt. He’s earned it. But he is also ultra-important to the success or failure of this team, a team that can’t take another 16 defeats from its No. 1 pitcher.
I’ll let you listen to what Harang and Baker said after the Reds lost, 10-4, to the D-Backs, their third loss in four games. Does it soothe your nerves? Not mine.
“I didn’t want to come out of the game that early, but what it came down to was pitch count,” said Harang. “I was throwing some good pitches early-on, but they were working the count. It’s tough when you get behind in the count and have to come in to them. Doesn’t make it any easier.
“I’d get ahead and miss up, or pull a slider and bury it too much,” he said. “It’s still early-on and nothing I’m concerned too much about. Of course, with this weather (54 degrees), it felt like last April in Cincinnati,” Harang said with a laugh.
Working on mechanics, Aaron?
:”Yeah, overall I’m happy with it, but I have to do more with my arm slot and I have to do some fine-tuning,” he said. “From the way I’ve pitched all along to making some mechanical adjustments doesn’t work overnight. I still have some things to work on, but that’s what spring is for right now.
“The ball felt as if it was coming out free and easy, but I was just missing,” he added. “It’s still a long spring and the biggest thing is to build the pitch count right now.”
See what I mean? A dictionary of a pitcher’s spring cliches.
“I’m not really concerned with the outcome, but Dusty was happy and (pitching coach) Bryan Price was happy with the way the ball was coming out,” he said. “The adjustments? I’m loading up a little bit longer, striding out to really drive toward the plate by lengthening my stride six or seven inches from what it was last year.”
OK, so what did Baker say?
“The ball was coming out his hand well today,” he said. “He was getting two strikes on most everybody, but just couldn’t put them away with that third strike. He threw the ball well, but centered his pitches too much when he had two strikes. The main thing is we’re pleased with the way the ball is coming out of his hands, giving him better velocity and better rhythm and tempo. He’ll be all right. He looked pretty good.”
I’m no pitching coach and I’ll defer to Harang and Baker and Price, but sometime soon he needs to pitch some clean innings to soothe the angst of fans all over the Tri-State, some of whom are now saying, “Why didn’t they trade him to the Los Angeles Dodgers this winter when they had the chance?”
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GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Some not-so-clear thoughts after the daily 8 a.m. meeting in manager Dusty Baker’s office, attended usually by five or six bleary-eyed reporters:
IT IS 52 degrees with a threat of more rain as I put this blog together at 9 a.m.
A writer approached Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty and Jocketty said, “You need a tan.”
Said the writer, “Where am I going to get one?”
“At a tanning booth,” said Jocketty.
NEW SHORTSTOP Orlando Cabrera laughed to himself during Monday’s exhibition game in the second inning against the Kansas City Royals when Cuban Aroldis Chapman cranked off a couple of pitches at 100 miles or hour (one gun said 102).
“Chapman told me before the game that he heard people say he didn’t throw so hard in the intrasquad game, so he was going to throw a couple of pitches real hard against Kansas City,” said Cabrera. “Wow, did he ever?”
This from the chart of a scout on a string of Chapman pitches Monday: 97 fastball, 102 fastball, 98 fastball, 98 fastball, 80 change-up, 90 slider, 100 fastball.
MANAGER DUSTY BAKER on ‘B’ games played early in the morning: “If you can play at 9:30 in the morning, you can play at any time. And while those games don’t mean anything on the statistical sheets, they mean a lot to us. We’re watching them closely.”
STILL LOOKING for good non-franchise places to eat around Goodyear. Found a decent Italian place at the corner of Indian School Road (quaint name, huh) and Litchfield called Bella Luna. Had some veal that I could have cut with my ball point pen.
Found a decent place called McGrath’s Seafood, but it could be a franchise joint. I’ve never seen one anywhere else. Very affordable. I had a bowl (bowl, not cup) of delicious New England clam chowder, a salad and scallops on a skewer for $20.
BAKER HAD some good words about non-roster pitcher Phillipe Valiquette, a 23-year-old lefthanded pitcher from Montreal. He attended the same high school as Eric Gagne, Edouard Monpetit High School, where he helped lead his team to the Canadian championships in both his junior and senior season.
Valiquette, a seventh-round pick in 2004, spent his first four years in Class A and started his fifth year last season at Class A Sarasota, He was 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA in 17 games and was promoted to Class AA Carolina, where he was 1-1 with a 2.75 ERA over 27 games - all out of the bullpen.
With his glasses and stern demeanor, Valiquette looks more like a stock broker than a strike maker.
“He has good stuff, really good stuff,” said Baker. “He wants it badly, is very confident. He gets frustrated quickly because he does have such confidence and aspirations.”
The frustrations showed in his ‘B’ game appearance Monday against Milwaukee when his teammates kicked the ball around for three errors that led to a stack of unearned runs.
“It’s a matter of him finding a consistent release point and finding the plate,” Baker said. “Like a lot of young players, most pitchers are signed not as a finished product, but what they might be. I hear he has come a long way from when he first got here. He’s French Canadian, so he probably didn’t play a whole lot.”
JOSH ANDERSON is a non-roster player who is in the mix for left field, although he is less of an ingredient in that mix than, say, Jonny Gomes or Chris Dickerson.
Anderson played in Monday’s ‘B’ game and led the first inning with a single, then stole second and stole third.
“He has some skill,” said Baker. “He can run, he can throw, he is a good fielder. He’s a line drive hitter - but there is still a lot there that hasn’t been brought out yet.”
Anderson, 27, has already logged major-league time with Houston, Atlanta, Detroit and Kansas City. He stole 57 bases his senior year at Eastern Kentucky University and was the first EKU player ever named to the Louisville Slugger All-America team.
REDS OPENING DAY starter Aaron Harang stood near a fence chatting with Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin during the ‘B’ game.
“Well, I guess, from what I read everywhere, it’s the Cardinals and the Cubs in our division and nobody else,” said Melvin with a sly grin.”
Harang answered with six words: “We’ll see. We’ll see about that.” As Harang walked away, Melvin said, “Good luck this year - except when you pitch against us.”
OK, I’VE GONE to the dark side. I’m tweeting (not twittering?). Check me out at FSOhioHalMcCoy.
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