Madison graduation 2012
Warren County CC graduation
New Miami graduation 2012
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 > 19
Friday, March 19, 2010
Stubbs says, “Take that, scribes”
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Can we call it the power of the press, or the new term, the power of the internet?
On Tuesday, Drew Stubbs was 2 for 20 (.100) and the worry flag was flying. One by one, each member of the Reds media on a trip to Tucson approached Stubbs.
First it was Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Than it was me. Then it was C. Trent Rosecrans of Cnati.com. In different ways, we asked, “Hey, pal. What’s wrong with your bat? Got lead in it? Is it warped?”
Stubbs patiently answered each query with a smile and patience.
Then he played the game that day and had two hits. Then he played the next game and had two hits. And on Friday night, in front of a near full house in Goodyear Ballpark (most of them Mariners fans) he had three hits.
In those three games he had four extra base hits - two doubles, a triple and a home run, with the home run part of tonight’s 6-2 win over the Mariners.
He singled his first two times. On his third trip, he bashed one off the right-center wall and flashed his biggest asset, raw speed. He circled the bases while Ichiro chased the ball, an inside the park home run.
Suddenly, the 25-year-old first-round draft pick in 2006 is hitting .276 and has refreshed his chances of being the Opening Day center fielder.
THE REDS trailed, 1-0, going into the fifth. Chris Heisey hit a two-run homer and Stubbs struck with his inside-the-parker. In the next inning. Brandon Phillips singled and Scott Rolen homered. Laynce Nix also homered.
Before all that happened, Aaron Harang pitched five strong innings, giving up one run and six hits while walking none and striking out six.
For the most part Chris Dickerson, who mostly shared left field last year with Jonny Gomes, has played center field this year and jumped way ahead of Stubbs, hitting .385. Baker talked in riddles when asked if Dickerson is more in competition with Stubbs for center field than with Gomes in left field.
“Well, I try to play them all together — Stubbs, Gomes and Jay Bruce - so they can get a cohesive outfield going, just like our infield,” he said. “It has worked out where Dickerson has played some left, some center and some right while Stubbs has played mostly center when he played. And one day I played Dickerson in left and Stubbs in center.
“Like I told Dickerson after his comments, ‘Let’s just play.’ At this point Stubbs has come on better but so far Dickerson has outplayed him,” Baker added.
That, though, was before Stubbs’ three hits Friday night.
“We still have a couple weeks to go and unless you are a 22-year-old like Jay Bruce or a guy in the Top Ten like Joey Votto, there is always competition,” Baker said. “The thing about this game is that until people know what you can do you are always going to have to prove yourself. And after you get to that point you have to prove you still have it. It never ends.”
So what can we deduce from all this? Not much - other than there are still two weeks to go.
OUTFIELDER CHRIS Dickerson proudly displayed his NCAA bracket after Thursday’s first-round games. He was a perfect 8-for-8 in the East, including calling the upsets of Cornell over Temple, Wake Forest over Texas, Missouri over Clemson and Washington over Marquette.
DUSTY BAKER on playing outfield in Arizona: “This place will make you look like you never played outfield in your life. How many you seen lost in the sun already, four or five? Looked like Jim Edmonds the other day never caught a pop-up in his life.”
BAKER ON judging pitchers in the dry air: “Breaking balls don’t break the same down here. So sometimes it is harder to judge pitchers overall. There is no resistance in the air. It is hard to judge sinkerballers because every ball hit on the ground has a chance to go through.
“And how do you judge a fly ball pitcher? Every ball hit in the air damn near goes to the warning track,” Baker added. “Somebody hit a home run off us and I was talking to one of their coaches and he said, ‘That ball had underspin,’ and I said, ‘Bull, that ball had windspin.’”
Because of the thin, dry air here, Baker marvels at what No. 1 draft pick Mike Leake did at Arizona State in Tempe - 40-6 with a 2.91 ERA (16-1, 1.71 his last year).
“This is unlike anything anywhere else,” he said. “How about the success Leake had pitching here, especially their first 15 to 20 games are at home because they play teams coming here out of the north or east.”
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment |
TweetRandom thoughts on a cold, rainy day
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - There is a night game tonight that starts at 7:05 against Seattle (10:05 eastern) so I thought, “Great, I’ll get some sun and pool time today before going to the park.”
It was 86 yesterday. When I awoke, it was raining and cold enough that I needed a jacket for my half-mile walk to Starbuck’s. Now I’m sitting in my room pouting. So here I sit in my Speedos with no place to go.
BY THE WAY, Ken Griffey Jr. won’t be making the short trip from Peoria for the game tonight. He doesn’t travel well. In fact, he always said with a laugh when the team was in Sarasota, “If there is a bridge to cross, I don’t make road trips.” Of course, you can’t go 200 yards in the Sarasota area without crossing a bridge.
SAW AARON BOONE in camp yesterday in his new role with ESPN. He’ll be working on Baseball Tonight and he’ll be on the Monday Night Baseball broadcasts. With his knowledge and his good looks, he’ll be a natural.
Relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes walked up to greet Boone and Boone said, “Man, 50 years old and still dominating.” Said Rhodes, “Twenty-nine, my man, 29.” Actually, he is 40 - and still dominating. He has been unhittable this spring.
When someone standing near Boone asked Rhodes, “How’s it going this spring,” Rhodes gave him that glare that only Rhodes can muster and said, “Didn’t you see me yesterday?” If you went to the concession stand for an adult beverage, you missed it. Rhodes went 1-2-3 without breathing hard.
CHRIS DICKERSON picked Murray State over Vanderbilt on his bracket. He showed it to me. Back in the ’60s, when I covered University of Dayton basketball at old UD Fieldhouse, I witnessed one of the wildest collegiate basketball fights I ever saw. It involved UD and Murray State. The combatants ended up in the stands under the basket and some of the Flyer Faithful got in a few pokes.
I thought about duking it out with one of their writers, but he was a big guy with a Marine haircut and young enough that he probably had just got out of the service. No thanks.
I WROTE YESTERDAY about my two-mile walk from my hotel to the ballpark, a rather pleasant excursion, except my feet now hate me. A nice gentleman who lives in this area saw it on this blog and sent me an e-mail offering me a ride the next time I need one. People in these parts are so nice. The ushers and security folks at Goodyear Ballpark are extremely pleasant, but I still miss the good people who were ushers at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota.
As the players dressed in the clubhouse yesterday morning, there was a tape playing on one of the five 70-inch flat screen HD TVs - HBO’s East Bound and Down. It was a short-lived weekly show about a washed up baseball player named Kenny Powers. It is extremely risque and blue-tinged. The Reds players were howling in delight as they watched.
ABOUT THE only thing Aroldis Chapman seems to struggle with is his change-up. And every morning, sitting not 10 feet away from Chapman, is Reds special instructor Mario Soto, who owned one of the all-time best change-ups.
I asked Soto, “What kind of change-up does Chapman throw?”
“I don’t know,” said Soto.
“Aren’t you helping him with his change-up?” I asked.
“No,” said Soto. “Nobody has asked me. If they do, I’ll be glad to help. I’m here. They know it. But I’m not messing with that kid until they ask me.”
THANKS FOR the great response to my request for Ask Hal questions. You filled it up. Unfortunately, I received several good ones today (Friday) that won’t make the paper because I write Ask Hal on Thursday nights. But I’ll save ‘em for next week and keep ‘em coming.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment |
Tweet
