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
March 2010
Turn the clock back to ‘68 and the NIT
Permit me to retreat 42 years (if only I really could) to 1968, five years before I began covering the Cincinnati Reds baseball team.
I was covering the University of Dayton basketball team in 1968 for the Dayton Daily News, a team that won the NIT, the last Dayton team to win the NIT.
Ah, sweet (and sour) memories.
The 1967-68 Flyers, led by Don May and Bobby Joe Hooper, were supposed to be good that season, but it didn’t start the way everybody expected. It was the ’60s, a time of racial strife, and the Flyers had a couple of black players, Glinder Torain and Rudy Waterman.
Coach Don Donoher played those two a lot the first half of the season, but Torain and Waterman seemed more intent on being disruptive and selfish - and it wasn’t entirely their fault. It was the times, it was what was expected of young black athletes.
SO THE FLYERS stumbled along and suffered a pitiful loss at Eastern Kentucky in Richmond, Ky., that dropped them to 7-9. When Donoher boarded the bus for the return trip to Dayton he noticed the players sprawled all over the bus.
“Oh, no,” he said. “Everybody to the back of the bus. Double up in the seats back there. I want the stink to rub off on each other.”
So the UD charter bus did a wheelie all the way back to campus, all the weight in the back of the bus and the stink mixing with the exhaust fumes.
After that game Donoher made a decision. Torain and Waterman played very little after that and the Flyers reeled off 14 straight wins, including four straight in New York to win the 16-team NIT.
They crushed West Virginia in their first game, 82-68, a team coached by Bucky Waters. They beat the local favorite, Fordham (the Rams were good then), 61-60. They took down Notre Dame in the semifinals in overtime, 76-74, then clobbered Kansas in the finals, 61-48, a team led by All-American JoJo White, later a pro star.
It was the first year of the ‘new’ Madison Square Garden, a place that is now the ‘very old’ Madison Square Garden and it was an imposing place, one in which if you didn’t get lost at least twice you weren’t really trying.
AND IT WAS the place where I got into the only ‘fight’ of my life.
I arrived early for the final game and set up my typewriter and writing gear at a table in the press room. Then I left to wander the Garden.
When I returned, my stuff was on the floor and somebody else’s typewriter and gear was where mine once was. I started removing the stuff from the table, replacing it with my stuff, when a gruff writer from the New York Post said, “What are you doing with my stuff. That’s my seat.”
Said I, rather bravely, “No, that’s my seat. I was here first.”
Said the Post guy, “I don’t care, that’s my seat.”
Said the brave I, “I don’t see your name on it anywhere and I was here first.”
With that, the guy shoved me. I shoved back, a little harder, and he toppled over a chair. End of scuffle. He moved his stuff.
So the Flyers went on the win the NIT while I and my chair won the only scuffle I was ever in.
And now the Flyers are in the finals again, against North Carolina. Wish I was there. I’d get there early enough to claim a seat at the work table in the press room - and dare anybody to dislodge me. Maybe if I won another tussle, the Flyers can win it again.
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TweetWhy can’t the Reds manufacture runs?
Mark Fisher of Blooming, Ind., one of my regular e-mailpals, asked this question: “Whatever happened to Bob Knight?”
Whoops, wrong question. What he did say was: “Rumor has it the Cincinnati Reds have manufactured a couple of runs recently, something we have not seen much of in recent years.”
Ah, Mark. Do we detect some sarcasmic drippage?
And I couldn’t agree more over Fisher’s concern. Folks keep asking me, “Is there anything about this year’s Reds that concern you?” Indeed, there is, and it is the same concern everybody had the past few years.
THEY HAVE not been able to manufacture runs. It is the ol’ All-Or-Nothing offense. It is hit ‘em out of the park or they don’t get ‘em in style. There isn’t enough situational hitting where runners are moved up into scoring position and not enough hitting to drive them in.
With a week remaining before Opening Day, it is a gaping question. For example, the Reds lost Sunday to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1. They have played 24 games and 11 times they have scored two or less runs.
There are far too many strikeouts and not enough walks. On Sunday, they struck out 11 times. They struck out seven times in six innings against LA starter Clayton Kershaw. OK, so he is a strikeout pitcher, but the Reds also struck out four more times in the last three innings, twice in one inning against former Reds No. 5 starter Ramon Ortiz, who is not a strikeout pitcher and hasn’t appeared in a major-league game since 2007.
THE REDS ARE 9-13-2 this spring and are hitting .242, second worst in the National League and the worst belongs to the Pittsburgh Pirates (.239), who are closer to a mediocre Triple-A team than a bad major-league team.
The Reds have struck out 155 times, which is about middle of the pack for the NL, but they have walked only 79 times and that’s near the bottom.
The concern is that some of the key guys in the Reds lineup are striking out too much and/or are not hitting. Jonny Gomes and Chris Dickerson are two guys who are hitting, but Dickerson has struck out 12 times 42 at-bats and Gomes has whiffed 13 times in 44 at-bats.
Drew Stubbs has struck out 14 times in 44 at-bats and Juan Francisco has fanned 11 times in 38 at-bats.
As far as batting averages are concerned, there is concern: Brandon Phillips .128, Orland Cabrera .189, Scott Rolen .235, Joey Votto .256, Jay Bruce .250.
Anyway, those are the cold hard numbers, just a few days before things begin to count. Anybody out there besides Mark and me who are concerned about the offense?
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TweetChapman’s back puts Reds at DefCon1
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - It is DefCon1 right now inside the walls of the complex occupied by the Cincinnati Reds near Goodyear Ballpark.
Aroldis Chapman has a twinge in his back, or stiffness in his back, or tightness in his back.
Whatever, the 22-year-old Cuban lefthander was scheduled to go four innings Monday against the Colorado Rockies and could only make it through 1 2/3 innings.
Manager Dusty Baker quickly warned, “Let’s no jump to any conclusions. We took him out of the game as a precautionary measure. He had stiffness in his back and we didn’t want to make it any worse.”
Chapman stayed in the Reds dugut for nearly an inning after he was taken out with two outs in the second inning - an inning in which he gave up a three-run double and needed 31 pitches (16 strikes) to get two outs.
Then he met briefly with the media before leaving to see a doctor. He told writers he’d never had back problems, that he had felt some stiffness all last week, that he didn’t think it was serious.
It was clear right away that there was an ever-present danger. Normally, Chapman’s fasetball spins the dial at 97 to 100 miles an hour. On this day, not only was it hovering in the 93-95 range, he seldom used it and tried to get by with sliders and change-ups.
“I’m not hurt, I just had a little problem with my back, a little stiffness,” he said. “I tried to work it out, but they took me out, ‘Just in case.’ It was less effort for me to throw a slider than a fastball today.”
Pitching coach Bryan Price noticed right away that things were different with Chapman today, that he was trying to trick batters instead of blow them away like an Abrams tank. And he went to the mound just before the three-run double by Colorado’s Jorge Pacheco to tell him just that.
“I didn’t think he was attacking hitters,” said Price. “He was trying to get guys out with his change-up and sliders and I wanted to remind him, ‘You have a good fastball. Use it.’”
He didn’t. He didn’t have a good fastball this day and Jorge Pacheco cleared the bases with a three-run double.
And when he then went 2-and-1 on the next hitter manager Dusty Baker, Price and trainer Paul Lessard surrounded the 22-year-old Cuban lefthander on the mound.
Chapman admitted to the media later that his back bothered him most of last week, “But he didn’t say anything to us,” said Baker. “I guess guys from Cuba are taught not to complain or say much.
“But we could tell something was wrong the way he was wincing and walking around the mound,” Baker added. “He didn’t have his same stuff, the same fastball or anything.
“We had to pull it out of him,” said Baker. “First he said he was all right and I said, ‘No, you have to tell me the truth. Something is wrong.’”
So it is the old “day to day” for Chapman and it remains to be seen if he can make his next appearance four days from now. A lot rides on it.
THERE WERE three players removed from camp after Monday’s 9-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies. OF Chris Heisey was optioned to Class AAA Louisville, while INF Zack Cozart and INF/OF Todd Frazier were sent to minor-league camp for assignment.
THINGS ARE looking pretty dismal offensively. Same stuff for the Reds. Home run or nothing. They hit four home runs to account for all six runs Friday against Seattle in a 6-2 win. They were shut out, 6-0, Saturday by San Francisco. They played a 1-1 10-inning tie with the Chicago Cubs Sunday, with Laynce Nix’s home run providing the run. They lost Monday, 9-1, to Colorado, with Drew Stubbs hitting a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first for the only run.
Do you call that a pattern or a bad habit?
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TweetReds hang ‘Gone fishin’ sign on clubhouse door
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — For the first time this spring, the Cincinnati Reds complex will be like one of those abandoned cowboy towns in the desert, a Ghost Town.
It happens Tuesday. A day off. The first day off this spring for the Reds and manager Dusty Baker plans to hang a sign in the parking lot: “Camp Closed.”
“Looking forward to the off day, we all are,” said Baker. “It’s like, ‘You need to get out of here, son. Everybody. Get out of here.’ We’re suggesting that everybody get away. Our next off day is the day before Opening Day and that’s not an off day. We have a workout.”
Baker is headed for the Four Peaks Mountains just beyond the ball park, “On the other side, Lake Roosevelt,” he said. “I’ve borrowed an ice chest from the trainer. Optimistic? Very optimistic.”
Baker said the only time he isn’t thinking about baseball is when he is either seated in a boat or on the dock of the bay with a fishing rod and reel in his hands.
“I’ll be out there and look at my watch and say, ‘Damn, six hours and I haven’t thought about baseball once,’” he said. “I even think about baseball when I’m in church because I’m usually praying for somebody.”
Baker seemed a bit surprised when he drove to the park today and saw a billboard that read: Arizona Diamondbacks, Opening Day, 14 days.”
He shook his head and said, “Wow, two weeks from today. Let’s go, boys.”
After a short meeting with the media early today, Baker shooed us away and said, “Decisions. Decisions, decisions.” General manager Walt Jocketty was waiting to discuss some cuts. The squad was at 43 this morning and 18 need to go before Opening Day.
TRAINER PAUL LESSARD’S 14-year-old daughter, Annie, knew he would be hired by the Cincinnati Reds before he knew.
It was 2007 and Lessard was the trainer for the Boston Red Sox. He was trainer for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001 when they won the World Series. Now he was in the parade in Boston with his daughter at his side after another World Series victory.
“Annie said to me, ‘Dad, you are getting your World Series rings in alphabetical order - ‘A’ for Arizona, ‘B’ for Boston and your next one will be a team that starts with ‘C.’ I’d forgotten all about that until the Reds called me to interview for this job. My daughter said, ‘Dad, you’ve got the job. Remember? The ‘C’ ring.’ “
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TweetFossas: Been there and done that
As one might expect, Tony Fossas is a strong supporter of Aroldis Chapman, even an avid fan.
As a fellow Cuban, Fossas knows what Chapman has gone through and what he is about to go through.
Fossas has served this spring as Chapman’s confidante and interpreter with the media, doing a stand-up job. But the umbilical cord is about to be severed. After Chapman pitches Monday, Fossas leaves big-league champ to begin working with the Class A Dayton Dragons, where he is the pitching coach.
“They have some tough decisions now that they’re trying to make,” said Fossas. “They didn’t expect Aroldis to have the command he has, the control he has shown.”
The early plan was that Chapman probably would start the season at Class AA Charlotte or Class AAA Louisville. But so far this spring, Chapman stands head and shoulders, both physically at 6-4 and in results, over the other candidates for the No. 5 spot in the Cincinnati Reds rotation.
“They though he would have control problems, but he hasn’t,” said Fossas. “Even the pitches that are not strikes are close. He doesn’t throw pitches way out of the zone, way high or way wide. And I’ve noticed, too, that the spring training strike zone is very tight.”
In seven innings, Chapman has given up one run and four hits while walking only two and striking out 10.
And fans get a chance to watch Chapman Monday. The game will be televised by FoxSports Ohio at 1:05 against the Colorado Rockies, with Thom Brennaman and Jeff Brantley behind the microphones.
EMILIO ANTHONY Fossas Morejo came to the U.S. from Guanijay, Cuba in 1969 and landed in Boston.
“We used to sneak into Fenway Park to watch games when I was 10,” he said. “We would wait for school buses to pull up, then we’d get in the pack of kids going through the gates and walk right in with them. Then later I pitched for the Red Sox.”
Fossas went to the University of South Florida in Tampa, “And I promised my dad I’d be the first in my family to graduate from university,” he said.
But the Minnesota Twins drafted him his junior year and offered him $4,000. He thought about signing, but his coach at USF, Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts, called him at three in the morning and said, “I hear you are going to sign with the Twins today for $4,000. Your agent gets 10 per cent and you’ll give some to your family and then what will you have left?”
Said Fossas, “Roberts told me to call the Twins and say, ‘I’ll sign for $15,000. If you can’t do that, don’t call me again.’” Fossas did just that, “And the Twins never called me again.”
But he graduated and the Texas Rangers drafted him, but it wasn’t until he was 31 years old that he made it to the majors.
“I didn’t think Roberts liked me,” said Fossas. “He kept telling me, ‘Just throw the ball down the middle, throw it over the plate.’ I didn’t understand that. I thought he wanted me to get killed.’”
It didn’t click with Fossas until 10 years later when Ferguson Jenkins, another Hall of Famer, became his pitching coach in the majors. “He was a disciple of Robin Roberts and he, too, wanted me to throw it down the middle. He said, ‘With your stuff, just try to throw it down the middle and it won’t ever go over the middle. It’ll move away from the middle.’ That made sense. Took me 10 years to understand.”
Fossas, a soft-throwing lefthander, spent most of his career as a guy who came in to face only one or two lefthanded batters - like Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. and Mo Vaughn.
THE REDS play split-squad games March 31, one in Scottsdale against the Oakland Athletics and one in Las Vegas against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manager Dusty Baker, of course, has a plan. He’ll go to Las Vegas, “Because my family will join me there and my son (Darren) has never been to Vegas. There are some guys who want to go and some who don’t.
“I’ll use to as kind of a reward for those guys who are ahead in their work,” he said. “Guys who are a little behind or need extra work will play in the other game because they can get in the extra work they need at the complex.”
And after the ones in Vegas work on their field game, they work on their table games.
FORMER REDS pinch-hitter deluxe Lenny Harris underwent emergency quadruple bypass heart surgery yesterday after collaping on a pitching mound. He was pitching batting practice for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Good friend Barry Larkin talked to Harris today and said, “He’s doing much better. You know how strong and virile Lenny is? It was the first time I ever heard or saw him cry.”
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TweetWood, Leake (and how about St. Marys?)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The Scottsdale Stadium visitor’s clubhouse was populated Saturday by mostly Cincinnati Reds players destined to start the season at Louisville or Carolina and they sat mesmerized in front of a TV.
The St. Marys College-Villanova game was on the tube and, like most, they were shocked when SMC beat ‘Nova.
Not manager Dusty Baker.
“Yeah, California schools can’t play basketball, according to the world,” said Baker with a laugh. What Baker didn’t realize is that half the St. Marys roster comes from Australia, so tie me kangaroo down, sport.
OK, so who says the sun doesn’t set in the east? The sun is setting big-time on the Big East. As of this afternoon, six of the eight Big East schools in the NCAA suffered the same fate as ‘Nova. Thanks for coming, guys, and have a nice trip home.
BAKER SPENT most of his time before the game greeting old friends and familiar faces and when somebody said, “You know everybody,” he said, “I’ve been coming here for 30 years (as manager of the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs, both of whom train in Arizona). I know where I’m going, my family gets to come down every weekend and the short travel between camps is tremendous.”
ROOKIE PITCHERS Travis Wood and Mike Leake got a dose of life during hard times in the majors Saturday during the Reds’ 6-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants. Both gave up three runs in three innings. Wood gave up two first-inning home runs and Leake gave up seven hits.
And before people start asking how long it will be before Baker ruins those two young arms, check this out. Nearly every time this spring when Baker is asked a question about his pitchers, he says, “Check with Bryan Price (pitching coach).”
That’s the way it always is with Baker. He puts his pitchers in the hands of his pitching coach.
“Contrary to popular thinking, I let the pitching coach be the pitching coach,” said Baker. “Always. I have my own ideas about things. But that’s something that’s always been overlooked about me by almost everybody. I let the pitching coach be the pitching coach.”
BAKER’S TAKE on Jonny Gomes: “It’s on him as to what happens. The better he does, the better he plays, the more he’ll play. Last year I was spotting him where I thought he had the best chance to succeed and I thought we both did a good job at that (20 homers in 286 at-bats).
“He’s lost some weight this year and it seems as if he is running better,” Baker added. “He has worked hard on his defense to get better. Jonny knows this is an opportunity for him to put himself back on the map because he didn’t have a good year for about three years.
“He had one pretty good year and that doesn’t sell baseball people,” Baker added. “You have two pretty good years and then they say, ‘OK, he’s back.’ So this is an important year for Jonny to re-establish himself as a quality player.
“And he’s a great guy, a guy who gives you everything he has. In a battle, he has your back. He is the kind of guy I’d want in a foxhole with me and that means a lot to me.”
TODD FRAZIER watched Zack Cozart pull a can of soda out of a clubhouse refrigerator and Frazier said, “You’re drinking Mountain Dew? You want your teeth to rot out?”
BULLPEN COACH Porky Lopez lifted the lid on a simmering pot in the clubhouse and glanced at the contests.
“Looks like somebody vomited in here,” he said. Smelled like it, too. And how’s your dinner tonight? Baker did have some of his homemade gumbo in the clubhouse and it smelled delicious and his son, Darren said, “It’s great. My dad made it.”
OH, YEAH, some of the players the Reds sent to face the San Francisco Giants today in packed Scottsdale Stadium: Zack Cozart, Eric Eymann, Kris Negron, Danny Dorn, Denis Phipps, Luis Terrero, Jesus Delgado, Justin Freeman, Logan Ondrdusek and Lee Tabor.
I thought I’d come to the wrong ballpark. And no wonder the Reds had only four hits.
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TweetStubbs 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.”
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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.
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TweetAll Aroldis, all the time (that’s good)
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - It’s all Aroldis all the time. And isn’t that good thing? When is the last time the Cincinnati Reds generated this much interest in spring training?
How about back to the time of the Big Red Machine?
Whenever Aroldis Chapman pitches, a few national columnists and reporters pop in to watch the kid with the longest legs this side of a giraffe.
And the more he pitches the more he impresses. People wonder if he’ll be the No. 5 starter? Well, from what I’ve seen, why not No. 1?
What I’d do, based on what I’ve witnessed, is start him in Game 2 of the season. Opening day is a sellout already. If they started Chapman in Game 2, they’d have another sellout and CEO Bob Castellini would be thrilled that he is getting a big bang for his big bucks ($30.25 million).
In his last episode, Chapman gave up a leadoff home run to Milwaukee’s Rickie Weeks, then got a fly ball, then bowed his back and struck out five of the next six hitters. And most of them were Brewers regulars who had absolutely zero chance to put bat upon ball.
SOMEBODY ASKED manager Dusty Baker what his reaction was when he heard that the Reds had signed the lefthanded Cuban defector.
“My reaction was that I was pleasantly surprised but I didn’t know what I was supposed to be surprised about,” said Baker. “That was my reaction. I hadn’t seen him pitch. I’d heard about him, but you hear about a lot of people.”
And now, after he has seen him pitch?
“Pleased now? Oh, yeah,” he said. “It couldn’t do anything but increase. It is increasing even more because the more you get to see him the more you know. I hear he gets stronger as the game goes on. So you try to find that out. We still have a lot to find out - what his maximum work load is, his capacity.
“And do you rescue him when he is in trouble?” Baker added. “After he walks two or three, do you go get him or is he a guy like (Houston legend) J.R. Richard who could walk the bases loaded then strike ‘em all out?”
So far in three appearances over seven innings, Chapman has walked only two while striking out 10, giving up one run for a 1.29 ERA.
“Hey, we still have a lot to learn about him,” Baker said. What nobody has to learn is that he throws consistently at 98 miles an hour and raises the stakes to 100 miles an hour every now and then.
BAKER EXCUSED the media from his office this morning and set about doing an unpleasant task: telling about a dozen players to move their stuff to the minor-league camp.
“Not a pleasant day,” he said. “No matter how long you do it, it is not pleasant and there is no easy way to do it, even though some know they probably will go.
“It’s the toughest day of the spring because I recall when I was there in the same situation,” he said. “Especially the way everybody has busted their tails this spring. A great camp. We have some fine young men of high character.
“My first cut? Oh, yeah. It wasn’t a surprise. It was expected,” said Baker. “The tough one is when you get to the last cut and don’t make it. I remember when they told me to ship my car north because I made the team at 8 o’clock. At 4 o’clock my car was gone and I was back off the team. They changed their minds.”
The early cuts this morning: Optioned to Louisville IF Yonder Alonso and LHP Bill Bray; optioned to Carolina RHP Jordan Smith and LHP Philippe Valiquette; assigned to Louisville RHP Jon Adkins and OF Josh Anderson. There are 48 players left in Major League camp.
DUE TO A communications mix-up, my ride didn’t show up at the hotel this morning, so I hoofed the two miles to the complex. Took just about an hour, but my wife isn’t going to like what I did to the new Puma shoes she bought for me.
While I need the exercise, my feet are plenty angry at me right now.
Saw some interesting stuff here in Goodyear - mostly a whole bunch of empty storefronts and a whole bunch of empty condominiums. And for at least half the trip there were no sidewalks down Estrella Parkway and I was walking on the desert sand or on a bike path.
Darn, I didn’t know my backpack was that heavy.
OK, WHERE are those questions for Ask Hal. Still time for you to make Sunday’s paper. Send ‘em to halmccoy@hotmail.com.
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TweetWho do you want covering your back?
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - During a lull in the action at Tucson Tuesday (There is always a lull in the action at spring training games), somebody wondered: “If there is a fight involving the Cincinnati Reds, who is the guy you want on your side?”
The winner? Jonny Gomes, hand down (or hands up, formed in fist).
What we couldn’t determine is who would be No. 2.
When Gomes was presented the question, he said, “You don’t need to go beyond No. 1. Maybe I’m No. 2, too.”
Then the options were weighed. Scott Rolen was mentioned and Gomes said, “Yeah, I’m sure he can take a punch. Somebody mentioned that Arthur Rhodes would stare ‘em down. Laynce Nix was mentioned and Gomes said, “I’d let him watch my back.”
With a gleam in his eye, Gomes said, “How about D-Ray? He’d bite some ankles.” The reference was to Short Stuff - 5-foot-6 left handed pitcher Daniel Ray Herrera.
After saying, “I’m a lover, not a fighter,” Gomes said, “I probably led the minors and maybe the majors in getting hit most by pitches without charging the mound. I got hit three times in one minor-league game and all I did was drop my stuff and trot to first base. All the fights I’ve been in comes from covering my teammates’ backs, helping my gteammates.”
The original discussion also involved all-time Reds and my nomination won - Kevin Mitchell, who once punched out his manager, Davey Johnson. And Mitchell once allegedly cut off the head of his girl friend’s cat.
Gomes and Mitchell are close friends and Gomes said, “Oh, yeah. I go with Mitch. And before you get to him, you’d have to go through that posse he always had with him, his entourage - not that he needed it.”
MANAGER DUSTY BAKER was chewing on his breakfast this morning as he talked to the media and said, “I apologize for eating in front of you guys while I talk. The clubhouse kitchen closes at 9:45 and I can’t be seen walking out of there with food at 9:50 - especially when it’s my rule.”
TWO BLASTS from the past showed up in camp Wednesday, pitchers Jack Billingham and Jim Maloney. Maloney was one of the original bonus babies. When a team signed a player to a large bonus, he had to stay with the major-league team for an entire season. Maloney was worth every penny, nickel, dime, quarter and dollar.
FORMER OAKLAND star Tony Phillips lives in the Phoenix area and has spent all spring working with the Reds as a guest instructor. He walked by an old acquaintance in the clubhouse this morning and the man said, “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in green.”
Said Phillips, dressed head-to-toe in red, quickly said, “Hey, lots of tradition in this red, The Big Red Machine. I’m proud to wear this red.”
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TweetA quick trip to Tucson, Arizona
TUCSON, Ariz. - At the risk of sounding like Dan Fogelberg singing about Tucson, Ariz., I offer the following after a quick glimpse of this jewel in the desert:
As part of my never-ending search for adventure and knowledge, I made the 2 1/2-hour ride today from Goodyear to Tucson, a drive across I-10. And what did I see? Sand, cacti and a few small mountains.
I’ve never been to Tucson, so it was an adventure. Actually, I loved the drive across the desert and even snapped a few photos out the car window.
Also saw an In-n’-Out burger right near Tucson Electric Park, which is big for the return trip home. And the view outside the press box is spectacular behind the left field fence. There is the Santa Catalina Mountains, topped by snow-capped Mount Lemmon, supposedly the southern-most ski resort in the U.S.
Man, here I am, sitting in the middle of a desert looking up at a mountain with a 17-inch snow base. Does it get any better than that?
Well, maybe the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, but not by much.
THE REDS play the Arizona Diamondbacks here today with some notable events scheduled: Todd Frazier as DH and Juan Francisco in the outfield.
For Frazier, it is the fourth “position” this spring - 2B, 3B, 1B and DH.
“For us, DH is just to get players at-bats,” said manager Dusty Baker. But he admits, for now, that Frazier is A Man Without a Position.
“We still don’t know about him yet. We’re trying to come up with a position. Or does he play everywhere,” said Baker. “What position is he best suited for. He has a very interesting history (of playing everywhere), but we’d like to come up with a position. You’ve seen some life from his bat.”
So far this spring, Frazier is .250 and says, “I’ll play wherever they want, as long as I get some at-bats.”
SOME NOTABLE NUMBERS: Brandon Phillips started 0 for 14 before he got two hits and is hitting .118. Scott Rolen is hitting .176. Joey Votto is hitting .200. Drew Stubbs is hitting .100.
Chris Dickerson is hitting .429, Jay Bruce is hitting .350, Orlando Cabrera is hitting .313, Jonny Gomes is hitting .333, Paul Janish is hitting .333.
“You don’t go by the numbers with guys with proven records. If you did you would be worrying about Brandon Phillips, Scott Rolen and Joey Votto,” said manager Dusty Baker. “But they have proven track records.”
AN IDEA that makes sense from Baker: “Why not play more night games during spring training? (They Reds have two this spring). I’ll play all the main guys Friday in a night game against Seattle,” said Baker. “They need to get their night vision. We play all these games in the glaring sun, then the season starts and we play five games a week at night.”
Baker talked about how most regular season games are at night, meaning players sleep in late the next day. “We’re on the swing shift in baseball,” he said. “We’re 3 to 11 people. Of course, my wife says I have no trouble getting up at 4 a.m. to go hunting and fishing. She’s right. I’m awake before the alarm goes off.”
PITCHER CARLOS Fisher left a game against the Dodgers in Glendale last week with some soreness and the right handed relief pitcher is still sore and unable to pitch. His soreness is in the upper arm muscle.
GREAT RESPONSE last week to my request for Ask Hal questions. Great job. Now let’s do it again. If yours didn’t make it, keep trying. There has to be something you want to know about concerning baseball, the Reds, baseball writing. Send ‘em to me at halmccoy@hotmal.com.
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TweetJordan Smith learns a closer’s lesson
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Jordan Smith was confident and nearly defiant the morning after - which is a good thing after what he endured Sunday afternoon as the sun settled over the desert.
It almost felt as if the sun was settling on his just-starting career as he faced the Chicago White Sox in the ninth inning with a four-run lead.
And he quickly retired the first two batters. Then, in his own words, “The wheels fell off the carriage.”
He walked Jordan Dank, “And they started to smell blood.”
Smell it? The White Sox swam in it like a school of sharks, ripping four straight hits to tie the game, 5-5.
AS MANAGER Dusty Baker said, “It is all part of the learning process. That’s the life of a relief pitcher and you have to immediately forget yesterday. That’s the biggest part of being a reliever.”
It’s all new to Smith. He was a catcher in college at Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, “And they turned me into a pitcher my sophomore year, somewhat of a closer. Then the Reds drafted me and turned me into a starting pitcher,” he said.
The 6-4, 220-pound righthander, the best basxeball player ever to come out of American Fork, Utah, was a sixth round pick in 2006 and has been a starter for four years in the minors - 74 appearances, 74 starts, including26 for the 2007 Dayton Dragons when he was 10-6 with a 3.84 ERA.
Now the Reds believe he has closer stuff, “One of the heaviest sinkers in camp,” said manager Dusty Baker. “You like that in a closer because he doesn’t give up many home runs and gets a lot of ground balls to get out of trouble, a lot of double plays.”
SO THERE WAS Smith Sunday, standing on the mound giving up hit after hit and run after run as the White Sox played baseball Merry-Go-Round.
“Jordan Smith has the stuff for a closer,” said Baker. “And what happened to him is when you find out what the kid is made of. We’ll get him back out there quickly, probably Tuesday in Tucson.
“You learn a lot more from the bad outings than the good ones,” Baker continued. “Remember last spring when we let Homer Bailey take a beating? But it’s tough to watch, like watching a kid get beat up.”
Smith seemed non-plussed Monday morning, but for sure his pillow took a pounding last night.
“I love coming out of the ‘pen, I feed off that,” he said with a defiant look. “Closers and late-inning guys walk a tight rope. If you can’t handle the pain, you can’t play the game.”
NOW THERE is a kid who instead of resembling a deer in the headlights is an elephant standing in front of a bicycle.
“You just have to get back out there and kick somebody’s butt,” he said. “You can’t worry about getting your butt kicked. You get back in the ring and say, ‘Let’s go.’
“Being a closer, you are going to blow saves,” he added. “The good ones blow, well, not very many, but you are going to blow some. And that’s my job. Don’t blow saves.”
With that he pounded his glove and marched toward the field, looking for somebody’s butt to kick.
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TweetHarang gets an ‘A’ in a ‘B’ game
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - It is evident it is a ‘B’ game when opposing players wear uniforms with the numbers in the 80’s and 90’s and their names are not on it.
That didn’t matter at all to Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aaron Harang Sunday morning at Field No. 1 at the spring training complex.
Harang faced a Cleveland Indians ‘B’ lineup sprinkled with unfamiliar names, other than Travis Hafner, who batted in each of the three innings to get at-bats. Harang walked him and retired him twice.
Harang pitched 4 1/3 innings, 62 innings worth, giving up no runs, two hits, two walks and he struck out two. Then he pronounced himself satisfied with his morning work.
Harang pitched four innings and after the third out pitching coach Bryan Price yelled for everybody to stay on the field so Harang could face a couple more hitters. He gave up his second hit then retired a batter on a deep fly to center.
“In ‘B’ games it’s nice because it is a controlled atmosphere and it lets you get your full work in and your full amount of innings in,” said Harang. About Hafner batting every inning, Harang said, “It’s good to see some familiar guys, some big-league guys getting extra at-bats.
“I felt like I was getting ahead early,” he said. “We were tinkering with some things and sometimes I felt as if I was rushing things, but I was able to get back under control, gain my composure and get right back on track. I worked on throwing some change-ups early in the count. It’s something you work on to take into the season.
“I felt good,” he added. “I’m still working on a few changes that we’ve made and there is still work to be done there.”
WHEN HARANG left the game the Reds ‘B Boys’ led, 3-0, with Juan Francisco hitting a two-run home run - his third homer in two days.
ONCE EVERY four full moons, Paul Janish hits a home run. It was daylight Saturday, so a moon check wasn’t possible when Janish cleared the left field fence for a home run in Mesa against the Chicago Cubs.
“I’m competing in camp with Juan Francisco as the young power prospects,” Janish said with a laugh.
While Janish hit a wall-scraper Saturday, Francisco launched two space shuttles for home runs.
“That guy has power from foul pole to foul pole,” Janish said, talking about the 22-year-old Francisco, a rookie third baseman. “And any pitch that isn’t in the dirt he can knock out of the park. With him, the adage is true - any moving bat is a dangerous bat.”
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TweetSweet Lou’s margarita advice
MESA, Ariz. - Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella never changes - and that’s a good thing.
The former Reds manager was at HoHoKam Park Sunday for a game against the Cincinnati Reds while half of his team was in Las Vegas for a split-squad game in Las Vegas. Asked why he wasn’t in Vegas, Piniella said, “Because I know I’m keeping about $2,000 or $3,000 in my pocket.”
Piniella recommended a Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale - couldn’t remember the name other than, “It is about a block north of Camelback Road on Scottsdale Road,” and that it has wonderful margaritas. I tell my players about drinking margaritas down here, “Drink one, sip the second one and refuse the third one.”
On a serious note, Piniella asked how new Reds pitching coach Brian Price is doing and said, “I had him as a coach. A great guy, very articulate, very smart - a University of California graduate. He’ll do a great job for the Reds.”
Price was pleased to hear Piniella’s words and said, “I worked with him in Seattle from 2000 to 2002 and it was a pleasure. Lou and I were tight, very close. I heard a lot about how rough he was on his pitching coaches, but I didn’t see that. I loved his intensity in the dugout. He is a quality manager and a quality man.”
SCOTT ROLEN was supposed to play today, but was left back in Goodyear to rest. His replacement, Juan Francisco, homered in the second inning and homered again in the fourth. Rolen isn’t hurt.
“Scott has been playing a lot, plus we have tough schedule this week,” said manager Dusty Baker. “We have a ‘B’ game tomorrow in addition to an ‘A’ game and everybody is going to play, we have a trip to Tucson (two-hour bus ride) Tuesday and a split-squad day-night doubleheader Wednesday. And then we have Investors’ Week.”
Francisco’s two homers were torched and Baker said, “Francisco came out of it in a big way. That’s a strong young man and when he hits ‘em he really hits ‘em.”
CEO Bob Castellini brings all the minority owners to famp for fun and games, “A lot of playing and entertaining at the same time,” said Baker.
BAKER’S take on the calendar down here: “I never know what day it is. All the days are just alike. You play every day and everything is the same.”
BARRY LARKIN is in camp for the next 10 days as a guest instructor and was proud to put on his old Cincinnati uniform No. 11.
“I had an opportunity to play for the Washington Nationals in 2005 and when I saw Larkin and ‘11’ on the back of their uniform I told them, ‘I can’t put this uniform on.’ I couldn’t do it.”
“They had the uniform hanging in a locker and I went up there to Vierra, Fla. and sat in my locker and looked at it and said, ‘Hmmm, something is just not right about this.’
Larkin played shortstop 19 seasons for the Reds and was the last player to wear the captain’s wishbone-C on his chest.
Larkin’s 17-year-old son, Shane, is a highly-recruited basketball plaer, 6-0 point guard. “And what makes me really proud is that he is being recruited by Harvard, Cal-Berkley and Stanford,” said Larkin.
THE REDS first experience of the spring against the Chicago Cubs, a fellow NL Central occupant, was not pleasant.
After leading 3-0 and 4-1, the Reds were ripped, 11-4. Micah Owings gave up a three-run home run and Jon Adkins gave up five runs and seven hits in one-plus innings.
ON THE POSITIVE side, Homer Bailey held the Cubs to one run and three hits in his three innings in front of 11,825. His first two starts this spring were in an intrasquad game and in a ‘B’ game attended by zero fans.
“I’m under the radar,” Bailey said with a smile. “Chapman is going through a lot (as Bailey did) and throwing really well. That’s good to see. I don’t know what the plans are for that fifth spot in the rotation and it’s none of my business.
“But, if not this year, definitely he is going to help this team out very soon,” said Bailey, who helped this team out in the second half of last season with a 6-1 record and 1.70 earned run average over his last nine start.
“Homer threw the ball excellently - good velocity, good location,” said manager Dusty Baker. “He was throwing as well as I’ve seen him. After that, it got rough for us.”
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TweetWhy is somebody from Cuba named Chapman?
PHOENIX, Ariz. -Every time Aroldis Chapman sneezes, a writer is close enough to say, “Bless you,” even though Chapman doesn’t understand a word of it.
Through interpreter Tony Fossas, the Dayton Dragons pitching coach, Chapman was asked if he is already tired of the attention and he said, clearing in English (which in this case also was Spanish), “No, no, no.”
Catcher Ramon Hernandez heard it and said, “He doesn’t understand English so he has no idea what is going on around him.”
Manager Dusty Baker made a solid point about the 22-year-old lefthanded Cuban defector: “If he didn’t sign for all that money ($30.25 million), nobody would know about him or be paying attention to him.”
Well, maybe. Maybe not.
When you throw 100 miles an hour fastballs, 90 miles an hour sliders and 80 miles an hour change-ups, it is hard not to gather notice.
Chapman pitched two more scoreless innings (two infield hits, two strikeouts, 35 pitches, 20 strikes) as the Cincinnati Reds beat a Los Angeles Dodgers split squad, 3-2.
What was impressive is that in his second inning, Chapman faced three Dodgers regulars. Andre Ethier fouled out on the second pitch. Matt Kept swung and missed a 3-and-2 change-up. Casey Blake took a 3-and-2 change-up for strike three, a change-up thrown so hard that most thought it was a 90 miles an hour slider.
Impressive.
OK, QUICK question. How can a Cuban be named Chapman?
“My ancestors are from Jamaica and moved to Cuba,” said Chapman. OK, mon, so who in Jamaica is named Chapman. I digress.
Chapman fiddled and fuddled with his breaking pitches, sliders, most of the day and showed frustration and irritation at times Friday.
“Personally, I felt good, but I missed a couple of pitches that I was trying to put over the plate but they went the other way,” he said. “The last couple of games I have not used the break ball at all, so I wanted to throw more on the last couple of hitters so I could work on them.”
AND SPEAKING of attentive media, mostly out-of-town guys seem intent on trying to get manager Dusty Baker to commit to sticking Chapman in the rotation and he won’t bite.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The main thing is we have to keep him in the rotation and see how he does. See how he is because we don’t really know what we have yet.
“Possibly everybody is getting ahead of themselves with this kid,” Baker added. With what Chapman has done so far, mainly spin the dials on radar guns, Baker was asked if he understands the super-hype and the massive attention.
“Yeah, I understand it,” Baker said. “But I don’t have to adhere to it. First, we want him to fit in with the guys. We got him to pitch and let’s let him pitch right now.”
JONNY GOMES hit a two-run homer, his second this spring (Shouldn’t he be the starting left fielder, left handed pitcher or right handed pitcher?) and Chris Heisey cracked a solo shot for the three Reds runs and a 3-0 lead trudging into the ninth. But Carlos Fisher gave up two in the ninth and Justin Smith came on with the tying run on first and got the last out.
Bronson Arroyo got the win with three scoreless innings as the starter.
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TweetArroyo sings but he doesn’t strum
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Bronson Arroyo sang six songs at Woodjock Thursday night in Scottsdale, but he did NOT play the guitar.
And he wants to emphasize that to Cincinnati Reds CEO Bob Castellini, “I did NOT play the guitar. And I didn’t even want to play the guitar.”
Arroyo and the Reds traced a bout with carpal tunnel syndrome in his pitching wrist last spring to plunking guitar strings.
“If somebody had got me on film playing the guitar, Mr. Castellini would have called me to his Sanctuary (Castellini’s Phoenix resort) and thrown me off the top of a cliff behind his house, I might not have been able to come back.”
Woodjock was a charity event put on by pitcher Jake Peavy with major-leaguers performing. “I sang four of my songs and two that Barry Zito and Brian Meadows were supposed to sing, but didn’t. Zito plays the drums now.”
Arroyo laughed and said, “Zito, Peavy and I all pitch today, so we’ll see if we can get anybody out.”
DODGER GENERAL MANAGER Ned Colletti is in Phoenix while half the Dodgers are in Taiwan for a three-game exhibition series. Asked why he isn’t in Taiwan, Colletti said, “I’m good a multi-tasking, but I’m not good at multi-continents. Besides, we played Kansas City the other day and do you want me to miss that?”
NICK JONAS of the Jonas Brothers, dressed in Dodgers uniform No. 92, took batting practice today (welcome to Hollywood South). Not a bad stroke. But he took heavy ribbing when he broke his bat. Asked if Jonas is a prospect, Colletti said, “Depends on what field you’re talking about?”
FORMER REDS infielder Mariano Duncan is a coach with the Dodgers and looks as if he could still hlit .300. “Not me, he said. “My time is over.”
When Duncan played for the Reds, they often did calisthenics in the clubhouse and had to clear writers out of their way. It was always Duncan who yelled, “Hey, writers. I love you guys, but get the hell out.”
FORMER REDS Barry Larkin and Sean Casey are in camp for a few days as guest instructors. Joe Morgan was in camp for a day earlier this spring.
“Larkin knows when to go after people and when to lay back,” said manager Dusty Baker. “Nice to see him and Sean Casey in camp. That’s all part of the rebuilding process around here.
“How many guys get to be around players who they tried to play like when they were kids, like Brandon Phillips?” asked Baker. “Larkin was Brandon’s childhood idol. “We have Larkin, Casey, Cesar Geronimo, George Foster, Morgan, Mario Soto, Jim Maloney, Tom Browning and Jack Billingham hanging around at different times. If they can say or do one thing, it might help a get a kid’s career jump-started or help them figure it out.”
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TweetJust call him Yonder from “The U”
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Yonder Alonso is one of those guys who is very proud to come from the University of Miami, one of those guys who refers to the school as “The U” and expects everybody to know what that means.
Alonso, who ripped a long double up the left field gap Wednesday against the Angels, sent a text this morning to Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun with the message, “We’re going to mess you up today.”
Braun also is a product of ‘The U,’ but if the Reds do “mess up” the Brewers today it will be without Braun. He didn’t make the 15-minute bus trip from Maryvale.
IN SEATTLE there is a Starbuck’s on every corner. In Boston, there is a Dunkin’ Donuts on every corner. In Phoenix, there is a Mexican restaurant on every corner and tonight I am going to try one that comes highly recommended from broadcaster Marty Brennaman: “The best Mexican restaurant ever.”
It’s called called Raul & Teresa’s and it sits in the middle of nowhere at the base of the Estrella Mountains just a couple of miles from here. Like most good Mexican restaurants it is not much more than a hole in the wall and you enter through a pair of swinging half-doors like you see in western movies. Think I’ll have me a sarsaparilla or two.
TODD FRAZIER got hit in the buttocks with a pitch Wednesday in Tempe by lefthander Trevor Reckling, a fellow New Jersey native. Lefthanded teammate Aroldis Chapman drilled Frazier last week in an intrasquad game.
“They just scrubbed the target off my back,” said Frazier. “What is it with lefthanders and me? With the one yesterday I didn’t know what to do. That one came whizzing through the batter’s box.”
A couple of days ago manager Dusty Baker called Frazier, Juan Francisco, Chris Heisey and Yonder Alonso into his office for a chit-chat, telling them to relax and quit trying to make the team with one swing of the bat.
“Basically, he just told us to relax — which is the name of the game, man,” said Frazier. “We’re playing baseball, a game we love and enjoy, and that makes tons of sense. You just want to make an impact and when you are relaxed and having fun, that’s what is going to happen. I’m having so much fun. This is great.”
THE REDS made their first cuts of the spring, trimming four non-roster invitees - catcher Chris Denove, catcher Brandon Yarbrough, Dutch pitcher Alexander Smit and pitcher Jose Arredondo and outfielder Danny Dorn.
Dorn, though, made an impression on Baker during a stint at first base. “He impress me,” said Baker. “Right now it is a matter of numbers and how much playing time he was going to get. He recognized pitches as quickly as any of the young players we have here. Plus, he big-time got better at first base.
“He told me he hadn’t play first base before, other than a little bit in high school,” Baker added. “That’s a little strange for a guy who is lefthanded, but he said he played corner outfield all the time. He said in high school they had another lefthanded kid who could super hit but couldn’t play any other position but first base.”
BRONSON ARROYO is supposed to sing tonight at Woodjock in Scottsdale, a charity event put on by pitcher Jake Peavy. Former Yankee Bernie Williams is scheduled to sing, too.
Well, obviously Arroyo practiced too much. His voice was scratchy this morning and he was trying not to talk and said, “I’m trying to save my voice, man.”
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TweetLeake, Phillips plus some controversy
TEMPE, Ariz. — MIke Leake is a first-round draft pick from last June and pretty much has been ignored by the media this spring, not hounded as are most No. 1s, probably because of the heavily focused attention on Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman.
And that’s OK with Leake, although Reds manager Dusty Baker says, “He isn’t one that needs much attention.”
Just a couple of blocks away from Tempe Diablo Stadium, about five minutes by fast car with no traffic, Leake pitched for Arizona State University, compiling a 40-6 record.
He is scheduled to pitch today for the Cincinnati Reds, and before the game he was leaning on the dugout railing. Somebody said, “You’re probably pretty big around here, aren’t you?” He smiled and said, “Like Godzilla.”
About that time, a fan wearing an Arizona State sweat shirt and ASU hat yelled, “Hey, Mike. Go get ‘em!”
OF LEAKE, Baker said, “He has that quiet confidence. He has a great idea about how to pitch at such a young age (22). He has great command of the strike zone. I remember talking to Bob Welch (former Dodgers, A’s pitcher) who saw him at ASU and he told me, ‘You’re going to like this young man. He keeps that cheese around the knees.’
“What I’ve noticed about him is that unlike most young guys he recognized very quickly how a hitter reacts to a certain pitch,” Baker added. “He doesn’t throw a fastball past a hitter then come in with a breaking pitch to let a hitter catch up. Nor does he throw a breaking pitch that a hitter is way out in front of then come back with a fastball that enables the hitter to adjust.”
Asked about Leake being able to hide behind Chapman, Baker said, “I don’t think he is an attention guy. I talked to Bronson Arroyo and he said, ‘I like this guy and I haven’t even seen him pitch yet.’ “
THERE WAS no infield practice in Tempe Diablo Stadium before Wednesday’s game and second baseman Brandon Phillips said, “Oh, great. We don’t get to see how the ball bounces on this field? They don’t call it Diablo Stadium for nothing.”
I had two years of Spanish at Kent State University, back in the Dark Ages just after they quit calling it Kent State Normal College, but I had to ask C. Trent Rosecrans of Cnati.com what it meant.
He told me, “Devil.” Oh.
Phillips, an avid bowler, went bowling Sunday after a game with Milwaukee was rained out. Said the man who has three 300 games, “I bowled 225 and 205, then we had a little family match and they made me bowl between my legs. I bowled 154.”
SAW MY first body of water in Arizona today — a large mud puddle in the center field parking lot. Of course, I stepped in it.
A BIT OF controversy today that Baker wouldn’t step into. Baker and several other baseball people were involved in a round-table discussion recently in Scottsdale about what can be done to improve the game.
Torii Hunter of the Angels was involved in the discussion, and some time during the night a comment was made about Dominican and Latin American players. Somebody allegedly said something about Dominicans not really being blacks and Hunter, an African American, added a comment, but it was Hunter who was quoted in a newspaper story.
Hunter was livid Wednesday in the Angels camps and several writers asked Baker about it.
“I was there at the round table, but I left before that subject came up,” said Baker. “Torii is one of the most respected guys in the game by all races. I hope he is making light of their situation and it came out wrong or was interpreted wrong. I know Torii pretty well and he has a lot of Latin American friends.
“You hate to see any division of the races in baseball,” Baker added. “Especially in this world today. Torii is usually one of the guys who brings people of all races together. Like everything else, this too shall pass.”
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TweetNo 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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TweetRandom thoughts while trying to stay warm
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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TweetChapman hits 102 (maybe) … 100 (for sure)
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Homer Bailey throws two perfect innings during an early-morning ‘B’ game before the frozen dew thaws and that isn’t big news.
Bronson Arroyo throws two perfect innings in the ‘A’ game under cloudy skies and a chill breeze and that isn’t big news, either.
Two words. Aroldis Chapman.
Chapman gave up a hit and a walk, but he had the scouts behind the plate banging their radar guns with their fists to make sure the numbers weren’t stuck. One scout recorded a Chapman fastball at 102 miles an hour. One-oh-two. And the same scouts had him throwing another pitch at 100.
Several scouts caught the 100 reading, but only one had the 102 recording.
Chapman, facing major-league hitters for the first time, gave up no runs and struck out three — 26 pitches, 15 strikes.
THE HIT came off the bat of Kansas City catcher Bryan Pena, a fellow Cuban and friend. Pena was Chapman’s catcher during Chapman’s tryout for major-league teams in Arizona in December. And the two will have dinner together tonight,.
BAILEY APPEARS to have packed his new, improved version and shipped it with him to not-so-sunny (and cold) Arizona. But it’s a dry cold, right?
Bailey pitched in a 9:30 a.m. ‘B’ game today and pitched just the way he pitched in his last nine starts of 2009. He faced the Kansas City Royals on Field One at Goodyear Ballpark - witnessed only by a gaggle of Major League scouts, plus Reds and Brewers officials and the media - and went six up and six down, with three strikeouts.
One of the strikeouts was on the split-fingered fastball he added to his repertoire last season.
Bailey, only 23 and pitching in his fourth major-league season, was 6-1 with a 1.70 ERA in his last nine starts of 2009 and it looks as if it is carrying over. He gets it.
“The thing I’m seeing with Homer is that he has learned that he has a routine,” said manager Dusty Baker. “That’s why he preferred to pitch in the ‘B’ game, so he could get into his routine as a starter. They say sameness is greatness. He is into a regimen and that wasn’t really Homer in the past. That shows he is very serious and is interested in being good in this game.
“He’s a man now, he has grown up,” said Baker. “I mean, as we have talked about, he has been around a long time and he is only 23. Where were you at 23 - probably still hanging in a bar somewhere?”
Yikes. So now Baker is doing background checks on writers?
“We expect a lot of things out of people just because they’ve been around a long time or have a lot of money,” said Baker. “Remember, they are not being paid to be mature, they’re being paid to pitch well. I’ve seen a lot of very good pitchers who aren’t mature. But you hope they mature and Homer has.”
AFTER HIS outing, Bailey said his mission today was, “To keep the ball down, get my form and it was good to work with (catcher) Ryan Hanigan. I did keep the ball down and my secondary pitches (slider, split) were pretty good.”
Bailey laughed when asked about the new split-finger and how much better it should be this year now that he has worked with it. “There’s no telling. It may get worse.”
Doubtful.
“It has come along pretty good, like all my other pitches, even though it’s fairly new,” said Bailey. “It was comfortable for me to learn and now I use it as just any other pitch.”
AND ABOUT developing a routine, Bailey said, “I was going to throw after Bronson Arroyo in the ‘A’ game and I volunteered to start the early-morning game so I can get used to the time I need to be stretched, what time I need to be out there, what time I need to start throwing in a bullpen to warm up - all the things you do before starting a game. It’s all about preparing to start a game, which is as important as anything.”
See? Classic maturity.
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TweetDel Rosario’s background helps him mature
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Enerio Del Rosario speaks no English, but that doesn’t mean he and fellow Dominican Pedro Viola don’t understand what it takes to catch a manager’s eye when they aren’t on the pitching mound breaking off knee-buckling sliders and slinging searing fastballs.
Manager Dusty Baker notices that when the pitchers run, Del Rosario and Viola are always at the front of the pack, start to finish, like a pair of Kenyan marathoners.
“I was talking to (Dominican roving pitching instructor) Mario Soto and he was telling me that Del Rosario was close to being sent home, sent back to poverty (in El Seibo, D.R.),” said Baker. “And then Tom Brown dropped him down and he played rookie ball for three years.”
Then, as Baker likes to say: “Bam.”
“He went from A ball to AA ball to AAA ball in one year (2009), just like that,” Baker added. Del Rosario, a 24-year-old thermometer-thin 6-2, 165-pound lefthanded relief pitcher, started last season at Class A Sarasota. When he went 2-1 with a 1.98 ERA in 31 games, he was boosted to Class AA Carolina.
He was only in the Southern League for four games and posted a 1.59 ERA (no walks, nine strikeouts) and was zipped up to Class AAA Louisville, where he finished the season by splicing a 1-0 record and a 1.09 ERA in 15 games.
“Here he is now and I see one of the hardest-working guys in camp,” said Baker. “Those are the kinds of things that impress you, you know these guys are hungry.”
That’s literally and figuratively.
Del Rosario’s name came up after Baker was describing how players mature and develop in different ways.
“You hope their arm remains strong when their head catches up to their arm,” said Baker. “If you can do that, then you have action. Sometimes you don’t figure it out until you get sent home when you’re playing in a beer league someplace. I tell our guys just don’t be one of those gimme-another-chance guy.
“We tend to want our players to grow up super fast, instead of just growing up,” said Baker. “You try to help ‘em grow up and mature. But a lot of it depends on where you are from, your background, your family structure, the importance of your family, like if you might have been the bread winner at 16 or you were never the bread winner.
“There are a lot of factors here with guys from different places and different senses of responsibilities,” Baker added. “I was forced to grow up quicker than I wanted to because my parents go divorced when I was 16 and I was the oldest of five.
“Things change kind of quickly out there, you know,” Baker added. “They all have a story. We all have a story.”
YES, THEY ALL have a story, especially Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, who pitches this afternoon in an exhibition game against the Kansas City Royals. He signed a $30.25 million contract with the Reds this year and came to the United States. Since then, he has become a father and has not seen his child, who is back in Cuba.
ONE OF the comments on this blog yesterday admonished me for complaining about the weather. Just reporting the facts, sir, just the facts. And it is raining again today and it is cold.
You know they aren’t accustomed to chilly weather in these parts. National baseball writer Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post forgot to bring a jacket and tried to find one, “But they didn’t have any at Wal-Mart or Target,” he said.
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TweetSo it DOES rain in Arizona
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - One of the selling points for the Cincinnati Reds to move their spring training headquarters from Florida to Arizona was that somebody told them it never rains in Arizona. Isn’t that supposed to be Southern California?
Anyway, today was Sunday. And it rained. It rained last Sunday and the Sunday before that. In fact, it has rained every Sunday since the Reds opened for business in their new mansion-like estate in Goodyear.
This rain caused the cancellation of an exhibition game today in Maryvale against the Milwaukee Brewers. When somebody told manager Dusty Baker it has rained every Sunday, he said, “Sounds like the name of a good song - It Never Rains In Arizona Except On Sunday, a good blues tune or a Van Morrison tune.”
So the Reds have played two games and had one rained out. In their last six years in Sarasota, Fla., the Reds had two games rained out.
To make up for lost action, the Reds and Brewers scheduled a ‘B’ game for 9:30 (Mountain time) in the morning and Homer Bailey will pitch.
Bronson Arroyo was scheduled to pitch today, but he’ll be moved back to this afternoon’s 1:30 game against Kansas City. After Arroyo’s two innings, Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman makes his exhibition-game debut, probably in front of a large national media audience.
Asked if Chapman might be nervous pitching in The Big Arena for the first time, Baker smiled and said, “Why? This kid has pitched in front of the world (World Baseball Classic) and pitched for food. Why would he be nervous pitching a spring exhibition game?”
And Arroyo doesn’t mind the inconvenience. It’s actually a convenience - he doesn’t have to make a bus trip. “I get to pitch at home,” he said. “Let’s hope I go two innings, six-up and six-down - although I doubt that.”
Arroyo hates pitching in day games and nearly all games in Arizona after day affairs and he said, “As long as I get a couple hours of sleep I’ll be OK.”
OK, SO DO YOU want to get into the newspaper? I need Ask Hal questions for my Sunday feature in the Dayton Daily News. Ask about anything. Type ‘em nicely, sign your first name and where you are from and e-mail them to halmccoy@hotmail.com.
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TweetWhere oh where are the Reds’ bats?
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Is it too early to clang the alarm bell after two exhibition games?
What the Cincinnati Reds have done in their first two games, both against the Cleveland Indians, strikes a tone of familiarity.
They’ve lost to the Tribe 9-2 and 4-2, scoring four runs in 18 innings. They’ve been outhomered 4-1. They’ve stranded 13 runners. They’ve struck out 18 times and walked only twice.
In other words, they way they’ve swung the bats wouldn’t crush a scorpion or even daze a coyote.
Stop me if you’ve heard all this before, as in last year and the year before and the year before, ad nauseum.
The only homer produced the only two runs in Saturday’s 4-2 defeat, a two-run blast by Miguel Cairo, a guy trying to win a spot on the bench.
And after Mike Lincoln’s shakedown cruise Friday was a four-run, seven-hit affair over only 1 1/3 innings. Johnny Cueto, Saturday’s starter, gave up four runs and four hits in two innings, including a two-run home run by Andy Marte.
THE BRIGHT side of the day, played in sun-drenched Goodyear Ballpark and 76 degrees, was the performances of the team’s two top young pitching prospects - Travis Wood and Mike Leake.
Wood followed Cueto with two runless, hitless innings, giving up a walk and striking out one. Leake followed Wood with one perfect inning, striking out one.
Are these two young pitchers pure competition for the No. 5 spot in the Reds’ rotation, along with well-seasoned Matt Maloney?
Wood, 23, was the Reds No. 2 draft pick in 2005. He is 35-25 for his five-year minor-league career and was a combined 13-5 last year at Class AA Carolina and Class AAA Louisville, 4-2 with a 3.14 ERA in eight starts for Louisville. He dominated at Carolina - 9-3 with a Southern League-leading 1.21 ERA for 19 starts.
Leake, 22, was the team’s No. 1 draft pick last June and was a late signee, so he didn’t pitch in the minors. He was 40-6 with a 2.91 ERA for 63 appearances (47 starts) at Arizona State University. He pitched for the Peoria Seguaros in the Arizona Fall League last year and was 1-2 with a 1.37 ERA in six games (five starts).
Wood is a possibility while Leake is an unproven long shot starting from an outside gate, but manager Dusty Baker puts them on a double-high pedestal.
“Wood and Leake are not only young arms, they are pretty advanced pitching-wise,” said Baker. “Location, movement, change of speeds. They pitch older than their age, I think,” said Baker.
If nothing else, they are picks-to-click for the future.
THE ARIZONA weather is expected to turn nasty Sunday, threatening a game in Maryvale against the Brewers - an all-day rain predicted with temperatures in the high-50s, a threat to wipe out Bronson Arroyo’s first start of the spring.
If the game is played, it would behoove the Reds to pack a few warm bats.
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TweetFrazier ready for action - somewhere
Todd Frazier pulled down the wrap on his leg and showed a writer the mark on the inside of his right knee, which Cuban lefthander Aroldis Chapman used as the bulls-eye of a small target.
At that moment, guest instructor and former major-league star Tony Phillips was walking by and he stopped and said, “There you go, honey, it’s OK. It’s a little boo-boo, but it’s all right.” And Phillips planted a kiss on Frazier’s forehead before walking away.
When the laughter subsided, Frazier said, “He is so funny. He is hysterical. He is the kind of guy where you could go 0 for 4, or 0 for 20, and he’ll walk in and help you turn yourself right around. He is that funny of a guy.”
FRAZIER DIDN’T get to play in Friday’s opener against the Cleveland Indians, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t listening and learning.
“I was standing next to Phillips for three or four innings and he was pin-pointing things for me - ‘Watch this guy taking ground balls, watch this guy’s approach to defense,’” said Frazier. “He has good insights to the game. He did it for a long time.
“Some people would tell him he has that weird language with his own little personality,” Frazier said. “I can relate to that. Everybody is different, so you just go with whatever he’s got and relate. He’s just hysterical.”
Anybody who sits around the Comfort Suites pool in late afternoon can relate, too, if thley listen to Frazier and his Jersey Shore entourage having a good time.
Frazier insisted to manager Dusty Baker on Friday that he could play, but the medical staff listed him as “unavailable to play.” But Frazier kept after them and got off that list Saturday and Baker planned to give him a couple of at-bats against the Indians today.
“I was a little jealous of the guys yesterday, watching them play,” said the 24-year-old from Toms River, N.J. “They got to get the blood flowing and the feeling that baseball is coming back. I’m glad I’ll be back among ‘em and it’s time to go out and play.”
Right now, Frazier is a man without a position. He is listed as an infielder, but he plays outfield, too, and his destination is unknown.
“They haven’t said a word about where I might play, just to be ready for anything,” said Frazier. “That’s the motto going around right now and that’s fine with me. Doesn’t matter where I play, just a matter of getting in those at-bats.”
Frazier signed as a shortstop, but that’s out. The Reds have tried him at third base, second base and the outfield in the minors and with that experience Frazier hopes he has value as a guy who can come off the bench for now and play anywhere.
A NATIONAL MEDIA horde is expected in Goodyear Ballpark Monday when Aroldis Chapman pitches two innings against the Kansas City Royals.
Right now, his Cuban baby-sitter is fellow Cuban and Dayton Dragons pitching coach Tony Fossas, who knows Chapman will have to be weaned away from him soon, “Because I’m not going to be around. But he is getting better at doing things on his own. He left me a text message this morning that he was going to the ballpark on his own and I didn’t need to wait on him.
“He is blending in with the other players and he is trying to pick up bits and pieces of the (English) language,” Fossas said.
Fossas has an interesting take on Chapman’s outing Monday.
“With the way the economy is in Ohio, it would be nice if Chapman pitched two good innings,” he said. “Give Ohioans something to smile about, give them the thought that maybe he’ll show them that, ‘Hey, this boy is going to be good.’”
The Reds certainly hope so. You know that with $30.25 million invested, owner Bob Castellini wants to see his money put to good use - as quickly as possible.
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TweetReds lay rotten egg in desert debut
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - As a possible new beginning it seemed more like the same sad tale.
Sure, sure - it was only a spring training exhibition game that means nothing, but it was the Cincinnati Reds playing their first game in a new venue, Goodyear Ballpark.
Didn’t they want to show some spunk and spark for their new fans in this desert town?
MAYBE THEY were disappointed that barely 4,000 fans showed up in the 10,000 seat park - but then maybe that was a good thing. Not many witnessed the debacle - except for those who watched on TV.
What the sparse crowd saw from the Reds on this day was, in two words, “Not much.”
They were defrocked by their Ohio cousins, the Cleveland Indians, 9-2. The Indians had 15 hits and three homers. The Reds had five hits and no homers. After seven innings it was 9-0 and the Reds had two hits.
“Maybe we had some jitters from playing in a new ballpark,” said manager Dusty Baker, a lot of hope dripping from his voice.
It started bad and got worse. At the end there were more people stuffed into the gift shop than seated in the stands.
MIKE LINCOLN wants to be a starter, but to be a starter you have to start fast and finish. He did neither.
The first batter he faced, Asdrubal Cabrera, hit a full-count pitch over the right field wall after Lincoln fell behind 3-and-0. It was that way for most of Lincoln’s short time on the mound - 1 1/3 innings.
He gave up four runs and seven hits and left two men on base when he departed. That isn’t the way to win the No. 5 spot in the rotation.
In fairness, Lincoln hadn’t started a game since 2001. He missed more than half of last season, the last part, with a disk problem in his neck.
The way to win it, though, is the way lefthander Matt Maloney did it. He came on in the second inning for Lincoln with one out and two on and retired the side without additional carnage. Then he pitched a 1-2-3 second inning.
But from there is got ugly, uglier and ugliest.
When the Reds finally stroked their third hit in the seventh inning, the crowd cheered facetiously. When the Reds scored their first run in the seventh, the crowd cheered facetiously.
The Reds and Indians share Goodyear Ballpark, but it was difficult to discern which team had more fans. The Reds did little to draw cheers while the Indians splattered hits all over the desert grass.
The Reds get a do-over Saturday. Same teams, same time (3:05 eastern). Only this time the Reds will be the visitors and the Indians will be the home team.
Hey, it was 75 degrees, the stadium is state-of-the-art and even smells new. On this day, well, the Reds just smelled.
It has to get better, doesn’t it?
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TweetRandom thoughts while waiting around
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Some thoughts while sitting in the media workroom awaiting the start of today’s Cincinnati Reds-Cleveland Indians exhibition game, wondering why I woke up at 3 this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep.
Maybe it was the General Taos’s chicken and two egg rolls I ate at 9 o’clock last night.
— THE REDS have a new trainer, Paul Lessard, and while he was hired because of his medical acumen, maybe there was a little more to it, too. Lessard has also been a trainer for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox and won a World Series ring at both places.
“The weight of this entire team is on you,” catcher Corky Miller told Lessard.
“Hey, I’m a big boy. I’ve got big shoulders. I can take it,” said Lessard.
Earlier in the day Lessard showed the team a video about drug abuse. “It explained how HGH makes the head, hands and feet bigger,” said Lessard. “I told them just because I have a big head, big feet and big hands doesn’t mean I take HGH. I don’t. Only one guy laughed. I guess they haven’t learned my warped sense of humor yet.”
— THE SUBJECT of players playing golf surfaced in manager Dusty Baker’s office this morning and he pointedly expressed his opinion.
“I’m not big on guys playing golf until later if they are baseball players,” said Baker. “I’ve only seen a few that remain good hitters after playing golf. Pitchers are OK. Not hitters. The weight transfer is different and the swing is different. The good hitters who play golf usually play golf on the opposite side of the way they swing - lefthanders play golf righthanded (Ken Griffey Jr.) and righthanders play golf lefthanded. I’ve gone round and round with certain guys about that for a long time.”
— TODD FRAZIER will miss a few days with a bone bruise on his right knee, suffered in Thursday’s intrasquad game when Aroldis Chapman buried a 95-mph fastball into the side of Frazier’s knee.
“Yeah, it’s scary,” said Baker. “Just glad nothing was fractured or broken, just a bruise.”
Another injury surfaced during Thursday’s intrasquad game when outfielder Laynce Nix crashed into the wall chasing a ball hit by Miguel Cairo. Nix was originally scheduled as today’s designated hitter, but he was removed from the lineup with a bruised and scratched up left arm.
— C. TRENT ROSECRANS of Cnati.com told Baker that he played Little League Baseball in Chesapeake, Va., with former lefthanded pitcher Jimmy Anderson. Rosecrans told Baker, “His nickname was ‘Slim’ and it wasn’t ironic.”
Said Baker, “Jimmy Anderson, the pitcher who used to play with the Pirates (and Reds)? His name never was no ‘Slim.’ “
It certainly wasn’t ‘Slim’ when he played with the Reds. More likely his nickname was The Portly Portsider. One day somebody in the Reds clubhouse asked if anybody had seen pitcher Ryan Wagner and catcher Jason LaRue quickly said, “I think Jimmy Anderson ate him.”
Now that WOULD keep you up all night.
— QUESTIONS? If you have questions about baseball, please send them to halmccoy@hotmail.com. I’m looking for fresh material for “Ask Hal,” which runs in the DDN’s Sunday Sports section.
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TweetDown goes Frazier - Todd, this time
GOODYEAR, Ariz. - Todd Frazier and his entourage of young friends swept into the pool area of the Comfort Inn Suites for some Arizona rays, Frazier’s right leg wrapped tightly with an expandable bandage.
A couple of hours earlier, Frazier was the recipient of an Aroldis Chapman fastball, delivered at 95 miles an hour that buried itself in Frazier’s knee.
As Frazier crumpled to the ground, a quick thought flashed through the press box, back to the time boxer George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier and broadcaster Howard Cosell screamed into his microphone, “Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier.”
And down went Frazier again, this time Cincinnati Reds infielder/rookie Todd Frazier.
“I’m hoping it’ll be OK,” said Frazier. “We’ll see how it is tomorrow. Got me a nice bone bruise. It’s the same knee I had surgery on and it was just getting back to full recovery.”
And how did Frazier hurt it in the first place?
“Embarrassing,” he said. “I was playing golf. I took a big swing and my knee collapsed. I mean, who gets hurt playing golf. I’ve never been hurt playing baseball and I get hurt playing golf.”
On this day Frazier probably wishes he was on the back nine at the Biltmore in Scottsdale when he stepped in to face the flame-throwing 22-year-old Cuban defector. One of his fastballs already had been clocked at 97. This one was only 95, but what’s two miles an hour when a rock-hard baseball finds your kneecap.
CHAPMAN’S DEBUT Thursday in an intrasquad game in Goodyear Stadium was eventful.
He pitched one inning, throwing 12 strikes among his 17 deliveries, mostly heat-packed fastballs.
His last pitch, though, was a change-up for a called strike three that buckled the knees of catcher-infielder Wilkin Castillo.
“I had no chance,” said Castillo. “Man, he throws hard. He throws a 98 miles an hour fastball and an 84 miles an hour change-up (strike three was 82 miles an hour). I’d rather be catching him than trying to hit him.”
The 22-year-old lefthander, a Cuban defector the Reds signed for $30.25 million, gave up an excuse-me opposite field double to Yonder Alonso. Asked if Alonso hit a good pitch, Chapman smiled and said, “Si.”
The 6-4, 185-pound Chapman - about six feet of it legs - showed poise beyond his experience and when asked if he was nervous he said, “No, not at all.”
Chapman speaks no English and spoke through Cuban interpreter/Dayton Dragons pitching coach Tony Fossas. He said he wasn’t scared when he hit Frazier.
“It was not intentional. I was just trying to go inside. But you never want to hit a teammate,” he said.
Of his change-up that whiffed Castillo, he said, “I’ve been working on my change-up and it’s coming along.”
THE HOME Whites defeated the VIsitors Grays, 4-2, with catcher Ramon Hernandez hitting a home run off Aaron Harang in Harang’s second inning of work.
“Trying to bolster Hernandez’s confidence,” said Harang. “You have to keep your catcher happy. I was working on pitching out of the stretch in the second inning.”
Hernandez said he was going to swing at the first pitch no matter what and took a high, outside fastball over the right-center fence. Harang smiled and said, “If I knew that I would have thrown a breaking pitch. Ramon is a good high and outside hitter.”
Control has been a question for Chapman, but he didn’t walk anybody.
Said Hernandez, “Anybody who throws hard, and he throws very hard, is going to have issues with control and command. He might have been overthrowing a little bit and missed a few pitches, but he kept the ball down and had good command of his fastball.”
WHEN THE issue of control came up before the game, manager Dusty Baker said, “Hey, he is only 22 and a hard-thrower. Check out about the control problems that guys like Randy Johnson, Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan had at that age.”
Pitching coach Bryan Price was duly impressed.
“Impressive. He threw a terrific fastball and a real nice change-up to his last hitter,” said Price. “His slider is progressing nicely. I saw a guy who was around the plate with all three of his pitches, showed a live arm and is athletic around the mound.
“We’re not just bringing in a guy we found someplace and decided, ‘Hey, let’s make this guy a pitcher,’” Price said. “He’s a pitcher and what makes him so good is he has been able to keep the ball in his locations fairly well, under control.”
Frazier begs to differ - at least on the one pitch he almost saw.
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TweetFinally - action in the new stadium
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Dusty Baker knows how to entertain and knows how to feed the media beast.
Every morning at 8 a.m., Baker sits behind his desk in a smallish office that is overcrowded with media people, a few sitting, most standing, and plays Meet the Press.
For example, when a writer asked him about the new complex in Goodyear, Ariz., Baker said, “It’s like moving to a new house. You liked your old place - and I loved Sarasota. But the house had a one-car garage, two bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths.
“Our new house (Goodyear) is awesome,” said Baker. “This house has five or six bedrooms, four-car garage, new pool, jacuzzi, steam room and six bathrooms, five showers.”
THE REDS play a five-inning intrasquad game this afternoon with Aaron Harang and Homer Bailey scheduled to start and pitch an inning. The focus, though, will be the second inning when Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman makes his debut not only for the Reds but his debut in the US of A.
Somebody asked Baker when Chapman would pitch again and Baker said he would pitch Monday in Goodyear against the Kansas City Royals.
“Will he start?” Baker was asked.
“No, he won’t,” Baker said. “But that doesn’t matter right now. We’ll pitch him later in the games so fans will stick around and buy more beer. You didn’t know I was into marketing, did you?”
BAKER SAID he and his Reds are ready for game action and then added, “This is the best camp I’ve ever had and I’ve had some good ones. This is the best one. I haven’t had to get on anybody about working or stretching. No complaining. Everybody is on time. Everybody works as hard during fundamental drills as if they’re playing. We try to tell them that. You practice as if you’re playing.
“You can tell yourself you’re ready (for the season) after spending all your time down here getting ready or you can pretend you are ready,” he said.
When talking about competition for jobs, Baker said that even though most spots on the roster are taken, “There is always competition for jobs. Somebody is always trying to take your job.” Looking at a media person, he said, “Somebody is probably trying to take your job. You just don’t know who it is. At least around here you know who it is.”
BAKER SAID he isn’t looking for anything special from Chapman - doesn’t care if he strikes out the side or walks the side or works out of jams.
“I just want him to be himself,” he said. “You want him to get comfortable, first of all. You know he’ll have jitters, I don’t who you are or what your name is. Hank Aaron used to say nerves are good. Don’t be scared. Aroldis is not scared and after you throw your first pitch or two your nerves are gone. If you aren’t nervous you are either lying or something is wrong with you.”
Baker hopes there are no radar guns at the today’s intrasquad games, but there will be scouts from other teams and they all carry radar guns.
Obviously, the media wants to know if Chapman touches 100 miles an hour, as advertised.
“I hope there aren’t any radar guns,” said Baker. “That’s a problem, most of the time. Pitchers throw to the radar gun versus getting guys out. Greg Maddux never would have been signed if it all came down to a radar gun.
“Most guys who score high on the gun are on pitches that are way up and way out,” Baker added. “People say ooh and aah, but the pitch ain’t worth a damn.”
Trust me, though. I’ll look for a radar gun and take a peek.
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TweetHarang is not Mr. Excitement
The thing about Aaron Harang is that you don’t know when he is excited. He might say he is excited, but his body language and voice indicate he is about as excited as a lump of coal on a shovel in front of a furnace.
That’s his demeanor. And maybe that’s why he never seems flustered on the mound. You can’t tell when things are going good or things are going bad.
So when he said today that he is excited about pitching Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds, you listen to his words and take his word for it.
AND HERE is what he said about being named the Opening Day starter against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“Dusty let me know yesterday,” Harang said with a droll voice. “I’m excited about it. It is an honor to get to start Opening Day in Cincinnati.”
Harang loves it that he ties Mario Soto for consecutive Opening Day starts at five because Soto is in camp as an instructor.
“That’s an honor, too, to be mentioned in the same category as Mario Soto,” said Harang. “He is a quality pitcher and it is nice having him around to learn some stuff.”
And Harang says he is new and improved after making some adjustments this winter.
“I made some tweaks mechanically and figured some things out when I talked with some guys at home,” he said. “Then I talked with (new pitching coach) Bryan Price, who had watched video of me, and he mentioned the same things that I tweaked. I told him I was working on fixing those and he said, ‘Well, you’re ahead of what I was going to do to help fix stuff.’’ So I feel good the way things are going in camp. The ball is coming out free and easy.”
WHEN Harang walked into the clubhouse today his head was shaved and somebody said, “Happy haircut.” Ah, haircuts.
Hairstyles in the Reds clubhouse run the gamut. There is Jonny Gomes with his full brush Mohawk. And then there is Johnny Cueto and Edison Volquez. At the risk of not sounding politically correct because this is the only way to describe their hairstyles, they have the Buckwheat cut from the old Our Gang movies.
Coach Ted Power pointed to catcher Corky Miller and said, “Now that’s my kind of haircut.” Miller doffed his hat to reveal no haircut at all, just very long, stringy hair.
MANAGER DUSTY Baker revealed his rotation by turn as Harang, Johnny Cueto, Bronson Arroyo, Homer Bailey and whomever is No. 5. When somebody asked about the rotation farther down the pike, Baker laughed and said, “What? You want me to name my starter for the first game of the playoffs? (He wishes he could do that.) Then he pointed to a book on his desk and said, “You better read what I’m reading.”
The book? The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle.
THE REDS play a six-inning intrasquad game Thursday before Friday’s opener in Goodyear Stadium against the Cleveland Indians. Aaron Harang starts for one team and Homer Bailey for the other. Both will pitch one inning. Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman is schdeduled for an inning, too.
Goodyear Stadium is nearly a half-mile, maybe more, from the Reds practice complex and clubhouse.
Baker laughed and said, “I’m going to tell the players that if they have a bad game in Goodyear I’m going to make them walk home (back to the clubhouse).”
Baker said he is happy to be able to put pitchers on the Goodyear mound, all by themselves. “After pitching for a couple of weeks side-by-side with five or six other pitchers, when you stand alone on the mound in the stadium the field looks huge. This lets them get comfy.”
NOW IT’S time to find a place for dinner. So far, near my hotel in Goodyear I’ve spotted: Augie’s Sports Grille, Panda Express, McDonald’s, Subway and Pollo Loco. Looks like a long drive for an upscale meal.
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TweetArroyo says no, Harang says yes
His numbers indicate that Aaron Harang might not deserve to be the Opening Day starter and that maybe the guy shouldn’t even be guaranteed a spot in the rotation.
The numbers say Bronson Arroyo should start Opening Day - but that isn’t the case. Harang is starting Opening Day for the fifth straight year and Arroyo is slotted into the No. 3 spot.
Numbers, as we all know, can lie like a witness defending his best friend.
The numbers say Harang is 12-31 over the last two years over 55 starts, but there are, as they say in a courtroom, extenuating circumstances - run support being at the top of the list and injuries being in the middle of the list.
Bronson Arroyo is 30-24 the past two seasons over 67 starts and has not missed a start. He is as reliable as a rooster at sunrise - except he prefers not to pitch day games and Opening Day is a day game.
And Arroyo finished the season with 13 straight quality starts, going 5-4 with a 2.06 earned run average.
Shouldn’t he be the Opening Day starter? What do you think?
Well, manager Dusty Baker asked him and Arroyo said he would prefer NOT to be the Opening Day starter April 5 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“If I had my choice, I’d rather pitch No. 2 or No. 3,” said Arroyo. “Cincinnati is one of the few places that Opening Day is like a holiday. For that reason, it’s a little tough to concentrate. There is so much stuff going on, so I’d rather enjoy the day and soak in all the festivities and then pitch the next game.
“It is not a big deal to me to be in the one-hole,” he said. “I pitched in the five-hole in Boston and ended up facing five or six No. 1s during the season. Once you get a rain out or an off day or somebody is sore and gets bumped back a day or two, the match-ups all change and it doesn’t matter.
“And despite what it looks like the last couple of years, Aaron is more equipped to pitch in that role,” he said. “His stuff never changes. Even the days he doesn’t succeed he is still 90 to 92 with a nasty slider. He doesn’t vary a whole lot. For me, when I have a bad day, they are really bad. Sometimes my stuff isn’t quite as consistent.”
Baker said he talked to both Harang and Arroyo and knows, “That won’t be a popular decision, but Harang seems to pitch better against top pitchers. And it doesn’t matter after Day One.”
Arroyo won’t be No. 2, either. He’ll be No. 3. The rotation will be Harang, Johnny Cueto, Arroyo, Homer Bailey and No. 5, whomever that may be.
Why?
“Innings,” said Baker. “We wrestled with it big time. I talked long and hard with pitching coach Bryan Price and Harang and Arroyo. We’re breaking up Harang and Arroyo because you know they are going to give you innings. Cueto is not as consistent. Harang and Arroyo are consistent in giving us inning. Bailey you don’t know and the fifth starter you don’t know.
“So we’re breaking up Harang and Arroyo so we don’t tax the bullpen,” Baker said. “What if you have Harang and Arroyo back-to-back and the next three guys aren’t pitching well? You kill your bullpen. Then you get back to Harang and you have to stick with him longer because the bullpen is spent.”
Asked about Arroyo opting out of Opening Day, Baker smiled and said, “Nobody is more honest than Bronson. You may not like his answers but his answers are going to be honest. I love that. I ask you a question I want an honest answer. Don’t give me no bull, just give me an honest answer. Whether I understand it or like it doesn’t matter. That’s neither here nor there.
“Bronson said he doesn’t care if he is No. 4 or No. 5, that he likes being the under-the-radar guy,” Baker said. “That are always subliminal messages if you listen to what they are saying.”
Harang said as soon as he heard Arroyo preferred not to pitch Opening Day, he went to Baker and said, “I want the ball. Give me the ball.”
Done.
(LATER TODAY: Harang’s reaction to pitching Opening Day for the fifth straight year, tying the club record set by Pete Donohue (1923-27) and Mario Soto (1982-82).
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TweetReturning to Tombstone Territory
BACK IN ARIZONA (Barely) - After donating an extra $60 to Delta to carry my two bags in their spacious luggage compartment, I headed for the security lines at Dayton International Airport.
As I stood in line, an alarm went off. Somebody set off the fire alarm. All activity came to a screeching stop. They talked about evacuating the building, but a silver-haired TSA agent who looked like my grandpa Wilderman said, “We know it’s cold outside. We don’t see or smell smoke. We don’t see any flames or sparks. So everybody can just stay inside and stay in line. We think some toddler yanked the alarm.”
It took 20 minutes of standing around until we got the all-clear and it was time to bolt through security and sprint for the gate for my connecting flight to Phoenix through Detroit.
But, of course, first we had to board the plane in Dayton and taxi to the de-icer truck. The plane sat at the gate two hours before we boarded. Couldn’t they de-ice the plane then? Of course not.
Then we taxied for 20 minutes to the runway. I thought we had turned on to I75 and were taxiing to Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati International airport for our takeoff. The flight took 39 minutes, then we taxied 20 minutes to the gate in Detroit. That’s 39 minutes in the air, 40 minutes taxiing on the ground.
The flight to Phoenix was a posterior-numbing four hours. They gave us two cookies and a soft drink. Of course you could purchase a soggy, stale sandwich for $7.
But both my bags made it - always a 50/50 proposition for me. Maybe it is worth it to pay almost as much for my bags to travel as I pay for the ticket. That way we both make it to the same place at the same time.
As you can tell, I just love flying these days.
BUT WE MADE it and after checking in to my hotel about five minutes from Goodyear Stadium, I headed for the spring training headquarters of the Cincinnati Reds, the start of a three-week stay.
I was too late for the day’s workout, but I immediately ran into two of my favorite ballplayers of old - Tom “Mr. Perfect” Browning and Eric Davis. Browning had his set of lefthanded golf clubs and when I asked, “Where you headed?,” Browning smiled and said, “Not into a bunch of sand traps, I hope.”
As I looked around, I thought, “Hey, this whole area is one huge sand trap.”
Davis was sitting at a picnic table and I introduced him to my cohort as, “One of the best baseball players I ever saw and an even better person.” My grandson, Eric McCoy, is named after Davis.
My current cohort, by the way, is a new wave gadgets geek and spent most of his time fondling his iPhone apps and telling me, “We’re going to teach you to tweet.”
No, you’re not.
THE REDS have one more boring day of workouts before they actually start playing baseball. They have an intrasquad game scheduled Thursday, a game in which most of the participants are names you won’t hear much about the rest of the spring.
Then on Friday the Reds play their first official Cactus League game against the Cleveland Indians, the team they share Goodyear Stadium with. On Friday the Reds are the home team. Then on Saturday they play again and the Indians are the home team.
How does that work in the pressbox? The home team writers get the front frow and the visiting team writers get the second row. So I’ll be in the front row Friday and the second row Saturday - whatever that means. Usually during spring training the second row is better because you don’t get broiled as much by the sun blazing through the windows.
Anyway, it’s back to work tomorrow - a daily 8 a.m. briefing by manager Dusty Baker.
Yonder Alonso liked the blog I did on him last week so much that when he spotted me today he said, “Got something coming for you in the next week you’ll love. My mother is sending them.” When I interviewed him he said his mother had access to some Cuban cigars.
I knew I loved Yonder Alonso.
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