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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2010 > July > 28
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Reds put the hammer down on the Brewers
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave with two puppies sleeping on the couch next to me. Paige is only 10 weeks old but already has learned to jingle the bells that Nadine hung on the sun room door to let us know she wants out (Paige, not Nadine). Unfortunately, Paige doesn’t just do it to go to the bathroom. She does it over and over because she knows she gets out of the sun room.
QUESTION: Why is that the Milwaukee Brewers, situated in a smaller drawing area than the Cincinnati Reds, are averaging 35,000 fans at home with a lousy team and the Reds are averaging only 22,000 at home with a wonderfully entertaining a good team with plenty of imaginative promotions? And why would a full house of 38,000 show up at Miller Park Wednesday afternoon?
They must have come to watch the hot dog race because that’s about the only interesting thing happening with the Brewers these days.
ANYWAY, finally, a win for Travis Wood. And for a while it looked as if the Reds would once again refuse to score runs for him. They trailed the Milwaukee Brewers 2-0 in the early goin and had no runs and only four hits off left-handed Brewers starter Chris Narveson after five innings.
But the Reds scored five runs in the sixth inning en route to a 10-2 victory to take two of three in Milwaukee after taking two of three in Houston.
Wood, who was involved in two games in which the Reds lost, 1-0, held the Brewers to two runs and five hits, walking one and struck out six over five innings. During the five-run sixth, manager Dusty Baker pinch-hit for Wood, insuring he would get his first major-league win if the bullpen held the lead. Five guys out of the bullpen held the Brewers scoreless over the final five innings.
IN ADDITION to the five-run sixth, the Reds scored five in the eighth, highlighted by a grand slam home run by Brandon Phillips, his fourth career grand slam and 14th home run this season. The other run in the eighth came on Joey Votto’s career best 26th home run - his third hit of the day to give him seven hits over the last two games in Miller Park.
Phillips started the decisive sixth inning with a lead-off single to right field and stole second base. Before it was over, 11 Reds batted. Votto singled home the first run, cutting the deficit to 2-1, then Jonny Gomes tied it with a double to left field.
NOW COMES another of those decisions by manager Dusty Baker. With the Reds off Thursday, Baker decided to give third baseman Scott Rolen the day off, permitting his ouchy hamstring to have two days of rest - this after he had four hits Tuesday night.
So what happens? Rolen’s stand-in, Miguel Cairo, pulled a two-run double to left field for a 4-2 lead and the Reds never looked back.
MARK ME down as one of those skeptics who said back on January 27 when they signed Cairo, “Why in the world do they need a 36-year-old infielder. Well, at least they signed him to a minor-league contract and we probably won’t see his face under a Reds hat.”
Color my face red. Not only did Cairo make the team and sign a major-league contract, after a slow start, he may be one of the best signings this year by GM Walt Jocketty, along with Jonny Gomes.
As a utility player, Cairo is hitting .304 and over the last 40 games he is hitting .353 with three homers and 15 RBIs. What is more important, is the guy obviously knows how to win. Since 2001, he has played in four post-seasons with three different teams (St. Louis, New York Yankees, Philadelphia).
THERE WAS MUCH to like about this game.
Guess how the Reds scored their fifth run in the six inning? With Cairo on third base and one out, catcher Ryan Hanigan dropped down a squeeze bunt, something the Reds haven’t often tried this season. Hanigan put it down perfectly, lunging for a high and outside pitch to do it.
Right fielder Jay Bruce saved a couple of runs in the fourth after the Brewers scored twice to take a 2-0 lead. With two on and two outs, Carlos Gomez lined a sinking liner to right field. Instead of playing it safely, Bruce dove and made the catch - the same kind of play on which he broke his wrist last year in New York. But he has made that same diving play several times this year without fear of wrecking his wrist again.
And then there was the throw Gomes made from left field in the seventh inning. The Reds led, 5-2, when Gomez led the inning with a drive into the left field corner. With no outs and his team down by three runs, Gomez should have been content with a double. Foolishly, though, he tried for a triple and Gomes threw a strike on the bag and Cairo tagged him out.
HOW MANY times have you seen this play. A team has runners on first and third. The pitcher fakes a throw to third base, then throws to first base. I have to have seen that play tired 1,000 times and only once did I see it work. Eduardo Perez got picked off first after the pitcher faked a throw to third base.
You know what makes this play ridiculous? How many times have you EVER seen a pitcher try to pick a runner off third base? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pitcher throw to third base on a pick-off attempt. So why would any runner on first base EVER fall for a fake throw to third base?
Nevertheless, the Brewers tried it three times in the eighth inning before Phillips hit his grand slam and Votto hit his 26th homer.
YOU ALL HAVE been fantastic this year with the Ask Hal questions. Keep ‘em coming. I’ll be doing Sunday’s Ask Hal column tomorrow afternoon (Thursday), so send them tonight or tomorrow morning to halmccoy@hotmail.com and see you in Sunday’s sports section.
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