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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
July 2010
Red don’t go ‘all-in’ on the trade front
The non-waiver trade deadline was two hours away, as was game-time, and Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips was skillfully dribbling a basketball around the clubhouse - going behind his back and through his legs.
“Did you sister teach you all that?” somebody asked, referring to Brandon’s sister, Porsche, who played college basketball at LSU and the University of Georgia.
“Yes, she did,” said Phillips, smiling broadly at the lie. Phillips himself was offered several college basketball scholarships. Football, too.
Phillips held the basketball for a while and glanced at a clubhouse television, watching the trades by other teams scroll by.
When somebody said they hoped the Reds didn’t make a trade, that the team, as constituted, is good enough to win, Phillips said, “I feel you. I feel what you are saying. I feel the same way. We can win with what we have.”
MEANWHILE, in manager Dusty Baker’s office, it was trade talk galore - but not the Reds.
Baker was astrounded when he heard that the St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder Ryan Ludwick to aqcquire Cleveland pitcher Jake Westbrook.
“What? Ludwick? I really like him. Didn’t he hit 37 homers a couple of years ago and win the Silver Slugger Award? Man, I love that guy. Who is going to take his place in the Cardinals outfielder (Jon Jay)?”
Baker, too, was surprised to hear that Houston first baseman Lance Berkman will no longer be around to torture the Reds, that the Astros traded him to the New York Yankees. “Where is going to play?” asked Baker. Designated hitter. And he was surprised that the Yankees also acquired former Reds No. 1 draft pick Austin Kearns. “Where will he play?” Utility, bench, pinch-hitter.
ASKED ABOUT a possibility of the Reds making a deal before the deadline, Baker said, “I haven’t seen (GM) Walt Jocketty all day. I’m sure he is somewhere with his cell phone glued to his ear.”
Phillips, though, got his wish. No trades. Same team. And Baker wasn’t displeased.
“You always want better, but if you know me, I’ve never complained about who I have,” said Baker. “You never heard me complain and say, ‘Give me this or give me that,’ because I always think I can do well with whatever I have. That’s part of the challenge of managing. So I challenge myself to try to get the most out of who I have.
“Plus if you talk about how unhappy you are with what you have and that you need to get some more, then if it doesn’t happen I have to turn around and go tell those guys in the clubhouse, ‘C’mon, boys, let’s get together and give me all you’ve got.’ How many expletives are they going to be uttering behind my back?” Baker added.
SPEAKING OF handling the team, let’s re-visit Friday night’s game and permit Baker to explain himself about one move he did not make.
It happened in the eighth inning of the Reds’ 6-4 10-inning loss to the Atlanta Braves. The score was tied, 4-4, and Scott Rolen was on third base - the winning run - with one out. Jay Bruce was due up to face tough left-handed pitcher Jonny Venters. Wouldn’t this be a good spot to send up right-hander Chris Heisey?
Baker permitted Bruce to bat and Bruce struck out. Then, in the top of the ninth, Baker double-switched to bring in pitcher Coco Cordero and put Heisey in right field to replace Bruce. Why didn’t he use Heisey to pinch-hit for Bruce in the first place?
“I didn’t think about using Heisey because I knew I was going to use him later in the game,” said Baker. “If we had been on the road, possibly I might have. But at home we have the last at-bat. We’re trying to get Jay some confidence, too, because this year he has been hitting left-handers better than he has in the past. And it’s tough when you think about using one younster for another youngster.”
And about the Bruce at-bat?
“Jay is being over-anxious, not getting good pitches to hit,” said Baker. “Those balls he swung at were in the dirt and that Venters is a tough left-hander, a guy who is tough on left-handers. Jay has to be patient and get better pitches to hit.”
That, fans, has been a season-long mantra.
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TweetAll quiet on the Reds’ trading front
Dusty Baker sat down in his office chair Friday afternoon to begin preparations for a three-day homestand against the Atlanta Braves.
After six games on the road in Houston and Milwaukee, the Reds are home for only three games, then head out again for three in Pittsburgh and three in Chicago.
Instead of putting a Reds cap on his head, Baker should have been looking for a sailor’s hat.
“I feel like a sailor on three-day liberty,” he said. “Come home, wash your clothes, kiss the wife and kids and sail away.”
THE SUBJECT was trades and it was mentioned that the Texas Rangers had acquired shortstop Cristian Guzman from Wasington, the same Rangers who acquired Cliff Lee from Seattle.
“I thought they didn’t have any money,” said Baker. Good point. Aren’t the Rangers in bankruptcy?
As for the Reds, all is quiet on the banks of the Ohio River. Not even a juicy rumor - and you can discount the one internet report that the Reds are interested in Chicago Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly. At this point, just hours away from Saturday’s 4 p.m. non-waivers trade deadline, the Reds appear dormant.
Asked if he thought the Reds already have the parts to hang in for the long run, Baker quickly said, “We’ve been hanging for four months, know what I mean? And the longer you hang, the more you think you can hang. The longer you hang the more you think you should be hanging in the first place.
“We thought we were pretty good leaving spring training and we haven’t changed that opinion,” Baker added. “If anything, the longer you hang around the more confident you should become and you should be.”
As for trades, Baker added, “It’s not like (GM) Walt Jocketty hasn’t been trying to do something. It’s just that you see there hasn’t been much done in baseball period, unless guys change their mind in the next 24 hours or so.”
BAKER IS PLEASED that the Houston Astros traded pitcher Roy Oswalt to the Phillies instead of the Cardinals, although he would have preferred they had traded him to, uh, Texas.
“If he was going to go somewhere, I’d just as soon see him go to the American League, but at least they did send him to another division,” said Baker. “That gives Philadelphia a tremendous boost because they’ve already won eight or nine in a row and their pitching already has been holding them together. And so - as it is in the real world, the rich get richer.”
DISABLED PITCHER Aaron Harang threw 35 to 40 pitches off a mound Wednesday, his first throwing venture since before the All-Star break and reports no ill-effects in his problem back. He is still seeing a chiropractor, “To get some normal adjustments, and I’ve been doing running drills with the orange cones and today I’m going to take batting practice.”
His next throwing session, though, remains up in the air until he talks with pitching coach Bryan Price, although he said, “I just felt the normal soreness after throwing and exercising, nothing unusual.”
Said Baker, “He says he feels good and it is nice to see that good look on his face again.”
IT WAS ON television for all to see in Milwaukee when Travis Wood walked off the mound and headed for the dugout after the second out of the inning. The cameras showed manager Dusty Baker laughing and shaking his head and later showed Wood grinning in the dugout after he retired the next hitter for the third out.
What Wood didn’t know is that a teammate did the same thing this week, only there were no cameras to record it. Homer Bailey, pitching on rehab for the Class A Dayton Dragons, recorded the second out of an inning and walked toward the dugout.
The thing of it is, when Wood walked off the Milwaukee mound, catcher Ryan Hanigan left the catcher’s box and was headed for the dugout, too. In Bailey’s case, he was The Lone Ranger - none of those Class A player vacated their position. Said one Dragon, preferring anonymity, “I wanted to tell him, ‘Hey, you have to get three outs in Class A, too, not just two,’ but I don’t know him that well and didn’t know how he’d take it.”
Wood, humorously trying to cover his tracks, explained it this way: “I was trying to sell it to everybody that that was the third out. Hey, it’s easier when you only have to get 26 outs instead of 27.”
THE CLUBHOUSE staff was passing out All-Star t-shirts to all the Reds before Friday’s game and every All-Star’s name was on the back. When the attendant reached Jonny Gomes’ locker and asked if he wanted a shirt, Gomes said with a laugh, “Yeah, extra-large. And my name should be on the back, dammit.”
SPEAKING OF t-shirts, when Joey Votto reached his locker Friday there was a red shirt on his chair and on the front it said, “Keep the ball, Throw a Cubs fan.” When the Reds visit Chicago next weekend, Votto can expect a vitriolic reception from the Bleacher Bums after Votto said he doesn’t like Cubs fans.
WHEN THE Reds play the Braves Saturday night in Great American Ball Park, it is Homer Bailey Bobblehead Night. And where’s Homer? Oh, he’ll be pitching a game on rehab in Louisville, about 90 miles south of GABP. Why don’t they just ship those bobbleheads to Louisville and pass ‘em out down there?
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TweetReds 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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TweetVolquez staggers. but Reds romp
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave on a night I had to take five bathroom breaks, which is either the sign of age or because of the snail’s pace at which Tuesday night’s game progressed - or both:
Edinson Volquez and Yovani Gallardo, the starting pitchers for the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers pitched as though they had been attacked by a lit cigar, a Coke Zero can and a lethal bug at the same time.
I use that example because it happened to me during the game. I dropped my cigar and burned my left knee, causing me to kick out my leg and knock a full can of Coke Zero off the end table and onto the carpet at the same instant that a bug the size of a pudgy pigeon banged into my head.
Both Volquez and Gallardo are fresh off the disabled list and both pitched as if their arms were in a sling and they were pitching square baseballs.
Volquez: 3 2/3 innings, four runs, six hits, four walks, a hit batsman and a partridge in a pear tree. Because his pitch-count was over 100, there was no way manager Dusty Baker could permit him to try for five innings to qualify for a victory. Baker had to take Volquez out with a 7-4 lead in the fourh inning.
It was Volquez’s second straight dismal appearance and one wonders if it was a mistake to bring him back little more than a year after Tommy John surgery, especially when the guy he replaced, Matt Maloney, was pitching lights-out.
Gallardo, a nine-game winner but starting just his second game after coming off the DL, was worse - 2 2/3 innings, six runs, 10 hits.
FORTUNATELY FOR Volquez, the Reds came out swing hard and often and scored a 12-4 victory, pounding a season’s high 19 hits to move into a tie for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central.
In addition to the heavy batwork, Volquez was rescued by 6-foot-8 rookie relief pitcher Logan Ondrusek, the National League’s best-kept secret. Ondrusek replaced Volquez in the fourth and pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings (no hits, one walk, three strikeouts) and was credited with the victory. Ondrusek now has 18 straight scoreless innings and recorded his second major-league victory.
How much the Reds miss third baseman Scott Rolen and catcher Ramon Hernandez when they aren’t in the lineup was displayed Tuesday like a fur coat in a store’s front window.
Rolen, starting his second game after missing nine with a sore hamstring, had four hits and drove in three runs. Hernandez, starting only his second game as the catcher after coming off the DL, had three hits, two of them doubles, and three RBIs. In his first game as catcher he had two hits and drove in two runs.
Brandon Phillips had four hits and Joey Votto had four hits and scored three runs as the Reds raised the roof on Miller Park with a season’s high 19 hits.
It was the first time since 1989 that the Reds had three players with four or more hits in one game.l
THE ONLY guy not in on the fun was impatient left fielder Jonny Gomes, who made four outs on four pitches - swinging and making outs on the first-pitch four times. He reached base once when he was hit by a pitch that bounced in the dirt.
There was a dose of comedy added to this one, too. Milwaukee manger Ken Macha didn’t want to waste any more pitching, so he used 5-foot-9 outfielder Joe Inglett to pitch the ninth inning. Throwing the ball 50 miles an hour, he pitched a 1-2-3 inning, ending his stint by getting Votto to fly to center. Maybe he should have pitched the whole game.
THE REDS ARE taking advantage of a couple of upcoming off days, including one Thursday, by skipping rookie pitcher Mike Leake’s next turn. Leake is nearly at the same innings level as he pitched all of last year at Arizona State University and the Reds will closely monitor him the rest of the season.
Leake’s turn would have been Saturday, but Bronson Arroyo was pitch on that day, which is his normal fifth day, even though it would be Leake’s turn.
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TweetBailey: Three good and one awful
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from the press box in Fifth Third Field, watching Homer Bailey do his rehab assignment for the Class A Dayton Dragons and wondering, “What are the Reds going to do with Bailey when he’s ready to pitch?”
Bailey, wearing his pants high the way he did for the Dragons in 2005 and wearing uniform No. 37, faced the Quad Cities River Bandits. Ironically, the Reds No. 1 draft pick in 2005 was facing Shelby Miller, the No. 1 draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals last June. He was 3-4 with a 4.04, which may be why he is still pitching in low-A and the Reds No. 1 draft pick last June, Mike Leake, is pitching in the majors.
The Dragons, though, weren’t up to adding any misery to Miller’s record. He shut them out on three hits for seven innings. Incredibly, the Dragons are on a 14-game home losing streak and wouldn’t you think they’d win one by accident?
And Bailey? He pitched four innings and gave up three runs and four hits with a walk and five strikeouts - but the naked numbers don’t say it all.
For three innings, he was as pitch-efficent as one could possibly be - 30 pitches, 24 strikes, no runs, one hit. In the second inning he threw nine pitches, seven for strikes. In the third inning he was perfect - six pitches, six strikes.
“A new me,” he said with a smile.
Then came the fourth inning and it took Bailey 29 pitches to get through it. He gave up three runs and three hits.
He was finished after four innings, but went to the bullpen and threw ten more pitches in front of Dragons pitching coach Tony Fossas.
“The first three innings were pretty good,” he said. “I knew the fourth inning was my last inning so I tried to do too much. I did the one thing I’ve been telling the young pitchers here - don’t try to do too much. Early on, I pounded the zone and I felt physically well. All in all, I’ll take a lot of positives out of this and I know I have a little more work to do.”
Bailey’s next two rehab starts will be for the Class AAA Louisville Bats, but he enjoyed his return to his roots in Dayton.
But there is a crimp in all this. When Bailey is ready, will the Reds be ready for him. Will there be room in the rotation? Bailey isn’t concerned with it.
“All I’m concerned about right now is getting healthy, getting to the point where I can help the team by doing whatever they want me to do, even pinch-run,” he said. “Anything to get back on the field.
“I saw what I needed to see in the first three innings then had a mental lapse in the fourth,” he said. “It was good to be back in this stadium - a good fan base and a good show always. I was mechanically off in the fourth inning - another reason I went to the bullpen to work with Fossas. I didn’t want to leave that in the back of my mind, no bad muscle memory.”
But getting on the field and on the mound was Bailey’s biggest piece of happiness. He has been on the DL with shoulder tightness since May 24, with one previous rehab start for Louisville that ended poorly and set him back.
“I was just so excited to get back in a game,” he said. “I’ve been watching them for so long. Deep down we’re all still kids and watching the games pulling for the Reds wears on you knowing you’re not able to contribute.”
And Bailey said he worked with Fossas on sharpening his slider, a pitch he doesn’t use much.
“I got a lot of help from Tony while I was here, really working on the slider, because that’s not a pitch I use a lot. Sometimes a curveball can cause a little more stress on your shoulder so I have to have a better slider and he really helped me out with it.”
I LOVE GOING to Fifth Third Field, where Dragons president Bob Murphy and his staff do an unbelievably excellent job and a stunningly fine venue. If you are baseball fan and you can’t have fun at a Dragons game then you can’t have fun anywhere - and even if you aren’t a baseball fun.
Confession time. When they announced that Dayton was getting a low Class A franchise in the Midwest League, just 60 miles from Cincinnati, I wrote in my infinite wisdom, “It’ll never fly. Minor league baseball in Dayton can’t make it. Too close to Cincinnati and the big leagues.”
Now, 11 years later, with every game sold out for the entire season - all 11 years - with a waiting list to purchase tickets, well, I was never so wrong in my entire life. And happy about it.
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TweetA Dirty Dozen: Reds shut out 12th time
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS while sitting in The Man Cave flip-flopping channels while watch the Cincinnati Reds-Houston Astros and the NASCAR Brickyard 400 - and the person who invented the TV remote control should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
On this day, watching Jamie McMurray win the Brickyard 500 was more exciting than watching the Reds stir the breeze without much bat contact Sunday during a 4-0 loss.
Another shutout? Can anybody answer me as to how the National League’s best offensive team can be shut out 12 times, most in the league? It’s an anomaly, isn’t it? An enigma? A mystery? For certain it is frustrating.
Joey Votto had a two-out single in the first innng against left-hander Wandy Rodriguez, who began the game 7-11 with a 5.11 ERA, and didn’t get another hit off him through seven innings. They had two walks and seven strikeouts.
Over the last two innings they managed two more hits off the Astros’ bullpen but couldn’t score a run, advancing their strikeout total to 10.
ONCE AGAIN the unfortunate pitcher for the Reds was rookie Mike Leake, who has pitched well enough to be 11-1 but is 7-2.
Leake gave up a lead-off home run to Hunter Pence (don’t you love that name?) in the fourth and it stayed 1-0 until the Astros’ seventh. With one out, Houston third baseman Chris Johnson hit one on top of the viaduct in left field and the ball bounced off the railroad tracks on top of the viaduct for a 2-0 lead.
MINUTE MAID Park is on the site of the former Houston Union Station and the Astros kept the railroad motiff with the viaduct and the railroad tracks atop it. And when the Astros score, a loud train whistle rattles the windows.
There was more window-rattling to come in the seventh after the Johnson home run. Leake gave up a single and a double and his day was done. Left-hander Arthur Rhodes came on to face left-hander Michael Bourne and the count went to 3-and-2 before Bourne displayed some big-league hitting. Rhodes threw him an outside pitch and Bourne reached out to slap it to left field for a two-run double and a 4-0 lead that stood the test of the final two innings.
THERE WAS ONE strategy question that leaped out. It was in the fifth inning when the Astros led, 1-0, and Miguel Cairo led the inning with a walk. Doesn’t that call for a sacrifice bunt by Drew Stubbs? One run loomed large in this game, especially the way Rodriguez was scything his way through the Reds lineup.
And wasn’t that Stubbs working on his bunting before every home game on the last homestand. Yes, it was.
No bunt was attempted. And you can guess what happened, can’t you? Stubbs struck out on three pitches, taking a called third. Ryan Hanigan then lined one to deep, deep center, about 410 feet away for an out and Leake grounded out to second.
The closest the Reds came to scoring was on Leake’s first at-bat when he drilled a foul ball that would have been a home run had it been fair.
Third base coach Mark Berry was like a Native American scout, standing at his post shielding his eyes with his right hand, wondering where everybody was. Not a single Reds reached third base.
So the Reds won two of three in Houston and begin a three-game series in Milwaukee Monday night. After a three-game series at home next weekend against Atlanta, they are back on the road for three in Pittsburgh and three in Chicago.
As for Sunday? Jamie McMurray was worth watching in his No. 1 Chevrolet Impala after also winning this year’s Daytona 500.
BACK in the 1960s, I covered auto racing and covered five Dayton 500s, back in the days of Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, LeeRoy Yarbrough, Donnie Allison and Bobby Allison. Those guys raced in thin fire-retardant suits on top of t-shirts and helmets that were little more than football helmets.
Nowadays, NASCAR driverd look as if they are going to fly the space shuttle with their modern driver’s suits and space-age helmets. I rode around Charlotte Motor Speedway once with Rusty Wallace a few years ago and while he wasn’t close to race speed, he was flying low and close to the rail and for about 1 1/2 seconds I actually had my eyes open.
Sometimes you wonder if the Reds have their eyes open when they try to hit on days they get shut out. Twelve times? Geez.
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TweetJocketty makes a great, gutsy call
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after one final meal at Anticoli’s Caffe in Englewood. After August 15, when the place is closing up, I’ll no longer get to feast on their scrumptious Sausage Tortellino.
I seldom wear a hat, but if I did I would be tipping it to Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty right now, adding a deep bow on his behalf.
Jocketty did something Saturday that I totally agree with - even if he could not care less about what I think about his moves.
Jocketty did not call up outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. from the minor leagues. Matthews had a clause in his contract that if the Reds didn’t call him up to the majors by Saturday he could become a free agent.
Jocketty did not call him up and he opted out of the contract.
That was an outstanding call by Jocketty. Had he called up Matthews, somebody on the roster would have had to be removed from the Reds roster - probably outfielder Laynce Nix or outfielder Chris Heisey.
To demonstrate that Jocketty made the right call, Nix bashed three hits Saturday and Heisey smashed his fourth pinch-hit home run as the Reds crashed back into first place in the NL Central with a 7-0 evanporation of the Houston Astros.
Nix has been a valuable bench piece for two years - a guy who doesn’t mind being a parti-time player and a pinch-hitter. In fact, he thrives on it. Would Matthews accept that role? My gut says he wouldn’t and would be a distraction if he didn’t get his playing time.
And Heisey has been an outstanding addition since his call-up from Louisville, a rookie who seems to know how to come off the bench and contribute, or contribute when manager Dusty Baker put him in the lineup.
AND IT WAS another great call by Baker Saturday. With right-hander Roy Oswalt pitching for the Astros, he of the 23-2 career record against the Reds, Baker benched right-hander Jonny Gomes and put left-hander Nix in left field.
Result: Three hits.
And to show that the Reds no longer fear the spectre of the ghostly Oswalt standing on the mound, they assaulted him for six runs in the first three innings.
Orlando Cabrera, who had three hits, singled in the first and Joey Votto smached his 25th home run the opposite way, over the left field wall for a 2-0 Reds lead.
Oswalt, much-coveted by the St. Louis Cardinals and in the forefront to acquire him in a trade, used to be able to send a photo of himself to the Reds clubhouse before a game and they’d all run for the shower room.
No more. This is a different Reds team. This is a Reds team that fears no pitcher. Yeah, they get shut down once in a while, but it isn’t because they quiver and shake over the prospect of facing a No. 1 pitcher.
AND WE HAVEN’T even mentioned Johnny Cueto yet. All the pre-game talk was about Oswalt. The post-game chatter was Cueto, Cueto, Cueto.
There was a chance that Cueto might not make his start because he had stomach problems and flu-like symptoms on Friday. To be on the safe side, the Reds rushed Sam LeCure from Louisville, just in case Cueto was unable to walk to the mound.
Not only did he walk to the mound Saturday, he owned every inch of it. For his eight innings, he held the Astros to no runs and four hits to push his record to 10-2.
The Astros were wearing throwback uniforms, the old rainbow outfits with the big blue star on the chest, but Cueto and the Reds recognized them as the same team they are dominated these days - 5-0 in five games in Minute Maid Park this year.
WHEN THE ASTROS wore those gosh-awful clown suits, the guys who wore them were Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, J.R. Richard, Joe Niekro, Larry Dierker, Kevin Bass, Jimmy Wynn, Bob Watson and a bunch of othter very fine players. So nobody laughed at them in their gaudy outfits - well, at least not to their faces. There was a lot of snickering off to the side.
The Reds, a half-game in front of the Cardinals, send Mike Leake to the mound Sunday in pursuit of a three-game sweep. And my prediciton still stand: The Reds will win the division by three or four games.
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TweetAn interesting evening for Jay Bruce
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, where a thermometer says it is 85 degrees and I’m by myself because my friends are too smart to sweat just so they can smoke a cigar:
Seeing the beautiful Minute Maid Park, one of my favorite baseball venues for both viewing pleasure and wonderful working environment, reminded me of how bad it was in the dump that was the Astrodome.
The last season the Houston Astros played in The Dome I was busily writing my story after a game when I felt something nudge my foot. When I looked down I saw a rat about the size Persian cat crawl across my foot. I wrote the rest of my story in record time and just hoped it made sense.
AND I miss Pappasito’s southwestern-style Mexican Restaurant and all the guys at McCoy’s Fine Cigars on Main Street, just down the road from the Inn at the Ballpark, my favorite road hotel.
Oh, yeah. The Reds played a game, too. And they won, 6-4, beating the Astros. But starter Travis Wood still doesn’t have a win, despite another good outing. The Reds lost, 1-0, in his previous two starts, but they finally gave him some runs Friday - four while he was in the game. But Wood also gave up four, so he didn’t get a decision.
He gave up four runs and nine hits over his six innings, walking none and striking out four. Logan Ondrusek, all 6-foot-8 of him, pitched a scoreless seventh inning and was rewarded with his first major-league win. And he did it in his home state. He is from Shiner, Tex., and is becoming almost as big as the town’s No. 1 product, Shiner Bock beer.
IT WAS AN, uh, interesting night for right fielder Jay Bruce.
In the fourth inning, Houston’s Hunter Pence (who had four hits and a two-run home run that tied the game, 4-4, against Wood), was on third base in the fourth inning. Chris Johnson popped up to shallow right field. It should have been Bruce’s ball - he should have called loudly and clearly, “Mine, mine, mine.” But he stood and watched as second baseman Brandon Phillips back pedaled to catch it.
Seeing that, Pence tagged and raced home ahead of Phillips’s off-balance throw. Pence never would have tried it had Bruce caught the ball.
Shift now to the eighth inning when it was 4-4. Joey Votto singled off lefthander Tim Byrdak and Gomes singles. Votto had three hits (including his 24th homer), a walk and scored two runs, while Gomes had a hit a walk and scored two runs).
With runners on first and second with no outs, Bruce came to bat. It was a definite sacrifice situation - especially with Bruce’s troubles against left-handers and troubles with runners on base.
Manager Dusty Baker put on the sacrifice bunt sign and Bruce’s attempt was awful, a feeble foul. Baker removed the bunt sign and Bruce took a ball, then pulled a double down the right field line to drive in Votto with the winning run. Drew Stubbs later hit a 420-foot sacrifice fly for an insurance run.0
The bullpen?
Well, Nick Masset created a bit of a mess in the eighth. After he got the first out, he filled the bases. He recovered to strike out pinch-hitter Pedro Feliz. Baker brought in Mr. Trustworthy, Arthur Rhodes, to face pinch-hitter Anderson Hernandez and he grounded to third.
AND THE NINTH was as adventuresome as always with Coco Cordero participating. He struck out pinch-hitter Michael Bourn, but gave up a single to Angel Sanchez and walked Lance Berkman, who was 0 for 12 with five strikeouts for his career against Cordero.
So the winning run came to the plate with one out. Carlos Lee, 4 for 11 for his career against Cordero, flied to right. Pence, who was 4 for 4 on the night and 4 for 12 with a homer for his career against Cordero, lined to center to end it.
That gave Cordero his 27th save in 33 opportunities and enabled the Reds to creep back to within a half-game of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central.
Scott Rolen once again was not in the lineup, but his fill-in, Miguel Cairo, reached base his first three times.
There is talk that Rolen MIGHT play Saturday night. The Reds certainly could use him.
Johnny Cueto is scheduled to pitch, but he had a sore throat and flu-like symptoms Friday. Just in case, Sam LeCure was scratched from his start in Louisville and rushed to Houston as a possible emergency starter.
It figures. In LeCure’s first tour with the Reds this year, every time he pitched he faced the other team’s ace. And who would he face Saturday? Roy Oswalt, of course, the owner o a 23-2 career record against the Reds.
Well, maybe the Astros will trade Oswalt to the St. Louis Cardinals, as the rumors have it, before Saturday’s game.
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TweetOf Bailey, Harang, Hernandez and Rolen
Homer Bailey pitched the equivalent of three innings (45 to 50 pitches) in a simulated game Wednesday afternoon, facing teammates Corky Miller, Paul Janish and Laynce Nix.
Afterward, Bailey was told the batters he faced said he was ready to win the Cy Young and Bailey laughed and said, “That’s counting your chicks when you don’t even have a chicken yet.”
They really didn’t say the Cy Young stuff, but they were impressed with what they saw as Bailey worked in front of GM Walt Jocketty, manager Dusty Baker and pitching coach Bryan Price - like a guy trying out for the lead part in a Broadway Show.
“He was letting it go, not holding anything back,” said Janish. “What I noticed in particular was he was throwing free and loose with his heater. His curve and split-finger were sharp. He may not have thrown them exactly where he wanted, but the movement was sharp, which is the way it should be. I don’t know the velocity numbers but he had something on the ball. As far as I’m concerned and I’m sure they are concerned, he looked about as good as he could look, throwing at 3:15 in an empty stadium.”
Bailey, who will pitch a rehab game Monday in Dayton for the Dragons, was all smiles after his outing.
“Nobody got a hit and nobody reached base,” he said. That’s because nobody runs the bases in a simulated game.
“Went pretty good,” he said. “Curveball, split and fastball went pretty good. The slider was a real off, but that’s always the last one to come around for me anyway. It was VERY muggy and I SWEAT a lot. Other than that, we’ll see how I feel tomorrow and go from there.”
Said Baker, “Homer looked pretty good. His command was above average and his breaking ball was good and his arm speed was very good. His delivery was good.”
FOR THOSE worrying and wondering just what in the name of the pitcher’s union are the Reds going to do when Aaron Harang comes back, whose place will he take, what will the Reds do?: Don’t worry about it.
Harang hasn’t pitched since before the All-Star break and still hasn’t thrown a baseball. He is seeing a chiropractor every day to get things popped in place, but it isn’t working. So Harang won’t be back any time soon and there is no need to speculate on what happens when (and if) he does return.
“The biggest thing before I even try to throw is that I need to have a day or two without pain before I resume activities and I haven’t had that for a week.” said Harang. “We have to get a program figured out. So far I’ve just walked on the treadmill for about an hour.”
Harang said he threw a couple of times over the All-Star break, a bullpen, and felt good, but not completely comfortable. I felt I was making compensation to get through the bullpen and that’s a bad thing to do.”
THE REDS tweaked their bullpen Wednesday, sending Micah Owings to Class AAA Louisville and recalling Carlos Fisher. Owings didn’t pitch for 16 days before Tuesday and gave up four runs, one hit (a home run), two walks and hit a batter in two-thirds of an inning Tuesday.
“Micah needs some innings,” said Baker. “It wasn’t his fault, wasn’t anybody’s fault. Our starters have been going so deep into games that there was no need the last two weeks for a long man. And then we had to hold him back several times for close games that went extra innings.
“I remember Bob Quinn told me years ago that a pitcher’s arm rusts out before it wears out,” Baker continued, referring to a former Reds GM who was later Baker’s GM when he managed in San Francisco. “Owings is a prime example of that. No use and a lot of rust. He is one of our favorites, so it was especially tough to send him out. But he needs to go get some innings, get sharp, and he’ll be back.”
ONCE AGAIN Scott Rolen was a late arrival at the ballpark and a non-participant in any baseball activities, the fifth straight game he has missed with a sore right hamstring.
“Nothing new on him,” said Baker. “We’re trying to wait it out as long as we can.”
ClATCHER RAMON Herandez was eligible to come off the disabled list Tuesday, but the Reds are holding him back until Thursday afternoon, “Just to make sure his knee was OK after doing all that hard work Monday and Tuesday,” said Baker.
“We’re going to give Joey Votto a day off Thursday if we can and have Ramon play first base,” said Baker. “Ryan Hanigan will catch the first day in Houston and Ramon will catch the second day (Saturday). By then his legs will be ready to catch Johnny Cueto.”
The sad part about activating Hernandez is that the Reds have no way to get Corky Miller back to Louisville. He is out of options and the Reds will have to designate him for assignment, meaning another team can claim him.
AS BAKER BEGAN his pre-game media chat Wednesday, he looked at a TV and said, “The weather looks bad clear out to Colorado. Not good for tomorrow, either.” Baker likes to ask broadcaster Marty Brennaman about upcoming weather and Brennaman always has an answer - sometimes right, sometimes wrong, just like a real meteorologist.
Baker always keeps a framed saying on a shelf behind his desk, Psalms 30:05, that says: “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Said Baker, “That’s appropriate for some of the tough games we’ve lost recently. It is in my ‘Minute Bible’ and I read it every day. I have to remind myself of that stuff. That’s what it’s like after tough games. Dang, that’s appropriate.”
WITH ESPN televising Wednesday’s game, the pre-game clubhouse was heavily populated with media types, including former Texas-New York Mets manager and Reds coach Bobby Valentine. It was all for rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg.
So I said to Bronson Arroyo, “Who is pitching for the Reds tonight? Doesn’t really matter. I hear ESPN is televising only the half innings that Strasburg pitches.” Arroyo, the Reds pitcher tonight, smiled and said, “You might be close to right.”
Let’s see - Arroyo was 10-4 with a 3.96 ERA in 19 starts and the rookie Strasburg is 4-2 with a 2.03 ERA in eight starts.
Amazingly, Strasburg and Reds rookie pitcher Mike Leake pitched on the same summer league team in California when they were in high school for two months. A scout said, “Strasburg wasn’t very good then and he cried a lot about calls, but he has grown up - physically and mentally.”
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TweetStubbs on Bunt Patrol every day
For those who have wondered why (or demanded that he do it) Drew Stubbs doesn’t use his world-class sprinter’s speed by laying down some bunts, well, he and the Cincinnati Reds are working on it. And working hard.
Every day on this homestand, in the gagging heat of the late afternoon, Stubbs and coach Billy Hatcher are on the field by themselves. Hatcher pitches, Stubbs bunts. Hatcher pitches, Stubbs bunts. Hatcher pitches, Stubbs bunts.
He drops down about 100 bunts every days and will continue to do it.
“We’ve done it the last four days and Hatcher and I are trying to make it an every day thing until I get comfortable doing it. Back in my college days (University of Texas) our whole offensive scheme was centered around bunting, so I’ve done my share. But in the last year or two, it has been a deal where I’ve lost my feel for it.
“Until you get a few down, well, there’s confidence involved,” Stubbs added. “It’s a feel, like a golf swing. Finding where it is. That’s what I’m working on - getting the feel for bunts. It is something that they are encouraging me to keep in the back of my mind, another weapon to use. In certain situations in games it is another tool to have.”
Hatcher says Stubbs is making rapid and remarkable progress.
“He is starting to get it now,” said Hatcher. “We’re working on mechanics. He has been getting it, but he has been afraid to get out there and do it, when to do it. We’re also working on when is the best time to do it, the best time for him to bunt. He is getting repetition and starting to feel it. He tried one the other day, but he bunted it a bit too hard and the guy made a good play. But just to see him try it was heartening.
“And bunting will force him to keep his eye on the ball,” Hatcher added. “If he keeps his eye on the ball, he’ll follow it a lot more and that will help him cut down on his strikeouts (93 in 307 at-bats).”
BRANDON PHILLIPS was not in Tuesday’s lineup and, in fact, manager Dusty Baker told him, “Sleep late, have a nice leisurely meal, come to the park late.”
“I can see him and Joey Votto are spent after the All-Star game,” said Baker. “If it was around the corner, no problem. But they went coast-to-coast and back. When you’re tired, the first thing you lose is your concentration. And I can see them getting frustrated. (Phillips is 1 for 13 and Votto is 2 for 14 since the All-Star break).
“I need to get Joey a day off, too, but I need them both tomorrow against Stephen Strasburg and I can’t give ‘em both the day off at the same time,” Baker added. “Joey is in the same boat.”
JAY BRUCE was in Tuesday’s lineup, dragging his 0 for 16 bat behind him and when Baker was asked what can be done about 0 for 16, he said, “Quit counting. When the player starts counting, it gets worse. We’ve all been there. We all know when we’re oh-for-something. All he needs is a little blooper, an infield hit, a chop-chop hit. That’s what usually gets you started.
“He has everybody in the world giving him advice and talking to him,” Baker added. “As Adam Dunn used to say, ‘You have to get it out of your own head.’ Everybody cares and everybody is trying to help him. On Hall of Fame Night four or five Hall of Famers had him corralled, but you can’t blame them. Guys are trying to help when they see things.”
THE NEXT HOME run for Jonny Gomes will be career No. 100 and when somebody said he might hit it Tuesday, he smiled and said, “I’d rather do it Wednesday when we’re on ESPN and I can hit one off the kid (much-publicized Steven Strasburg). If I do that, I’ll do cartwheels around the bases.”
Gomes is proud of his home run accomplishments and said after hitting No. 99 Monday, “I’m proud of my home run total and my accomplishments because at-bats were never given to me. I was always in a platoon situation or didn’t get to face right-handed pitchers.”
HOMER BAILEY pitches a simulated game in Great American Ball Park Wednesday afternoon, then returns to his professional baseball roots. He will make a rehab start next Monday for the Class A Dayton Dragons, where he pitched his first full professional season in 2005.
The No. 1 draft pick in 2004 was 8-4 with a 4.43 ERA in 21 starts and eight relief appearances for the Dragons.
“Haven’t been back to good ol’ Dayton since 2005,” he said. “Five years. Wow. I really enjoyed my time there.”
CATCHER RAMON HERNANDEZ was eligible to come off the DL today, but didn’t because he did a lot of heavy work testing his knee Monday, “And we have to see how he comes out of that,” said Baker. “Maybe tomorrow, maybe Thursday. We’ll try to ease him back into things.”
SCOTT ROLEN was out of the lineup again Tuesday with a sore hamstring and the Reds remain in a wait-and-see mode. He said Tuesday after arriving late to the park, “I don’t feel any better and I don’t feel any worse.”
“That’s status quo,” said Baker. “We’d like to see some progress.”
THE REDS face much-publicized and much-discussed pitcher Stephen Strasburg Wednesday in front of ESPN camera and on Tuesday the stadium garage was overloaded with equipment from three semi-trailers. Asked about Strasburg’s attention, Baker said, “That’s modern baseball when you are the No. 1 pick overall and get a lot of money. But I’ve been following him closely and he has handled it as well as any young man I’ve seen. He’s handled it to the point where he is seemingly sheepish and embarrassed by the notoriety he is receiving. I don’t know the young man, but from what I’ve seen on TV, it seems like somebody who you’d like your son to be like in the same situation. He gives good answers and he seems genuine in his answers.”
Baker on getting criticized when things go wrong but getting no credit when things go right: “I’m getting used to it. That’s how it is. It’s all right. It’s the times.”
The conversation came up when Baker was asked about Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella announcing his retirement after this season.
“There is a time for us all, but I’m surprised he would announce it now,” said Baker. “Everybody is going to step down sooner or later. Life is - you are born, you live, you reproduce if you are lucky enough, then die. It’s pretty simple.”
While managing the Reds to the 1990 World Series championship, Piniella was a fire-breathing, base-tossing, dirt-kicking one-man volcano. But he seems to have mellow in his later years.
“It is hard to keep that pace without having a heart attack,” said Baker. “Everybody mellows. If you don’t, you ain’t going to live long. I’d like to do it like my hero, Sandy Koufax. He just disappeared.”
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TweetRolen battling hamstring issue, DL possible
Turns out Scott Rolen was suffering from more than a nasty virus over the weekend. His hamstring hurts, too. And still does.
He already has taken a cortisone shot and anti-inflammatory drugs and is taking treatment as this is written Monday afternoon.
“How he responds to that treatment will determine what we do in the next couple of days,” said manager Dusty Baker, referring to whether the team will or won’t put Rolen on the disabled list.
Hamstrings are notoriously slow healers and the odds weigh heavier toward disablement than a quick return.
Which means?
Probably a big hello to Louisville third baseman Juan Francisco, who is whacking baseballs lopsided for the Class AAA Bats. Last week he hit a 485-foot home run, third longest in Louisville Slugger Field history. He is hitting .275 with a .528 slugging average. He owns 11 homers and 36 RBIs, but is still striking out alarmingly often - 55 times in 218 at-bats with only 11 walks.
And how did Rolen injure his hamstring? On Friday in the eighth inning, Rolen tagged up at second base and tried to take third after the catch, but was thrown out.
“I felt a burn in my right hamstring on that play and didn’t really recover too well,” said Rolen. “And then I had the privilege of throwing up in my bushes when I got home from the stomach flu. So that was an added bonus. Had I not been throwing up the last two days, I still would not have been in the lineup, anyway.
“I saw Dr. Tim Kremchek at his office between vomits,” said Rolen. “I pulled a trash can in front of me and sat across the room. I came in Sunday and got a cortisone injection. I guess today and tomorrow we’ll see how it goes and play it from there.”
THE REDS ONLY referred to Rolen’s stomach virus as the reason he didn’t play Saturday or Sunday with no mention of the hamstring.
“The hamstring has been bothering him off and on all year,” said manager Dusty Baker. “We really didn’t realize he had hurt it when he tagged up and got thrown out at third. You know Scott, he doesn’t say much. Then on top of that he got sick with the flu.
“We hope it isn’t too serious, but we really don’t know,” Baker added. “Life is not pleasant without Scotty out there. You see what our record is when he is in the lineup (45-31) and what it is when he is not in the lineup (6-11). This puts us in a catch-22 situation. We’re operating one man short and you only want to use him in a dire emergency so we can use the back date on the DL. We’ll make a decision in the next day or so.”
While Rolen has had a few hamstring issues, he says he has never pulled anything while on the field of play, never had the burning sensation he felt Friday.
“I had two months of a hamstring issue on my left one, which I’m really familiar with, but it was just an issue, a pain in the butt issue, during which we just tried to keep it from burning. On this, I tagged and ran and got there and then felt the burn. No pop, just a burn, and knew I had a problem. On the other one, I kept playing, waiting for the pop or the burn, but it never came.”
And the flu? “I feel good. I won’t be eating any pizza or or hot dogs soon. I’ll stick to my oatmeal and bland chicken and crackers for now. The flu was just a door prize for hurting my hamstring.”
ALL THE MAJOR-LEAGUE baseball caps the last couple of years have been black under the bill. Years ago they were green and the last few years they have been gray.
Everybody on the Reds wears the caps with black under the bill, everybody but one off-the-wall pitcher. Bronson Arroyo. He wears the gray model.
When asked why, Arroyo pointed to his feet and said, “See these shoes? Nobody wears them any more. Nike doesn’t even make ‘em any more. The ones I wear are from 2004.”
Why?
“I’m for old stuff,” he said. “I’m an old-stuff freak. And that’s one reason for the hat, too. But, actually, the new hats with black under the bills don’t stretch or shrink. I like to put my hats in water to shrink them while they are on my head so they fit perfectly.”
REMEMBER A couple of years ago when Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips said the Reds outfield was much better without Adam Dunn in left field? He said anybody out there would be better than Dunn. They had a few back-and-forth comments about it and sort of made up.
So, as a gag Monday, when Dunn walked onto the field for batting practice, below the No. 44 on his batting practice shirt was a stick-on picture of Phillips in his Reds’ uniform.
“This will build his ego a little bit,” said Dunn with a grin. “He needs it. His ego seems down a little bit lately. He’s lost some confidence, hasn’t he?”
A missing ego? Lost confidence? Brandon Phillips? Not now, not ever.
Dunn now plays first base for the Washington Nationals and is having a good year - .288, 22 homers, 26 doubles, 59 RBIs (and 130 strikeouts in 330 at-bats).
“I’m liking first base,” he said. “It keeps me entertained, a lot of people to talk to down there. I’m more involved, more in the game.”
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TweetOff day is really a ‘work’ day for Bruce
Jay Bruce wasn’t in Sunday’s Cincinnati Reds lineup, but that doesn’t mean he had the day off. To the contrary, it was a work day for him, or as manager Dusty Baker called it, “Work, work, work.”
It was a day of heavy-duty extra work with batting coach Brook Jacoby and a lot of extra hitting in the indoor batting cages. Bruce is 0 for 12 with four strikeouts over his last three games and continues to be mystified as to what it means when there are runners on base and he is in the batter’s box.
“It is a day of just hit, hit, hit and work and work and work” for him,” said Baker. “He’ll be back in there tomorrow and maybe pinch-hit today. His swing is off some. We want to work on it before it becomes frustration, which is pretty close to where he is right now. It’s so close. He feels it and we see it.
“And then the epitome of frustration is when Colorado center fielder Dexter Fowler took that three-run home run away from him Friday night,” Baker added. “All year he has been our hard-luck guy, from the beginning.
“We certainly need him to make this push,” said Baker. “Not to put the pressure on him, but we need him.”
SCOTT ROLEN walked into the clubhouse Sunday morning looking like death on a slow boil and wasn’t in the lineup for the second straight game due to flu-like symptoms.
Jonny Gomes looked at the lineup card and said kiddingly and with a broad smile, “Rolen’s wimping out again? What is this, his third All-Star break of the season?”
Somebody asked Gomes why he was even checking the lineup card, that he plays nearly every day, and he smiled again and said, “I’m just checking to make sure so I’ll know when to go turn over somebody’s desk when I’m not in there.”
THE SUBJECT in Baker’s pre-game office turned to the importance of the additions of veterans Rolen and Orlando Cabrera to this team.
“There is nothing more valuable then experience,” he said. “These guys have been there and know what it is like. What is happening now is part of the reason we got them. They are ‘Foundation People,’ personality-wise, people-wise, knowledge-wise, demeanor-wise.”
Clearly, these are The Wise Men.
“The way they present things and do things is totally opposite,” Baker said. “One talks a lot (Cabrera) and one doesn’t talk much at all (Rolen) and you need that. What if you have two talkers? That’s like having two gunners on a basketball team. Who is going to take the ball out?”
Baker pointed out that this team has the right mix and combination, veteran guys with playoff experience in all the right segments - Bronson Arroyo among the starting pitchers, Arthur Rhodes in the bullpen, Ramon Hernandez at catcher, Cabrera and Rolen in the infield, Miguel Cairo on the bench.
When asked if Rolen was back to his level of 2007 and 2008, Baker said, “Yeah, but the only difference was that back then he could play more. Now I have to spot him and I hope all this translates into playing a lot down the stretch. That’s how we’ve programmed him.”
Rolen was not even at the park Saturday and Baker laughed and said, “When I played for Tommy Lasorda he’d never let you go home. I was so sick one day I couldn’t see, so he had me go back and lay under a blanket in the training room. Well, he needed me in the 11th inning and I hit a game-winning home run off Jim Kaat and could barely run around the bases. And Tommy says to me, ‘You ain’t never going home.’”
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TweetReds put Rolen and his virus in quarantine
Scott Rolen’s clubhouse dressing cubicle was as tidy as a French maid’s linen closet, obviously unused on Saturday before batting practice. And there was no sign of his presence anywhere.
“He’s in quarantine,” said Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker.
Locked away?
“In a very dark place,” said Baker.
Rolen was not in Saturday’s lineup and probably shouldn’t have played Friday, “Because he didn’t feel very good Friday and he feels worse today,” said Baker. “His kids are real sick and so is he, so we’ve put him in quarantine. We don’t want that stuff spreading through our clubhouse. He’ll be available only in emergency situations.”
HIS PLACE IN the lineup was taken by Miguel Cairo, a guy Baker calls, “My minuteman,” because sometimes he has to get ready to play within minutes. And Baker began a dissertation on the importance of a guy like Cairo and said, “Cairo has been a valuable man for us, hasn’t he?”
Of Cairo’s slow start this year, Baker said, “Veterans start slow in the spring, but they know how to get it together and keep it together. Rolen actually is one of the guys who had seen him a lot, played with him (in St. Louis) and he played for (general manager) Walt Jocketty. He knew what he had to offer. You go by what his track record is. Unless a guy is overweight or hurt, he usually doesn’t lose it that quickly.
“Hunger and bills will take you a long way,” Baker added. “When you lose the hunger to play and can pay all your bills you go back to amateur ball. You have to enjoy playing, which Cairo does. And he works hard, runs every day, works as hard as anybody we have to keep his legs in shape.”
WAS EDISON VOLQUEZ nervous before his first start major-league start in nearly a year? Well, early in the afternoon he was dancing in the clubhouse to the loud - very loud - salsa music that emanates before every game at Coco Cordero’s locker.
The roster moves to make room for Volquez? Left-hander Matt Maloney, as expected, was sent back to Class AAA Louisville. Relief pitcher Mike Lincoln was moved to the 60-day disabled list.
Baker said there was no pitch limit for Volquez, but added, “It depends on how stressful his innings are. And he has to be honest with us. It is not hero time. Yet. He’ll have to fight extra adrenaline and over-exuberance for his first time on the mound. You have to feel nervous, first time out after an operation and you want to help the team. When you reach a goal, which he has - coming back in less than a year - it puts high anxiety in you.”
ONE OF the sad tales surrounding the All-Star game was that Cincinnati’s 40-year-old pitcher, Arthur Rhodes, did not get in the game. He made his first All-Star team in his 19th major-league season, “And all I wanted to do was get in, just face one batter, to honor my son. Everything I do is for my son.”
That would be his son, Jordan, who died at the age of 5 in December of 2008 and for whom Rhodes scratches the initials, JR, on the back of the mound before he makes his first pitch when he arrives from the bullpen.
“I know it looked bad and I would have loved to have pitched in an All-Star game,” said Rhodes. “At least one hitter. But (National League manager) Charlie Manuel apologized to me after the game for not getting me in and I told him, ‘No problem, Charlie. I had a great time, a great experience and a lot of fun.’ More import is our team, the Reds. This team is great. They go out and play a hard nine innings every day.”
JONNY GOMES watched on a clubhouse TV Saturday afternoon as the Chicago Cubs suffered a late-inning meltdown, a complete blow-up by closer Carlos Marmol. Gomes launched into a great imitation of what Cubs manager Lou Piniella would say after the game.
Mimicking Piniella’s accent and inflections, Gomes said, “Was that a closer’s situation? Is Marmol my closer? So I put him in the game. It ain’t my fault. Get Marmol in here. Ask him what the hell happened?”
Gomes played for Piniella for three years in Tampa Bay and recalled a moment on the mound early one season.
“We had a young pitcher who barely made the team out of spring training,” said Gomes. “He got into trouble late in a game and Lou went to the mound and asked, ‘Son, did you find a nice apartment to live in?’”
Said the pitcher, “Yeah, yeah I did.”
Said Piniella, “Did you sign a nice lease?”
Said the pitcher, “Yeah, yeah I did.”
Said Piniella, “Well, let me tell you, son. Either get this guy out or find a way to get out of that lease.”
HOMER BAILEY was sitting on a couch reading a book on his new iPad, wearing a ‘Vote Votto’ tee-shirt that the team was given to wear in Philadelphia. When somebody said, “Hey, you cant quit wearing that, Votto won,” Bailey smiled and said, “I use it for my workouts, sweat it all up.”
When asked what his routine is for the next few days, Bailey lifted himself off his seat and walked to his locker, taking down a printed sheet from the wall. “I’m going to throw on the side on the 18th (Sunday), I’m going to pitch a simulated game on the 21st (Wednesday) and I’m going to make a minor-league rehab start on the 26th (a week from Monday).”
Bailey tested his shoulder Thursday and said, “Everything is going well. I don’t have any pain and that’s the most important thing right now.”
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TweetBaker’s office & pitching staff getting overcrowded
When the 2010 season began, manager Dusty Baker’s pre-game media briefing was normally attended by six writers and broadcaster Marty Brennaman, a nice, homey close-friends situation. On Friday, the first game after the All-Star game, his office was stuffed with 25 media types.
“Crowded office,” said one media person.
“For now,” said Baker with a smile. Baker knows how quickly media attention can wane. On Friday the Cincinnati Reds were a half-game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central, in first place. A team of interest.
Not that Baker expects it, but he knows how it works. If the Reds were to lose three over the weekend to the Colorado Rockies and the Cardinals were to win three straight, the Reds would be in second place, 2 1/2 games out of first place - and Baker’s office would empty quicker than an after hours bar being raided.
JUST HOW MUCH better the Reds might be in the second half surfaces Saturday when Edinson Volquez makes his first start of 2010, less than a year after Tommy John surgery.
Somebody asked Baker about the two starters after Volquez and he said, swiveling in his chair, “Let me check my locked safe. And if I catch anybody nosing into this safe (actually a plastic-covered 8 1/2 by 11 notebook), I have a real big knife in this drawer I’m not afraid to use.”
Baker then said, “Travis Wood Sunday, Johnny Cueto Monday and Mike Leake Tuesday.” That means Aaron Harang’s sore back is not recovered enough for him to come off the disabled list and left-hander Matt Maloney is the odd man out in the rotation.
Somebody mentioned to Joey Votto that, “It must be nice to have all that surplus pitching.” Votto gave the guy a straight stare and said, “There is no such thing as surplus pitching.”
When Baker was told what Votto said, he smiled broadly and said, “Out of the mouths of babes in baseball…”
Baker, though, did talk about the ‘surplus’ of starting pitchers owned by the Reds.
“You are not going to win without pitching - ya gotta pitch, that’s No. 1,” he said. “What we have says a lot for our organization and our system. You never have too many. You can do a lot with too many. You have guys who are here and you have insurance in the minors. You have enough so that you can make a deal. You can do a lot with pitching.
“For us, right now, it is a coin flip as to which ones we keep and which ones you can potentially move,” Baker added. “Right now we are not in a position to talk about moving any of our pitchers, but potentially something has to happen with somebody - if not this year, then over the winter.”
FANS LIKED to talk about the Reds acquiring Roy Oswalt and some were upset that Texas traded for Cliff Lee instead of the Reds, but Votto knows what it means to get Volquez back.
“Why not this yerar, why not us to win it all,” said Votto. “We have a good group of guys, a lot of guys with experience and a lot of winners. Most importantly, we’re getting help. We’re getting a guy like Volquez, a guy who was an All-Star before he left (for Tommy John surgery). Something like that doesn’t come along very often, where you just pick up an All-Star for nothing. You want to be as greedy as you can with the good arms and we’re doing a good job with that.”
Volquez, his curls shined and ready to dangle in the heat, is always all smiles, but his smile seemed broader Friday as he talked about his start.
“Not nervous, just excited, so happy to be back on the mound,” he said. “It’ll seem like the first time ever. I haven’t pitched in like two years and I really don’t know how I’ll feel. Yeah, I’m surprised about how quickly I’ve come back. A lot of people take like a year-and-a-half, so I came back in less than a year. I don’t feel anything in my arm, no setbacks. I feel like nothing happened. I have better control now - only eight walks in 31 innings (on minor-league rehab).”
Said Baker, “This is the beginning of the season for Volquez, so you have to be a little more tolerant. You hope he brings exactly what he had when he left. It isn’t like he is unproven. He’ll probably be better next year, but who knows? He is throwing the ball well. Medicine and rehab are advanced. What used to take 18 months is taking 12 months. Look at Tim Hudson (Atlanta). He hasn’t missed a beat from a similar situation.
“Edinson is a quick healer, a hard worker,” Baker added. “Everybody doesn’t heal the same. He has good blood and worked his butt off to get back here. We tried not to rush him and actually had to put a governor and a monitor on him. He was on track to be back sooner, but we wanted to make sure and the doctors wanted to make sure.”
VOTTO READILY addressed the furor he created at the All-Star game when he allegedly snubbed Chicao Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd and later said, “I hate the Cubs.”
“I was laughing when I said it,” said Votto. “The shame of it was that Marlon and I got along great on the bench and in the outfield. And I was one of the first people to congratulate him in Chicago. It was definitely taken out of context and I was laughing when I said it. I have utmost respect for the Cubs in general.”
But the fans?
“No, not Cubs fans in general,” he said. Somebody mentioned there is a video on YouTube where a Cubs fan asks Votto for his autograph and Votto says, “I don’t sign for Cubs fans.”
Said Votto Friday, “I don’t. I don’t sign for Cubs fans. I try not to sign. They are in our same division and we play good baseball against them. I think it is kind of fun to play the heel. Not everything has to be friendly. We take it seriously when we go there.”
Now comes the zinger.
“When I was first called up in 2007, they clinched the division on our field and I still remember that now,” said Votto. “I remember them looking at the scoreboard, everybody in our stands cheering and wearing blue. It meant a lot to me and I probably should have let it go by now, but I’m not an easy forgiver.”
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TweetSay hello to Paige and Cooper
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while watching the All-Star game with two new members of the family on the couch next to me.
That would be Cooper and Paige, our two new Schnoodle puppies. They can’t possibly replace Barkley, my 12-year-old Miniature Schnauzer who died in my arms two months ago and was my best friend ever and whom I shall never forget. But Paige looks a lot like him in the face and they’ve both won my heart already, after only three hours in our house.
Nadine and I picked them up on our way home from the airport after returning from our five-day vacation on Hilton Head Island.
BEFORE I talk about Hilton Head, what happened in Philadelphia? Geez, I leave for a few days and it was as if I took the Cincinnati Reds’ bats with me. Three losses in extra innings? Two straight 1-0 defeats? Twenty-three straight innings without scoring a run heading into the All-Star break?
I never thought the Reds could go that many innings without scoring a run. You’d think they’d score one by accident. You have to feel compassion for Mike Leake, Travis Wood and Matt Maloney, who pitched spectacularly and got nothing. Well, Maloney got something — a big ‘L’ next to his name despite giving up only one run.
NOW IT gets very interesting, doesn’t it? Will The Philadelphia Story linger after they resume play Friday against Colorado or will the after-effects linger? And what are they going to do with all the pitching?
Both Aaron Harang and Edinson Volquez are expected back when play resumes. And Homer Bailey won’t be far behind. How can the Reds penalize Wood or Maloney by sending them back to Louisville? Man, what a problem — albeit a nice one to have.
AH, HILTON HEAD. If you like seafood (and I certainly do), it is gourmet heaven. I ate seafood five straight nights and never had a bad meal. Not one.
We started with the Olde Oyster Factory. Until that night, the best soup I ever had was the New England Clam Chowder at Legal Seafood in Boston. Now it’s No. 2. I had some corn seafood chowder at OOF that was spectacular.
Next it was Hudson’s Seafood and the shrimp-scallops dish was delicious, with a large basket of hush puppies that disappeared so quickly that Nadine and I fought over the last one. I won by pointing to some guy in the restaurant and asking, “Isn’t that Tom Cruise?” It wasn’t, but man, that last hush puppy was scrumptious.
On the third night, after paying $5 to enter the gate at Sea Pines (I’m going to set up a booth and charge $5 to get into my neighborhood; what a racket). But we ate at The Wreck of The Salty Dog and some more shrimp and scallops were devoured with gusto.
On the fourth night we wandered into the Cologny Square shopping plaza and took a chance on what looked like an ordinary restaurant called Skillets. We both had potato-encrusted grouper. It was probably the best meal we had and we each received a free drink and a free dessert because our waiter forgot to bring us our salads. We didn’t complain. but the manager noticed we didn’t have our salads when our entrees arrived and insisted on the free drinks. And the waiter brought the dessert.
On the fifth night we paid $5 again to get through the Sea Pines gate and went to Harbourtown to see the Lighthouse. It was pouring rain that night and we never found The Lighthouse, but we did find a restaurant called CQ. It was in a house formerly owned by the man who came up with the Jolly Green Giant logo and the bull logo for Schlitz beer. It was the most expensive restaurant during our trip, but worth it. I had a special dish of, uh, scallops and shrimp (guess what kind of seafood I like best) and Nadine had a dish that had French name, but it was stacked shrimp, cole slow and french fries in a barbecue sauce. It was superb.
We also looked at a house that was for sale - only $5,500,000 — about $500,000 more than I was willing to pay. Well, actually, about $5 million more than I COULD pay.
DID WE DO anything other than eat? Not much. The rest of the time, during the day, we were at the beach or close to the pool. We stayed at the Palmetto Dunes Marriott Resort, a completely non-smoking facility. But the first day, we found a secluded raised deck with a great view of the beach, an umbrella, and two lounge chairs. Nobody bothered us for three days, so I could puff my cigars. On the fourth day, a woman and her kids found the deck, too, and sat in some chairs behind us. Not 30 minutes after she sat down, a Marriott staffer walked up and said politely, “Sir, this is a non-smoking area, so will you please put out the cigar?”
I understood and complied. But what frosted me was that the woman and her kids put down their towels on the chairs and disappeared, hardly ever came back.
On Tuesday it was time to leave and we flew out of the Hilton Head Island airport. What I didn’t know until we boarded our flight was that Hilton Head has the shortest runway in America. We had a small two-engine prop job, but we couldn’t take off until four people agreed to get off due to weight restrictions.
And what is an airplane flight for me without problems??? I always save my change. Never use it. We put all our change in a very large bottle in our bedroom and use it for our trips. I probably had $10 or $15 worth of change and I put it in a side pocket of my bag. When you moved the bag, you could hear the change jingling. When we got back to Dayton and I picked up my bag, the side pocket was open. All the change was gone and one of my new flip flops was gone. So now I have to hop around on one foot when I wear my flip flops.
I QUICKLY forgot about my minor losses when we picked up the puppies, who have gone to bed and so far aren’t crying. Since they are half-brother, half-sister (born about a week apart), we’re hoping they won’t have separation anxieties and will sleep through the night. I’ll let you know.
Now I’m waiting for the second half of the season to start, anxious to see what the Reds will do about their pitching surplus and their hitting deficiencies.
LOVED IT that Brandon Phillips was miked for the game. When teammate Scott Rolden went from first to third on a single, Phillips screamed, “Yeah, first to third! Yeah, that’s what what we do in Cincinnati. First to third.”
Well, it’s what they did before Philadelphia — when they get runners on base and gets some hits.
NOW THAT I’m ‘back to work,’ I need more of those great questions you send me every week for Ask Hal. The bag is nearly empty and I need some ASK HAL questions by Thursday morning. Send them to halmccoy@hotmail.com - and thanks.
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TweetThe Big Rally Machine: pitching and defense
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while packing (cigars go in first) for a five-day trip to Hilton Head Island):
What do you think of The Big Rally Machine? I like it. It’s is oh so apropos for the 2010 Cincinnati Reds, who never believe the game is over until Coco Cordero scares the bejeezus out of everybody before getting the final out.
Now all you Dusty Baker disbelievers save your vitriol and lame nicknames for the Reds manager and give the man his just due. He did it again Wednesday night.
AND WHAT might that be? Well, with tough left-hander Jonathon Niese (from Defiance, Ohio) on the mound, Baker gave Jay Bruce the night off and inserted Chris Heisey into the line-up in right field. What does he do? Well, he saves a run with a sensational running backhanded catch in deep right-center and then he hit a tie-breaking home run during the Reds’ 3-1 win over the New York Mets.
Amazing stuff. Just amazing. Joey Votto and Scott Rolen each went 0 for 4, and the Reds’ still won. All the Reds wore ‘Vote Votto’ t-shirts for batting practice in support of their snubbed teammate. Is that team unity, or what? One of the more vociferous in supporting Votto was Jonny Gomes, a guy who had an outside chance at making the All-Star team, but was a long shot and didn’t make it.
Anyway, the Reds were facing a pitcher who was 5-0 in his last five starts and it didn’t look good when the second hitter, Angel Pagan, hit a home run to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
It was comeback time again. And pitcher Bronson Arroyo was up to shutting down the Mets, who were 29-13 in Citi Field. The Mets scored no more off Arroyo, who needed only 99 pitches to go eight innings, giving up one run and seven hits, walking none and striking out three.
Pitching and defense? That’s the formula for any championship team. Arroyo provided the pitching while Heisey and second baseman Brandon Phillips provided the defense. Phillips made a barehanded stab on a ball bouncing over second base hit by Alex Cora and threw him out.
They need a new classification for Phillips. Gold Glove? He’s beyond that. He should win a Platinum Glove.
Phillips also tied the game in the third inning with a two-out home run.
It stayed 1-1 until Heisey batted in the seventh and plugged a one-out home run, his fifth. Baker always seems to know when to rest a regular and which utility player to plug in. Amazing, just amazing.
So it was 2-1 Reds with one out in the seventh when some Reds Magic surfaced again. Drew Stubbs nubbed one up the third base line that David Wright permitted to roll. It stayed fair. Corky Miller lined to second for the second out. Arroyo then bunted the ball up in the air. An out? Nope. The ball cleared the pitcher’s head and plopped in the grass behind him for another bizarre hit.
Phillips then doubled to the right field corner for another run. He and Heisey both had two hits.
OF COURSE it wasn’t over. The Reds had to have their acid indigestion imposed upon them by closer Cordero. He gave up a lead-off double to Ike Davis, putting the tying run at the plate with no outs. He got Jason Bay on a pop-up, but walked Jose Thole on five pitches. Now the Mets had the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate with one out.
Cordero got Jesus Feliciano on a smoking line drive to center and ended it when Alex Cora fouled off three 1-and-2 pitches and flied to right on a 2-2 count, giving Cordero his 24th save in 29 chances.
The guy is a one-man ulcer carrier, but continues to get the job done. Usually.
The Reds took two of three in New York after taking three of four in Chicago. They open a four-game series in Philadelphia Thursday night to finish play before the All-Star break. All they need is a 2-2 split to finish the trip 7-4, the W-L record I predicted for this trip. It could be better.
YOU ARE ON your own in this corner for the next five days as my wife and I take a rest on Hilton Head Island. Be nice to each other. Give Dusty some credit. And I’ll be back right after the All-Star game for some more fun from The Miracle Workers.
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TweetSantana puts a cap on Reds’ bats
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while my wife, Nadine, sits next to me on her computer checking out Hilton Head, where we’ll be in a couple of days:
Sometimes even the best hitting baseball team in the National League has the bats taken away from them and put in cold storage, even when it is nearly 100 degrees.
That’s what Johan Santana did to the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night in Citi Field, beating the Reds, 3-0, for the New York Mets. Santana, once the best pitcher in the world, undewent shoulder surgery a year ago and hasn’t been close to the form he had with the Minnesota Twins.
On this sweltering night, he was back. He pitched a three-hit shutout, his first complete game of the season that came on 108 pitches, 76 for strikes. He threw first-pitch strikes to 27 of the 33 hitters he faced.
And he hit his first major-league home run to give the Mets a 1-0 lead in the third.
FOR THE second straight night the Reds had to go with an emergency starter. Travis Wood stepped in Monday night in place of Aaron Harang, who came down with a stiff back. Chiropractors worked all day trying to get Harang ready for Tuesday. Didn’t work. Just in case, the Reds flew in left-hander Matt Maloney Tuesday morning and he made the start.
Harang was placed on the disabled list, but it is retroactive to his last start and he’ll be eligible to pitch after the All-Star break, back permitting.
MALONEY WASN’T that bad. The home run to Santana came on a 12-pitch at-bat. The 12th pitch went straight down the right field line and struck the foul pole for a home run. The next time Maloney faced Santana he struck him out on three pitches.
Maloney’s only major problem surfaced in the sixth. Jose Reyes led the inning with a bunt and Maloney dove for it. It was in his glove, but bounced out as Maloney slammed to the ground and Reyes had a bunt single.
He moved to second on a ground ball and David Wright was walked intentionally. But Maloney got the next batter and there were two outs. But he fell behind 2-and-0 to0 Jason Bay with runners on second and third for two runs and a 3-and-0 lead.
His day was done, just one out shy of a quality start.
Thoswe two runs in the sixth were two more runs than Santana needed.
Brandon Phillips opened the game with a double to left center and Miguel Cabrera bunted him to third. But with one out and a runner on third the Reds didn’t score. Joey Votto struck out and Scott Rolen popped up.
Santana was extremely careful with Votto. He only walked three, but two were to Votto. And after the first inning the Reds had only two more hits - Cabrera’s two-out ground single in the sixth and Rolen’s one-out single in the ninth.
After Rolen’s single, left fielder Bay dropped Jay Bruce’s shallow pop fly for an error and the Reds had two on with one out and the tying run at the plate.
Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez was warming up in the bullpen and manager Jerry Manuel strolled to the mound. The fans booed, believing he was making the walk to take out Santana,. The fans had a point. F-Rod has retired only one of the last nine batters he faced.
Manuel chose to permit Santana to stay, a wise and sage decision. Slump-ridden Jonny Gomes lined hard to shortstop and the game ended when Drew Stubbs grounded weakly to third base.
So the Reds are a respectable 4-2 on this 11-game road trip with a final game in New York Wednesday night. Then it is on to Philadelphia for four where Votto can make Phillies manager Charlie Manuel ask, “Why in hell did I leave this guy off the All-Star team?”
By then, though, we’ll know if Votto was voted onto the team by the fans this week. Deadline for the on-line voting is Thursday at 4 p.m.
BECAUSE I’M heading for five days on Hilton Head Island Thursday morning, I need those nifty Ask Hal questions TODAY so I can put them together Wednesday. Send those great questions to halmccoy@hotmail.com. And thanks for the great support so far.
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TweetAre these The Relentless Reds?
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while fighting off attacks of June bugs (even though it is July):
Hey, Charlie Manuel, put that in your Philly cheesecake and munch on it.
Joey Votto isn’t one to say, “Take that,” or, “I told you so,” so I’ll say it for him.
I TOLD YOU SO.
One day after he was snubbed by Manuel for the All-Star team, Votto unleashed two home runs Monday night against the New York Mets during an 8-6 victory. In fact, he ripped the second pitch he saw on his first at-bat over the center field wall in the first inning to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.
Then, with the Reds leading by a precarious 7-6, Votto homered again in the sixth for an insurance run and his 21st home run, tops in the National League. Take that Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard and Adrian Gonzalez.
Votto isn’t a National League All-Star? This man is All-World.
I believe in the Wendy’s slogan: “You know when it’s real.”
I know two things right now that are real. Joey Votto is real. And the 2010 Cincinnati Reds are real.
MANAGER DUSTY BAKER pulled another sleight-of-hand out of his ever-present wristbands. Just 30 minutes before game-time, it was determined that scheduled starter Aaron Harang couldn’t pitch. Back spasms. Back locked up.
So Baker turned to rookie Travis Wood, a guy who has pitched in one major-league game, a guy who had never in his professional career, minors or majors, pitched a game on only three days of rest.
Wood was asked if he could do it and he said, “Gimme the ball.”
And he pitched 4 2/3 innings. He had two outs in the fifth, one out from qualifying for a win. But the Mets had scored twice, cutting the lead to 7-3 and had two on. Baker had to go get him.
But it was a gutsy night for the 23-year-old left-hander.
The Reds broke open a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth with six runs when controversy ensued. With the bases loaded and no outs, Scott Rolen appeared to have been hit by a pitch from Mike Pelfrey. But the umpire said it was a foul tip off Rolen’s bat for strike three. Baker protested and the umpires conferred and reversed the call, sending Rolen to first, forcing in the go-ahead run.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel protested loudly and was ejected.
And the rally was on.. Drew Stubbs drove a two-run single. Corky Miller cracked a two-run double. And Wood tripled home a run.
ALSO OF significance is the fact the Reds ripped pitcher Mike Pelfrey, another guy snubbed by Manuel. Pelfrey entered the game with a 10-2 record with a 2.93 ERA. He was 8-0 in night games and 6-0 at home. The Reds wiped away both those ‘0s.’
The Reds are now a season-best two games up on the second-place St. Louis Cardinals, they are 12 games over .500 and they are 4-1 so far on this 11-game road trip.
SO IT IS time for a nickname, right? What should we call this team? I’d love to call them The Relentless Reds, but that was the title of the book I wrote about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. They were The Big Red Machine but I called them The Relentless Reds.
This team is about as relentless as any team I’ve ever seen.
What do you think? Give me a nickname for this team.
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TweetSnubbing of Votto is a big-league disgrace
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while sitting in slack-jawed disbelief over the total disrespect for Joey Votto.
I hadn’t intended to write a blog today. It was going to be a day off on the Fourth of July - watch the Cincinnati Reds-Chicago Cubs play on TV, then enjoy my wife’s delicious potato salad, some baked beans and some great marinated chicken concoced and grilled by my brother-in-law, Rod Tomcak.
Then came the All-Star announcement. Albert Pujols won the starting job at first base. OK, we can take that. Then came the announcement of the reserves and the first basemen were Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan Howard.
I KNOW, I KNOW, I’m supposed to be objective. Report the facts and move on. But not on this issue. This is the biggest injustice to a baseball player in the history of All-Star games.
A whole bunch of people should be ashamed of themselves. If Joey Votto, the best player on the Reds, isn’t an All-Star than I’m Grover Cleveland Alexander.
And then the game began. In the top of the first, Votto took a called third strike, a close pitch. Maybe a strike, maybe a ball. Close. Votto got up into the umpire’s grille, an unusual eruption from the mild-mannered Votto. Then he slammed his batting helmet to the ground, an automatic ejected.
You know what? I’m sure that tantrum was the explosion Votto kept inside himself when he heard that he wasn’t an All-Star, when he heard that teammates Arthur Rhodes, Scott Rolen and Brandon Phillips were All-Star and he wasn’t. It was frustration erupting like Mount St. Helen’s.
And I don’t blame him. His numbers are as good as those owned by Pujols. His numbers are better than Gonzalez and Howard. But every must be represented by at least one player. Gonzalez was San Diego’s. And the National League manager who picks the reserve players is Philadelphia’s Charlie Manuel. Howard plays for Philadelphia. Nothing more needs to be said about that one.
THE WHOLE AFFAIR reeks and the stink carried over to the game. The Reds ripped the Cubs, 14-3. Votto was ejected in the first. Rolen was on the bench taking a day off. Catcher Ramon Hernandez left the game early with an injury.
The only joy about the entire mess was that Paul Janish replaced Votto in the batting order and had four hits - four hits from a guy who didn’t start the game. The Reds hit six home runs, including four during an eight-run seventh inning.
Drew Stubbs hit three homers, two of which left Wrigley Field for a crashdown on Waveland Avenue. Corky Miller, Hernandez’s replacement, homered. Janish homered, Phillips homered.
It was as if all the Reds were making hammer-hard statements in favor of Votto, whose streak of reaching base in 41 straight games ended with his ejection. But he leads the league in on-base percentage and OPS. He is in the Top Five in every noteworthy offense category that means anything in the National League.
He is hitting .313 and has 19 home runs, one less than league-leader Pujols.
But he isn’t an All-Star? If Joey Votto isn’t an All-Star then there isn’t a single baseball in the town of Cooperstown, N.Y.
I’m happy for Arthur Rhodes, winning his first All-Star spot after 20 years in the game and at age 40, the third oldest player to make it. I’m happy for Brandon Phillis for his first appearance. I’m happy for Scott Rolen for his sixth appearance.
Votto still has a chance. One slim chance. The final player will be determined by an on-line ballot that runs through Thursday afternoon. Votto is one of five on the NL ballot. That’s absurd. It never, never, never should have come to this.
Now excuse while I go take a very cold shower for a very long time.
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TweetA wild one as Reds take walk on the wild side
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while thinking, “Wow, I never covered a baseball game barefooted before:”
Did I say Friday’s game was one of the weirdest baseball games of 2010? Scratch that and dump it into File 13. Just one day later, one day after the Cincinnati Reds scored nine runs in one inning to beat the Chicago Cubs, 12-0, another heard-scratcher emerges.
The Reds lost this one, 3-1, but it was a game in which Cubs manager Lou Piniella had to wonder, with apologies to Casey Stengel, “Can anybody here play this game?”
In the first five innings, the Cubs had 12 baserunners against Johnny Cueto. None scored. In the first six innings, the Reds had one baserunner (a walk) against Randy Wells. No hits. Not a sniff of a run.
But it was 0-0 going into the sixth inning as the Cubs stranded 12 runners. And in one of the more unusual pitching lines of the season, Cueto pitched five innings and gave up seven hits and five walks. But no runs.
BUT IT CAME apart for the Reds and rookie relief pitcher Jordan Smith in the Chicago sixth when they scored three runs. With one out, Tyler Colvin singled and Smith walked Derrek Lee. Then he hit Marlon Byrd with a pitch to fill the bases.
Smith retired Mike Fontenot on a pop-up and was one out away from total damage control. But on an 0-and-2 pitch, Alfonso Soriano broke his bat and blooped a shallow single to left for a run and a 1-0 lead. Catcher Geovany Soto then cracked a two-run double into the ivy in left field for two more runs.
BUT THESE ARE the 2010 Reds, the no-quit-in-us Reds. And what’s a 3-0 lead? And here they came. Chris Heiser and Joey Votto opened with back-to-back singles - and Votto was on base for the 41st consecutive game.
Then, disaster. A pitch got away from catcher Soto and rolled a few feet to his right. Heisey started for third, but inexplicably stopped halfway. He was caught in a rundown and thrown out. So what happens? Scott Rolen immediately doubles to left, putting runners on second and third. Heisey would have scored and there would have been no outs - if you are one of those people who thinks what happens after a certain event would have happened the same way if the preceeding event hadn’t happen.
I don’t subscribe to it, but you see what MIGHT have been.
Nothing, though came of the inning because Jay Bruce struck out on a 0-and-2 pitch in the dirt and Ramon Hernandez grounded to third.
The Reds scored their one run in the eighth after Laynce Nix led with a double. He took third on a wild pickoff throw and scored on pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo’s grounder to second.
Heisey’s baserunning blunder was painful, but one also can call them growing pains. He’ll learn.
Wells came into the game with a 3-6 record and a 4.92 ERA, but a walk to Paul Janish, playing shortstop when Orlando Cabrera took a rare day off, was Cincinnati’s only baserunner through six innings - 19 up, 18 down.
MEANWHILE, Cueto was in Scramble Mode all day. The Cubs stranded two in the first, two in the second, three in third, two in the fourth and three in the fifth - without scoring. But Cueto’s pitch-count mounted up and he was finished after five. The Cubs put their lead-off hitter on base in the last four innings they faced Cueto, but couldn’t find home plate with a GPS, a Himalayan Sherpa guide and a miner’s helmet with the light on bright.
Reds pitched walked nine (only one was intentional) and hit a batter in the first seven innings of work.
Newly arrived bullpenner Bill Bray was a sliver of hope for the relief corps. He pitched the eighth and struck out the side.
AND THERE WAS hope for magic in the ninth when Rolen drew a one-out walk off Cubs closer Carlos Marmol. That brought the tying run to the plate with one out. Jay Bruce popped meekly to short and Hernandez lined hard to the shortstop.
So they Reds fell back to 10 games over .500, awaiting the outcome of tonight’s St. Louis-Milwaukee game to see if their lead stays at 1 1/2 games or dwindles back to a half-a-game. Strap it on, sports fans, it is going to be this way the rest of the season.
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TweetPhillips: ‘Time to compete is over, it’s time to win’
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after picking up a two-case shipment of Yuengling from my stepson, Chad, who drove it up from Atlanta and it MIGHT last through the Fourth of July weekend, if I hide it from my friends:
“The time to compete is over, it is time to win.” - Brandon Phillips, before the Cincinnati Reds embarked on the current 11-day, 11-game trip on which they are 2-0.
And the Reds certainly seem to be taking that quotation under advisement, witness their 12-0 annihilation of the Chicago Cubs Friday in one of baseball’s weirdest games this season.
IT WAS 1-0, Reds, after six innings and the Reds had only two hits off former teammate Ryan Dempster, who had struck out nine. That one run came on a lead-off first-pitch home run by Phillips in the Reds’ third.
“Dempster was really dealing,” said Phillips. “Normally I’ve been taking first pitches to try to get on base, but Dempster was throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes. I told (manager) Dusty Baker I was going after that first pitch and Dempster threw me a cookie.”
And later on the cookie crumbled into a million pieces for the Cubs, whose diet these days must be sauerkraut.
IN THE SEVENTH the Reds started the inning by scoring three runs without a hit. Dempster walked the first two. Quickly, the Reds scored three runs on five walks, an error and a passed ball.
But they didn’t stop. Before the inning mercifully ended, the Reds scored nine runs, aided by six walks, the error and the passed ball. Scott Rolen had a two-run single, Jonny Gomes a two-run double and Ramond Hernandez a two-run double.
So it went from 1-0 to 10-0 in a flash. The Cubs? It was an inning that any Little League coach knows all about. The Cubs are playing as if the season ends tomorrow and they are hopelessly mired in last place - where they may soon land. Their body language screams, “Losers.” They have been shut out five times in their last 13 games. Volatile manager Lou Piniella seems to be taking it docilely and one wonders how long he’ll remain as the manager.
BRONSON ARROYO matched Dempster pitch-for-pitch, giving up no runs and two hits through six innings. After the Reds scored nine in the seventh, manager Dusty Baker took him out, Arroyo’s eighth win a foregone conclusion. Logan Ondrusek continued his amazing run since his recall from Class AAA Louisville with two perfect innings and Micah Owings pitched a scoreless ninth.
So the Reds continue to find ways to win. If they don’t do it themselves, they accept charity, like the Cubs provided Friday, with a deep bow and a polite, “Thank you very much. Thanks for coming and we’ll see you tomorrow.”
For the first time this year the Reds are 11 games over .500 and before the Cardinals played Friday night against Milwaukee the Reds owned a two-game lead in the NL Central, their largest of the season.
BEFORE THIS trip began, I said on Reds Live TV last Sunday, “I believe the Reds will win the division by four or five games and I believe they’ll go 7-4 on this trip.”
Make me look good, boys, make me look smart.
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TweetHow do you ‘32?’ Ask Jay Bruce
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while wishing I could be in Chicago to enjoy one of those fabulous steaks at The Saloon Steakhouse hidden away from tourists in the lobby of the tiny Seneca Hotel, tucked behind the 100-story John Hancock Tower:
Have you seen those gosh-awful JTM commercials that ask, “How do you 32?”
Well, for the Cincinnati Reds, they ‘32’ the last couple of days with the guy who wears uniform number ‘32,’ the guy who once again is Bruce Almighty, Jay Bruce.
What he did Wednesday against Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay shows up in the box score, shows up in bold print and capital letters - a two-run game-winning home run.
What he did Thursday in Chicago does not show up on any box score, but is appreciated in his dugout and clubhouse as much as any home run he might hit. And it is another example of why the Reds are a winning team, maybe a championship team, this year. Unselfishness. The willingness to give up your body to make a big, big play.
The Reds beat the Cubs in 10 innings Thursday, 3-2, in a game that really belongs to rookie left-handed pitcher Travis Wood, making his major-league debut with a splash that caused waves on Lake Michigan - seven innings, two runs (he gave up none while he was in the game) and two hits.
More on him later.
It was 2-2 with one out in the 10th inning. Bruce was on first after a solid single that sent pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo to third, after Cairo’s single. Drew Stubbs was at the plate and sent a ground ball to second, a possible double play.
But Bruce roll-blocked his way into second base, upsetting shortstop Starlin Castro, disrupting his throw to first, permitting Cairo to score the winning run - the 15th time this season the Reds won a game on their last at-bat.
“You slide hard, you play the game right,” said Bruce. “We do what we need to do to win. I just wish we could have got a win for Travis Wood.”
AH, TRAVIS WOOD. Called up from Class AAA Louisville to make Thursday’s start, Wood showed that the pitching cupboard for the Reds is chock full of goodies.
For seven innings, he was a monster - no runs, two hits, one walk, four strikeouts. But he fell behind 3-and-0 on the first two hitters in the eighth, caught up at 3-and-2, then walked them both with a 2-0 lead.
Manager Dusty Baker went to the bullpen for Nick Masset, the problem-plagued relief pitcher who has got it together the last two weeks - five appearances over 5 2/3 innings without giving up a hit. But on this day in breezy Wrigley he didn’t have it. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, Tyler Colvin rammed a two-run single to right to tie it, 2-2.
Mike Fontenot then singled and it looked as if the Cubs might forge ahead, but Scott Rolen and Brandon Phillips turned a beauteous 5-4-3 double play.
But here are some of the things Wood did:
-His first two major-league pitches were strikes.
-He struck out dangerous Aramis Ramirez on three pitches.
-He struck out even more dangerous Derrek Lee on three pitches.
-He varied his velocity effectively, throwing three straight pitches to Jeff Baker at 80, 90 and 75 miles an hour.
-He needed only six pitches for a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
-He retired 13 straight at one point midway through the game.
That, friends, is pitching.
THE REDS were fortunate in this one, but good teams use good fortune. While the Cubs had only five hits, the Reds had 16 and stranded 13.
They had the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, but Cubs closer Carlos Marmol struck out Orlando Cabrera and Joey Votto, both on 3-and-2 pitches, both out of the strike zone.
Rookie relief pitcher Jordan Smith pitched as 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth and was credited with his first major-league victory when the Reds scored in the 10th.
And what’s a Coco Cordero appearance without heart palpitations? He gave up a one-out single and a one-out walk in the bottom of the 10th - the tying and winning runs with one out.
Once again, though, it was defense to the rescue as Cabrera and Phillips turned a pretty 6-4-3 game-ending double play.
What do they say about winning teams? Pitching and defense. And on this day, chalk it up to pitching (Wood, Smith), defense (two magnificent double plays) and The Big Slide by ‘How do you 32?’
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