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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 > September
September 2010
Baker will sign a new Reds contract
FOR THOSE WONDERING, “Will he or won’t he,” the answer is, “He will.”
Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker will be back next season, armed with a new multi-year contract - probably a three-year extension.
The deal could be announced before the Reds begin postseason play next mid-week for the first time in 15 years, but more likely after postseason play is completed.
A close confidante to Baker told me Wednesday, “They’re close, just a matter of dotting I’s and crossing T’s and Dusty will be back managing the Reds next year.”
The source said it is by Baker’s design that a deal wasn’t announced or negotiations made public during the season, “Because he hates to have the focus pointed at him when the team is in the middle of a pennant race. He wants no distractions away from the team and he doesn’t want himself distracted. That’s the way he always is. That’s him. That’s the man.”
WHEN ASKED pointedly if he is coming back, Baker was true to character in never lying to me. He smiled broadly and returned perusing a stack of statistics on his desk.
All he would say is that he and the team are close. While Baker and his team are very close - as far as respect and relationships - what he meant in this instance was that he and the team are this close to announcing a new contract.
“He gives us leadership, direction and is a father figure to us and we want him here,” said second baseman Brandon Phillips, a free-spirited player who has required more than his share of direction and leadership from his manager.
It would be a public relations disaster if the Reds didn’t bring back a manager who brought the team out of total darkness into broad daylight in three short years.
HIS CURRENT three-year, $12 million contract expires after this season, but there will be no emptying of his memorabilia-filled office in the Cincinnati clubhouse, the walls covered with photographs of family, friends, entertainers and people he admires. And he has a table in the room with the top covered with signatures from Hall of Fame players.
When Baker came to town, he carted three Manager of the Year awards with him (1993, 1997, 2000), plus four postseason appearances as manager of the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs.
His 2002 Giants team was the NL wildcard team and he took them to the seventh game of the World Series before losing to Anaheim.
His 2003 Cubs made it to the NLCS, where they lost to the Jack McKeon-managed Florida Marlins, a series memorable for the Steve Bartman foul ball incident, another seven-game series.
After his not-so-pleasant removal as Cubs manager, when injuries permeated the team and Sammy Sosa became a major distraction, Baker became an ESPN analyst, from where he was plucked in 2008 by Reds CEO/owner Bob Castellini.
“I came back because I knew I wasn’t finished as a manager, my life on the baseball field was not completed,” he said.
And he knew he had a daunting task. The Reds hadn’t been to the postseason since 1995, losing four straight in the NLCS to Atlanta, and hadn’t had a winning season since 2000 under Jack McKeon.
He finished 74-88 and in fifth place in 2008 and 78-84 and in fourth place last year.
Gradually, things turned toward the better as general manager Walt Jocketty and Baker began plugging in productive pieces and hints of better things to come surfaced last September when the Reds went 20-11.
His team started fast this season and it quickly became a two-team argument between the Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals, one or the other leading the NL Central the entire season.
Finally given a workable blend of experienced veteran winners like Scott Rolen, Orlando Cabrera, Miguel Cairo and Arthur Rhodes, blended with a large supply of promising young players, Baker worked magic all season.
Whenever a regular went down with injury, Baker plugged in the right substitute at the right time. Whenever a pinch-hitter was needed, Baker pushed the right button. Whenever a regular needed a day off, Baker put in the right substitute for that day and more often than not that player produced a big hit or a big play that led to victory.
When young players like Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs struggled and stumbled, and fans wanted them sent to the minors, Baker stuck with them and they produced and got better.
It is exactly what a manager is hired to do and Baker does it the right way constantly.
He is known as a player’s manager because he communicates - a player knows exactly his role and he is told what is expected of him and he is told a day or two beforehand when he will or won’t be in the lineup. And he never embarrasses a player publicly. Mistakes and misdemeanors are handled quietly, but forcefully.
In 38 years of covering baseball, I have never dealt with a more honest manager or a more media-friendly manager. He answers questions directly and he doesn’t lie. He may evade when necessary - and that, too, is part of the job — but he doesn’t tell untruths.
Baker and I became friends in 2000 when he discovered that I was the only member of the national media to predict the Cubs would win the NL Central in 2003 and for the next couple of years he always acknowledged my prediction.
And he is a man who knows how fleeting opportunity can be, as far as the Reds finally making the playoffs.
“You strive to get to this point for so very long, run the race, and then you are one or two steps from the finish line,” he said. “In this situation, you are full of anticipation and have a desire to finish it.”
Baker’s first dose of playoff baseball was as a player with the 1977 Dodgers, “After coming from losing all the time with the Braves. All it does is make you want it more and more and more and more. That’s what it does for you. You never get enough of it. That’s why you play the game. You talk about it in the winter, in spring training, all during the season, wondering who’ll be standing on top at the end. But you have to win the games.
“It’s a tough road,” he said. “I think about some of the guys who have been there. I think about Bobby Cox and how long he has been with the Braves and he has won one. Tony LaRussa has won two. Gene Mauch, a baseball genius, didn’t win any. Everything has to go right for you. It has to go right and you have to make it right.”
And the Reds and Baker are about to make it go right in the manager’s chair with their decisions to stay together in Cincinnati - a fortunate decision for all involved.
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TweetThe sweet smell of success lingers
ON THE DAY after, the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse carried the smell of fermenting champagne, the Korbel Extra Dry the players used to make each other extra wet after the celebratory party Tuesday night.
Several players carried empty bottles and were collecting teammates’ signatures on the glass with silver-tipped Sharpies.
An empty box of Liga Privada #9 cigars was in Orlando Cabrera’s locker after he passed them out to teammates - and judging by the way some of them held them or smoked them it was the first cigars of their lives. And the green tint to their skin helped that assessment of their cigar-puffing experience.
The cigars, a Nigaraguan brand, cost $12 a stick or $280 for a box of 24 and they were furnished by much-pleased owner/CEO Bob Castellini. He gave one once to Cabrera and when Cabrera said how much he liked it Castellini told him, “When you win the championship I’ll give you a box.”
Cabrera and the Reds delivered - and so did Castellini, who also delivered Cincinnati its first championship since 1995.
AS PROMISED, Brandon Phillips partook of alcohol for the first time in his life after the Reds clinched the division Tuesday night.
Did he have a sip?
“Nah, I had a whole bottle, but I spit more than half of it out,” he said. “That stuff is nasty. I won’t ever drink alcohol again, except when we have clubhouse celebrations. That’s the only time. Only in the clubhouse to celebrate with my teammates.”
Phillips nonchalantly pointed out an amazing fact when he said, “Do you know I’m the only position player left on this team from 2006. Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang were here, but I’m the only position player left.”
THE LINEUP card for Wednesday’s game looked like something left over from a spring training trip - like when the Reds trained in Florida on the west coast and faced a cross-state bus trip to Fort Lauderdale on the east coast.
The manager would say, “The regulars will stay in Sarasota and take batting practice and here is the team traveling across the state on the bus to play.”
The lineup: Willie Bloomquist, RF; Chris Valaika, 2B; Yonder Alonso, 1B; Juan Francisco, 3B; Chris Heisey, CF; Laynce Nix, LF; Paul Janish, SS; Corky Miller, C; Johnny Cueto, P.
When former pitcher Pete Harnisch saw a spring training lineup card like this one on a day he pitched, he would kiddingly yell across the room, “Hey, skippah, are we tryin’ today?”
Manager Dusty Baker IS trying. He knows the Reds need as many wins as possible to get the No. 2 seed behind Philadelphia and get home field advantage for the first round in the National League Division Series.
Then why this lineup?
“I imagine the regulars didn’t get much sleep, the way they were partying last night in there and there are probably a few headaches in there today,” said Baker. “I told them they’d get today off but to be ready to go into the game and most of them will be back in there tomorrow and the next day.
“We’ll start going some partial days because we have to figure how to give some of ‘em some rest,” he said. “It is very important to win because we are a game behind San Francisco (for the second best record behind Philadelphia). We can’t tie San Francisco because the tiebreaker is head-to-head and the Giants eat us more than we beat them.”
BAKER and general manager Walt Jocketty are mulling over the post-season roster and the post-season pitching, with no clear decisions made yet.
And that’s why Nix was in left field Wednesday, testing the ankle that has bothered him since late August.
“He has been running pretty good and we’re hoping we can come up with a true evaluation of him,” said Baker. “I don’t want to see him get hurt, but we have to find out. We do need him. We’re hoping we get him and Jim Edmonds back and we’ll be more complete.”
BAKER DIDN’T like one task he had to do Wednesday - tell Mike Leake he will not be on the post-season roster.
“We’re shutting him down,” said Baker. “He is going to travel with us, but there is not enough time for him to get ready. He hasn’t been on the mound and other guys are sharper and ready. He was a bit disappointed, but he was happy when he found out he would travel with us. I told him, without him we wouldn’t be here now, not without those eight victories he gave us and some other fine games he threw that we won. He was a big part of this thing.”
LOST IN THE euphoria of clinching the title on Jay Bruce’s walk-off home run was the stupendous catch made by center fielder Drew Stubbs. He robbed Carlos Lee of a two-run home run in the third inning, leaping high above the wall to snag what would have been a two-run home run and a 4-1 Houston lead.
Stubbs said it wasn’t the best catch he ever made. “I made a couple better ones for the University of Texas in the College World Series, but those games were not of the magnitude of this game, the signicance of it at that point of the game and the significance of the game.”
Stubbs said he didn’t think he would catch up to it, “Because the way he hit it off the bat and the way he finished, standing there watching, I thought he really got it. I took off and it seemed to hang up long enough for me to get to the wall and just jump. Stuff like that is always reaction and a little bit of luck.”
EARLY THIS SEASON some restless and impatient fans thought Stubbs and Bruce should be sent back to Class AAA Louisville because of persistent strikeouts and failures with runners in scoring position.
“Dusty stuck with me, Dusty did,” said Stubbs. “Regardless of what everybody else said, he stood by me, kept me in the lineup. I knew what I was capable of doing and I think he knew as well. At the end of the year, people remember how you finished.”
And he is finishing industrial-strength strong, hitting .338 with six homers and 14 RBIs over his last 19 games.
Nobody is happier for Stubbs than Bruce, who endured his own cacophony of boos early this year.
“Think about that, just think about that and how some people wanted us sent back,” said Bruce. “We were pretty big parts of that game. And you know what, look now and we’ve both had pretty good seasons. Drew has battled so hard this year and I’m so glad he has come out on top. And he is just scratching the surface. I enjoy playing with him and he makes my job in right field a lot easier.”
BRUCE WAS asked if he was aware that he was only the fifth player in major-league history to hit a walk-off home run to put his team into the post-season.
Bruce knew it - chapter and verse.
“Bobby Thomson, The Shot Heard ‘Round the World (1951), Hank Aaron (1957), Alfonso Soriano (his first major-league hit for the 1999 New York Yankees) and Steve Finley (a grand slam for the 2004 Dodgers,” said Bruce. “That was pretty special for me and the team. And they had a TV feed back home to Beaumont so all my family and friends got to see it.”
DON’T GIVE UP on me now that the title is clinches. I STILL need some of those great Ask Hal questions - and I need ‘em now. The cupboard is bare. Where are uou? Good time to get in the paper Sunday. Send questions (Now, please!!!) to halmccoy1@hotmail.com and thanks.
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TweetAnd this one REALLY belongs to the Reds
If ever this was a fitting finish, it was Tuesday night in Great American Ball Park - when the Cincinnati Reds won their first division championship in 15 years.
All season long, they did it by digging dirt, pitching hay bales, lifting crates - always the hard way and always with sweat and tears.
All season long, they came from behind and they scratched and they clawed. And that’s the way they did it Tuesday against the Houston Astros - walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth by Jay Bruce on the first pitch he saw.
It was their 45th come-from-behind victory, their 22nd win in their final at-bat and their first on-field championship celebration since 1995.
So there it is — the first division title in 15 years, the first winning season in a decade. The Reds did the grunt work all season to get where they are, 11 victories away from the first World Series title since 1990.
THE BIGGEST CLICHÉ in sports is, “Team effort,” but never did it apply more than to the 2010 Cincinnati Reds. Everybody on the roster at one time or another wore the hero’s crown.
It starts with Joey Votto and his MVP season, a title he probably clinched when the Reds clinches the division. He is The Silent Assassin, a guy who uses wood instead of words to make his case.
IT IS SHARED by veteran Scott Rolen, the scholarly-like clubhouse leader who showed by example in the clubhouse and on the field what it takes to win, battling an aching body most of the season.
IT IS SHARED by Brandon Phillips, a guy who is NOT a prototype clean-up hitter NOR a prototype lead-off hitter, but did both this season out of necessity without a whimper and made certain he brought his Gold Glove leather with him every day, covering more ground between first and second than the orange Vonage curtain.
IT IS SHARED by Jonny Gomes, not the most gifted player, but a guy who was at the top of the league in producing runs with runners in scoring position and sacrificed his body by flinging it to the ground and against outfield walls to make up for defensive deficiencies.
IT IS SHARED by shortstop Orlando Cabrera, an aging veteran playing one of baseball’s most important positions and making all the plays, some of them spectacularly, and producing over and over again with his bat in dire straits situations.
IT IS SHARED by Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs, two young outfielders who encountering growing pains along the way but stuck with it and made significant defensive plays that were above-and-beyond and chipped in with big home runs and big hits several times along the way.
IT IS SHARED by the RH factor, two catchers (Ryan Hanigan and Ramon Hernandez) who shared the position and was a two-headed monster both offensively and defensively.
IT IS SHARED by Bronson Arroyo, who fans insist is not a No. 1 pitcher, but for the third straight year won more than 15 games and for the sixth straight year pitched more than 200 innings, never missing a start and providing wise counsel for a young pitching staff.
IT IS SHARED by Mike Leake and Travis Wood, two rookie pitchers who did more than their share — Leake making the rotation out of spring training with no professional experience and contributing mightily in the early going. When he slowed, Wood came up from Class AAA Louisville to become the left-handed version of the right-handed Leake.
IT IS SHARED by Johnny Cueto, a young pitcher who learned to control his emotions and learned to challenge hitters with his A-plus stuff.
IT IS SHARED by Edinson Volquez and Homer Bailey — Volquex for coming off Tommy John surgery at mid-seaso to make late-season contributions and Bailey overcoming early shoulder tenderness to round into shape in September.
IT IS SHARED by bullpenner Arthur Rhodes, who was unhittable and nearly unscored upon for three-fourths of the season. And when a foot injury made it painful for him to walk, the 39-year-old left-hander still took the ball and recorded outs.
IT IS SHARED by bullpenners Nick Masset and Logan Ondrusek and Bill Bray and Jordan Smith, all of whom had big moments and recorded big outs along the way.
IT IS SHARED by Aroldis Chapman, a late-season arrival who provided the buzz and the pizzazz out of the bullpen with his 103, 104 and 105 miles an hour fastballs.
IT IS SHARED by closer Francisco Cordero, who kept fans dizzy and perspiring with his many escapes from impending disaster and catastrophe, but for the most part getting the job done (41 saves in 49 opportunities).
IT IS SHARED by a potent bench led by versatile Miguel Cairo, who plays anywhere at any time and produces. And by Paul Janish, who believed he would be the team’s shortstop this year and was disappointed when the team signed Cabrera. But he never pouted, never moped. He just produced when given the chance. And there is Laynce Nix and his left-handed bat. And there is the Chris rookies, Heisey and Valaika, late arrivals from Louisville to make impacts.
AND YES, it is shared by much-criticized manager Dusty Baker, maligned often for his lineups and his strategy. But he had a surreal touch all year, making lineup changes at just the right time or substitutions at just the right time.
Baker’s contributions were significant, significant enough that he should win his fourth Manager of the Year Award.
Along with Votto’s MVP and Baker’s Manager of the Year, Phillips should win his second Gold Glove and a strong case can be made for Rolen to win his eighth Gold Glove.
It all adds up to a National League Central championship, a team most people thought had potential but probably would finish third or fourth and maybe finally finished over .500 for the first time since 2000.
Instead they are 11 victories away from another milestone, the franchise’s first World Series title since Lou Piniella and his underdog gang in 1990. It could happen again. I’ve seen it.
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TweetPhillips set for first taste of alcohol
It isn’t often that Brandon Phillips can smile any wider than he normally smiles, but it happened Tuesday afternoon before the Cincinnati Reds put on their play-time duds to attempt to clinch the National League Central championship.
The Reds could have clinched Monday night without lifting a bat, without putting on their uniforms, without even putting in an appearance at Great American Ball Park. They had an off day while St. Louis was home to Pittsburgh. If the Cardinals lost, the title was Cincinnati’s and nobody would take a shower in celebratory champagne in the Reds clubhouse.
So Phillips was asked, “Did you want the Cardinals to win Monday so you could clinch it at home, on the field?”
That’s when the smile stretched beyond ear-to-ear as he said, “To tell the truth, I wanted the Cardinals to win - and I know it sounds kind of funny coming from me - but I wanted them to win so I can celebrate with my teammates. Celebrating yesterday would have been terrible and I wouldn’t have gotten my first sip of alky. And the city of Cincinnati really needs to see this to show how far we’ve come since `95. We did this for them, we did this for the city. I did it for the city to show that Cincinnati is in my blood, it’s why I played hurt.”
And when the title is won, Phillips plans to take his first-ever tasted of alcohol so he can participate in the celebration. He says liquor has never touched his lips, nor has cigarette smoke. That changes when the Reds clinch.
“I’m going to take a sip and I’ve never had a taste of it my entire life,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it because this will be a good way to get my first sip of a drink - taking it with my second family. It’s a good way to do it because I’ve never been in this situation before and it is well-deserved.
“This is like a dream come true, to be here since ‘06 and to finally make it to the playoffs with the team that Barry Larkin played for, to see how he was popping the champagne and hopefully I can pop it the same way he was,” said Phillips, who grew up idolizing Barry Larkin. “The Queen City deserves this.”
Phillips said he didn’t wake up Tuesday morning realizing this could be Clinch Day and added, “I didn’t really go to sleep. Knowing we can come to the field and clinch - you just can’t really beat that. We hope we can win so everybody can go get their goggles and pop that champagne.”
WINNING A DIVISION championship for his third National League team (San Francisco, Chicago) has special meaning for manager Dusty Baker. He lost his dad, Johnny B. Baker, Sr, after last season.
“This is really special for me because I think of my dad a lot,” he said. “Last year was difficult because every midnight call I thought was about my dad. He wasn’t supposed to live past the All-Star break, then he wasn’t supposed to live until August, then he wasn’t supposed to live past September. But he made it until I got home after the season.
“I just knew when this season started my dad was with me, big-time,” Baker added. “These are times when my dad would always be there. He would give me subtle advice. He was my coach as a kid, Bobby Bonds’ coach, everybody’s coach in our town. My mom gave me love and understanding, my dad gave discipline and direction. At least he called it discipline. I call it the belt.”
Baker, though, isn’t one to shout his accomplishments from the roof of the stadium, even though it is rare for one manager to win championships with three different teams and Baker is in line for his fourth Manager of the Year award.
Baker fished a piece of paper out of his zippered leather notebook and read it aloud, something he found in Proverbs that he said should keep a person humble: “Let another praise you and not your own mouth, someone else and not your own lips.” Baker smiled and said, “I wrote that down just in case I got that question today.”
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TweetPut the celebratory bubbly on ice
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while flipping channels to watch both the Reds-Padres and Cardinals-Cubs, with a peek now and then at the NASCAR race from Dover and the NFL games. I need four TVs in the cave.
The Cardinals took an 8-0 lead over the Cubs and watch the lead shrivel to 8-7 by the seventh, forcing Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa to bring in his closer, former Reds relief pitcher Ryan Franklin, into the game in the eighth.
The Cubs put two runners on in the eighth, but Franklin worked out of it, then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for 26th save in 28 opportunities.
MEANWHILE, the Reds rolled over the Padres, 12-2, and the magic number is ONE - one more Reds win or one more Cardinals loss and the National League Central title lands in Cincinnati.
And there is a sad tale to this. The Cardinals are home to Pittsburgh Monday while the Reds are off and if the Cardinals lose the Reds clinch it - on an off day for the Reds, eliminating any celebration in an empty Great American Ball Park.
Fans probably will root for the Cardinals Monday so the Reds can clinch it Tuesday when they open their final homestand of the season against the Houston Astros.
THE REDS received another plus-plus pitching performance Sunday, this one by Homer Bailey, pitching for his playoff rotation life.
Bailey gave up a pair of solo home runs in the second to Adrian Gonzalez and Yorbit Torrealba - and nothing else. He went seven innings and gave up two runs and five hits, further complicating the team’s decision as to which four starters will be in the first roiund of the playoffs.
After missing three starts with a sinus infection, Joey Votto returned Saturday with a home run, a single, two walks and two RBIs. On Sunday he homered in the first, his 37th, go give the Reds a 1-0 lead.
My most valuable player ballot is filled out. We have to pick 10 players - one through 10, with the votes weighted one-through-10 (10 points for a first-place vote, one pint for a 10th-place vote).
Number one? Votto, who else. Nobody has meant more to his team than this guy, all season long. I have Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez second and St. Louis’ Albert Pujols third.
I haven’t filled out four through 10 yet, but San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez will be high on the list.
I also have a Manager of the Year vote and we have to list our three top choices in order. Help me out here.
I’m leaning toward Dusty Baker (call me a homer if you want for the hometown votes, but nobody can argue with me if I put Votto and Baker first.
Besides Baker, I’m considering Atlanta’s Bobby Cox, San Diego’s Buddy Black, Philadelphia’s Charlie Manuel and San Francisco’s Bruce Bochy.
Give me your list - one, two, three.
AFTER VOTTO’s home run in the first and the two home runs by the Padres in the second, the Reds took a 4-2 lead in the on Chris Heisey’s three-run double in the fourth.
It was another of Baker’s fortuitous line-up decisions. With San Diego starting left-hander Clayton Richard, Baker benched the left-handed Jay Bruce, who also has a some pain in the side that sidelined him not long ago. And he replaced Bruce with Heisey - another Manager of the Year decision.
Baker also dropped Brandon Phillips out of the lead-off spot for the San Diego series and on Sunday he batted sixth, so that he came to bat in the sixth with Jonny Gomes on first and popped a two-run home run down the right field line.
Heisey also homered to lead off a six-run eighth, giving him four RBI, and Votto added a two-run single to give him 111 RBI.
IT WAS in San Diego where I heard about one of the best put-down lines ever uttered by a manager to an umpire. Pete Rose was the manager and Eric Gregg, who weighed about 350 pounds at the time, was umpiring third base.
Rose thought Gregg missed a call on a play at third and yelled at him, “If it had been a hamburger on third base you wouldn’t have missed it.”
Speaking of Rose, one afternoon at the team hotel in San Diego I was standing next to a swimming pool, at the deep end, wearing my swimming trunks. Rose came up behind me and nudged me into the pool.
After I scrambled out, I asked him, “How do know if I could swim. What if I couldn’t?” Rose laughed and said, “Who knows? I can’t swim, either.”
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TweetReds miss another golden opportunity
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while watching a magnificently played baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres - an unfortunate 4-3 walk-off loss by the Reds that leaves that elusive championship carrot still dangling in front of their noses.
A LEFTOVER to savor from Friday night’s appearance by Aroldis Chapman, who threw 25 pitches, all fastballs, all 100 miles an hour or higher.
One of Chapman’s pitches to Tony Gwynn Jr. was 105.1 miles an hour, the fasted pitch ever accurately recorded. Chapman threw seven pitches to Gwynn during the at-bat and the average speed was 103.2.
Gwynn probably called his dad, Tony Gwynn, one of baseball’s all-time best hitters, after the game and said, “Dad, I know you didn’t ever face ANYTHING like that.”
But when Manager Dusty Baker decided to bring him back Saturday in the ninth inning of a tie game after those 25 pitches Friday, Chapman was only semi-spectacular with his fastball - a few at 100, more of them in the high 90s.
And the San Diego Padres caught up with him, scoring a run to win, 4-3, in a magnificently played game.
After recording a strikeout with a 101 miles an hour pitch to start the inning, Chapman walked Chase Headley. Nick Hundley flied to left for the second out.
Then former Cincinnati outfielder Chris Denorfia, who entered at mid-game and doubled, doubled again - this time under the glove of third baseman Scott Rolen. Headley scored all the way from first to end it when shortstop Orlando Cabrera’s relay throw home was high.
SO THE REDS missed a chance to clinch a tie for the division title, but the St. Louis Cardinals lost and the magic number is down to two. If the Cardinals lose Sunday and the Reds win, the title belongs to Cincinnati.
Baker revised his lineup, removing Brandon Phillips from lead-off, dropping him to seventh, lowest he has batted in four years. And he put Drew Stubbs back at the lead-off, where he started the season and struggled mightily.
And Joey Votto was back in the lineup after missing two starts with a sinus infections.
It all worked - in the first inning. Stubbs singled and stole second. Votto drove him home with a single for a quick 1-0 lead.
It only lasted until the Padres batted in the second. With one out, Travis Wood gave up three straight hits to Ryan Ludwick, Oscar Salazar and Chase Headely, then a sacrifice fly to Nick Hundley for a 2-1 Padres lead.
Scorching hot Will Venable, son of former Reds outfielder Max Venable, led the San Diego third by driving a good low slider over 400 feet into the right field seats for a 3-1 lead.
THE REDS caught a bad break from an umpire in the fourth inning and it had nothing to do with a bad call. It’s a bad rule.
With two outs, Phillips doubled to right. Ramon Hernandez shot a line drive up the middle, a ball headed for center field and a run-scoring single. But the ball hit second base umpire C.B. Bucknor on the ankle. At that point, the ball is dead and Phillips had to stop at third.
Fortunately for the Reds, pitcher Travis Wood beat out a tapper to the mound and Phillips scored. Earlier in the game, Wood doubled to left. Most pitchers wouldn’t have come close to beating out that tapper, but Wood is an athlete, a swift athlete.
Stubbs walked on four pitches to fill the bases, but Orlando Cabrera grounded to short, leaving the Reds a run short, 3-2.
Votto, though, showed his sinuses are clear and clean, led the fifth inning with his 36th home run to tie it, 3-3.
STUBBS, MALIGNED in some quarters for defensive deficiencies, saved a run in the fifth after Nick Hundley led with a single and moved to second on pitcher Jon Garland’s sacrifice bunt. Venable blooped one to center and Stubbs broke in fast and made a sliding backhanded catch.
Both Jonny Gomes and Jay Bruce singled with one out in the eighth, but Phillips flied to shallow right. Hernandez walked on a full count and Yonder Alonso batted for Wood. When San Diego manager Bud Black brought in left-hander Joe Thatcher, Baker pulled Alonso for Miguel Cairo. He popped to first as the Reds left the bases loaded again and continued to struggle against the best bullpen in the National League.
It continued in the ninth after Stubbs led with a single against top-shelf closer Heath Bell. Stubbs took second on Cabrera’s sacrifice bunt, but Scott Rolen flied to right and Jonny Gomes - he of the .345 average with runners in scoring position — flfied to left field, stranding two more runners.
THE REDS failed to take advantage of another superb pitching performance by Wood - seven innings, three runs, five hits, one walk, five strikeouts, no decision.
EDGAR ROBBINS was one of my biggest fans and a huge fan of the Cincinnati Reds before his death last winter. When I was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003, he wore his Reds cap to the ceremonies as he sat near the front, close to the stage.
His son, Ed, who did our taxes and is a brother to Mary Jo Bailey, who teaches with Nadine at Our Lady of the Rosary, approached me at the funeral and said, “You know, now that you have retired from covering the Reds full-time and my dad is gone, this will be ‘The Year of the Reds.’”
Looks as if he was right on.
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TweetReds ‘bleeders’ leave ‘em short
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIO NS from the Man Cave after a great night in Dayton’s Oregon District.
Was fortunate enough Friday night to devour a wonderful meal at the Side Car restaurant in the Oregon District in Dayton. From hors d’oeuvres to desserts, everything was scrumptious. The menu is primarily tapas and everybody ordered something different and shared and it all was delectable.
And if there is a more personable restaurant owner than Brian Higgins, I’ve yet to meet that person. Higgins, a Wayne High School graduate, is a lone-time friend of former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dave Collins. Higgins spent considerable time at our table, sharing a cigar on the back patio. It’s worth a drive to downtown Dayton.
THEN THERE was a baseball game to watch, a game without Joey Votto again. He was once again out of the lineup with a sinus infection.
Without Votto, the Reds offense Friday was a bunch of bleeding infield hits and that wasn’t enough to beat the San Diego Padres, who stopped the Reds, 4-3.
The St. Louis Cardinals won Friday afternoon in Chicago so the Reds magic number remains at ‘3,’ so there is no possibility of clincing the division titlte on national television Saturday, but they could do it Sunday.
Drew Stubbs put the Reds on the board in the second inning Friday with a home run, the 21st this season by the young Reds outfielder in one of baseball’s more difficult venues to clear the walls. After that, the Reds were lucky to score their other two runs, doing it with infielders rollers and infield choppers.
The Padres tied it in the fourth when Will Venable led the fourth with a single, the first hit off Bronson Arroyol. Venable stole second and scored on a bloop single to left by Miguel Tejada.
THE PADRES stepped out to a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Arroyo gave up two straight hits, including a bloop that dropped in front of left fielder Jonny Gomes.
A pair of fly balls to right field moved Tony Gwynn Jr. from second to third and third to home, the sacrifice fly produced by rookie Mike Baxter, who is 0 for 6 for his major-league career.
FORTUNE smiled broadly for the Reds in the sixth. Scott Rolen led with a single. Gomes popped up just behind first base and the ball flicked off first baseman Adrian Gonzalez’s glove. Rolen, believing the ball would be caught, had to hold up and should have been forced at second. But Gonzalez threw the ball into left field for an error and Rolen took third.
Ramon Hernandez chopped one high toward third and Chase Headley tried to bare hand it and dropped it as Rolen scored the tying run.
That also put runners on first and second with no outs. Stubbs struck out, Hanigan forced Hernandez at second and Miguel Cairo batted for Juan Francisco who had been sent up to bat for Arroyo until San Diego manager Bud Black brought in left-hander Joe Thatcher. Cairo dribbled one to third and beat it for an infield hit as Gomes scored for a 3-2 lead.
Arroyo, who gave up only two runs and five hits for his five innings, was given a quick hook. It is manager Dusty Baker’s effort to save Arroyo’s arm for the playoffs. The move, though, cost Arroyo his 27th victory when the bullpen imploded.
SAN DIEGO, trying to overtake the San Francisco Giants in the NL West, reclaimed the lead in the seventh with two runs.
Arthur Rhodes came on with one out and gave up a single and a walk. He was replaced by Nick Masset and he issued a walk to fill the bases and Miguel Tejada pulled a two-run single to left on a full count to make it 4-3.
Then the Padres, specifically the Padres’ best hitter, Adrian Gonzalez, got a large dose of Aroldis Chapman. Gonzalez struck out on three straight fastballs - 101, 102, 103.
GOMES led the eighth with another infield single, a slow roller to third, but Ramon Hernandez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
Chapman continued dazzling the fans in the eighth as he poured fastball after fastball at plus-100, including three at 104 and one at 105.
For his 1 1/3 innings, Chapman threw pitches, all 25 fastballs, all 25 at 100 miles an hour or more.
Padres closer Heath Bell, 43 for 46 in save opportunities, made it 44 for 47 with a scoreless ninth.
Another infield hit started the ninth, a ball hit by Ryan Hanigan off first baseman Gonzalez’s glove.
Baker sent Votto up to pinch-hit, despite his sinus infection and a new medication taken Friday and no batting practice for two days. Votto struck out on three pitches - definitely a ‘sickly’ effort.
Brandon Phillips flied to center and Orlando Cabrera grounded out to end it.
IT WAS 1997 and the New York Yankees completed a four-game World Series sweep of the San Diego Padres.
The parking lot was still jammed as I nosed my rental car toward the exit. Suddenly, a mounted policeman appeared in front of the car. The horse reared and both front hooves landed on my hood when he came down.
I drove about 100 yards when suddenly I was surrounded by four police cars, reds and blue lights flashing. An officer yelled, “Get out of the car.” When I asked if they thought I was an escaped serial killer, the officer said, “You hit a police horse and a police horse is a police officer. That’s assault.”
Just as he started to cuff me, another officer who had witnessed my crime said, “It’s OK. Wasn’t his fault. It was the horse’s fault.” The ‘arresting’ officer said, “Is the horse OK,” and when he was told the horse would live to eat another bale of hay, I was released.
My passenger, Joe Henderson of the Tampa Tribune, laughed and said, “If they had arrested you, you were on your own. My expense account doesn’t cover bailing out baseball writers.”
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TweetYour limericks about the Reds
I asked for some limericks from you,
Concerning the Reds, it’s true.
You sent me some good ones,
And even some bad ones.
But you showed me you do have a clue.
-Hal McCoy
AND HERE are some of the entries - and I assume most of you have day jobs.
THERE ONCE was a player named Rolen,
Whose MVP probably got stolen.
By Votto, it’s true, did that make Rolen blue?
Not since the Reds are controllin.’
-Joe Lilly
THE REDS have a closer named CoCo,
Who drives avid fans mucho loco.
He comes in as relief, but causes such grief,
They can’t sleep without sipping hot cocoa.
-Thomas Doerfler
FANS YELLED when Walt traded for Rolen,
For old friends Walt must have been trollin’,
But since Rolen arrived,
The Redlegs have thrived,
Good that trades are not based on fan pollin.’
-Richard Bader
THERE ONCE once was a man named McCoy,
For whom writing is such a joy,
He penned on baseball, was sent to the Hall,
And now watches from home on his La-Z-Boy.
-Kevin Imfeld
THERE ONCE was a team named the Reds,
Who used to not know their blank from their heads,
But now we’re Dunn with the old ways,
And on to post season days,
Even if CoCo requires us upping our meds.
-Michael Hutter
A SKINNY outfielder named Stubbs,
Took his bat and murdered the Cubs.
In the box he stepped in,
This outfielder thin.
Made Cub fans bite their nails to the nubs.
-Gary Schatz
IN SPRING we did start the season,
The fans with no faith for some reason.
But players put trust in Baker,
He’s proven that he is no faker.
So here we are headed to postseason
-Terry Eby
THERE ONCE was a Redleg named Votto,
Whose quotes were all voce sotto.
But if hits were words,
Then he surely is heard.
Cause that lumber of his speaks a lot(o).
-Mark Mann
THE WINNINGEST pitcher is Bronson,
From Key West he is, not Wisconsin.
His fastball’s not fast but his curve is a blast,
He strikes out quite a few, don’t you know, son?
-Dave
THERE ONCE was a manager with a toothpick,
Who had a first baseman that hit like “The Mick.”
The Reds seem to play loose, with a right fielder named Bruce,
And the NL Central crown should do the trick.
-Jarrod Talbott
AND NOW my favorite ‘clean’ limerick (not about the Reds):
A WONDERFUL bird is the pelican,
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can store in his beak,
Enough food for a week.
I’ll be damn if I know how the hell he can.
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TweetBrewers put The Big Hurt on Cueto
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave - and fortunately I had good friends Murray Greenberg and Jeff Gordon (no, not THAT Jeff Gordon) sitting with me to keep me from nodding off.
It was tempting to leave this space blank tonight, not even show up, because the Cincinnati Reds certainly didn’t show up in Milwaukee Wednesday night, especially Johnny Cueto, during a 13-1 beating they took from the Brewers.
But duty calls - so here goes.
Cueto did everything possible to exclude himself from the playoff rotation in this one. He tried stubbornly to throw fastballs past the Milwaukee Brewers, which is like trying to sneak midnight past Cinderella.
Cueto threw (he didn’t pitch this night, he threw) 1 1/3 innings and gave up eight runs, eight hits and three walks - meaning he retired four batters and 11 reached base.
He gave up all eight runs in the second inning when the Brewers sent 12 batters to the plate, the big blow a three-run home run by Craig Counsell.
Cueto shouldn’t have faced Counsell, but relief pitcher Aaron Harang wasn’t ready and manager Dusty Baker had to permit Cueto to face one more hitter.
By the end of the fourth inning, the Brewers had 12 runs and 18 hits - IN FOUR INNINGS. And every Brewer in the batting order had scored at least one run, some of them two runs.
Harang gave up three runs and six hits in two innings, including a two-run home run, then limped off the field after he was hit in the right ankle with a line drive.
It was that kind of night.
Jared Burton, the fourth Reds’ pitcher, pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning because by that time the Brewers were too tired to keep running around the bases.
THE GOOD news for the Reds is that the St. Louis Cardinals obviously have given up, tossed in the towel, waved the surrender flag, backed into a corner shouting, “No mas, no mas.” They lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-6, their third straight loss to the NL Central’s worst team.
So the Reds’ lead remains at 8 games with nine games left and the magic number is three.
That doesn’t appease Cueto, who was a human batting practice machine this night during his worst and shortest outing of the year.
The best thing for the Reds this night was that the game eventually ended with only one player getting hurt.
The Reds broke more bats than they had hits, so they packed whatever bats were left for their flight to San Diego and a three-game series, starting Friday, where they will clinch the NL Central championship.
But they also need to win as many games as possible to position themselves to have home field advantage in the first round against Atlanta, San Diego or San Francisco. Philadelphia has all but clinched the best record in the NL, so the Reds need the second best record so they won’t have to play the Phillies in the first round and they will have home field advantage against one of the other three teams.
LAYNCE NIX made his first appearance since he hurt his ankle in late August, a good omen for the Reds. They’ll need an accomplished left-handed hitter off the bench, especially after Jim Edmonds went down with a leg injury Tuesday and might not be healthy for the playoffs.
MADE A THREE-HOUR radio appearance Wednesday afternoon on Mark Schlemmer’s WONE sports talk show and was impressed with the callers and their questions.
And even though Schlemmer is anti-Dusty Baker, anti-Cleveland Browns and anti-Homer Bailey, it’s nice to appear on a show where the host has a clue. Schlemmer does his homework and is knowledgeable in all aspects of sports.n Check him out on week nights, 3 to 7, 980 on the AM dial.
THE REDS scored a run in the first inning Wednesday for a 1-0 lead, drawing first blood, then lost, 13-1. It reminded me of a lede one of my writing mentors, Clem Hamilton of the old Dayton Journal Herald once wrote.
It was a different sport and different team’s, but using Hamilton’s lede for Wednesday night’s game: “The Cincinnati Reds drew first blood, then spilled it all over themselves.”
A FEW YEARS ago, when the Reds were in Milwaukee, there was a Harley-Davidson gathering and more than 100,000 bikers were in town. Harley-Davidson’s corporate headquarters are in Milwaukee.
As another writer and I left the hotel for the ball park one day, there were 30 Harleys parked side-by-side in front of the hotel. My companion said, “I dare you to tip over the first bike so that all 30 will fall like dominoes.”
I looked at him and said, “I’d like to die peacefully, preferably in my sleep and not by tire iron.”
OK, I’VE received several good limericks about the Reds and shall post a few in tomorrow’s blog. Thanks. Now I need some good Ask Hal questions and need ‘em right now. You all have been great sending them this year and keep it up. Send them while you are thinking of them right now to me at halmccoy1@hotmail.com. And thanks again.
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TweetVolquez states his case for playoff spot
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while looking at Prince Fielder and thinking, “That guy is a whale of a first baseman.”
So now it is as clear as a Rolex crystal (isn’t it ironic that Rolex and Rolen are so similar in their worth and reliability?) who will be the first two starters for the Cincinnati Reds in the playoffs.
With 16 wins, a career high, Bronson Arroyo gets Game One.
Edinson Volquez put in a clear claim to start Game 2 with a whiz-bang performance Tuesday night against the hit-happy Milwaukee Brewers during a 4-3 Reds win.
AND THE numbers get prettier and prettier for the Reds. The St. Louis Cardinals lost again, couldn’t handle the last place Pittsburgh Pirates, so the magic number is down to four and the lead is eight games. They’ll clinch this thing in San Diego over the weekend.
Volquez had only two base runners in the first five innings, both singles. He issued his first walk to open the sixth and gave up a single to Craig Counsell that put runners on first and third. Pinch-hitter Matt Gamel hit into a double play as a run scored and Volquez was out of the jam.
He placed himself in jeopardy in the seventh when he walked Fielder and Ryan Braun with one out, then got an inning-ending double play from Casey McGehee, the Reds’ fourth double play of the evening. Ah, defense. Defense and pitching - an unbeatable combination.
Volquez baffled the Brewers with 95 and 96 miles an hour fastball, a back-breaking change-up and his newly perfected curveball. He gave up one run and three hits over eight innings, walked four and struck out five.
Reds starting pitchers have now gone 13 straight games of giving up three or less runs.
So we’ve anointed Arroyo and Volquez as starters. Johnny Cueto probably has a firm grasp on No. 3, leaving Homer Bailey and Travis Wood still auditioning for the fourth spot because the first round is best-of-five with a day off in the middle of the series, meaning only four starters are needed.
If the Reds draw Philadelphia in the first round, a spot might belong to left-hander Wood because the Phillies are heavily stocked with left-handed hitters and Wood threw eight perfect innings at them the last time the Reds saw the Phillies.
Isn’t it fun to speculate on what the Reds might do in the postseason? For the past nine years, at this time of year the speculation was about who might be in the rotation NEXT YEAR or if the Cincinnati Bengals might find a way to sneak into the playoffs.
BRANDON PHILLIPS was 9 for 72 since returning to the lineup after getting hit by a pitch in San Francisco, had two hits Tuesday, including a triple in the ninth.
FRANCISCO CORDERO, after pitching a 1-2-3 ninth for his 37th save Monday, came into Tuesday’s game in the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Rickie Weeks. But on 3-and-2, Corey Hart popped to center. But Cordero hit Ryan Braun with a pitch.
That put two on and brought Fielder, the tying run, to the plate, lugging his 30-homer bat to the plate. He fell behind Fielders 2-and-0, got two fouls balls, then caught him looking at strike three on an inside 97 miles an hour fastball.
Casey McGehee singled to right and there was mass mayhem. Right fielder Jay Bruce bobbled the ball for an error and kicked it away, then he threw wildly into the infield and two runs scored to make it 4-3. Bruce got two errors and the tying run was on third base.
Man oh man oh man oh man. When Cordero walks on the field, all helium breaks loose.
Finally, Cordero struck out Chris Gomez, who broke his bat over his knee after the strikeout. Cordero got his 38th save for THAT? Geesh.
MANAGER DUSTY BAKER, much-maligned in some parts of fandom for mostly silly reasons, now owns 1,400 career victories and his three-year record with the Reds is 238-238.
Sign that new contract, Dusty.
JOEY VOTTO was a late removal from Tuesday’s lineup with a viral infection. Baker had three choices to replace him - Miguel Cairo, Yonder Alonso or Jim Edmonds.
Baker, once again waving his magic toothpick, decided to put Edmonds in the lineup and he homered in the second inning (he is 7 for 14 with four homers against Milwaukee starter Dave Bush).
Amazingly, after hitting the home run, Edmonds nearly pulled up lame circling the bases and limped home. He left the game with a strain in his lower right leg.
Baker inserted Cairo in Edmonds’ place and Cairo singled home a run in his first at-bat. And he singled again in his second at-bat.
A FEW DAYS ago I asked for some original limericks about the Reds and a few have responded. If I get a few more I’ll post the best. In the meantime, here is my contribution:
There once was a hitter named Votto, Who provided more wins than the lotto. With one swing of his bat, He puts teams on the mat. Winning games is his personal motto.
ON MY last trip to Milwaukee, I jumped into a cab at my hotel and told the driver, “Take me to Miller.” Then I plugged in my iPod ear plugs and opened my Amazon Kindle, paying no attention to the outside scenery.
Soon we came to a stop and the driver said, “Here were are. The Miller Brewing Company.” It was only a slight detour from Miller Park and I briefly thought about taking a tour for the free samples. If it had been the Yuengling brewery you might never have heard from me again.
THOM BRENNAMAN and Chris Welsh were talking on the telecast about Milwaukee broadcaster Bob Uecker and how his Hall of Fame speech in 2003 may have been the best in induction history.
I agree.
That was the same year I was inducted. ESPN had a production meeting the day before the induction and they said, “Bob Uecker will go first and Hal McCoy second.”
I quickly flashed the time out sign and said, “If you make me follow Uecker, I’m going to stand up there and say, ‘I agree with everything he just said.’”
Thankfully, they let me go first and then Uecker delivered one of the funniest acceptance speeches ever heard. At the time I was still shaking and too nervous to enjoy it.
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TweetThe finish line beckons the Reds
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave and wondering why Orlando Cabrera doesn’t clean the pine tar off his helmet so the ‘C’ will show, wondering why the Latin players prefer to wear their caps with the brims unbent and wondering if left-hander Travis Wood will be in the rotation in the first-round playoffs if the Reds play the Phillies, a team loaded with left-handers and against whom Wood almost pitched a perfect game?
ICE THE champagne (but Brandon Phillips won’t drink any because he says alcohol has never touched his lips and never will.)
Not even one little celebratory sip, Brandon?
The Reds took a gargantuan step toward the NL Central championship and the spraying of the champagne Monday night in Miller Park when they beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2.
Early in the day, St. Louis flew to Florida for a one-day make-up game against the Marlins and Chris Carpenter lost a 4-0 decision. That pushed the Reds’ lead back to seven games and reduced the magic number to an ever-dwindling six.
SO ALL those fans who feared a monumental collapse can exhale. It ain’t gonna happen.
FOR THREE at-bats Monday night against the Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto looked nothing like a Most Valuable Player candidate - with some help from plate umpire Joe West.
Votto struck out twice and hit into a double play and was not enamored with the strike three calls by West on both at-bats during which he was called out on strikes.
But Orlando Cabrera doubled with one out in the seventh and you might fool Votto once, or twice, or three times. But not four.
Votto lofted one to left field and a close-up of his face after he swung showed disgust. He thought he had flied to left. But as do so many of Votto’s high fly balls, it carried and carried and carried and landed in the left-field seats, a two-run homer that broke a 2-2 tie, Votto’s 33rd homer.
HOMER BAILEY held the Brewers to two runs over six innings, the 12th straight game in which Cincinnati’s starting pitcher held the opponent to three runs or less.
Bailey, who left his last start with dizziness, left most of the Brewers hitters dizzy and perhaps put another arrow in manager Dusty Baker’s pitching quiver for the playoffs.
Bailey buzzed 94 and 95 mph fastballs up in the strike zone at the Brewers and struck out seven in six innings, giving up two runs and six hits. He turned a 2-2 tie over to the bullpen.
But it wasn’t easy. Bailey put the first runner on base in four of his first five innings before pitching his only perfect inning in the sixth.
He was a master of escape, especially in the second when he put a runner on third base with no outs. First he neglected to cover first base on a grounder to Joey Votto and Chris Gomez reached first. Bailey then tried to pick him off first and threw wildly into right field and Gomez reached third with no outs.
Bailey then did what he had to do - he struck out the side to leave Gomez anchored at third.
Bailey turned over a 2-2 tie to the bullpen. Nick Masset retired four straight and Baker brought in Aroldis Chapman with one out in the eighth to face two left-handers, Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee. Chapman erased them both, Fielder on a ground ball and McGehee on a fly to center.
Until Votto struck, the Reds had only two runs, both coming on a two-run home run in the second by Drew Stubbs, his 20th home run. Anybody still wish Chris Dickerson was the center fielder? Me neither. Dickerson, by the way, is hitting .217 for the Brewers and is mostly sitting on the bench.
And much-hammered Coco Cordero pitched a one-two-three ninth on 12 pitches, ending it on a strikeout, to annex a save.
The bullpen of Masset, Chapman and Cordero pitched three perfect innings.
REMEMBER the last game of the 1999 season? The Reds played the Brewers in old Milwaukee County Stadium and needed to win to force a one-game playoff for the wild card against the New York Mets?
The game took more than seven hours to play, due to rain interruptions. The numbers? Well, eight. I ate five polish sausages, two Italian sausages and one bratwurst. Of course, after the game several writers ate a huge meal at an Italian restaurant.
The Reds won that game and the one thing I remember was portly Dmitri Young playing right field in a veritable swamp from the rain. There was a ball hit to shallow right and Young tried for a diving belly-flop catch. He hit the ground and slid about 15 yards on his stomach, a very large rooster-tail spraying behind him as he skidded.
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TweetAre the Reds suddenly playing ‘scared?’
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while flipping channels to watch the Bengals-Raves game and the ineptitude of quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Joe Flacco - about as frustrating as watching the Reds try to get some key hits in recent games. And is there anything more boring than tuning in an NFL game only to see a soccer game break out? I mean, one touchdown and six field goals?
Earlier this week, a regular e-mailer espoused this theory: “It looks to me as if right now the Reds are playing scared.”
I disagreed and said, “It’s just the fact they aren’t hitting right now with runners on base.”
That’s true, the non-hitting part, but now I wonder if what he said doesn’t have some creditability.
It struck me flush in the face while watching the Reds lose to the Houston Astros, 4-3. For sure, Astros starter Brett Myers was on his game and put together his 31st straight game this season of six or more innings. He gave up no runs in his seven innings.
But the Reds had their chances. They had two on with two outs in the first but Jay Bruce flied to center. Ramon Hernandez led the second with a single but never budged off the bag.
Joey Votto had a two-out double in the third but was left there. The Reds put two on with two outs in the sixth but Hernandez grounded out.
Drew Stubbs, who has worked hard on learning how to bunt for a hit, led the seventh with a bunt single. But instead of moving the runner along, Paul Janish flied to cener, pinch-hitter Jim Edmonds flied to left and Brandon Phillips grounded to first.
That isn’t necessarily playing scared, but when the Astros scored three runs in the fifth the Reds played like a bowl full of goldfish with a cat sitting on the table.
Travis Wood hit Jason Michaels with a pitch and Jason Michaels doubled to right.
With one out, Humberto Quintero hit a medium-depth single to left which should have scored one run. But left fielder Jonny Gomes hesitated with his throw and when he did cut loose the throw was high, wide and ugly permitting a second run to score. Ramon Hernandez then threw the ball into center fielder, permitted Quintero to reach third.
After fouling a suicide bunt attempt, pitcher Myer lofted a medium-depth fly ball to center fielder Drew Stubbs. Slow-running Quintero tagged at third and should have been out but Stubbs’ throw was far up the third base line and Quintero scored to make it 3-0.
Is poor execution the product of playing scared? What do you think?
Poor Travis Wood gave up only two earned runs and three hits over six innings, walked none and struck out five and was slapped with a loss.
The Astros scored what turned out to be a decisive run in the seventh when Chris Johnson said hello to relief pitcher Jordan Smith with a lead-off home run to make it 4-0.
THE REDS FINALLY showed some life against relief pitcher Matt Lindstrom in the eighth after Myers left. Jay Bruce’s run-scoring single and THE REDS finally showed life in the eighth against Hernandez’s two-run homer.
Too little, too late. Houston closer Brandon Lyon struck out pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso, struck out pinch-hitter Juan Francisco, Brandon Phillips singled to right and pinch-hitter Scott Rolen singled to right.
Two on two outs and MVP candidate Joey Votto, already the owner of three hits, came to the plate. Votto popped to shallow center.
THE MAGIC NUMBER stays at eight and with the St. Louis Cardinals winning Sunday the Reds’ lead is back down to six.
THERE WAS an elderly gentleman who used to sit outside the visitor’s clubhouse door, the gatekeeper. No matter how many times you were in and out of the clubhouse, he ALWAYS made you show your credentials before he would let you in. But he didn’t check them close and one Houston writer took delight in showing him credit cards instead of his media pass - a Visa card or a Sears charge card or a gas credit card. He always gained admittance.
To avoid this guy, a couple of us discovered a side door to the clubhouse, which led to a couple of incidents.
The waiting period after a game for the media to gain entrance is 10 minutes after the game ends. But one could gain immediate access by using the back door.
There was one game where Reds catcher Bo Diaz let in the winning run in the ninth inning with a passed ball. A Cincinnati beat writer, who wasn’t long on the job, barged in that door and charged over to Diaz and said loudly, “How could you miss that ball.”
Fortunately, several players intervened before Diaz could lift the guy and deposit him in a trash can.
ANOTHER TIME it was me. After another tense loss to the Astros, I walked into the clubhouse via that door and walked right into the middle of two Reds involved in a scuffle. I turned around quickly, headed out the back door and circled to the regular entrance, showing the guy my insurance card to gain entrance into the clubhouse, where the scuffle was over. I never wrote it because I shoudn’t have been in there when it happened.
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TweetReds creep closer and closer to title
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after making a couple of speaking engagements last week at Fifth Third Field, home of the Dayton Dragons, a Class A baseball team that has nothing but Class A people in the organization - people like Bob Murphy, Tom Nichols and Chris Hart.
The silent Cincinnati Reds bats came awake and alive Saturday night in Houston during an 11-1 victory with a 13-hit, three-homer assault.
Coupled with another St. Louis loss, the Reds’ magic number shriveled to eight and the lead in the standings stretched to seven.
It is only a matter of time, fans, and a short time at that before the Reds are spraing champagne all over the clubhouse carpets.
Jim Edmonds, Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs all homered in Saturday’s giggler over the Astros. Edmonds, a left-handed hitter, sliced one down the short left field line and hit the foul pole, 315 feet from home plate. Bruce’s was a no-doubter, as was the one tagged by Stubbs, giving him 19 this year.
Both Bruce (Beaumont) and Stubbs (a little town called Atlanta) are native Texans. Stubbs was drafted by the Astros out of high school, but decided to attend the University of Texas instead. Bruce was drafted out of high school by the Reds and decided to sign.
REMEMBER when disenchanted fans wanted Bruce and Stubbs packaged together and dispatched to Louisville?
It’s a long, long season and usually patience rules. Talent and ability usually surfaces and in the case of Bruce and Stubbs it certainly has.
AND THERE is no doubt that when the playoffs begin, Bronson Arroyo will be on the mound for Game 1.
He won his 16th game Friday, holding the Astros to one run, a home run by Carlos Lee, and held them to five hits over six innings, which pushed him over 200 innings for the sixth straight year. He walked two and struck out five.
The most amazing thing about Arroyo is that he has never missed a start, never missed a turn, never beeon the DLin his entire career.
The Reds’ two-headed catching corps of Ryan Hanigan and Ramon Hernandez continue to produce, no matter which one plays. Hanigan had three hits and drove in two runs Friday.
Rookie Yonder Alonso, arriving late in the game to give Joey Votto some time off, drove in two runs in the ninth inning, his first two major-league RBIs - the first of many to come. The only question is for what team he will produce them.
He only plays first base and Votto is eligible for free agency unti 2014, so there appears to be no room for Yonder.
THERE WAS A mid-week game in Houston a few years ago, a perfect opportunity to pursue one of my passions, Greyhound racing. Gulf Greyhound, a gorgeous facility is about 45 minutes south of Houston near Galveston.
So after the game I pointed by rental car south on I-45, anxious to lose my meal money on some not-so-swift canines. When I pulled into the parking lot, it was deserted. I felt like Clark Griswold arriving at Wally World in the movie ‘Vacation.’ Like Wally World, Gulf Greyhound was closed. I was philosophical about it. I probably saved $200.
AND NOW we’re reduced to writing limericks about the travails of Reds closer Coco Cordero.
Somebody sent this one - anonymously, of course:
There once was a closer named Cordero, Whose fastball was straight as an arrow. The hitters were delighted, Whenever he alighted, Because they had him over a barrel.
Can you write a limerick about the Reds (clean ones only)? Send them to me at halmccoy1@hotmail.com and I’ll post some of the better ones (clean ones only).
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TweetAstros yank on Super Cuban’s cape
UNSOLICTED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave and wondering how many fans know how to figure the magic number. So, here it is: Take the number of games remaining for the division leaders, add 1, then subtract the difference in the number of losses between the leaders and the second place team. And for the mathematically inclined, here’s the formula: M = G1 + 1 - ( L2 - L1 ).
AROLDIS CHAPMAN isn’t Superman after all. The Houston Astros yanked off his cape Friday night during a 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
It was inevitable, you knew it would happen, but the early returns on the young Cuban indicated that maybe he might slide through the rest of this season unblemished.
Nope.
Chapman was brought into the game to start the seventh inning of a 3-3 tie and didn’t get anybody out.
It began when pinch-hitter Jeff Keppinger singled (yes, the same Keppinger who played for the Reds and was traded for since-departed Drew Sutton). Anderson Hernandez, sent up to bunt, fouled off two, but Chapman eventually walked him.
Michael Bourn bunted and Chapman fielded it but had difficulty extracting the ball from his glove as he aimed for third base. His throw was on time but third baseman Scott Rolen couldn’t handle the low throw and the bases were loaded with no outs.
Angel Sanchez drilled a two-run single up the middle and Chapman’s night was short, destructive and decisive.
YOU KNOW how they always say, “Walks haunt,” how when a pitcher walks batters they always seem to score?
Didn’t work for the Reds against Houston left-hander Wandy Rodriguez.
Rodriguez walked five in the first three innings and none scored. He walked the bases loaded with one out in the third, but Rolen struck out and Jonny Gomes popped out and the Reds had zero runs after three.
Rodriguez was extremely frustrated with umpire Mike Winters’ incedible shrinking strike zone and Rodriguez made more faces than a kindergartner asked to drink grapefruit juice.
AND the usual infallible Reds’ defense failed them, too. An error by third baseman Rolen led to a run in the first and an error by center fielder Drew Stubbs permitted a run in the second.
The Reds didn’t have a hit for five innings, but Joey Votto led the sixth with a double and Rodriguez walked another batter, Rolen. Gomes then lifted one into the left field Crawford boxes, a three-run homer and a 3-2 Reds lead.
That was the sum total of Cincinnati’s run production.
Carlos Lee tied it, 3-3, in the sixth with a home run that crashed against the railroad viaduct above the Crawford boxes.
Reds starter Johnny Cueto gave up three runs and only four hits in his six innings and struck out six but received no decision.
Rodriguez gave up three runs and three hits, walked six and struck out 10 in his six innings.
The Reds put two on in the eighth and pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso nearly hit the stadium roof with a high and deep blast, but right fielder Hunter Pence caught it with his butt against the wall.
IS WILLIE BLOOMQUIST the answer as the Reds’ extra outfielder? So far he hasn’t even been the question. He struck out all three times he batted Friday, but it was understandable why he played over Jay Bruce. For his career Bruce is 1 for 17 with 10 strikeouts against Rodriguez.
I STAND by my prediction in June that the Reds would win the division by five or more games, but … just saying, just reminding, just ruminating: Remember 2007? The New York Mets had a seven-game lead with 13 games remaining and lost the division to the Phillies by one.
WHEN IN Houston a visit is incomplete without a stop at Pappasito’s, my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant anywhere. A nice Mexican lady fries the tortilla chips right in the dining room during business hours, so they are served piping hot. My favorite dish was the Pancho Villa, which included about everything on the menu, but it disappeared from the menu, probably because the servers sustained hernias carrying the dish to the table.
I MISS my daily visits to McCoy’s Fine Cigars (no, we’re not related darn it) in Houston, a small shop in which about six guys gather every day at lunch time and fill the room with smoke and bull, most of the bull dished out by an attorney named Brian Fisher, who stagnates the place with cheap cigar smoke and bad jokes, but a fun guy.
ALSO MISS my favorite road hotel, the Inn at the Ballpark, right across the street from Minute Maid Park. It has a completely baseball motif - all the artwork in the rooms are baseball themed, the carpeting is designed with baseballs and bats, there is a baseball library in the lobby and management loves Frank Sinatra because that’s the only music you hear over the Muzak system. And you can generally find an umpire sitting in the
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TweetBloomquist gets his Reds baptism
One thing about Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker, when he gets a new toy he doesn’t leave it in the wrapper on a shelf. He uses it.
His latest toy is utility player Willie Bloomquist, acquired Monday from the Kansas City Royals. He didn’t arrive until Tuesday and Baker slipped him into right field Wednesday to face left-handed pitcher Joe Saunders.
“Bloomquist has a pretty good career record against left-handed pitchers,” said Baker. “Jay Bruce will be back in there Thursday and Bloomquist will play Friday in Houston against left-hander Wandy Rodriguez because Wandy has given Jay the blues in the past.”
COMING FROM Kansas City to Cincinnati is like coming from the bread line to a banquet for Bloomquist.
“Kansas City was a great place and I loved it there, but when they told me the news I was obviously ecstatic,” said Bloomquist. “I get to be with a team in the playoff race that has done exceptionally well all year long. To pick up this many games overnight is pretty exciting.”
Bloomquist picked up 34 games in the standings, going from 27 games out of first place with Kansas City to seven games up with the Reds.
“I was on my way to the field Monday for a game when they told me to go to the manager’s office and I had no clue what it was for,” he said. “But I was happy about it, that’s for sure, excited about the opportunity.”
Bloomquist knows he is not eligible to play in the postseason because he wasn’t on the Reds roster by September 1, but said, “Yeah, I’m disappointed, but I have to be thankful for what I got right now. I came from a team 27 games down to a team seven games up, so I’m certainly not going to complain. It is an opportunity to experience the atmosphere of a team close to making the playoffs, something I never experiences before. I’m blessed to be with the team and have the opportunity to help them get there.”
Because of the outfield shortage with the Reds it is the outfield where he’ll play.
“Doesn’t matter where I play,” he said. “I haven’t played a ton of infield this year. I consider myself still an infielder, but I haven’t played a lot of infield this year. It has been mostly outfield, for a variety of reasons. That’s been my job my entire career - bounce around and play a variety of positions. So I have to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, I guess. I’ve always been told I was more of a National League-type player.”
Bloomquist told Baker he is ready, willing and able to do anything needed, “To help out,” and Baker told him, “We’re short of outfielders right now, a little banged up, so be prepared to play out there right now.” But Baker also told Bloomquist to work out in the infield, too - just in case there is another 911 in the infield.
“Like everybody here, he is going to play,” said Baker. It was mentioned that Baker was getting so many players he might not know what to do with them all and he said, “I’ll know what to do with them. I just won’t have to hold my breath as long. I’ve been holding my breath for two weeks, worried about who might get hurt next.”
AS A MATTER of fact, third baseman Scott Rolen is ailing and won’t play either tonight or Thursday afternoon after he came up with a stiff upper back and stiff neck during his third at-bat Tuesday. Miguel Cairo was Rolen’s stand-in Wednesday.
“I’m the proverbial day-to-day,” said Rolen. Aren’t we all? “I’m really not that worried about it.”
Rolen took a funky swing on strike three in the sixth inning, then struck out again in the ninth when he was the tying run - two on, no outs, Reds down, 3-0.
“I could tell last night when he took a couple of funky swings that something was wrong,” said Baker. “One hand came off the bat. Plus, when he gets real, real, real quiet - he is always quiet - I’ve come to learn that something is wrong when he gets real quiet. So we’ll play Miggy (Cairo) at third tonight and Juan Francisco there Thursday. No different than it has been all year - just do what we have to do.”
RIGHT FIELDER Justin Upton, who made the stupendous catch with two outs in the ninth inning and the bases full of Reds to rob Ramon Hernandez of a three-run game-winning double, was not in Wednesday’s lineup, replaced by Gerardo Parra.
“Parra wouldn’t have caught that ball, he might be too short,” said Baker.
AFTER WATCHING catcher Devon Mesoraco struggle and stagger in his first three years in professional baseball - all in Class A - some folks thought the Reds wasted a No. 1 draft pick on him in 2007.
And he started out in Class A this year, too, playing for Pat Kelly at Lynchburg. Something clicked. Mesoraco zoomed through the system and by season’s end he was playing at Class AAA Louisville, where he hit a couple of grand slam home runs.
What people neglected to take into consideration is that Mesoraco signed out of high school when he was 18 and he played in Punxatawney, Pa., where weather prevents a team from playing a full schedule during the school year.
“He became a man,” said Kelly. “He finally got to play with guys his own age. It was fun to watch - he was fun to watch. In May he was the best player on the field every day, whether it was batting or playing defense or making a play or running the bases.”
RIGHT NOW, I don’t care what happens the rest of the night. The day/nigh is complete. Rita Butcher, mother to Reds Media Relations Director Rob Butcher brought her assortment of homemade pies to the press box tonight. And she brought chocolate, apple, pumpkin and pecan, which just happens to be my four favorite pies (in any order). What a choice? It’s like asking if you want a million dollars in hundreds, fifties, twenties or tens. It’s still a million dollar.
I chose the chocolate/apple combo - yeah, a gluttonous two pieces. I can go home right now with a broad smile on my face.
THAT TIME of the week. Need those nifty Ask Hal questions for Sunday’s DDN. Need ‘em by Thursday afternoon, so send ‘em now. Aim them my way at halmccoy1@hotmail.com. Maybe Dave from Miamisburg/Centerville/Beavercreek couldn’t find us. Judging from last week’s absence, he didn’t know the e-mail address changed. Shhhhhhh.
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TweetKeep Bronson Arroyo: Yes or no?
Frequently asked question: Should the Reds pick up Bronson Arroyo’s $13 option for next season?
Answer: That’s like asking if you want fries with your burger or if you want whipped cream and nuts on your sundae. Of course you do. Why not?
It is reason enough that Arroyo won his 15th game Monday night, 15 wins for the third straight season, and he is only 2 1/3 innings short of pitching 200 innings for the sixth straight year. He has never been on the DL during his career nor has he ever missed a start.
And the Reds need his veteran presence in the rotation, which will be loaded next year with pitchers still wet behind the ears as far as experience and success - Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Travis Wood, Mike Leake, Aroldis Chapman, Homer Bailey.
Some might say, “Well, you’ve just named six starting pitchers for five available spots and Arroyo isn’t in that list.” True. But he needs to be one of those five to provide that veteran leadership, a guiding light, some stability, some consistency and definitely dependability. It that enough ity’s?
AND ONLY FOUR pitchers have won 15 or more three years in a row - C C Sabathia, Roy Halladay, John Lester and Arroyo.
“That’s about as consistent as you can get,” said Baker. “Guys who keep winning 15 in a row are the big boys and you don’t think of Bronson as one of the big boys like C C Sabathia and Doc Halladay and Chris Carpenter. So, indeed, he is one of the big boys. He just doesn’t have the big boy stuff. But the name of the game is to win.”
The six straight 200 innings is even more impressive to Baker and he said, “That’s Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins stuff right there.”
Arroyo will be one of only four active pitchers to go 200 or more innings six straight times, joining Dan Haren, Javier Vasquez and Mark Buehrle.
“The guy doesn’t take an All-Star break - he comes to the stadium and works out,” said Baker. “Everybody thinks he is Good-Time Charlie, which he is, but Good-Time Charlie works and runs and comes in to work all the time.”
Somebody suggested that in today’s game that maybe 15 wins for a pitcher is the new ‘20.’ Baker doesn’t buy it. “Twenty is 20,” he said. “That’s like saying .285 is the new .300. No, it’s not. .300 is .300 and 20 is 20.
BAKER CONSIDERED giving second baseman Brandon Phillips a day off Tuesday as he struggles with the bat, most likely due to the fact his hand still hurts. Phillips was 0 for 15 until he singled in the eighth inning Monday, “And I was going to give him the day off (Tuesday) until I saw him hit that rocket,” said Baker.
“He is still favoring it some,” said Baker. “His defense is so valuable that we need him out there. He can do a lot of things to help you win other than just hit.”
ONE OF THE many things so great about baseball is that there is always something going on that is exciting and interesting that may not have anything to do with whether a team wins or loses.
An excellent example was one at-bat Monday night: Cincinnati relief pitcher Bill Bray vs. Arizona pinch-hitter Rusty Ryal. That at-bat lasted 16 pitches before Bray finally struck him out. And that was after Bray struck out the first two batters of the inning.
Asked if he could go over each pitch, recall what he threw, Bray laughed and said, “Not a chance, even though I throw only two pitches (fastball, slider). I do know I struck him out on a fastball after he fouled off a slider on the previous pitch.” Ryal fouled off nine pitches on 3-and-2.
“Those are fun, even though they last forever and I had no idea how many pitches I threw,” Bray added. “At one point, somebody said, ‘Why don’t you try a splitter?’, even though I don’t throw one. Somebody else said, ‘Just hit him and put him on base and get the next guy.’ You don’t want to put a guy on base and I would never hit anybody on purposes anyway.
“Actually, I was wishing I could pull Aroldis Chapman’s 103 (miles an hour) out of my pocket,” Bray said. “You just try to keep throwing strikes, hit your spots as best you can and hope he puts the ball in play. That’s all I was doing, trying to get him to put it in play, not even thinking about a strikeout there.”
IT ISN’T EASY getting Baker to look ahead to the playoffs and when asked he usually says, “Our magic number is ‘1.’ Tonight’s game. That’s it.”
But he responded when asked what he would do after the Reds clinch the division, rest the regulars or keep playing them? Having the best record is important because it determines home field advantage - the team with the best record in the NL gets to start every series at home. two trains of thought on that,” said Baker. “You want to play ‘em so that they stay sharp. But you don’t want to play ‘em to the point where they carry injuries into the postseason. Hopefully we can get this thing done (division clinched) so I can give some guys a day or two off - like Joey Votto, who hasn’t had a day for a while.
“But I learned a valuable lesson in 1977,” Baker added. “I was going for 30 home runs and Steve Garvey was going for 200 hits so Garvey and I were the only guys who played all the way to the end after we (Dodgers) clinched. Reggie (Smith), Penguin (Ron Cey) and some of the other guys didn’t and sat down three or four days at the end.
“Then going into the playoffs the only guys sharp were me and Garvey,” Baker said. “After that, Garvey and I got a little tired because we didn’t have any rest, but the other guys started slow then finally got their strokes back. The lesson is: you have to play them some, even if it’s just half the game.”
Almost as if he realized what he was doing, without pausing, Baker added. “Let’s not put the cart before the horse. We still have a ways to go to win this thing and you can’t start thinking about what you are going to do - playing guys or not playing guys. That’s dangerous. Let’s save those kinds of questions until later…please.”
THE BIG BAFFLER: The first-place Cincinnati Reds drew 12,061 for Monday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. Meanwhile, right next door, WWE Raw (professional wrestling) filled U.S. Bank Arena to nearly 18,000.
What’s up with that? And I’ve heard a half dozen reasons why the Reds aren’t drawing, despite some extremely hard work by the marketing department. I just don’t understand it. Big-time wrestling over big-league baseball? What’s that say about this town?
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TweetBruce talks his way into the lineup
His name was not on the lineup card so Jay Bruce, knowing that Chris Heisey is among the walking wounded, walked into manager Dusty Baker’s office and said, “I’m ready. Put me in, coach.”
Baker gladly complied, returning Bruce to right field after he missed 12 games with a sore side.
“Jay has been saying he is ready for a few days now,” said Baker. “At this point he is about as good as he can get for a while. We tried to hold off and wait for as long as we could. He was our hottest player at the point he got hurt. Look what the Rockies have done since they got Troy Tulowitzki back. They say one man doesn’t have a big impact on the game, but he can be if he is an impact player. Jay certainly was an impact player the last month before he got hurt.
“I told him I wanted him to be the Player of the Month in August and I don’t know who it was but he had to be close,” said Baker. “Who was it?”
Albert Pujols.
“Damn,” said Baker.
Said Bruce as he slipped into his uniform, “It is going to be real good to get back in there, get my feet wet again for this push. Some of the other guys have some nagging stuff (outfielders Laynce Nix, Jim Edmonds, Chris Heisey), so we have to keep everybody healthy and I’m ready to go. I’m 100 percent and ready to go. It’s time to go, help my team with the push and win as many games as we can.”
AFTER SEARCHING high, low, left, right and in the middle, general manager Walt Jocketty finally was able to corral some outfield help, acquiring infielder-outfielder Willie Bloomquist from the Kansas City Royals for a player to be identified later or cash considerations.
“He is a much-needed guy who plays all over - plays the outfield, which is where we can really use him right now,” said Baker. “He is a good pinch-runner, pinch-hitter, especially against left-handed pitching. Walt said he is excited about coming here because he has always wanted to be in a pennant race. We need him, really need him right now. We’ve been searching for somebody like him for a couple of weeks now.”
Bloomquist, 32, played 72 games for the Royals this season and hit .265 with four home runs and eight triples. He stole eight bases in 13 attempts. He will NOT be eligible for the postseason because he wasn’t on the Reds’ roster by September 1.
EVERYBODY OUT there howling for Coco Cordero’s next appearance to be one with his head on a platter, listen up. Yes, Cordero has blown eight saves this year, while converting 35 - an 81 percent success ratio.
To start with, everybody loves Billy Wagner, Atlanta’s closer, right? Well, he has 33 saves and has blown seven - about the same ratio as Cordero.
So how does this compare to other teams? Let me show you the way:
Arizona’s bullpen has blown 22 saves. TWENTY-TWO. And converted only 25. Milwaukee has blown 21. Colorado has blown 19. Washington has blown 18. Los Angeles has blown 16 and Houston has blown 12.
As a team, the Reds have blown 17 saves in 55 opportunities, so Cordero actually has blown less than half of those blown by the Cincinnati bullpen.
And how’s this from the American League - the Orioles have blown 25 saves while converting 31.
THE LOUISVILLE BATS were eliminated Sunday from the International League playoffs and relief pitcher Jared Burton was recalled and joined the Reds Monday.
“I made the best of a bad situation this year,” said Burton. “It was a long start to the season, a lot of doctor visits.” For a month Burton felt weak, couldn’t work out after he pitched and wasn’t strong when he did. Finally he was diagnosed with a thyroid condition. Medication was prescribed and all was well.
“Once they diagnosed the problem and I knew I was fine physically, I was able to move on, get my arm in shape, and have a good year,” he said. “After a couple of weeks I could tell a huge difference. My energy level was there. With that came confidence because I was comfortable again.”
Burton missed the first month of the season then went back to Arizona for extended spring training, trying to figure out why he was so miserable.
“I missed a little bit of time, but it was good to finally figure out what was going on and move on from it,” Burton added.
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TweetTeddy Ballgame left impression on Votto
MANY PEOPLE, me included, believe Ted Williams was the greatest hitter of all time - better than Pete Rose, better than Ty Cobb.
When I first began playing Little League, I insisted on wearing ‘9,’ I insisted on playing left field and I persisted in using a bat with ‘Ted Williams’ scribbled on the barrel. I was going to be the next Ted Williams. It took me about five games to realize that wasn’t going to happen. Not ever.
But Williams remained my all-time favorite player and remains so to this day, which gives Joey Votto and me something in common. He, too, is infatuated with the legend and lore that is Teddy Ballgame, The Splendid Splinter, The Thumper, The Kid (he led baseball in nicknames, too).
I understand my feelings about Williams. He was playing when I was a kid and usually pounding the bejabbers out of my Cleveland Indians, whose manager, Lou Boudreau, devised the Williams shift that put three infielders to the right of second base, the first manager to use that shift.
But Votto? He was born 23 years AFTER Ted Williams played his last game in 1960.
“When I was young, I just couldn’t help to gravitate toward the greatest of all time,” said Votto. “I couldn’t relate to Babe Ruth - not that I CAN relate to Ted Williams - but there was something different about him. He was a legend and a great American Hero, even though I’m not American. He was just an amazing person to read about and to watch film of and to hear stories about. I don’t know what to tell you other than I wish I had got to see him. One of my bigger baseball regrets was that he passed away before I inched up the minor-league chain. I definitely would have taken advantage of meeting him during one of the spring trainings.”
Asked about what books he has read about Williams, Votto smiled and said, “I’ve read them all. I really have. All of ‘em. I went through a phase there. I don’t really read much about baseball now because I don’t do much baseball reading because I treat it as a job. When I was younger he was like a super hero to me and I read everything about him - what he would do with his eyes, the way he acted, the way he sacrificed four years of his life to go to war. He could have tacked on another 175 home runs and he might have set the record.”
WHEN THE Cincinnati Reds drafted Votto in the second round of the 2002 draft, then scouting director Kasey McKeon (Jack McKeon’s son) had to nearly throw fists at a couple of other scouts with the Reds to get Votto drafted.
“I actually kept Votto hidden,” said McKeon, now a scout for the Washington Nationals. “Nobody knew about him. He wasn’t listed in the Top 200 by Baseball America so I took some hits from fans on chat rooms and blogs for drafting this guy nobody ever heard of.”
McKeon also wanted the Reds to draft pitcher Scott Kazmir in the first round, but then GM Jim Bowden wanted pitcher Chris Gruler. Bowden prevailed. McKeon lost that one. Well, Gruler never pitched and may have had a bad arm when he signed. And Kazmir became a star. So McKeon was right on that one, too.
THE LATEST (yeah, another ‘latest’) on Jay Bruce?
“Getting close,” said manager Dusty Baker. “He is available now to pinch-run and play defense. I’d rather wait, though. He looks like he is on target to play some time at mid-week, trying for Tuesday. They said he won’t completely heal until over the winter. So waiting a couple of more weeks for his side to heal is not going to help. I’ll have to space him with his playing time. He did let it out yesterday (Saturday) and swung pretty good.”
Bruce, Orlando Cabrera and Jim Edmonds all have side injuries that won’t completely heal before the season is over and Baker said, “You can add Chris Heisey and Arthur Rhodes to that list (of guys who won’t heal by season’s end).”
Baker smiled and shook his head, then said, “At this time of year if something is not wrong with you, you probably didn’t play very much. In order to win, somebody - everybody - has to overextend some. You certainly don’t want to hurt anybody, that’s the last thing you want, but as a player this late you have to overextend some. You think about guys like Curt Schilling and Kirk Gibson. Like they told us when I played, you have all winter to rest and heal. You tell them, ‘But my legs are about to fall off,’ and they’d say, ‘You’ll be all right. You have all winter to rest and heal.”
AS HAS BEEN his habit on day games after night games, other than the St. Louis series, Baker rested Scott Rolen Sunday and had Miguel Cairo at third.
“I have to keep ‘em fresh, preserve him, because we’re going into a period of playing 20 days in a row,” said Baker. There is another day game Thursday and Baker said, “Depends on the standings whether he plays Thursday. We have a big week coming up on the road because it is a 10-dayer (three in Houston, three in Milwaukee, day off, three in San Diego). That’s a triangle trip - Houston to Milwaukee to San Diego, a triangle. Shouldn’t you have the last stop on a trip closest to home?”
What’s bad (but really, really good) for Reds fans is that the team most likely will clinch its first division title since 1995 on that road trip.
ONE OF MY all-time favorite Reds, Kent Mercker, worked the radio broadcast Sunday. I love the guy because he was one of the most intelligent players I ever covered and one of the most humorous.
Two of my favorite lines from him were: “You know it is time to retired when you jog in from the bullpen and your breasts jiggle.” And, asked what he planned to do during his retirement, Mercker said, “I’m going to turn vodka into urine.”
On Sunday, he looked at me and said, “Do you think that it is any coincidence that the Reds are doing so good after I retired? Not a coincidence, is it? It was addition by subtraction?”
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TweetReds down to two healthy outfielders (ouch)
AND NOW it gets interesting - extremely interesting - if playing baseball games with only two healthy outfielders can be called interesting.
Some would call it curious, or even an absurdity.
But that’s what it has come down to for the Cincinnati Reds, two healthy outfielders - Jonny Gomes and Drew Stubbs.
Chris Heisey is the latest Friday added to a string of aches pains he is fighting.
He originally was on Saturday’s lineup card but was an early-afternoon scratch, replaced by - ta-dum - infielder Miguel Cairo in right field.
Heisey collided with Pittsburgh first baseman Garrett Jones in the seventh inning Friday. He remained in the game and struck out in the ninth, but laid down a bunt to open the 12th and scored the winning run.
His collision isn’t his only problem, though.
“He has been banged up and that didn’t help,” said beleaguered manager Dusty Baker. “Remember when he twisted his ankle not too long ago at first base when he rolled over?
“But he plays hard and wants to play, but I had to supercede it today and do what is best for him and what is best for us,” Baker said.
So with Jay Bruce still ailing, Laynce Nix on the disabled list and Jim Edmonds activated but still an invalid, Cairo found himself in right field.
“I’ve played out there before,” he said. When? “I don’t know, look it up in the book.”
Baker’s reaction to all this?
“We certainly can’t lose anybody else until we get some outfield re-enforcements in here,” he said.
Re-enforcements? When? How?
Baker smiled slyly and mischievously and said, “I don’t know, man. I don’t know when or how. I just have my fingers crossed that something is going to happen. (GM) Walt Jocketty is working on talking to a lot of different people and different teams, even though that person wouldn’t be eligible for the playoffs. You see a lot of times where a player comes in late and helps you get through it.
“Cairo has been working out in the outfield because I knew somebody was going to have to sit down soon with us playing 20 games in a row with no days off. The guys playing aren’t getting to sit down in a lopside game, as part of a double switch, nothing,” Baker said.
“I have Paul Janish workied out in the outfield, too, and he says he can do it,” said Baker.
How about Bruce, who said he might be able to play Sunday?
“Right now, today, I don’t want him to do anything,” said Baker. “I want him to give that side a complete rest today because he has been really, really pressing it with treatment, strengthening exercises, hitting, throwing, running. I told him I didn’t want him to do anything today.”
AFTER ORLANDO Cabrera said Friday he might not play on this homestand and Baker said he might not play this weekend, there was Cabrera at shortstop Saturday.
Baker laughed again and said, “This is how it’s been, man. One leaves and one comes.”
IF THERE IS a guy who has earned his money and even a bonus this year it is 40-year-old Arthur Rhodes. Right now, with a foot ravaged by pain, Rhodes can barely walk, barely put weight on his foot.
But there he was Saturday night limping to the mound in the ninth inning of a tie game with two on and one out, rescuing closer Coco Cordero by getting the two outs with no damage.
“You can tell it is bothering him some,” Baker said. “This guy has never been short of guts.”
What Rhodes has is something called Plantar fascilitis, a common foot injury among runners and athletes. It usually begins as tenderness or mild pain on the sole of that foot near the arch or heel. It gradually becomes more severe and localizes to a spot like a bone bruise. It is painful when you run and when you plant your foot while pitching.
I’m so glad my brother-in-law is a foot doctor so he could explain it all to me. Plantar fascilitis sounds to me like a peanut farm in Georgia.
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TweetHarang is out and Volequez is in
FOR THOSE WORRIED that Aaron Harang might start another game for the Cincinnati Reds, fear not. All week his name has been listed as Saturday’s starter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it isn’t going to happen.
Edinson Volquez will make that start and Harang has been placed in the bullpen, “Because that’s where he started with Oakland,” said manager Dusty Baker. “He has some pretty good teachers out there on how to warm up. This is a pretty good idea because his nemesis innings are usually the third or fourth inning. He come in and give us a couple of innings, making it a very usable situation for him and us. He handled it very professionally.”
Actually, Harang only pitched two games out of the bullpen for Oakland and made 21 starts - but the move by Baker had to be made.
VOLQUEZ MADE two starts at Class A Dayton and struck out 10 in five innings in his second start, but most importantly, “I worked on my mechanics. It was good, more consistent, threw more strikes. My arm was late, moving forward before my arm caught up with my head. Now I stay back, on my back leg, and I have a better delivery.”
For sure the Reds need Volquez to deliver in the final month of the season.
MANAGER DUSTY Baker was snake-belly low after the Reds lost six of seven on the just-completed road trip - then he heard about the gas line explosion that leveled 50 homes in San Bruno, Calif., “About three blocks from my house I’ve owned in that area for 15 years.
“My son and daughter has some schoolmates that lost their houses,” he said. “They said it sounded like the end of the world and it was so hot the cement melted. There were fire bombs going off 200 and 300 feet in the air. That eased my pain from the road trip and put it in proper perspective. This is important - very important - but when I think about those people, I think, ‘Man, they’d trade with me in a minute.’”
FANS IN A PANIC should know a few things. First of all, remember 1990, the last Cincinnati World Series champions? They began the season 33-12 and had a 10-game lead in mid-June. By August 4 it was down to 3½ games, back up to 5½ on September 9 (right about now), back down to 3½ on September 26 and won the division by five.
Also, of the eight teams who made the playoffs last year, six had losing streaks in September of three or more games and the Cardinals had three three-game losing streaks.
GENERAL MANAGER Walt Jocketty activated Mike Leake and Jim Edmonds off the disabled list - and the activation of Edmonds was much to the surprise of Edmonds and Baker.
Edmonds still has a sore side and has only hit off the tee and isn’t ready for every day action, but said, “I’ve just taken some easy swings and taking it one day at a time to get ready to go full speed. I haven’t done a whole lot so I don’t think they expect me to do much. But they are kind of short in the outfield (three healthy bodies) so they’d only use me in an emergency situations. They have enough players to use and hopefully it doesn’t come to that issue. But I’m here if needed.”
LEAKE IS OFF the DL, but not ready to pitch. His role?
“Pinch-run, pinch-hit, pinch-bunt, pinch-everything,” said Baker. “He told me two months ago if I needed an emergency outfielder he can do that, too. That’s a REAL emergency, even though right now I only have three outfielders.”
NOT MUCH positive on Jay Bruce and Orlando Cabrera, two other operatives with side problems. Neither was in Friday’s lineup and Baker is giving a “maybe” for Sunday for Bruce.
“I’m a lot better and I’ve hit the last couple of days, but I want to make sure I’m extra healthy and ready to go because I don’t want to come back and get hurt again and miss the rest of the season,” said Bruce. “Hopefully - the next few days. But it isn’t something I’m going to push. I’m seeing through the process and coming back at 100 percent, not 90 percent, not 80 percent.”
Cabrera says the pain in his side has yet to go away and if he plays one game, “The soreness lasts for two days afterward. Other people with this injury (oblique) tell me it takes about a month-and-a-half of rest to heal. I can’t do that. I played the whole year to be in the playoffs and I want to be there. I’ll probably take the weekend off and see about next week.”
THIS ONE IS unfathomable for those who have watched Corky Miller run. Miller is one of only five major-league players whose first career stolen base was a theft of home.
Miller did it 2001 and it should be no surprise that nine years later it is STILL his only stolen base in the majors.
“It was in Philadelphia and Brady Clark was batting against left-hander Omar Daal,” said Miller. “We had first and third and we put on the squeeze play - September 27 2001. As soon as he lifted his leg, I took off. He threw over to first base and then the guy threw home and I was sliding in.”
Miller laughed and said, “I used to have some speed.” (He has 17 minor-league stolen bases, but has been caught 25 times).
Alas, his theft of home for the Reds was his only stolen base attempt in his 10-year major-league career.
“But when I did it, I was the first Cincinnati catcher since Johnny Bench to steal home,” he said
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TweetMasset pulls a rock against Rockies
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while screaming at Nick Masset, “He’s running, he’s running, he’s running.” Masset didn’t hear me.
Of all the ways to lose a baseball game, the Cincinnati Reds found a rare one at the base of the Rocky Mountains Thursday afternoon, a staggering 6-5 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
A rookie pinch-runner, who had never stolen a major-league base, concocted a straight steal of home in the eighth inning to break a tie and score the winning run.
Chris Nelson was on third base and Melvin Mora was on first with one out and the game tied, 5-5.
Nick Masset was on the mound holding the ball when Nelson broke for home. The infielders started yelling to alert Masset, but he thought it was Mora racing from first to second. So he turned his back and faced second base. By the time he turned and threw home Nelson was across home plate - the first straight steal of home by a player against the Reds since San Diego’s Eric Owens did it in 1999.
Talk about a brain cramp? This was frozen brain cells.
MAKING MATTERS much worse is the fact the Reds led, 5-0, in the second, then folded up like a cheap beach chair.
If nothing else, left-hander Travis Wood proved he belongs in the postseason rotation. The Reds won only one game on this seven game trip and Wood won it, holding the St. Louis Cardinals to one run over seven innings.
On Wednesday he held the Rockies to three runs and five hits over five innings, walking two and striking out six.
And he left with a 5-3 lead before the bullpen slowly but surely gave it away - the Reds’ ninth straight loss in Coors Field.
The Reds led 5-4 entering the eighth, but Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki led the inning against Masset with his third home run in two days, tying the game, 5-5. Tulowitzki hit two homers Wednesday, but his biggest value during his team’s four-game sweep of the Reds was his defensive play.
At least six times he went deep in the hole and fired target-accurate throws while jumping in the air to first base to nail runners.
He may be the best defensive shortstop I’ve seen this year and certainly the most underrated. And he is just as lethal offensively.
After Tulowitzki’s game-tying home run, Masset walked Jason Giambi and Nelson ran for him. Melvin Mora grounded to Joey Votto, who had to charge the ball and throw behind him. His flip throw went over Masset’s head for an error and Nelson ended up on third.
That’s when Nelson stole home.
THE REDS scored one in the first and four in the second, highlighted by a two-run home run by Drew Stubbs that made it 5-0.
That’s when the offense took the rest of the day off and the Rockies began pecking away.
Giambi hit a two-run homer in the fourth and the Rockies cut it to 5-3 in the fifth on Dexter Fowler’s run-scoring two-out double.
WITH TWO on and nobody out in the seventh, Aroldis Chapman arrived with runners on second and third.
Pinch-hitter Herrera grounded to Votto and he tried to throw Ryan Spilbourghs out at the plate but he slid across ahead of catcher Ramon Hernandez’s tag and it was 5-4.
IT COULD HAVE been much worse. Chapman struck out Eric Young on a 3-and-2 breaking ball after throwing him a 102 miles an hour fastball the previous pitch.
But he walked Fowler to load the bases, bringing up Colorado’s MVP candidate and the hottest hitter in the galaxy right now, Carlos Gonzalez. On 0-and-2, after a 102 miles an hour fastball, Gonzalez hit into a 6-4-3 double play, leaving it at 5-4.
Then came the fateful eighth and thievery on the high plains.
HERNANDEZ, who had three hits, led the ninth against Rockies closer Houston Stsreet with a single and was the tying run with no outs. But, in order, Street struck out Chris Heisey, Paul Janish and pinch-hitter Juan Francisco, all swinging.
So while everybody worried about the Reds’ previous trip, a matriculation through Arizona, Los Angeles and San Francisco, they should have been concerned about this seven-day trip through St. Louis and Colorado, during which the Reds went 1-6. Amazingly, they lost little ground to the stumbling second-place St. Louis Cardinals.
WITH A NOT-SO-FOND farewell to Denver, the Reds limp home for a seven-game homestand against two last place teams - three against Pittsburgh and four against Arizona.
It is time to put things right - and quickly. The Cardinals could begin winning any day now.
THE CHARTER flight home had to be one of the quietest plane trips in recent memory.
Reminds me of back when I covered the University of Dayton basketball team. I traveled with them and for a game in Ricmond, Ky. against Eastern Kentucky in 1967 they took a chartered Greyhound bus. Masset pulls a rock against Rockies The Flyers lost that night, an awfully played game against a mediocre team. Coach Don Donoher was livid.
The team trooped aboard the bus, flopping down one to a seat from front to back. Donoher got on the bus and said from the front, “Oh, no, everybody to the back of the bus and double up in every seat in the back. I want the stink to rub off on each other.”
The bus, heavily-weighted in the back, did a wheelie all the way back to Dayton. But it worked. The Flyers were 7-9 after that game, then won 14 straight to go 21-9 and win the NIT.
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TweetReds between a Rock and a hard place
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while wondering what it might be like if some of the Cincinnati Reds actually saw more than two pitches per at bat in the early innings.
The Reds finally found a way to knock a starting pitcher out of the box - hit him on the shin with a line drive. That’s what Joey Votto did to Colorado starter Aaron Cook in the sixth inning.
There was a major problem, though. The score already was Colorado 9, Cincinnati 1, and Cook still was the winning pitcher and still hasn’t lost a game to the Reds during his career.
It is Cook’s way of saying, “Hey, I was born and raised in Hamilton, just 20 miles from Cincinnati. Why didn’t you draft me?”
Cook won easily because Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo ran head first into the lethal Rockies bats and the Reds lost, 9-2. He gave up three home runs, including a three-run game-crusher by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in the third to push Colorado’s lead from 2-1 to 5-1.
Tulowitzaki, a defensive dandy, had three hits, including two home runs.
Votto was the night’s only write-home-about Cincinnati player on this night - three hits and a walk. But the Reds hit into four double plays.
If the Reds could stay away from Denver, they’d do it. They’ve lost nine straight in Coors Field and 17 of their last 21. The Rockies always leave them gasping for air and Denver and its thin air isn’t a good place to be gasping.
AND BY the tone of e-mails and comments on this blog, some Reds fans are in full panic, Defcon 1-4.
Relax, Kick back. How would you like to be a St. Louis Cardinals fan and be staring at a six-game deficit, with the magic number at 20?
The Cardinals, given a platinum opportunity to put pressure on the Reds, who have lost five of six on this dastardly trip, lost their last two against Milwaukee and are doing nothing to make the Reds feel any sense of urgency.
THE REDS have run into some stellar pitching on this trip. No, they haven’t played good - way on the far side of bad, actually - but every team, no matter good, runs into dry spells over the course of a 162-game schedule.
As former manager Jerry Narron always said, “A team is never as good as it looks on a long winning streak and is never as bad as it looks on a long losing streak.”
Don’t forget the Reds are somewhat crippled at the moment - outfielders Jay Bruce and Laynce Nix are incapacitated, leaving manager Dusty Baker operating with only three outfielders.
Shortstop Orlando Cabrera’s side is acting up again and it is obvious Brandon Phillips is still suffering after effects from his hand injury. Chris Valaika replaced Phillips in mid-game Wednesday.
SEEING ALL the home runs fly out of Coors Field (mostly by the Rockies) jogs my memory back to the mid-1970s when the Reds trained at old Al Lopez Field in Tampa, grounds now occupied by the football stadium that is home to the Tampa Bay Bucs.
After a workout one day, a few writers stuck around to take some batting practice - making certain all the players were gone and wouldn’t see our ineptitude.
I wish they ALL had stayed. On one of the first pitches from former Dayton Journal Herald sports writer Jim Zofkie I lucked into one - the perfect storm swing - and hit one down the line and over the right field wall. I put the bat down and said, “That’s it. I retire.” And I haven’t swung a bat at a baseball ever since, although I played slow pitch softball until I was 42 and ‘retired’ because I couldn’t swing the bat around my belly and running from first to third required artificial respiration.
LAST CHANCE this week to submit an Ask Hal question and possibly see it in Sunday’s paper. Need them by noon Thursday and send your questions to halmccoy1@hotmail.com.
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TweetReds can’t find a Rocky Mountain high
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while wondering why a team of hitters like the Cincinnati Reds plays in Coors Field like the first-year New York Mets (120 losses).
This is why the St. Louis Cardinals will NOT catch the Reds in the National League Central.
On a night when the Reds played as if they can’t breathe in the thin Denver air, losing to the Colorado Rockies, 4-3, the Cardinals can’t take care of business in Milwaukee and lose. So the Reds’ lead stays at 6 games and the schedule is slithering away.
A RUSTY Johnny Cueto gave up hits to the first three Rockies he faced, including a three-run home run to the man they call Cargo (Carlos Gonzalez, a guy who is turning heads away from Joey Votto and Albert Pujols for National League MVP).
After Eric Young and Dexter Fowler each singled to right, Gonzalez hit the first pitch the other way, a home run over the left-field fence.
Cueto was superb after that — but it was too late because the Reds’ offense was as dormant as a sleeping volcano. No eruptions.
THIS IS NOT to point any crooked digits at Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, but his night represented the frustrations of the Reds, who lost for the fourth time in six games on this seven-game trip, their seventh straight loss in Coors Field.
Phillips struck out twice, grounded into a double play, made the last out of the game with the tying run on base, made his first error in 64 games and was out trying to stretch a single into a double.
Phillips singled with one out in the fifth for the second out, then the Reds had back-to-back hits that would have produced a run. But Scott Rolen grounded out to end that threat.
While Phillips made a rare error, Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki made at least four plays that should be in ESPN’s Top Ten web gems.
AFTER COLORADO’s fast start, the Reds scored two runs in the fourth after two were out. Drew Stubbs drilled a two-out, two-run single, but Stubbs never should have batted. With two outs and runners on second and first, slow-footed Ramon Hernandez grounded to Mora at third, an easy throw across the diamond that would have ended the inning. Inexplicably, he tried to run to third for a force out, but Joey Votto beat him to the bag to fill the bases and set up Stubbs’ double.
But with a chance to score more, Chris Heisey hit a soft liner to second to end the inning.
THE ROCKIES got the run that proved to be the difference in the sixth when Phillips bungled a two-out ground ball by Seth Smith and catcher Miguel Olivo doubled to left-center to make it 4-2.
Jonny Gomes homered with two outs in the eighth, cutting it to 4-3, but that’s all they got.
JAY BRUCE was absent from the lineup again with his side injury and is supposed to take batting practice before Wednesday’s game, but probably won’t be in the lineup before Friday’s game in Great American Ball Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are suddenly world-beaters against the Atlanta Braves.
EDINSON VOLQUEZ, after striking out 10 in five innings for the Class A Dayton Dragons, was recalled Tuesday and the Reds have a choice to make - which shouldn’t be any choice at all. On Saturday, manager Dusty Baker must decided whether to send Volquez against the Pirates or Aaron Harang. Who would you run out there? Me, too.
BROADCASTER JIM KELCH e-mailed me that he took my advice and ate Tuesday at the Rocky Mountain Diner, partaking of the bison meat loaf and mashed potatoes. He gave it a two-forks up and said he planned to return Wednesday.
He asked for another recommendation and I told him to check out a restaurant on the other side of Larimer Square from the team hotel, an old firehouse. If he has the hot chicken wings he’ll need a fire hose to put out the flames in his mouth.
DON’T forget those Ask Hal questions for this week. Need them in the next couple of days for Sunday’s paper. Send them to halmccoy1@hotmail.com and I’ve received a lot of good ones in the past couple of weeks. Keep ‘em coming.
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TweetAnother meltdown from Harang
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while watching another major meltdown by Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aaron Harang and wondering why they are messing with this guy when they have so many other options.
Aaron Harang not only pitched his way out the game quickly in Colorado (2 1/3 innings), he may have pitched himself out of Cincinnati.
They just can’t keep running this guy out to the mound and they certainly can’t pick up his option for $12.75 million next year, can they?
Given a chance on Labor Day to show he should be included on the postseason roster, Harang labored like a construction worker at high noon on August 12th in Phoenix.
The Cincinnati Reds gave Harang a 4-0 lead in the top of third and he gave it all back in the bottom of the third - four runs, three hits, three walks and manager Dusty Baker had seen enough, probably forever after Harang lost 17 games in the last two seasons and has been out of synch most of this season.
IT IS A REAL shame because Harang is a coverboy for Gentlemen Magazine, a class act who never makes excuses and stands professionally in front of his locker after every debacle to face the media.
Since going 32-17 over a two-year period and signing a three-year $33.30 million contract, Harang has gone 18-38 - $1,850,000 for each victory.
THE SAD PART for the Reds is that they had 18-game winner Ubaldo Jimenez, who had lost his last four decisions, ducking knockout punches, but Harang couldn’t come close to protecting that 4-0 lead.
And when it all ended and they emptied out of beautiful Coors Field on the streets of LoDo (lower downtown) to fill the plentiful bars and restaurants, the Reds were 10-5 losers.
Bill Bray gave up a two-out 2-and-2 home run to Troy Tulowitzki on a hanging slider to break the 4-4 tie in the fifth.
Bray put two on with two outs in the sixth and Manager Dusty Baker brought in Aroldis Chapman to get the last out and it didn’t happen. Three runs scored before the inning ended as Chapman consistently hit 102 on the radar gun.
Eric Young hit a 99 miles an hour fastball into center field for a hit and a run. Dexter Fowler hit one so hard it knocked shortstop Paul Janish on his poster and he tried to make a throw to second from the seat of his dirty britches. The ball looped over second baseman Brandon Phillips’ hit and another run scored.
Then Chapman threw a 102 miles an hour fastball in the dirt for a wild pitch and another runs scored to make it 8-4.
IT WASN’T AS if the Reds didn’t have chances in the great expanse of Coors Field after they took the 4-0 lead.
—They filled the bases with two outs in the fourth but Jonny Gomes popped to first.
—They put the first two runners on in the fifth but Drew Stubbs struck out, Janish popped out and pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso struck out.
—They loaded the bases again in the sixth, this time with one out, but Juan Francisco struck out and Ramon Hernandez grounded out.
When the Rockies piled on Carlos Fisher in the bottom of the seventh to make it 10-4, that’s what it was for the Reds - ten-four, over and out.
WHILE EVERYBODY watches Joey Votto and Albert Pujols as the top MVP candidates, a Rockies outfielder they call cargo because his name is Carlos Gonzalez and he carries a big load, is making a monumental statement. On Monday he had three hits that included two doubles, his first one in the third inning drove in two runs and cut Cincinnati’s lead from 4-0 to 4-2.
Meanwhile Votto was 1 for 3 with a pair of walks, one intentionally.
WHENEVER I was in Denver I made certain I ate lunch at least one day at the Rocky Mountain Diner, which specializes in stuff like buffalo meat loaf. What I didn’t eat was Rocky Mountain prairie oysters. And what are they? Uh, they are fried and breaded buffalo testicles. And, no, they don’t taste like chicken (I tried somebody else’s ONE time).
REMEMBER way back when Coors was available only west of the Mississippi and all of us in Ohio thirsted mightily for the beer that is brewed near Denver in Golden, Colo. Then we finally got it and I discovered, “Hey, it ain’t that good.” Now I thirst for Yuengling, which we can’t get in Ohio. But I have a few connections and get it. It’s delicious and I just hope when it becomes available in Ohio it doesn’t change the way Coors did (or did it?).
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TweetHow a game can turn on one pitch
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, which now has a fantastic sign hanging on the wall (thanks for hanging it for me, Jeff Gordon) which says, “The Man Cave,” made for me by my Ask Hal leadoff batter every Sunday, Dave from Miamisburg/Centerville/Beavercreek:
The score Sunday was St. Louis 4, Cincinnati 2 - the Cardinals taking two of three in the last series of the season between the two NL Central contender. Even though the Cardinals won 12 of the 18 games against the Reds this season, the Reds left town with a dominant seven-game lead with games melting away like ice in a hot cup of coffee.
It never, never, ever ceases to cause me to shake my head how one pitch in baseball game decides everything, one pitch among more than 300 thrown in a game.
And if ever there was an example, it was Sunday in Busch Stadium - one pitch, one decisions, by pitcher Homer Bailey.
The situation: The Cincinnati Reds led by St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1, in the bottom of the sixth and Bailey was easily outpitching Chris Carpenter.
Bailey had two outs with nobody on, cruising like Royal Caribbean, when Jon Jay pushed an opposite field ground ball down the third base line. Reds third baseman Scott Rolen dove, but the ball nicked his glove and rolled into short left field and Jay ended up at second with a double.
Albert Pujols was next and despite the fact Pujos was 1 for his last 20, manager Dusty Baker did the right thing. Intentional walk. No sense tempting disaster.
That brought up Matt Holliday, a guy the Cardinals signed for $120 million to bat behind Pujols and give him protection. As Baker often says, “With those two guys it is pick your poison.” This was turned out to be arsenick.
Bailey jumped ahead of Holliday 1-and-2 and stood looking for his sign from catcher Ryan Hanigan. He stepped off the rubber shaking his head. Hanigan ran to the mound for a chit-chat.
Bailey was like that gosh-awful Ford commercial where Vanessa is trying to make up her mind which SUV to buy.
When Hanigan returned behind the plate, Bailey threw a high-and-tight fastball. Ball two. Two-and-two.
His next pitch was another high fastball and Holliday ripped it over the left field fence, a three-run homer.
Game over.
That one pitch, when Bailey was one pitch away from getting out of it, was that one decisive moment that happens so often in a baseball game.
BY THAT TIME Carpenter was on his game and well on his way to beating the Reds for the 10th straight time - and he is fast becoming the next Roy Oswalt as a pitcher who is The Big Boss Hoss against the Reds.
Carpenter pitched 7 1/3 innings and gave up two runs and six hits, striking out 11.
BAILEY AND CARPENTER battled at 0-0 through four innings until the Reds got lucky. Drew Stubbs led the fifth with a single, then the Reds struck with their signature modus operandi - a two-out rally.
With two outs, one of them when Bailey struck out trying to bunt (poor execution), Brandon Phillips flared a broken bat double to right field, sending Stubbs to third. Orlando Cabrera broke his bat, too, but dribbled one past the third baseman and it stopped in the grass in shallow left as two runs scored for a 2-0 Reds lead.
At this point in the light-hitting life of the Cardinals, 2-0 looked solid because the Cardinals had scored three or less runs in eight of their last 11 games.
The Cardinals got one back in the bottom of the on a Colby Rasmus double, a deep fly and a ground ball.
THAT’S WHERE it stoo until the decisive - or in Bailey’s case - the indecisive moment in the sixth.
Cabrera singled with one out in the eighth and Joey Votto walked, but Scott Rolen hit into an inning-ending double play. St. Louis closer Ryan Franklin pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
SO THE SEPTEMBER audition for spots in the postseason rotation is on. Bronson Arroyo and Johnny Cueto seem like locks. Travis Wood made a strong statement Saturday. Bailey remains in the mix. Also under consideration are Aaron Harang, not good in his first start after a long stay on the DL, and Edinson Volquex, who makes his second start on rehab Monday night at Clas A Dayton.
FORTUNATELY there were no aftershocks from the fight when St. Louis was in Cincinnati. No fights. No beanballs. The fans booed Brandon Phillips every time he batted, but even boos seem to lose steam and decibels with each Phillips at-bat.
Now it is on to Denver for four games with the on-rushing Colorado Rockies, still trying to catch the San Diego Padres in the NL West - or grab the wild card position.
JUST PRIOR to his start in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series, John Tudor - a guy with a nasty dispostion - was asked a question by a writer (not me) a question he considered stupid.
Tudor stared at the guy and said, “What does it take to get a press pass these days, a Sears charge card?”
Then he went out and got butchered by the Kansas City Royals, 11-0. As he left the game and reached the dugout, he punched an overhead fan and sliced open his hand.
Served him right.
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TweetGet the eulogy ready for the Cardinals
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while planning my next rebuttal to a St. Louis writer. We are publicly debating who should win the MVP - he supports Albert Pujols and I, of course, support Joey Votto. Check out our debate at foxsportsohio.com. I’m prejudiced, but I think I’m winning.
If it takes 30 nails to seal a coffin, then the Cincinnati Reds have driven home 28 on the coffin of the St. Louis Cardinals.
With Saturday’s 6-1 victory over the Cardinals, the Reds’ lead in the NL Central is back to eight games and the embalmer is standing by.
What faces the Cardinals? A very ugly face. The Reds now own 79 victories with 28 games left. If they only go 14-14 the rest of the way (and why should they stoop that low?), the Cardinals have to go 23-6 in their final games.
Adam Wainwright? How about Travis Wood? Wood pitched seven innings and gave up no earned runs (his pickoff throwing error led to an unearned run) and five hits and to add injury to his insults against the Cardinals hitters, he hit a home run and dropped two perfect sacrifice bunts.
Wainwright was gone after five innings, removed for a pinch-hitter Randy Winn.
At one point after the first inning, Wood retired 11 of 12 and the Cardinals had only two hits off him through five innings.
FOR ONCE the Reds caught a break against the Cardinals got caught with their defense down.
Second baseman Aaron Miles muffed a perfect ground ball that would have ended the first inning with a double play. Instead it went through his legs and the Reds took advantage and scored three runs off 17-game winner Wainwright, who has now lost four in a row.
The Reds used that start to fend off the Cards the rest of the way as Travis Wood took care of business.
ONCE AGAIN Manager Dusty Baker used his magic touch. Shortstop Orlando Cabrera came off the DL and wanted to play Friday, but held him back until Saturday.
After missing 27 games, Cabrera ripped the first pitch he saw in the first for a one-out single to left. Joey Votto then hit the ground ball that Miles muffed and Cabrera raced to third and Votto to second.
Scott Rolen walked to fill ‘em up, Ramon Hernandez grounded to short for one run and Jonny Gomes rammed a two-run double to left for a 3-0 lead.
Wood gave up a run in the bottom of the first, but Brandon Phillips (Public Enemy No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3) singled home a run in the second and Wood hit his first career home run in the fourth to make it 5-1.
ABOUT THAT time the full house in Busch Stadium couldn’t get up enough energy to give Phillips a proper booing.
HOW IS Aroldis Chapman handling his $30 million? Well, one investment was a canary yellow Lamborghini. And he has vanity license plates: 105 MPH.
Chapman pitched the eighth and while he walked a batter, he still faced only three hitters, ending the inning by getting Albert Pujols to hit into an inning-ending double play.
He threw 10 pitches at 100 or more miles per hour, topping at 103 against Aaron Miles, who saw five pitches at 100 or more. He walked Jon Jay on four pitches, all 100 or more.
Wonder how fast he drives that Lamborghini? Hopefully not 105.
SPEAKING OF Pujols and the battle for MVP with Joey Votto, Pujols was given a gift hit his third time up, a ball that glanced off Phillips’ glove, breaking a 0 for 18 skid, longest of his career. Votto had a double, a single, a run scored and drove in his league-leading 98th RBI.
I’VE COVERED games in three stadiums in St. Louis - all three named Busch - but my most vivid memory of Busch II is how I almost missed a game.
One Saturday night - in my youth - I spent too much time being convivial in a local watering hole. There was a game Sunday afternoon.
I was staying in a hotel right across the street from the ball park. Before I went to sleep on the 20th floor, I popped open a window.
I was awakened Sunday, uh, afternoon by this sound: “Now batting for the Cardinals, No. 23, Ted Simmons.” I vaulted out of bed, threw on some clothes, dashed on some cologne (actually a lot of cologne), sprayed a mouthwash liberally into my mouth and sprinted across the street.
It was the top of the third when I slinked into my pressbox seat and ignored the snickers all around me.
That was in the mid-1970s and I never missed the start of another game.
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TweetRound One goes to the Cardinals
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while turning down the TV volume when Brandon Phillips comes to bat to preserve my well-worn ear drums from the music Cardinals fans aimed at the man they consider the anti-christ:
And the fans received their ardent wish when Phillips went 0 for 4, striking out his first time up. When he fouled a pitch behind first base a fan threw the ball back onto the field.
Good, clean fun. There was no carryover animosity from the fight in Cincinnati, even when Bronson Arroyo hit Matt Holliday on the hand with a pitch - clearly an accident.
AND THE FANS got the second thing they wanted, a victory over the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2, slicing a game off the Reds’ lead in the NL Central to seven games.
It was Cincinnati’s 11th loss in 16 games to the Cardinals this year and they deserved this defeat.
Why? Fundamentals. Poor execution.
ONE: The Reds trailed 3-1 with one out in the fourth when Scott Rolen walked. Jonny Gomes shot one up the left-center gap and Rolen scored from first. But Gomes foolishly tried to take third on the throw from the outfield. The throw was cut off and Gomes was fried venison at third.
Ryan Hanigan then singled. It is easy to say that would have scored Gomes from second and tied the game, but that’s a bad assumption. If Gomes had been on second, pitcher Jaime Garcia would have pitched from the stretch. With two outs and nobody on he pitched from a wind-up.
That would have changed the way he pitched, so you can’t assume Hanigan would have singled. But it WAS a bad play on Gomes’ part, eliminating himself as the potential tying run.
TWO: Paul Janish homered for the Reds’ first run, but when he came to bat in the seventh, the Reds still down, 3-2, Hanigan was on first with a walk. Janish was assigned to bunt but failed miserably and eventually struck out.
Pinch-hitter Miguel Cairo grounded out and Hanigan took third, but Drew Stubbs took a called third strike - a dubious call by the umpire - but close enough that a pitch like that should not be taken with two strikes.
THREE: In the eighth the Reds drew back-to-back one-out walks, one to Joey Votto and one to Scott Rolen, who fouled off three 3-and-2 pitches. But Gomes flied to right and Hanigan hit into a fielder’s choice.
BRONSO ARROYO furnished his 18th quality start, but he started the game poorly and it cost him. He gave up a lead-off single to Skip Schumaker to open the first and he scored on Jon Jay’s triple and Jay scored on a sacrifice fly by Albert Pujols.
The Cardinals made it 3-0 in the second on a pair of one-out hits and a ground ball.
The Reds retrieved two of those runs, but couldn’t overcome the fact they shot themselves in both feet trying to wiggle their way back into the game.
Chris Heisey, pinch-hitter Juan Francisco and Ramon Hernandez all went down feebly against closer and former Red Ryan Franklin - two foul pop-ups and a called third strike - and the Cardinals’ five-game losing streak was over and the Reds’ four-game winning streak was over.
Welcome to St. Louis.
LUNCH ISN’T the same on days when the Reds are in St. Louis and I’m not with them so I can visit Charlie Gitto’s, my second favorite Italian restaurant behind Momma DiSalvo’s in suburan Dayton (Kettering).
Late last year, realizing it would be my last trip to St. Louis, I had lunch at Gitto’s three straight days and had the same dish - sausage linguine.
WHILE YOU may despise the Cardinals, you have to love their classic uniforms. Those two birds perched on a bat is classic, but the way they played on their last road trip (2-8 in Pittsburgh, Washington and Houston) they should change those birds on their uniforms to buzzards.
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TweetChapman’s buzz-bombs has ‘em buzzing
CINCINNATI REDS manager Dusty Baker said he spent the better part of the day answering his cell phone, “Calls from all over the country, all over the place.”
And can you guess the subject matter? Of course. Aroldis Chapman.
“And they all said about the same thing - dynamite, electric, gasoline. And from my Latino friends, ‘Mucho gasolina.”
Baker said the timing of Chapman’s debut Tuesday night was perfect: “We were up 8-4, eighth inning, bottom of the Milwaukee order and his spot in the batting order was due up after he pitched so I could pinch-hit and get him out of there.”
Because Chapman threw only eight pitches, seven for strikes and four over 100, including two at over 102 MPH, Baker said, “People wanted to see him pitch another inning, but we might need him tonight. And we wanted to get him out on a positive note. That couldn’t have been more positive.
“Our plan is to bring him along slowly,” Baker added. “See how he does. And if he continues on this path, we can use him in the postseason - that’s why we brought him up before September 1. Remember David Price for Tampa Bay a couple of years ago? He was a September call-up and ended up being their closer in the World Series.”
AlS PART OF Chapman-ia, check out this list from SABR of the fastest recorded pitches since 2008, with Chapman tied for the fastest with Detroit’s Joel Zumaya:
102.7 mph: Aroldis Chapman, CIN v. MIL, 8/31/2010, facing Craig Counsell.
102.7 mph: Joel Zumaya, DET v. CHN, 6/23/2010, facing Milton Bradley.
102.7 mph: Joel Zumaya, DET v. OAK, 6/30/2009, facing Matt Holliday.
102.6 mph: Joel Zumaya, DET v. CHN, 6/24/2009, facing Mike Fontenot.
102.6 mph: Joel Zumaya, DET v. OAK, 6/30/2009, facing Matt Holliday.
102.6 mph: Jonathan Broxton, LAD v. SD, 7/3/2009, facing Kevin Kouzmanoff.
102.5 mph: Bobby Parnell, NYM v. HOU, 8/18/2010, facing Chris Johnson.
102.5 mph: Aroldis Chapman, CIN v. MIL, 8/31/2010, facing Jonathan Lucroy.
AND THIS from Louisville Slugger:
Aroldis Chapman’s 104 MPH fastball takes only 0.39 seconds to reach the plate assuming the 60.5 foot distance from mound to plate. Factoring in a stride of about five feet before the point of release, this further reduces the time to 0.36 seconds. For comparison sake, the average speed of a human’s eye blink. The average human’s eye blinks at a speed of 300 to 400 milli-seconds or 3/10ths or 4/10ths of a second. So if a batter blinks at the point of Chapman’s release the ball will pass him before he opens his eyes.
Also, in a full second Chapman’s 104 MPH fastball will travel 152 feet.
And to that, I might add, if a hitter connects squarely on that fastball it was travel off the bat, oh, about 552 feet.
ANYBODY ELSE notice the resurgence of Jay Bruce pretty much coincides with the arrival of Jim Edmonds? Anybody else notice how Bruce gravitates to Edmonds in the dugout. No surprise.
Edmonds has been schooling Bruce, along with Chris Heisey, Chris Valaika and even Jonny Gomes.
“We talk about a lot of things, offensive stuff, defensive stuff,” he said about his tutoring of Bruce. “Mostly it is mental stuff - trying to calm him with some things that I’ve learned over the years from Mark McGwire and Albert Pujols. I just try to keep him calm in the batter’s box.
“I try to emphasize having an approach when he bats,” Edmonds added. “I was a young player out there trying to do everything I could and you really don’t have a focus or a game plan. I was trying to slow things down.
“I just try to talk to him every day and remind him that he doesn’t have to be perfect,” said Edmonds. “He got thrown out on the bases the other day and came to the dugout ranting and raving and I said, ‘You know what? It’s over and you can’t do anything about it. You have to finish the game and you have another big at-bat coming up. The things that I believe really helped me I just pass along. Jay is now calm and under control at the plate and that’s a huge deal.
“I’ve talked to Valaika and Gomes about that stuff, too - give them an idea of what to think about when they go to the plate, not to think, ‘Oh, God, this guy has a great sinker and slider, what do I do?’ It is slow yourself down and look for a pitch to hit. It’s a simple game if you can do that.”
BRUCE WAS OUT of Wednesday’s lineup, his second straight absence after his side hurt during batting practice Tuesday and he was taken out of the lineup.
“Bruce is better today,” said Baker. “We just don’t want to wear him out completely by not having any days off. We’re at the drawing board now trying to figure it all out.”
The Reds are down to three outfielders and when asked who his fourth outfielder is, Baker said, “Don’t know. Probably Miguel Cairo. He’s played some outfield. But he’s playing second base tonight so I’d have to do some finagling, like we’ve been doing.”
A few more players are expected to be called up from the minors for the start of the three-game series in St. Louis Friday, “And we’ll try to add on an outfielder because we can’t sustain this. We have 20 games in a row coming up. It’s amazing. We went from too many outfielders to now when we don’t have enough. Remember when everybody was asking what are we going to do with all those outfielders?”
NOT ONLY was Edinson Volquez scheduled to pitch for the Class A Dayton Dragons Wednesday night, but shortstop Orlando Cabrera was there to play Wednesday and Thursday.
“Cabrera will play a couple of games there and probably join us on Friday (in St. Louis) and we’ll re-evaluate him then, see how he is,” said Baker.
AND THEN THERE is Brandon Phillips, still out with a swollen hand after he was hit by a pitch in San Francisco.
When is he coming back? “He is lobbying for Friday (in St. Louis), but we’ll see how he is swinging the bat and how much pain he is in and how much bat speed he can generate. The swelling is going down - I can see some veins now where before it was just all puffy.”
AN AMERICAN LEAGUE scout on the plight of the St. Louis Cardinals: “Looks like the can plan their team golf outing for right when the regular season ends.”
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