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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 > 2011 > June > 26
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Reds again guilty of littering
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, missing the Maryland crabcakes in Baltimore’s inner harbor and missing an invitation from the curator of the Babe Ruth Museum for a personal tour and an offer to swing one of the bat’s Ruth used in 1927 when he hit 60 home runs.
It looked as if the Baltimore Orioles were swinging Babe Ruth bats this weekend when they hit nine home runs off Reds’ pitching to win two of three in Camden Yards.
And it seems as if once a week the Reds score in double figures, but spend the rest of the week scouring the Yellow Pages for runs. Hint: They’re listed under ‘R.’
ON SATURDAY, the Reds ripped five homers (perhaps they borrowed Ruth’s bat?) and won, 10-5. Then on Sunday, facing a pitcher who came into the game with a 2-9 record, the Reds spent the afternoon leaving the basepaths littered with footprints, but not scoring enough.
Two of their runs came when Baltimore pitchers walked four straight batters.
They lost, 7-5, and put runners on base in every inning, but they stranded 14. For the series, the Reds left 31 runners standing on bases, begging to be driven home.
BALTIMORE STARTER Jeremy Guthrie, he of the 2-9 record, has many losses because the Orioles don’t score runs for him, scoring the ninth least runs for an American League starting pitcher.
The O’s solved that problem for Guthrie by reaching Homer Bailey for five runs and building a 5-0 lead by the fourth inning.
It was Bailey’s first start after coming off the disabled list and he was not sharp, more like a dull razor.
But the defense didn’t help when he gave up four runs in the fourth inning. The rally started when the first batter, Adam Jones, lifted a pop-up to the infield.
First baseman Joey Votto, not wearing sun glasses, lost the ball. Bailey, realizing at the last instant that Votto couldn’t see it, made a late dive but missed and it plopped in the grass for a dubious single.
After that, Votto wore sun glasses — and why do major leaguer players constantly do that? They don’t wear sun glasses on a sunny day until after the fact, until after they mess up.
OF COURSE the next batter, Pedro Guerrero, singled. The third batter, Derrek Lee homered to almost the same spot he homered Friday night, a 12th-inning game-ending walk-off home run.
From there, the Reds chipped away. They scored one in the fifth when Brandon Phillips homered. They scored three in the sixth on Chris Heisey’s single for one run and two more on bases-loaded walks to make it 5-4.
But they left the bases loaded when Drew Stubbs grounded into a force. Baltimore relief pitcher Jim Johnson had thrown 11 pitches, 10 for balls, when Stubbs swung (why, why, why???) at a 1-0 pitch to hit into the inning-ending force play.
BUT THE ORIOLES retrieved a run in their sixth off Jose Arredondo on a two-out single by Nick Makakis, who has a 16-game hitting streak. And the Orioles made it 7-4 in the seventh off Aroldis Chapman.
Chapman returned to the team from the DL for this trip and made his first appearance Ssturday night in a non-pressure situation. With the Reds up by five, he pitched the ninth and struck out the side.
On Sunday he struck out the first two — five strikeouts in a row — but with two outs, Luke Scott hit the first home run hit off Aroldis Chapman in the majors.
Ramon Hernandez homered to lead off the ninth against O’s closer Kevin Gregg before Miguel Cairo, pinch-hitter Scott Rolen and Heisey all went down harmlessly.
Rolen had his regular day off after a night game and Jay Bruce was out of the lineup with the flu.
IF RE-ALIGNMENT happens, Reds fans best pray their favorite team isn’t relocated into the American League.
The Reds have played four interleague series and lost all four — 0-3 in Cleveland, 1-2 at home with Toronto, 1-2 at home with New York and 1-2 in Baltimore. They have three more the next three days at Tampa Bay, then three at home against Cleveland.
AND IT IS time, right now, for the Reds to get their act in high gear. The Milwaukee Brewers are starting to step it up. They lead the second place Cardinals by three games, while the third/fourth place Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates are four games behind. Manager Dusty Baker talks about keeping teams in sight, not letting them disappear over the hill, but the Brewers are showing their tail lights.
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