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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 > 2009 > August > 28 > Entry
Did the real Homer Bailey finally stand up?
It was the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers and it was Fireworks Night, but only 19,258 popped into Great American Ball Park Friday.
Too bad those other 21,000 seats weren’t occupied because 40,000 could have laid witness to perhaps the birth of a big-league pitcher.
Homer Bailey looks as if he finally gets it. He shut out the Dodgers on seven singles over eight innings and had to get out of more trouble than Leave it to Beaver.
Bailey didn’t leave it to anybody. When trouble surfaced, he bowed his back and mowed ‘em down. This is the pitcher the Reds thought they had when they drafted him No. 1 in 2004 - when he was 18. He is 23 now and maturity is busting out all over.
When trouble surfaced, Bailey was unhittable.
—He struck out Manny Ramirez in the first with two outs and a runner on second.
—The first two Dodgers reached base in the sixth and Bailey retired Andre Ethier, Ramirez and Casey Blake without permitting those runners to advance.
—Bailey had two on with one out in the eighth and Ramirez at the plate, 108 pitches already expended. Baker came to the mound, but Bailey talked his way into staying and he retired Ramirez on a line drive and coaxed a pop up from Blake on his 115th and final pitch.
“I told Dusty I started it and I want to finish it,” said Bailey.
Baker said he didn’t care what Bailey said, he was out there to look in his eyes, “And I wasn’t sure what I was going to do until I looked into his eyes. I wanted to see the look on his face and the look in his eyes and I saw what I wanted to see.
“If I didn’t see what I liked, I would have gone to the bullpen,” said Baker. “He looked me in the eye and said, ‘Hey, man, I’ve been throwing the ball good against Manny all night and I’d like to get him.’ Hey, he was still throwing 97 miles an hour.”
Bailey was gratified and said, “I can’t say enough about him letting me stay in. It’s a growing process young pitchers have to go through.”
Corky Miller caught Bailey for the first time ever and guided him through troubled waters.
“He’s pretty basic, four pitches,” said Miller. “But we didn’t really use the curveball much. He throws hard and his ball is not real straight. He keeps them off-balance thinking about off-speed and putting the ball inside.
“He never tried to overthrow and took the time to calm himself down when he need to do that,” Miller added. “He them made the quality pitches when he had to.”
ADDENDA: Anybody else ready to trade Coco Cordero for two used rosin bags and a box of sticks to clean the mud off cleats? Clearly, Cordero and his abundance of meaningless saves show that a closer on a losing team is an expensive gadget that isn’t needed.
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By Harry the Horse
August 29, 2009 1:47 PM | Link to this
typical Hal berating the fans for not selling out GABP… I guess Hal hasn’t checked out the Reds record lately… To busy packing his bags… Sincerely Ritter Collett
By Monroe
August 29, 2009 12:57 PM | Link to this
Cordero could be replaced with Josh Roenicke. He’s under control for 5 more years and brings the heat at 97/98 .. oh right, Jocketty gave him away along with Zach Stewart, the other top pitching prospect in the organization, so he can pay Rolen another 11 million the team allegedly can’t afford … the fact is relievers grow on trees. Any team worth its salt can develop its own.
By max
August 29, 2009 12:25 PM | Link to this
What makes this team different than a month ago is the defense. We have a pretty good unit out there. I no longer have to hold my breath when the ball is hit to the left side of the infield or center field. You cannot have a topflight team without a great defense. I would look to find a left fielder that is fast and a legitimate lead off hitter and then see how this team performs in 2010.
By RC
August 29, 2009 11:53 AM | Link to this
I’m squarely on the “luxury we can’t afford” side of the argument, but here’s what ticks me off: After three straight fairly tough nights for Coco, I foolishly assumed he’d be off duty last night. Silly me. I know he hasn’t pitched a ton of innings, but he’s still not used to the workload he’s had thrust upon him this week. And last night in a non-save situation (which probably came as a surprise to Dusty). For me, the use of Coco for the rest of the season ought to be geared to make him look as good as possible, in order to make him more tradeable in the offseason.
By Worn Cleat
August 29, 2009 9:54 AM | Link to this
Next year, when Bailey/Volquez/Cueto, et al perform brilliantly for seven or eight innings,and the team{minus injuries}performs to its capability, who will preserve the lead for them? Could it be that this season of poor play in CF,at SS,3rd base will be rectified by better play from Dickerson/Stubbs/ Janish and our new acquisition at 3rd? If so, and we go back to just a couple of years ago, when our bullpen was terrible…what will we wish for then…a great closer? Like getting rid of Dunn, because he wouldn’t play first base; then wishing we had his offense? All teams need a closer, to be successful: Yankees/Boston…!
By ShockMonkey
August 29, 2009 9:47 AM | Link to this
Cordero, while tough on the old ticker, has been pretty good this year. Funny thing with closers: when your losing, nobody seems to notice but when you’re winning and really need ‘um, then they’re hard to find. Yes, CoCo makes a ton of bank but Reds have deeper issues than their closer.
By Mike-Cinci
August 29, 2009 9:15 AM | Link to this
Homer Bailey was very impressive. If he keeps it up he will be on his way to a $10 million per year contract. Good for him. Cordero is like all closers. Sometimes they look awful. It happens on all teams even the good ones. Actually Cordero has pitched OK this year. He is just a luxury the Reds don’t need but he is the least of the Reds problems. Signing Cordero was a poor use of $ but they also have 2 starters (Harang, Arroyo)making $12 million and a third baseman(Rolen) making $11 million. All these guys are in their 30’s too. Remember at the time of the Cordero signing it was thought he was the piece needed to make the Reds a contender. Talk about over estimating your talent. The Reds sure did. Despite 5 straight wins, which are fun to see, the weak roster is still the problem. Even bad teams win between 60-70 games in a season. The Reds will do that in 2009. Teams are never as good as they look in their best winning streaks or as bad as they look in their worst losing streaks. They are what they are after 162 games. The won/loss record is the report card.
By Jack
August 29, 2009 9:07 AM | Link to this
Cordero is a luxory that this team can not afford. How many teams pluck their closer out of nowhere and he becomes a stud? Hal usually agree with just about everything you say, but judging Stubbs after 5 games does not make sense.
By dale
August 29, 2009 7:09 AM | Link to this
I agree with JD who is going to close for the reds next year . I havenot seen any body who can do the job day in day out .It would be a shame to lead in the game and blow it in the ninth .
By HavaKlu
August 29, 2009 6:47 AM | Link to this
Although I have always appreciated Hal, I’ve also found him quick to jump to conclusions which I feel he has done with Stubbs. Let’s give the kid more than 10 games before we say he’s overmatched!
By drunkenhopfrog
August 29, 2009 6:03 AM | Link to this
What I meant to say wrt closer, marginal team, hell - even some contending team - just pick their best rp arm and say - hey, there’s a closer! There is something about having a dominate guy out there on the back end of the game, but man contending teams that can like, hit for average, baserun, and take a pitch win games with their best option.———————————Having coCo is akin to having those little arm floaty things whilst stranded in the middle of the ocean - not the best survival device anyway and useless in the present circumstances.
By drunkenhopfrog
August 29, 2009 5:58 AM | Link to this
I can’t believe that anyone still buys into this “closer mentality” thing. That’s akin to Dusty “looking into a players eyes.” Put a hurler out there with a low whip and babip and high k/bb ratio - let the number’s do their work.—————————— wrt looking deep into a players eyes… we’ve heard that before from Baker. If it goes wrong he says, “I looked in his eyes and saw what I wanted to see, but he lost that juju juice when he went to the glove. I threw bones in the dug out and they told me that I made a mistake, but it was too late by then, so I had to grab my Hank Aaron voodoo doll and rub it on that pitchers batting helmet in hopes some of the greatness would transfer and he’d be able to get out of the inning. Unfortunately they brought 13 more batters to the plate and we all know that is an unlucky number.”—————————— Looked into his eyes indeed. Might as well look into his az.
By BrarHopper
August 29, 2009 2:25 AM | Link to this
I was against the Cordero acquisition from the get go. The Reds NEVER needed a $45 million contact for this useless tub of goo. Having a high priced closer on THIS team is truly the definition of lipstick on a pig. Besides, I get a little vomit in my mouth every time I hear George Grande say CoCo.
By Steve
August 29, 2009 2:02 AM | Link to this
Hal, I hope you are being sarcastic on your comment about Cordero. Tonight was tough on the blood pressure but worth the ride. We need him, might be expensive but they seem to find the money for them. Until we can do better we need him in the pen.
By JD
August 29, 2009 12:43 AM | Link to this
Sure, trade Coco. However, the only concern that I’d have with this is, who would you replace him with? There’s a certain mentality a closer has to have to get out of trouble. That’s what Coco showed tonight in buckling down to K Manny. Who can we find that would be cool under pressure?