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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 > May > 27 > Entry
Sam no sham on entertainment front
IF SAM LeCURE pitches as good as he entertains the media, the Cincinnati Reds are in for a delightful performance Friday night against the Houston Astros.
LeCure, 25, makes his major-league debut against the Astros, a stand-in for Homer Bailey - one University of Texas pitcher substituting for another.
When Louisville manager Rick Sweet called LeCure Wednesday night, he said, ‘Sam, you know we’re in last place. You’ll have a new manager tomorrow.’
Said LeCure, “Why, did you get fired?”
Well, no, Sam. You’re going to the bigs.
LeCure mentioned that he grew up in rural Missouri and when asked if he grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan he said, “Not really. We didn’t have cable out where I lived. We only had three stations and I never saw ESPN until I was in college. Instead of watching TV, I just went out in the yard and played baseball.”
LeCURE WAS a steal for the Reds in the 2005 draft, a fourth-rounder. He didn’t play baseball his junior year at the University of Texas because he was ineligible. But the Reds drafted him anyway.
“I guess I made an impression on somebody with the Reds my sophomore year,” he said. “The benefit of missing a year in college was a year’s less wear and tear on my arm .” He paused for a big smile and said, “That’s the positive outlook I tried to give myself.”
LeCure wears No. 63, “Three times the number my favorite player wore, Nolan Ryan (21).” When somebody wondered why he was ineligible one year at Texas when he could firuge out that 63 was three times 21, he said, “Take a look at my transcript.”
LeCure was 2-0 last week with a 0.00 ERA, including a complete-game one-hitter that earned him Class AAA International League Pitcher of the Week. He was 5-2 with a 2.55 ERA in nine starts.
“This year I’ve started to mix in all my breaking stuff early in the game,” he said. “There were times in the past I tried to hold something in my back pocket in case later in the game I got into a situation that I could show ‘em something they hadn’t seen. This year I show ‘em everything early so they have to respect four pitches, assuming I’m throwing ‘em all for strikes that day.”
He throws a fastball, curveball, two-seam fastball for a sinker, change-up and slider.
As soon as he called his mom to tell her he was called up, his family gobbled up 23 tickets and there will be about 30 family members in Great American Ball Park.
“I’m surprised about that because my next start is in St. Louis, where all my relatives are, so that’s going to be a zoo,” he said. “And if you guys meet any of my family you’ll agree with me that it will be a zoo, a lot of trouble.”
“LeCure has been pitching the best down there, was Pitch of the Week,” said Baker. “Houston generally has more right-handers - they do better against left-handers (both Matt Maloney and Travis Wood are left-handed). Maloney and Wood have pitched well, but we like to go with who is pitching and throwing the best.
“You try to have a guy who has earned it come up, even though you can’t always do it,” Baker added. “That’s what you try to do. I liked LeCure a lot in spring training. He throws strikes. That’s what you want. You throw strikes, you have a chance.”
JOEY VOTTO WAS out of Thursday’s lineup for the second straight night when a stiff neck. He said it was up to manager Dusty Baker if he could pinch-hit, but Baker said no and Votto could barely move his head back-and-forth.
“I’ve learned from experience that Dusty has a good feel for his players about not playing them until they are totally ready, not giving them a chance to re-injure something,” said Votto. “I’m very glad Dusty is here. He takes care of the players.
“Like Homer Bailey,” Votto continued. “Putting him on the DL was the right thing. That arm has to be protected. How many arms do you see like that? Not many, so you want to take care of it.”
Votto woke up with the stiff neck Wednesday morning and said, “I really can’t pinpoint anything I did to make it stiff. But it is definitely better than it was. Believe me, I’d be playing if I could.”
Baker said he knows how to handle injured players, “Because I went through it several times when I played. This is the time of year when a lot of little things start happening, almost every year about now. That’s why always try to program things to get guys to the summer months. You get to the summer months and the heat takes care of a lot of stuff.”
DURING BARK in the Park night Wednesday, as the 650 dogs paraded past the Reds’ dugout, Jonny Gomes was leaning onto the track and feeding the dogs as the paraded past.
“I was giving them beef jerky,” he said. “Thought I might start a dog riot.”
Gomes’ wife, Kristi, is a big dog person and volunteers for the SPCA in Cincinnati. Said Gomes, “We’ll be driving our car and she’ll see a pit bull drooling at the mouth alongside of the road and say, ‘We have to stop and pick him up.’ She’ll pick up any dog at the drop of a hat.’”
MANAGER DUSTY Baker is familiar with Yellow Springs. He has not visited, but on Thursday he laughingly called it, “That hippiej place up the road. I get my sage sent to me from there.”
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By dude
May 28, 2010 5:11 PM | Link to this
Last I hear about Volquez, he was just long tossing.Bailey didn’t go to college. Signed with the Reds out of High School. I hope LeCure pitches so good tonight that he makes management sweat about what to do with him when Bailey come back.
By Worn Cleat
May 28, 2010 4:14 PM | Link to this
We won’t hold being from Texas against anyone, unless they return for some ignorant reason.Hell, there are enough of them voting in Ohio.
By Jake
May 28, 2010 1:34 PM | Link to this
Uh-oh, Joey endorsed Dusty! Dusty’s opponents sure won’t like that! I wasn’t a Dusty fan when he first started, but mainly it was due to his reputation he had from Chicago (which I now know is unfair!) But, if the players like him and play well under him, it doesn’t matter what us fans want or think. Good story from Gomes. I hope he sticks around Cincy for awhile! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Mr. leCure could break out as a good pitcher too?!
By wallyp
May 28, 2010 7:32 AM | Link to this
Homer Bailey is from Texas, but I thought the Reds got him out of high school, not college. Isn’t the UT grad on the team Drew Stubbs (were Stubbs and LeCure teammates)?
By Bill
May 27, 2010 8:32 PM | Link to this
What the latest on the return of Edinson Volquez? Louisville?