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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 > June > 09 > Entry
Leake? All-Star? Rookie of the Year?
JUDGING FROM the way Mike Leake acts on the mound - as if he were born and raised on a hill with a rubber slab on it - he has his head screwed on with all the grooves in the right places.
So he knows talk of him making the All-Star team and talk of him winning Rookie of the Year are two steps on this side of absurd.
But, since I asked…
“No, I haven’t thought about the All-Star team - not yet,” he said with a smile. “It would be awesome, but, nah, it is in the back of my mind right now.”
Leake is 5-0 but with a little bit of luck and a little more help from his friends, he could be 9-0.
“It would be nice, but I have to just keep trying to do what I’ve been doing and then it will all work out,” he said.
And Rookie of the Year?
“That’s another one,” he said with a broad smile. “That’s almost out of mind, because that’s so far away and I’d have to have so many consistent starts. It’s tough.”
Leake, a Southern California native, walks around the pre-game clubhouse every day with a woold ski cap pulled over his ears, even though it is 75 to 80 degrees outside.
“Just wear it to keep my hair out of my eyes when I work out,” he said. “I’m not cold.”
THE SUBJECT of his team’s problems in the bullpen brought a quick reply from manager Dusty Baker - and it had nothing to do with making shifts or personnel changes.
“One thing I’ve thought about is how about us scoring a whole bunch of runs?” he asked. “How about that? How about us scoring a whole bunch of runs until we get everybody together. Score and keep scoring.”
Baker was asked if he might consider shifting Micah Owings to a later role out of the bullpen and he quickly said, “He’s my long man. Who would be my extra-inning long man if I moved him? And he has been throwing the ball well, but sometimes he has command problems, too.
“Do you move everybody around or do you try to fix the guys who are supposed to be in those situations?” he added. “If we you move everybody around you have total chaos.”
As for fixing it with personnel adjustments, Baker said, “We have to pick them up because it is what it is. We can’t just go call up somebody because everybody who is ready is here already, except for Jared Burton, who doesn’t have enough innings.”
HOMER BAILEY was back in the clubhouse Wednesday after his tune-up start Tuesday for the Class AAA Louisville Bats. He gave up five runs, six hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings (90 pitches) against Syracuse.
“I heard his outing was better than the score indicated,” said Baker. “I heard there were a couple of plays behind him that kind of opened the doors on him. His velocity was good and his breaking ball and command was fair, which is to be expected, because you lose the feel for those when you miss time.”
Baker said a decision hasn’t been made for Sunday, whether Bailey takes that spot or Sam LeCure makes his fourth start in Bailey’s place.
“Homer will throw a bullpen Friday and we’ll go from there,” said Baker. “We haven’t made a decision yet.”
CATCHER RYAN HANIGAN is walking around the clubhouse as if searching for his best friend. He isn’t eligible to come off the DL unti Sunday, but it isn’t likely his fractured right thumb will permit that.
“This not playing is brutal, freaking brutal,” he said. “It is healing, but not fast enough. I’m running, throwing, lifting and stretching to keep in shape. In the last couple of days I’ve swung a bat one-handed, doing it with both hands. I’ll get an X-ray in the next couple of days to see how it’s healing.”
LOVE WHAT Reds Director of Scouting Chris Buckley said about the unstable art of making draft picks.
“Albert Pujols was drafted in the 13th round in 1999 and now we’d all love to have him,” said Buckley. “We all saw him and all of us had 12 shots at drafting him before the Cardinals got him.”
SCOTT ROLEN gave an indication in the clubhouse of what kind of guy he is the other day. A writer was taking an anonymous poll, asking players about umpiring. Rolen said politely, “I’ll pass.”
Later, as he watched the writer poll other players, he approached the guy and said, “Are you paid by the number of players who cooperate?” The writer told him, “No,” so Rolen walked away. But if it meant the writer might have made a couple of more bucks, Rolen would have participated.
WHILE IT hasn’t been a good couple of days for the Reds, it was a red-letter day in the press box Tuesday. Rita Butcher, mother of Media Relations Director Rob Butcher, showed up with her strawberry pies.
I haven’t had dessert since April 1 and so far I’ve lost 27 pounds, but I would eat an entire pie made by Rita and try to sneak two more pieces.
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By jim t
June 11, 2010 9:17 AM | Link to this
Great game yesterday. Loved the Double switch by Dusty bringing in Heisey for Stubbs. I like this Team. Very fun to watch.9 games over and 1 1/2 in front of the cards. Dusty and the players are taking care of business on the field. Lets see if Walt and Bob C can match the Cards front office. The Cards will make a move to better themselves at the deadline. Can the reds front office match or surpass them? Its looking like a fun summer for reds fans. Long overdue I might add. A.P. Florida-I suspect most on here who post have been ignoring your rants for months and your still here. Dusty will get a extension if this team continues to play good baseball. It must suck to be you.
By cygnus x-1
June 10, 2010 5:12 PM | Link to this
unless the any of the reds finish in the top 2 in voting does anybody expect st. larussa to choose more than the 1 red required to be on the team?
By Believe it
June 10, 2010 11:11 AM | Link to this
Close plays always require a slide, as do close games. Cabrera was doing his BP imitation.
By Zeke
June 10, 2010 10:06 AM | Link to this
All those great arms in L’ville and we cant find one to pitch two innings every other night… I have this ominous feeling Leake will go 10-2 with a 2.8 ERA, Strasburg will go 12-5, with a 3.2 ERA, and K 100 more guys, and get ROY.
By grumpy
June 10, 2010 9:19 AM | Link to this
Some how, some way, Scott Rolen has to make the All Star team. Wow, this guy just keeps on keeping on. Is there a catgory for 3rd basemen that he isn’t leading?
By dude
June 10, 2010 9:15 AM | Link to this
Had an open plate, no need to slide. If he had slid he would have been tagged on the chest and still been called out. If the wheels don’t fall off Leake before the All Star game, he should be picked. He won’t win Rookie of the year. That will be Strasburg or Heyward. I am sick of hearing about Strasburg,
By AP-FLORIDA
June 10, 2010 4:58 AM | Link to this
Love Rusty’s ignore the problem, it will go away theory. Let’s ignore Rusty and maybe he will go away????
By Matt
June 10, 2010 12:19 AM | Link to this
Who cares??!! We won! BIG game tomorrow. Gotta take two out of four. On paper at least it looks like a good matchup for the Reds. Wellemeyer vs. Leake. And the Cardinals are in the process of being swept in Los Angeles! So the Reds will be in first place all by themselves, IF the Dodgers hang on.
By Believe It
June 10, 2010 12:11 AM | Link to this
Safe or not: HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SLIDING!!!!
By Kyle
June 9, 2010 9:05 PM | Link to this
He was safe.
By Matt
June 9, 2010 9:00 PM | Link to this
They’re gonna WAAAAAVE the runner around. Haha, I love how Thom says that! I didn’t think Cabrera was out though! Good game so far.
By Jim
June 9, 2010 6:21 PM | Link to this
Let’s wait on giving the Rookie of the Year award to Leake at least until August. I think he is going to have a dead arm by then. I hope not, but college isn’t the same a the majors. You have to have the arm strength to last a season of 30 starts and 200 innings; that takes built up durability. I hope he would win the Rookie of the Year; I want every Reds rookie to win it every year along with the Reds winning the World Series but I say wait and see.
By Mike-Cinci
June 9, 2010 6:06 PM | Link to this
Leake deserves rookie of the year based on how he has pitched so far but I bet the media hype machines will have Heyward and Strasburg ahead of him by season end. Already Strasburg has been declared a combination of Cy Young, Walter Johnson, and Nolan Ryan. Maybe he is!