The Real McCoy

To pitch or not to pitch to Pujols.

By Hal McCoy | Saturday, July 4, 2009, 12:50 PM

One of the clubhouse attendants, Brian, was getting his kicks before today’s game by walking through the clubhouse and wishing a happy Fourth of July to all the non-Americans - Canadian Joey Votto, Dominican Johnny Cueto and Venezuelan Ramon Hernandez.

They all smiled and shook their heads.

Even more entertaining was former Reds media relations director Jon Braude, who now does work for Fox. He brought a bat into the clubhouse. Calling it a bat is like calling a Rembrandt a finger painting. It was a bat once used by Lou Gehrig to hit a home run. Braude’s parents were friends with the Gehrig family and they gave the Braudes the bat.

Asked if he ever had it checked for monetary worth, Braude said, “Yes. Priceless.”

Most of the Reds players held the bat, swung it, admired it, posed for pictures with it - except one, who shall remain nameless. When asked to pose, he said, “Why? It’s just a bat.” Yeah, like the sword Alexander the Great used was just a big knife.

Aaron Harang hefted and swung the bat and said later, “My mom once got an autograph from Ted Williams in a store in San Diego. He was just walking around in the store and my mom saw him. She ran to sporting goods and grabbed two baseballs and Williams signed them for her - even before she paid for them. She was afraid he’d leave while she was paying for them. After he signed, then she paid.”

SOME WORDS about Homer Bailey from Albert Pujols: “He threw an unbelievable game. He has electric stuff. He is going to be around a long time.”

Said Bailey, hearing that, “Coming from a guy with his stature, that sinks in deep. Somebody sent that quote to me via e-mail last night. Usually people just send stuff when something bad is said about me.”

SOME WORDS about Albert Pujols from Jerry Hairston Jr.: “I know Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were great righthanded hitters, but I can’t imagine a better righthanded hitter than Albert Pujols.”

I HAVE THIS question for all of you out there:

With the Reds leading, 3-0, and the bases loaded with one out in the eighth inning, would you intentionally walk Pujols? I saw it done once and I know it has been done at least twice - walk a home run hitter intentionally with the bases loaded.

With a 4-1 lead, I saw Sparky Anderson walk Willie McCovey when the Reds led, 4-1. That forced in a run to make it 4-2, but the Giants didn’t score again. Arizona manager Buck Showalter walked Barry Bonds intentionally with the bases loaded in the ninth jwith a 3-0. That worked, too. The D-Backs won, 3-1.

Would I have walked Pujos with a 3-0 lead and the bases loaded. Even before he hit the grand slam off David Weathers, I was saying to my companions, “Walk him. You better walk him.”

And what does Reds manager Dusty Baker think about it?

“Maybe with two outs. Maybe. But you have to think about the guy batting behind him. He’s an RBI man, too.” On Friday, that was Ryan Ludwick, owner of 41 RBIs to 82 for Pujols. “You ask yourself do you want to take a chance on one hit beating you or two hits beating you.”

Me? I walk him. But the next game I manage will be the first game I’ve managed - other than my slow pitch softball team about 25 years ago. How about you?

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Tonight’s game is sold out; Encarnacion is back

By Brian Kollars | Friday, July 3, 2009, 03:41 PM

According to Reds media relations, tonight’s Reds-Cardinals game at Great American Ball Park is sold out.

Homer Bailey starts on the mound for the 39-38 Reds, who are two games behind the second-place Cardinals.

Earlier today, the Reds placed IF Danny Richar on the 15-day disabled list and returned from a rehabilitation assignment and reinstated from the 60-day disabled list 3B Edwin Encarnacion.

Richar suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder sliding head first into home plate in the third inning of Wednesday’s 1-0 win vs Arizona.

Encarnacion had been on the disabled list since April 28 with a chip fracture in his left wrist. He made 11 rehab appearances at Class AAA Louisville, batting .270 with two home runs and eight RBIs.

Just guessing, but I don’t think the return of Encarnacion triggered the rush on the ticket box.

Tonight’s game is the fifth sellout this season and the 44th sellout overall at Great American Ball Park. The Reds are 20-23 when playing in front of sellout crowds at GABP (2-2 in 2009, 2-3 in 2008, 1-2 in 2007, 3-4 in 2006, 1-1 in 2005, 7-4 in 2004, 4-7 in 2003).

The 2009 sellouts at GABP:

Opening Day vs Mets … 42,177 (L, 2-1)

Sat, May 9 vs St. Louis … 40,651 (W, 8-3)

Sat, June 6 vs. Cubs … 40,914 (W, 4-3 in 11)

Sat, June 20 vs. White Sox … 42,234 (L, 10-8)

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Votto: Shouldn’t he be an All-star?

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, July 2, 2009, 05:49 PM

Isn’t it a doggone shame that Albert Pujols plays first base and plays in the National League and is Mark McGwire without the Andro?

I don’t say this just because the St. Louis Cardinals are coming to town for the next three days and Pujols whips on the Reds like a cleaning lady with a new rug beater. I say it because, well, darn it, Joey Votto is the only true All-Star on the Cincinnati Reds.

And he won’t make it. He won’t make it because of Pujols, the El Hombre with 30 homers. Missing those 21 games hurt Votto immensely, but what a run he is on. And what a leader he is for the Reds.

Other than Pujols, there is nobody in the NL who is more dangerous in a clutch situation than Votto. He proved it again Thursday and here’s the epic story:

Does anybody out thyere agree with me that Votto and his .366 average in 47 games (164 at-bats) with nine homers and 39 RBIs is an All-Star.

Why? Why not?

This was a game the Cincinnati Reds won in spite of themselves, a game they won when they tried to give it away, a game they won mostly because, well, the Arizona Diamondbacks are pretty awful.

They’ll take it, though, this 3-2 10-inning victory, a game a team shouldn’t win when it leaves 16 runners stranded.

They’ll take it, though, because it gives them a small step forward, winning two of three from the D-Backs, on the eve of the St. Louis Cardinals coming to town.

It ended when Joey Votto (who else?) sliced a two-out bases-loaded base hit under the shortstop’s glove, Votto’s fourth hit.

“To have lost the series against Arizona would not have been good because we wanted to take some momentum into this next series against the Cardinals,” said Votto. “To lose and not have scored a lot of runs would not have been a good thing for the weekend series.”

Is too much being made of the Cardinals series not even halfway through the season. Votto thinks not.

“Playing a team slightly ahead of us in our division and considering how up-and-down we’ve been so far the last month-and-half makes this series huge,” Votto added. “You can’t say enough about this series at this point of the season, coming up to the All-Star break. We want to let everybody in our division know that we’re for real.”

The Reds were frustrated for eight innings by lefthander Doug Davis. After they scored a run in the fourth, they left the bases loaded with no outs in that inning and they left the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth.

They tied it in the ninth, 2-2 — Votto was in the middle of it with a hit — on a fielder’s choice RBI by Drew Sutton in his first major-league at-bat.

Then Jay Bruce saved the day in the top of the 10th when Arizona had the bases loaded with one out. Justin Upton flied to medium right-center. Alex Romero tagged at third and Bruce threw a one-hop tight rope to the plate to obliterate Romero, Bruce’s 10th assist this season.

Asked if it was wise for Romero to run on Bruce, manager Dusty Baker said, “They had no choice. Sometimes you even have to try to run on Roberto Clemente.”

Bruce holds no pretense of being close to Clemente and said of the throw, “It was bang-bang, safe or out. It worked out.”

Then the Reds filled the bases in the 10th with no outs. Laync Nix struck out, Jerry Hairston Jr. flied to shallow right and it looked as if it would be another frustrating inning — until Votto jumped on the first pitch for the game-ender.

“Man, they’re going to kill the ol’ skipper, leaving runners on base like that,” said Baker. “That would have been a back-breaker not to score in the 10th, but we kept plugging and getting hits (14). Pressure busts the pipes and we kept the pressure on all day long.

“That was the best comeback, the most exciting, most thrilling and for one thing, the most up-and-down emotional game we played all year.”

It was another can-you-believe-it day for Aaron Harang, who pitched seven innings and gave up two runs and seven hits, but left with a 2-1 deficit.

If you believe Harang is Hard-Luck Harry, how about Arizona starter Doug Davis? He gave up one run and seven hits over seven innings and turned that 2-1 lead over to the bullpen, only to see the lead evaporate. In 15 of his 16 starts, Davis has given up three or less runs.

His record? 3-8. His bullpen is baseball’s worst.

This was a game full of stuff.

—With the scored tied, 1-1, Arizona’s Mark Reynolds drove one to right field in the sixth inning. Chris Dickerson, a former basketball player, leaped high against the wall and nearly snagged it. It nestled into the seats for Reynolds’ 22nd homer.

—With the Reds down, 2-1, in the ninth, Hairston singled. Votto then drove one deep to left, but not deep enough. Left fielder Alex Romero reached up to snag it near the wall. But the wall hit his glove and bounced out, ricocheting off his shoulder.

Hairston could only make third and Votto had a single, but Hairston scored the trying run on Sutton’s fielder’s choice up the middle.

—Closer Coco Cordero came on in the 10th and the Diamondbacks filled the bases with one out. Dusty Baker went to the mound and said, “You’ve been in this situation many times and got out of it. Get out of it now.”

That’s when Justin Upton flied to right and Bruce made the catch and ended the inning by throwing Romero out at home.

“One of the best feelings to do something like that, to help win a game, to help us come back,” said Bruce, who did not start the game but came on in a double switch in the eighth.

“Guess I put him into the game at the right time, but I wasn’t planning it that way,” said Baker.

Added Bruce, “Then for Votto to come up big, again, like he always does. Any time you have the other team on the ropes as much as we had them today and we can’t get guys in, it’s frustrating,” Bruce added. “All the frustration goes away when you win.”

Now it is St. Louis.

“We have momentum and we’ll play ‘em tough,” said Bruce.”

Baker says he needs recovery time, but there is no time.

“After a day like this I’m tired and spent,” said Baker. I told my guys the other day, ‘I’m worn out and exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally — every kind of way.’”

A game like this one does that to a guy.

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Who is the Reds’ All-Star? Cueto

By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 07:50 PM

RICK STOWE’S DILEMMA:

The Cincinnati Reds equipment manager has to send uniform sizes to MLB for the player or players that will be on the All-Star team. Stowe isn’t sure whose name or names to send and asked several members of the media, “Who is our All-Star or All-Stars?”

Great question. Every team has to have one. Joey Votto would be a candidate had he not missed so many games and if he weren’t a first baseman, a position loaded with talent throughout the National League.

I could think of only two names: Johnny Cueto and Coco Cordero.

Any ideas out there? Who should be the Reds All-Star(s)?

CUETO MADE his strongest statement thus far tonight when he ignored a stiff, tight back and held the Arizona Diamondbacks to one infield hit over six innings during a 1-0 victory.

Cueto is 8-4 with a 2.69 ERA. Does he want to go to St. Louis? Does he ever. His eyes widened and brightened when asked and he said, “I don’t know. Maybe. Yes. Yes, I want to go. I’m fighting hard for it.”

Said Manager Dusty Baker, “I haven’t thought about it. But Cueto’s ERA is indicative of being an All-Star. But there are a lot of good pitchers in our league.” And Cueto won’t have another chance at a win before they pick the team Sunday.

Cueto started Wednesday’s game by walking four in the first two innings. His back was tightening up. After the second, he went up to the clubhouse and conditioning coordinator Matt Krause stretched him out. Lights out from there - no more walks, eight strikeouts, just the one infield hit.

Johnny Cueto, All-Star.

LIFE’S LITTLE AGGRAVATIONS:

Took me an extra 45 minutes to get home Tuesday night due to construction on I-75. Expect it tonight, too. In 37 years of covering the Reds, there has been construction on I-75 somewhere between Dayton and Cincinnati every single day.

And you never know where. They like to sneak up and surprise you.

Took me an extra half hour to get to Wednesday’s game because a truck loaded with paint tipped over and spilled paint everywhere on I-75 near downtown Cincinnati. Had to go around on I-275 to I-71 and down to the ballpark that way. In 37 years, hardly a day goes by that there isn’t a traffic-snarling accident somewhere between Dayton and Cincinnati during my trips to the ballpark.

Now here I sit in the pressbox. It is July, right? It is Ohio in July, right? Then why am I sitting here in a short-sleeved shirt drinking coffee and shivering?

AND HAPPY Canada Day to Joey Votto, who was the only guy in the ballpark who knew it was Canada Day, that country’s version of our Fourth of July. After his bloop single drove in the only run Wednesday, Votto laughed afterward and said, “It’s Canada Day. Happy Canada Day to me. God bless me.”

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A meeting in a crowded office

By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 04:56 PM

Manager Dusty Baker’s office is a spacious place, about 20 by 20 - big enough to accommodate maybe a dozen people.

But 25?

That’s how many were in there early Wednesday afternoon - all 25 members of the Cincinnati Reds. A team meeting. Lasted about 20 minutes.

Baker wouldn’t say what it was about, but one can be certain he wasn’t passing out special achievement awards and taking measurements for World Series rings. Most likely it was a wake-up message, especially after the lethargic 6-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

“Sometimes a crowded room breeds togetherness,” said Baker. “Anybody comes from a big family knows how a crowded room is. We were just talking. That’s all.”

Baker admits he hasn’t had many team meetings and said, “Maybe a couple of times. You can’t have too many because then they lose their effectiveness. How do I know when I need to have one? Just a feeling.”

Asked how the team took it, Baker said, “As long as you look and listen with your eyes - at least fool me that you’re paying attention. That’s all. And sometimes you need to use your office more than for just to chastise.”

THE REDS made a roster move, sending relief pitcher Jared Burton to the minors and calling up infielder Drew Sutton for his major-league debut.

Burton was not a happy man.

When approached, he said quietly, “I have nothing to say. I’m not trying to be rude. I’m just not happy right now. Go ask Dusty about it, if you want.”

Burton was not in the team meeting. He was packing for his trip to Louisville.

Said Baker, “I told him I didn’t want him to be happy. I don’t expect him to be happy. If he is mad at me, Dick (pitching coach Dick Pole) or Walt (general manager Walt Jocketty), pitch like it. If he’s happy about it, he doesn’t belong here. And he belongs here. He’ll be back.

“I told him he was getting close to the Jared Burton that we know,” Baker added. “We need him to come all the way back. He is throwing better. He’ll be back. The good thing about this is we have 12 days before the All-Star break, then we have the three days of the break and we’ll make another decision at that time.

“I told him to go down there and do his thing because we have high hopes and big plans for him. We’ve seen what he can do last year,” said Baker. “We hope this is just a temporary booster shot.”

And where does Sutton fit in? He was acquired the last week of spring training from Houston for infielder Jeff Keppinger.

“I have to see him first,” said Baker. “I talked to Jose Cruz (Astros coach) and some Astros guys and they liked what they had in him. I’m going to take a couple of days for Chris Speier (infield coach) to look at him at different infield positions and for Billy Hatcher (outfield coach) to look at him and work with him at the corner outfield spots. We’ll see.

“This is his first taste of the big leagues - another one for us,” Baker added. “And he gives us a switch-hitter with some speed.”

HAD A heart-to-heart chat before Wednesday’s game with Brandon Phillips. A clear-the-air sort of thing. He has been short with the media and we’ve pretty much ignored him since the incident in Kansas City where he ignored the take sign on a 3-and-0 pitch with the bases loaded and two outs. He popped up.

As I said earlier, until that time B.P. had been great with the media, full of good quotes and good analysis.

Both sides were wrong - me included. Especially me. The media should have gotten Brandon’s side on the issue of a fine, but we didn’t. And as it turns out, he WASN’T fined. It was a misunderstanding when we talked to Baker about it. He didn’t deny that he fined him. But he didn’t confirm it, either. But we all ran with it.

Now the air is clear. Brandon and I shook hands and he thanked me for approaching him and apologizing. Then he said, “I respect you. I have to because my mom respects you.” Thank you Brandon’s mother. And I do respect your son’s fantastic ability, big-time, and his willingness to talk things out.

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A bad night all around in Cincinnati

By Hal McCoy | Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 07:41 PM

WASN’T CINCINNATI once a baseball town? I remember it clearly. Back in the 70s.

What happened? On Tuesday night Joey Votto returned to Cincinnati in the lineup for the first time since his stress-related stint on the DL. I expected a deafening standing ovation when he came to bat the first time.

Instead, there was a smattering of applause. I’ve heard louder applause for a dog standing on its hind legs begging for a bone in front of an ice cream story.

Shameful and embarrassing.

And speaking of shameful and embarrassing, how about those Reds Tuesday night? They didn’t have a hit until Jay Bruce’s two-out single in the fifth and Bronson Arroyo took over the league lead in home runs allowed (20) by giving up back-to-backers during a three-run sixth inning.

The first was hit by No. 8 hitter Miguel Montero and the next was hit by pitcher Dan Haren, who also held the Reds to one run and four hits over seven innings in a 6-2 win. It snapped Arizona’s five-game losing streak and was their second win in the last 10 games.

BRONSON ARROYO, the man who never met a first inning he liked, went 1-2-3 in the first Tuesday. Then he retired the first two in the second before walking the next two. No problem, thanks to Jay Bruce.

Monero singled to right and Chris Young was waved homeward from second. Apparently third base coach Chip Hale forgot to read the scouting report, the one that said, “Run on Jay Bruce at your own risk.” He ran. He risked. Bruce’s throw was so swift and true that Young gave up 15 feet from home plate - just trotted into the tag.

Bruce now has nine assists, tied for the league lead with Washington’s Elijah Dukes.

BEST ARM I ever saw: A one-armed slot machine bandit at the MGM Grand in Vegas that paid me $750 once. Second best arm I ever saw dangles from the shoulder of Josh Hamilton. In spring training two years ago I saw him throw a ball from the right field corner to the third base bag on the fly, the ball starting out about five feet above the ground and reached third five feet above the ground. If there had been a horse standing between the mound and second base, Hamilton would have dropped it dead.

WITH TWO outs and a runner on first in the third, Justin Upton hit a ball between second and first. Second baseman Brandon Phillips made a sliding stop and ended up on the seat of his britches. Instead of holding the ball, he threw it while sitting in the grass and it skipped past first baseman Joey Votto.

Two hits later, the Diamondbacks led, 3-0.

SCOUT’S ASSESSMENT of Phillips: “Too much ESPN-itis. He’ll make the spectacular play and he’ll try to turn the routine play into a spectacular one, too, and mess it up.”

MEANWHILE, the Reds were helpless babes against Danny Haren. They didn’t have a runner on base until there were two outs in the fourth. Haren was perfect until then, 11 up, 11 down. He walked Joey Votto with two outs in the fourth, but that’s it. Nothing else. A no-hitter after four.

Bruce broke up the no-hitter in the fifth with a two-out single.

NO-HITTERS I have covered:

Rick Wise of the Cardinals threw a no-hitter against the Reds in Riverfront Stadium. And he hit two home runs that day.

Tom Seaver, known more as a New York Met than a Cincinnati Red, threw his only no-hitter while wearing a Reds uniform. Oddly, Seaver’s best friend was catcher Johnny Bench (and they remain tight to this day). But Bench didn’t catch that day. A kid named Donnie Werner caught the no-hitter.

Tom Browning’s perfect game against the Dodgers in a rain-delayed game that didn’t start until after 10 p.m. and ended just before midnight. Few fans were left, but Browning says he has had about 400,000 people tell him they were there that night.

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Encarnacion’s mysterious day off

By Hal McCoy | Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 05:01 PM

Edwin Encarnacion was scheduled to play today for the Louisville Bats, but he was not in the lineup and didn’t play at all. Adam Rosales played third base.

A setback? Something wrong?

Nobody really knows. The Reds made some quick calls and were told that nothing is wrong with Encarnacion, “Just a manager’s decision.”

A long-time employee of the Reds said he had never heard of such a thing - that when the team sent a player down on rehab he always plays, unless there is a problem.

And the strange thing is that the Bats are off tomorrow, so Encarnacion would get a day off then. Now he gets two in a row.

As was pointed out by a Reds official, Encarnacion played only six innings his first game on rehab, seven innings the next game, he DHed for two games, “So he can’t be tired and can’t be in need of a rest.”

EVEN IF ENCARNACION is OK and on track, manager Dusty Baker said there is no plan to activate him on this six-game homestand against Arizona and St. Louis.

“I’m not counting on him for the homestand,” he said. “Optimistically, maybe the next road trip.”

CATCHER RYAN HANIGAN (.321), outfielder Jonny Gomes (.343) and outfielder Chris Dickerson (.279 - .467 over his last 11 games) were all to be in the dugout when tonight’s game begins against the Diamondbacks.

Willy Taveras was in center and leading off, Ramon Hernandez was catching and Laynce Nix was in left field.

Manager Dusty Baker says he has a plan.

“I’m going to get them in there like I’ve been doing,” he said. “I’d rather have that than a bunch of guys who aren’t hitting. Taveras had success against this team (Arizona) at their place. And the games against the American League helped them all get some at-bats with the DH.

“You can’t play everybody but I have a plan to keep ‘em sharp and productive and a plan to help us at the same time,” Baker added. “We knew this could potentially happen when we started. You don’t have a good team unless you have too many good bodies.

“Gomes is my left fielder against lefthanded pitchers because he has been deadly against lefthanders,” Baker added. “Dickerson is making big progress against lefthanders and that’s why I’m not afraid to throw him in there.”

Even though he continues to struggle, Jay Bruce plays every day and Baker said, “Jay needs the at-bats and experience to be what he is going to be. If not, you’ll be thwarting his progress. And he is starting to swing better - more selective, hitting the ball harder.”

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