DaytonDailyNews.com

SARASOTA, Fla. — There is 30 pounds less of him, but Todd Coffey is still hard to miss, no matter how quiet he is in the clubhouse. And he has been sphinx-like.

Maybe it is because the media are not paying close attention, mostly because they remember the eighth-inning meltdowns and the dismal failure he was last year after he was rewarded with a plump contract.

In five appearances this spring, the nearly-svelte, 6-foot-5, 240-pound right-handed reliever has yet to give up a run. Heck, he has only given up one hit. And until his last appearance, he hadn't given up a walk.

Then, against the Phillies on Sunday, March 16, he walked two in one inning.

"I wasn't happy about the two walks, but I battled out of it," he said. "Last year, when I got myself in trouble, I didn't get out of it."

Oh, the bad memories of 2007 — 51 innings, 70 hits, 36 runs, 19 walks and enough boos to crack rhinoceros hide. And there was the shuttle system — five trips between Cincinnati and Class AAA Louisville.

"It's going good because what me and (pitching coach) Dick Pole worked on — mostly mechanical stuff — is working," said Coffey. Actually, nearly unnoticed, Coffey didn't allow a run in his last nine appearances last season.

Coffey now uses two sliders, a softer one to throw for strikes and a harder one to get strikeouts.

Of last season, Coffey said, "It was a mental struggle at times. It is going to be when you get sent up, sent down, sent up, sent down. I hate that it happened, but maybe it was a good thing, forced me to focus. When you go through adversity you find out what you are made of. And I learned a lot last year, especially about pitch selection."

Singing for dinner

The mandatory karaoke session — hosted, directed and judged by the Cincinnati Reds Elder Statesmen — was held Sunday afternoon. Who won?

"Just like the PGA, a brother won," said judge Ken Griffey Jr. "Marcus McBeth won with Snoop's "Gin and Juice." Bobby Livingston finished second with his rendition of "Girls, Girls, Girls."

"We had some crash-and-burns, too," said Griffey. "Johnny Cueto said he didn't like his song, "Born in the USA," so we gave him a Spanish song and he didn't like that, either."

Mr. Long Shot

For some reason, the Reds claimed 21-year-old pitcher Jose Capellan off waivers from the Giants last week — a curious move in that he is a Rule 5 player and must be kept on the 25-man roster if the Reds want to keep him.

At the time, manager Dusty Baker said, "He is a long shot to make it."

Capellan pitched in a minor-league game Sunday and was watched by former Reds pitcher Jack Billingham. His appraisal? "I'd say he is even a longer shot now."

Call him 'Emmy'

Not only is their new manager expected to do wonders with the Reds, he might have to be addressed as "Emmy award-winning manager Dusty Baker."

Baker said a broadcast he did on ESPN with announcers Dave O'Brien and Rick Sutcliffe on the meltdown of pitcher Armando Benitez has been nominated for an Emmy.

Quote of the day

Canadian prime minister Steven Harper spent the weekend at a Siesta Key condominium and Canadian-born Joey Votto was asked if he knew him: "We went to the same high school and I typed my school's name (Riverview Institute in Toronto) into Wikipedia and it listed Steven Harper and Joey Votto as graduates and I said, 'That's the best they can do?' "