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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 > 2008 > July > 08
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Harang says he’s fine, but we wonder
So what’s the matter with Aaron Harang?
Something, obviously. Something bad, obviously.
Harang usually has the Chicago Cubs nibbling Cracker Jack out of his palm in Wrigley Field, where he was 4-1 for his career when he walked to the mound Tuesday.
What followed was painful to watch, unless you are a Bleacher Bum from Wrigleyville, almost as painful as what Harang MUST be feeling in his arm.
In only 4 1/3 innings, Harang walked a career-worst seven batters. He gave up two home runs. He strained his way through 108 pitches - only 58 for strikes.
Something is wrong. Something is obviously wrong.
Harang missed his scheduled start Saturday with tightness in his forearm. He pitched Tuesday as if Dr. Tim Kremchek was standing over his shoulder, scalpel in hand.
Something is wrong. Something is obviously wrong physically, something that might have to be fixed medically.
If that’s the case, they might as well roll the tarp onto Great American Ball Park and leave it there. Game over.
If it’s not the case, if there is nothing physically wrong, then Harang has deteriorated faster than a Cremesicle in the sun.
Manager Dusty Baker was asked if something is wrong with Harang and he said, “He hasn’t said anything to us.”
Pitching Coach Dick Pole said, “I asked him if he is OK and he said nothing is bothering him. I hate it when a pitcher warms up great in the bullpen and that’s what Harang did.”
And Harang himself?
“I’m fine. I have no problems physically,” he said. “Some days you wake up feeling good and some days you wake up feeling like trash. Sometimes when you wake up feeling like trash is a day you pitch. But it isn’t anything physical.”
Harang was stunned when told he walked seven.
“I walked seven? (Expletive). That’s terrible,” he said.
Asked if the All-Star break will be welcomed by him, he said, “Yeah, it will. A couple of more extra days of rest will do everybody some good. A lot of it is mental. It’s a long season and people talk about the physical strain, but it’s a mental strain, too.”
Especially when your record is 3-11 and you seem to get worse each time out.
It might be over anyway - one game into the most important trip of the year. The beating in Game One of the six games in Chicago and Milwaukee dropped the Reds 11 1/2 games out of first and five games under .500.
Put that champagne back for more aging, as you’ve done the last seven years. This team is NOT only NOT going to contend, it is NOT going to finish .500.
Ah, such hopes. Dashed on the banks of Lake Michigan, where the beer flows down Clark, Addison, Sheffield and Waveland.
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Made a bad tactical error for this trip. Trying to save my wife, Nadine, from having to wash all my short sleeve shirts (OK, sometimes I do them myself) when I return from this trip and immediately leave for Aruba, I packed only long-sleeved shirts.
So here I sit in the Wrigley Field press box in a pool of perspiration, my glasses fogged up and my arm pits rated ‘R’ for rank.
The clubhouse isn’t much better. The Cubs keep the visitor’s clubhouse at about 80 and it is so small that players sit on top of each other. And sweat.
“They try to wear us out before we even play,” said Ken Griffey Jr.
Small? I’ve seen bigger broom closets. And the closets have more room, even filled with brooms, than the visitor’s have in their clubhouse. When the media is in there before games, it is a chore to stay out of people’s way. Or get run over.
A few years ago, former Reds pitcher Joey Hamilton was having a bad streak. I was standing as tightly up against a pillar as I could get, trying to stay clear, but Hamilton said, “Doesn’t the media have anything better to do than stand in here and get in the way?”
Hamilton and fellow pitcher Gabe White were inseparable buddies, but White went on my Good Guys list forever when he heard Hamilton say what he said and White said, “Hal can stand anywhere he wants. He can stand in my locker. In fact, he can wear my uniform if he wants.”
Thanks, Gabe.
MARTY BRENNAMAN rode the bus from the hotel to Wrigley Ton uesday, as he always does. But he had company, somebody from Reds security accompanied Brennaman - just in case.
When the Reds were here in April, Brennaman called Cubs fans the worst in baseball after they threw a dozen baseballs on the field after an Adam Dunn home run. Brennaman has received nasty e-mails and threats.
“Hey, I got here Sunday night and he wasn’t with me. I took my grandkids and Thom to the Navy Pier, walked all around,” said Brennaman. “Nobody said anything. At the Pier, though, when we got to the ticket window, Thom walked away and and the ticket-seller said, ‘Hey, I know him. Isn’t he a broadcaster?’ “
Told it was Thom Brennaman, the guy said to Marty, “That’s the guy who ripped on our fans.” Said Brennaman, “No, sir. That was me. You’ve got the wrong Brennaman.” Marty said they had a pleasant 15-minute talk.
Marty was wearing a bright red shirt Tuesday and Griffey said, “Why don’t you just paint a target on yourself?”
Said Brennaman, “That’s why I wore it. If they want a piece of me, they know where to find me. I offered to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame in the seventh inning, but they turned me down.”
Griffey laughed and said, “I’m no longer Public Enemy No. 1 here. Hey, they might even cheer me.”
Maybe I have a scoop for you. I heard the Cubs were about to announce a trade that they acquired Oakland pitcher Rich Harden for Matt Murton, Eric Patterson (Corey’s brother), Sean Gallagher and another minor-leaguer.
By 5:15 Chicago time, nothing had been announced.
“I talked to Jim Hendry (Cubs GM) last night and asked him if he is working on something to top Milwaukee and he said no,” Reds GM Walt Jocketty said with a laugh.
But Milwaukee getting pitcher C.C. Sabathia from the Cleveland Indians was no laughing matter to Reds manager Dusty Baker.
“Wish we could have gotten him,” said Baker. “And, hey, I’d still like to have him (Sabathia is a free agent after this season if the Brewers don’t sign him). I’d love to have him, for his bat as well as his pitching. I just wish they hadn’t traded him into our division. We still have a lot of games left with Milwaukee.”
And the Reds face him Sunday in Cheeseville. Or is it Brewtown?
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