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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 > 2009 > June > 09
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Cueto on pace to be an All-Star
JOHNNY CUETO can be exasperating in the first inning, as he was Tuesday night, but when he gets out of it, as he did Tuesday against the Washington Nationals, he is the best starting pitcher on the Cincinnati Reds staff.
Cueto showed some imagination Tuesday. He put four runners on base in the first inning, but none scored, thanks to an incredible double play started by shortstop Alex Gonzalez. Cueto gave up two hits and two walks in the first.
Then he closed the vault with a thud.
From the second through the seventh he gave up two hits, one a home run to Elijah Dukes. He is 6-3 with one of the league’s best earned run averages, 2.33. If he continues for a month he is my candidate to be an All-Star.
Brandon Phillips gave Cueto a comfort zone in the fifth, breaking a 1-1 tie with a two-run double that skittered just inside the first base bag. Arthur Rhodes gave up an eighth-inning home run to Cristian Guzman but the Reds hung on, 3-2.
The 15-41 Nationals are on pace to lose 120 games, which would tie the 1962 New York Mets, a team about which its manager, Casey Stengel once asked, “Can anybody here play this game?”
I SWEAR ON a stack of Baseball Digests that four seats down from me there is a guy sound asleep in the press box. I mean, the Nationals probably are boring to watch every day, but if you’re coming to cover the game, mix in some coffee and No-Doz. They made a couple of announcements at loud volume and the guy never opened his eyes.
SOME FAMILIAR faces in Nationals Park, besides former Reds outfielders Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns. Former Reds relief pitcher Rob Dibble, one-third of the famed Nasty Boys, is part of the Nats’ broadcast team. Former Reds player and manager Ray Knight does a pre-game and post-game TV show for the Nationals.
The Dibble stories are legendary — his fight with manager Lou Piniella, his tossing of a baseball into the center-field seat that struck an elementary school teacher, his throwing at the legs of Doug Dascenzo as he ran up the first-base line after bunting, his dumping of ice water over the head of writer Mike Paolercio. They’ve all been documented here.
Here’s one you probably haven’t heard about. When the Reds trained in Plant City, there was a large retaining pond behind the right-field wall, home to a 10-foot alligator. One game Dibble was rocked, never got a batter out. The clubhouse was also behind the right-field wall, next to the pond.
Dibble walked into the clubhouse and gathered a stack of chairs from in front of several players’ lockers, walked to the edge of the pond and heaved them into the water.
We were in the press box and never would have known about it, except the son of Columbus Dispatch writer Bob Hunter happened to be playing between the clubhouse and the pond and saw Dibble’s chair-heaving act.
He was forced to pay for the chairs. They should have made him wade in and retrieve them, but they probably feared for the alligator’s life.
KNIGHT WAS a fun guy, too. Remember when he played third base for the Mets and Eric Davis did a hard pop-up slide into third? Well, when Davis popped up Knight popped him - right in nose. Down went Davis, down went Davis.
When Knight managed the Reds he missed several games because of kidney stones and once told the beat writers, “My doctor said I’m the world’s largest producer of kidney stones.” So what did he want us to do with them, line our driveway with them?
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TweetReds select righthanded pitcher
The Cincinnati Reds took righthanded pitcher Mike Leake of Arizona State University in the first round of the free agent draft.
Cincinnati Reds senior director of amateur scouting Chris Buckley announced the selection of the 6-0, 180-pounder who is pitching in the College World Series.
Leake, 21, is the first pitcher selected by the Reds in the first round since RHP Homer Bailey in 2004. He is the first collegiate pitcher selected by the Reds in the first round since RHP Ryan Wagner (2003). The Reds had selected a position player with their first pick in each of the previous four drafts: 1B Yonder Alonso (2008), C Devin Mesoraco (2007), OF Drew Stubbs (2006) and OF Jay Bruce (2005).
Leake was named 2008 PAC-10 Pitcher of the Year and is a finalist for the 2009 Golden Spikes Award. He is 16-1 with a 1.36 ERA after going 11-3 with a 3.49 ERA last season. The righthander also has been named a semifinalist for the Pitcher of the Year Award presented by the College Baseball Foundation. His 40 career wins at Arizona State are tied for the most in school history. Leake is set to appear in the 2009 College World Series with the Sun Devils.
“Mike is a very polished pitcher with a good delivery and lots of poise. He is an impressive looking athlete who has a great deal of ability and an excellent command of four pitches. We are excited to add this caliber of pitcher to our organization,” said Buckley.
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TweetDunn on Phillips: ‘Nice, really nice’
ADAM DUNN hadn’t heard the words from Brandon Phillips, the words Phillips uttered in St. Louis, words obviously aimed at Dunn without using his name.
Laynce Nix had a big day against the Cardinals, a couple of hits and a couple of outstanding catches and I asked Phillips after the game about Nix. One of the things he said was, “It’s great to have a guy who not only hits the ball but catches the ball.”
Said Dunn when told of the comment, “Nice. Real nice. I’ll have to ask Brandon about it. Second thought, no I won’t. I could probably think of something nasty or humorous to say. But, hey, that’s Brandon. He has to let me go. I’m not there any more. Let me go.”
Dunn said some nice things about the Reds: “Reds are doing good, huh? Good pitching.” When told the Reds could use his bat, Dunn said, “No, they don’t. They’re doing just fine.”
Then he asked about Jay Bruce by saying, “Jay’s scuffling, huh? What’s he doing? Swinging at everything? Yeah, I know about that. You feel like you have to swing early in the count so you don’t get behind.”
When told Bruce was 2 for 33, Dunn laughed and said, “I’m 3 for 38. But I don’t feel bad at the plate. I feel good. Whatever.” Dunn jumped into the batting cage and somebody said it isn’t likely the Reds would pitch to him and he said, always self-deprecatingly, “Why wouldn’t they? I would.”
JOEY VOTTO worked out at Great American Ball Park Monday and today and will continue while the Reds are on the road. He is working with trainer Mark Mann, who didn’t make the trip because of a broken foot. Votto is eligible to come off the DL Sunday and manager Dusty Baker was asked if he might start minor-league rehab Thursday or Friday and be ready.
“Don’t want to put any kind of schedule on him,” said Baker.
EDWIN ENCARNACION suffered a setback and won’t be leaving for minor-league rehab any time soon. An MRI Monday was not good. Said Baker, “He isn’t going to rehab now. He’s with us on the trip and he’ll take treatment. No baseball work right now - maybe in a couple of days if the soreness (in his cracked wrist) is gone.”
TO ALL THOSE who offered advice and a couple who offered lodging in D.C., thanks much.
Thanks to Chris Welsh and Reds Traveling Secretary Gary Wahoff, I made it into the Reds hotel. Welsh gave up his room because he is staying elsewhere and Wahoff changed the rooming list and put me where Welsh would have been.
It isn’t true, though, that Welsh is staying at The Old Pitchers Home.
WHISKED THROUGH check-in at the U.S. Airways counter this morning, thanks to a helpful young woman. Whisked through TSA security (those guys know me from my frequent visits at the Dayton airport and are great). Whisked from the gatehouse onto the plane, departed five minutes early, then …
I knew it was going too good. We taxied out and just were about to take off when the pilot said a storm hit the D.C. area and air traffic control had everything on hold. We left 45 minutes late and arrived 30 minutes late. Always something - but not U.S. Airways’ fault.
TOOK A CAB from the hotel to Nationals Stadium. The cabbie didn’t look like a high-brow, but he had Mozart on his radio all the way to the park. Mozart as we passed the World War II Memorial, Mozart as we passed the Washington Monument, Mozart as we passed the Jefferson Memorial, Mozart as he cruised up Capitol SE to the ballpark.
GREAT VIEW over the left field stands - the Capitol Building Dome looks as if it is only a couple of blocks away. It is much farther. The great news! There is a Five Guys & Fries in the ballpark. If you haven’t partaken of Five Guys & Fries, well, the best burgers anywhere and more fries in a brown paper sack than you can possibly eat. There is a Five Guys in Cincinnati near UC and a Five Guys in Columbus near Polaris.
Cholesterol heaven!
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