2012 senior class photos
2012 West Carrollton graduation
Home of the Week
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 > July
July 2009
Hey, hey - don’t read all about it
For those who are masochists - or maybe you are Rockies fans - go ahead and read this blog about Friday night’s game, another monotonous loss by the Cincinnati Reds, which has become a way of life.
The Real News is in the previous blog and if you haven’t checked it out, scroll down and read about the Scott Rolen trade, the Jerry Hairston Jr. trade, Edinson Volquez probably blowing out his elbow and Bronson Arroyo talking about when he used amphetamines and andro.
Better stuff than this garbage about another loss from a team that is failing like banks.
They had a fireworks show after the game, as they do every Friday, and the smoke left over should be bottled and released before tonight’s game. Maybe the Rockies won’t be able to see.
Anyway, here it is: Rockies 5, Reds 3 - subtitled: A David Weathers Meltdown.
WAS AN IRONIC message being delivered from the baseball gods to Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty after he traded two of the team’s top pitching prospects earlier in the day?
Jocketty traded third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and tossed in young pitchers Josh Roenicke, a future closer, and Zach Stewart, a future starter to coax Scott Rolen away from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Fast forward a few hours and the Reds and Colorado Rockies are tied in the eighth inning when 39-year-old David Weathers arrives from the bullpen. All week prior to the trade deadline Weathers believed he would be traded.
Instead, there he was in the eighth inning, giving up home runs on back-to-back pitches to Chris Iannetta and Carlos Gonzalez, the runs need to hang a 5-3 defeat on the Reds.
“It’s not the first time I’ve done that and I’m sure it won’t be the last,” said Weathers. “But when your team is scuffling, like we are, that’s the last thing you need.
“We’ve found every way you can to lose a ball game,” he added. “That’s the one thing about this team. Nobody is pointing fingers, because really nobody can. It has been a collective unit.”
Joey Votto and Branon Phillips went back-to-back in the sixth inning against Hamilton’s Aaron Cook to tie it, 3-3, only the second time this year the Reds have hit back-to-back home runs.
Justin Lehr, making his major-league starting debut, gave up three runs, seven hits and six walks in five innings, but was not the pitcher of record as the Reds lost for the 10th time in 11 and games and fell a dozen games under .500.
Lehr loaded the bases with no outs in the first and two scored, one of the runners issued a walk. The Rockies didn’t get a hit in the second but scored a run because Lehr walked three in a row.
“I had a nice start, the first two pitches for strikes,” said Lehr. “Then I begin pressing when I missed badly. It’s a little different. I pressed, tried to be too perfect.
“There were a lot of variables, a lot of different things, a lot to take in in one day,” Lehr added. “I could have given us a better chance to win without the walks. Two of the guys I walked scored.”
MANAGER DUSTY Baker gave a lukewarm endorsement of the 32-year-old righthander.
“He threw the ball pretty, got out of some trouble,” said Baker, playing two men short because of a wrist injury to Willy Taveras and the trade of Jerry Hairston Jr. and no player replacing him. “He had quite a few walks and usually he doesn’t walk people like that.
“We came back to tie the game, had a chance to win, but Weathers hung a slider and the next guy homered and that was the ball game,” Baker added. “Dave wasn’t trying to hang that slider and threw a couple of quality pitches that just missed to go 3-and-2.”
The home runs came from the No. 7 and No. 8 hitters and Baker said, “We got killed by the bottom of the order. They have a potent offense, but you don’t expect to get beat by the bottom of the order with all the big boppers they have at the top.
“Just goes to show you that anybody with a bat in his hands is dangerous,” Baker added.
MEANWHILE THE Rockies are managed by Hamilton native Jim Tracy, who took over on an interim basis when Clint Hurdle was fired and the Rockies were 18-28. Under Tracy, Colorado is 38-19.
Yet the Rockies remain eight games out of first place in the National League West. They should be in the NL Central. Why? They’ve won 12 straight over NLC teams
I LOVE JIM Tracy, a great guy. A great guy when he managed the Los Angeles Dodgers and a great guy when he managed the Pittsburgh Pirates. A most affable man. Ask him a question and you get an answer four ways from Sunday.
Sometimes he reminds me of Ray Knight, about whom I once wrote, “If you ask Ray Knight for a drink of water he gives you Niagara Falls.”
That’s Tracy, too. But his drenching from Niagara Falls is a pleasant deal.
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment |
TweetOf trades, elbows, andro and amphetamines
IN A NUTSHELL (a very big walnut), here is what happened with the Cincinnati Reds today.
-They acquired third baseman Scott Rolen from Toronto for third baseman Edwin Encarnacion, pitcher Josh Roenicke and pitcher Zach Stewart. The Reds also get cash to get relief from Rolen’s $11 million pro-rated salary this year and $11 million next year.
-They traded Jerry Hairston Jr. for a minor-league catcher, 20-year-old Chase Weems, who will report to the Class A Dayton Dragons.
-Pitcher Edinson Volquez, scheduled for a simulated game today, didn’t complete it. He walked off the mound clutching his elbow. The Reds aren’t saying it - yet - but don’t be surprised if he has to undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss next year.
-Pitcher Bronson Arroyo confirmed that he told a Boston newspaper that he wouldn’t be surprised if his named showed up on the list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.
OTHER THAN THAT - just a quiet day at the ol’ ballyard.
It’s big news when a guy admits taking amphetamines and androstenedione, it’s bigger news when a team loses what is arguably its best pitcher and it’s bigger, bigger news when the team adds an All-Star player.
Said general manager Walt Jocketty, “Trading two young pitchers was a stumbling block, but we finally gave in to get Rolen. We felt there are a lot of things Scott will provide for this club that was lacking - leadership on the field with the players. He is a veteran and I had a lot of experience with him when we were together in St. Louis. He’ll bring a lot to our club. He is still playing well - a good RBI guy and plays good defense. He’ll be a big asset.
“Edwin Encarnacion was part of it because with Scott coming, there wasn’t a place for Edwin to play here,” Jocketty added. Rolen will bat fifth in the Reds’ order behind Brandon Phillips.
“The Yankees were looking for versatility and it was an opporunity to get Jerry in a pennant race,” Jockett added. “We had very good reports on (catcher) Weems, a guy we had interest in during the draft a couple of years ago and didn’t get. He was a high school kid out of Columbus, Ga., a lefthanded hitter.”
Adding more on the Rolen deal, Jocketty said, “The type of character he brings will help our organization - a guy who will be big part of this organization this year and in the future. I hope he’s here for quite a while. He is signed one more year and we’ll talk after he gets here to see how things work out.”
VOLQUEZ was supposed to pitch a simulated game but at 3:37, early into his session, he grabbed his elbow and walked off the field.
“It’s very disappointing,” said manager Dusty Baker. “My trainer told me there was a 50/50 chance this could happen. He said he felt some tightness - not in the same area, but in the same muscle. Now it’s back to the drawing board all over again. That’s one thing I wasn’t expecting and now he has to see the doctor to assess what is best for him now and for the future. We want to get him back healthy, especially for next year. I’m very concerned, but I have full confidence in Dr. Tim Kremchek and full confidence in modern medicine.”
AND NOW Mr. Arroyo. He admitted he took Andro (the Mark McGwire drug) from 1998 until it was banned in 2004 and that he took amphetamines until they were banned in 2006. Arroyo laughed when asked about the furor he caused and said, “That’s what happens when you spread the truth.
“From 1998 to 2003, I took andro,” he said. “That was the big year of Mark McGwire and he had the stuff sitting in his locker and everybody was made aware of the fact that he took that stuff and so everybody went out and tried it.
“I took it in the Arizona Fall League that year and I felt like I could hit my head on the rim of a basketball hoop because me and Mike Lincoln would see our therapist and then go shoot hoops until midnight or one in the moring,” Arroyo added. “I felt unbelievable on the stuff. So I took the product from differerent companies until ‘03 when they told me that it could give me a positive test. So I don’t take it any more.”
Arroy said he switched to creatin and vitamins and proteins, things I always took. Amphetamines?
“Ah, man, yes. Of course I took a damn greenie before a day game, a freakin’ 12:35 game and facing Johan Santana? You think I ain’t gonna take a greenie? C’mon,” he said. Then when they were banned in 2006, he quit taking them, too.
“Honestly, I’d love to take nothing,” he said. “I’ve love to wake up in the morning and have some cereal and fruit, then have a good lunch and take a multi-vitaman for the day. The reality is, I’m not going to be as good of a major-league pitcher if I do. I can’t do those other things until I retire. Until then (he banged on a small door on his dressing cubicle), this is filled with sh—. I’m going to continue to take the (legal) stuff.”
Arroyo said he told the Boston writer that anybody’s name could show up on the list of 104 from 2003 because some of the stuff players took was called protein supplements, “And you think you know what’s in a can of protein from GNC, but you don’t know unless you take it to a lab and get it tested by a scientist.”
Permalink | Comments (25) | Post your comment |
TweetReds acquire Rolen, Hairston traded
Third baseman Scott Rolen is coming and third baseman Edwin Encarnacion is going. Also going is Jerry Hairston Jr.
Rolen was acquired today in a trade with Toronto that sends Encarnacion to the Blue Jays. Hairston was dealt to the Yankees for minor league catcher Richard Weems.
Permalink | Comments (32) | Post your comment |
TweetReds are dead - you can bet on it
Made my first visit to the new Hollywood Casino Wednesday and even had a lost my shirt it would have been better than sitting in the Great American Ball Park pressbox watching the Cincinnati Reds get one hit against the San Diego Padres.
One hit? One damn hit? Against the San Diego Padres? The San Diego Damn Padres?
That probably was the game where it is time for the Reds to issue a statement: “It’s over. Will the last person out of Great American Ball Park please pick up first base.”
As I write this, it is the third inning of Game Four of the Series and the Reds are losing, 2-0. The game probably is over and the Reds will have lost three of four to one of baseball’s worst teams.
Losing three of four to the Padres is like losing all your marbles to your little sister.
MEANWHILE, back at the casino, the place is extremely nice. And they even permitted to take a few bucks out of the place. Then I made the mistake of suggesting something to eat at the Casino restaurant, the Chart House.
The place was not crowded, but it took them 15 minutes to seat my wife, Nadine, my mother-in-law, Lucille, and me. Our order was taken quickly at 7:40 p.m. Our drinks came in short order and my wife received her salad.
But at 8:45, exactly one hour and five minutes after we placed our order, there was no food. We complained twice. Finally it came and the manager apologized and picked up the check for the food, but not the drinks.
What really angered me was that I probably missed about 30 hands of blackjack while sitting in the restaurant. And I had to sit and watch the Reds’ on the restaurant TV as sthey played futilely against the Padres and 21-year-old rookie pitcher Mark Latos.
Clearly the Reds were Latos Intolerant.
And, yes, they lost again Thursday, 7-4. Oh, the ugliness.
NEVER GOT around to posting this Tuesday, but meant to do it. It’s how rumors start and how ridiculous it gets.
On Tuesday, MLB.com forgot to list the probable pitcher for the Reds that night, Bronsoon Arroyo. When it was posted without Arroyo as the pitcher, web sites all over America gurgled with the news that Arroyo had been scratched from his start because he was traded. Then, at 7:11, Arroyo walked to the mound for his regular start.
The New York Yankees have discussed Aaron Harang in their internal talks, but they’ve talked about a lot of players and itn’t likely Harang is New York-bound. There is some concern among scouts that Harang has a back problem because he seems to be standing straight up when he delivers his pitches and isn’t finishing his motion.
Trades? The deadline is 4 o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Don’t look for the Reds to do something dazzling. General manager Walt Jocketty was burning up the phone all day Thursday.
Great story about San Diego Hall of Fame broadcaster Jerry Coleman. Enzo Hernandez of the Dominican was playing second base and Mexican Rafael Robles was at shortstop.
Coleman was doing a pre-game interview with Robles and said, “Tell me, Rafael, how do you and Enzo communicate when he speaks Dominican and you speak Mexican?”
Said Robles, “But, Jerry. We both speak Spanish.” Said Coleman without skipping a beat, “That’s the great thing about baseball. You learn something new every day.”
OK, today’s game? If we must.
If losing a bunch of games to the San Diego Padres is like losing all your marbles to your little sister, then the Cincinnati Reds are holding an empty bag today.
For the third time in four games, the Reds lost to one of baseball’s worst teams — 38-61 when the Padres landed at Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport — this time by 7-4.
The Reds have lost nine of their last 10 and 11 of 14 since the All-Star break and are sinking faster than the Bismarck toward the bottom of the sea, or the bottom of the National League Central.
For the third straight game, The Reds were behind before they gripped a bat.
On Tuesday, the Padres scored one in the first against Bronson Arroyo en route to a 3-2 win. On Wednesday, the Padres scored five in the first against Aaron Harang en route to a 7-1 victory. On Wednesday it was Johnny Cueto giving up a run in the first on his way to a 7-1 defeat.
What is it about the first innings? The Reds have been outscored this year in the first inning, 90-55, and the next highest total they’ve given up is 64 in the sixth inning.
Cueto gave up six runs and nine hits in five innings to assure himself of his fourth straight loss. Remember early in the season when the Reds owned the best starting staff in baseball, as far as earned run average. The starters now rank 14th of the 16 National League teams.
And what is it about the Padres? On May 15, the Reds were fresh from a three-game sweep in Arizona that had them tied for first place.
Then they lost three straight in San Diego and have been circling the drain ever since, going 1-6 against the Padres.
Before this string of defeats, there was a question whether the Reds would be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline and during this week a ‘For Sale’ sign appeared at the main gate. Now it’s a lighted billboard flashing, ‘Sale, sale, sale.’
The Padres led 7-1 heading into the ninth and pinch-hitter Adam Rosales hit a three-run homer, “My first pinch-hit homer ever. I’m learning that role. It is a big role to learn on a team, especially a young team. You want to do that in more of a pressure situation.”
Said Rosales of the team’s dilemma, “This is definitely a grind, but you have to be able to show up every day and stay together as a team. At the beginning of the season, the pitchers were picking up the hitters and the hitters were picking up the pitchers.”
Now the Reds are just picking up the pieces.
As so often happenes, one play that goes unnoticed at the time turned things ugly for the Reds.
It was in the fifth with the Reds trailing by only one run. The Padres had one out and a runner on first when Kevin Kouzmanoff grounded to third base — a potential inning-ending double play.
The potential, though, exploded, when third baseman Edwin Encarnacion’s throw to second baseman Brandon Phillips was off target and the Reds were lucky to get the out at second.
What followed was a double, a hit by the pitch and a three-run home run by Will Venable that made it 6-2.
“Not turning that double play led to four runs,” said manager Dusty Baker. “That’s where defense is very, very important. You play for that (double play grounder) and we just didn’t turn it. That was the difference in the game.
“It wasn’t a good throw to second base and Brandon had all he could do to just catch the ball and step on second base for the force,” said Baker.
Baker, of course, is keeping the faith, despite his team’s direction — 11 games under .500.
The Colorado Rockies pay a weekend visit, “And we face Aaron Cook (tonight) and he is very tough. We have to come with it because the Rockies are smelling the playoffs.”
That’s a different odor other folks are sniffing in Great American Ball Park these days.
Permalink | Comments (47) | Post your comment |
TweetSelig NOT considering Rose’s reinstatement
All those who were dancing down the driveway when they heard that Bud Selig is agreeable to considering the reinstatement of Pete Rose, well, unlace those dancing shoes and put ‘em back in the closet.
It ain’t true.
The New York Daily News broke the “story” Monday, but on Tuesday the author, columnist Bill Madden, backed down and printed what almost resembled a retraction. The headline said it all: “Selig won’t ease up on Rose.”
I can sniff exactly what happened. It has happened to me. I wrote a story once and the next day Commissioner Selig was on the phone personally, straightening me out.
Madden is a close friend of mine and I respect him immensely. He is on the writers ballot for the Spink Award and Hall of Fame induction next year. He attends the Hall of Fame ceremonies every year and talks to all the Hall of Famers.
Somebody steered him wrong. I noticed there were no quotes from Selig on the story that he is considering Rose’s reinstatement. Madden talked about Hank Aaron backing Rose, along with Joe Morgan and Frank Robinson. Somebody spoon-fed him false information - maybe even some of Rose’s people, who have been known to do that.
Anyway, I suspect Selig called Madden on Monday and set the record straight.
And that record is that nothing has changed in Selig’s mind toward Pete Rose. And I remain convinced that Rose will never be reinstated as long as Selig is commissioner.
Reinstating Rose would send a message that Selig considers Rose exonerated, that betting on baseball won’t get you the lifetime ban that the rule says it will. This is the 20th year of Rose’s banishment and Selig isn’t about to give him a 20th anniversary present. And I wouldn’t bet (pardon the expression) on a 25-year gift, either.
What you do folks think?
Is what Rose did so despicable that he should be banned forever - no Hall of Fame, no return to baseball as manager or coach?
Should he be reinstated so that he would be eligible for the Hall of Fame, but not be permitted back in baseball in any capacity?
Should all restraints be removed so he can both be in the Hall of Fame and also coach or manage?
Remember one thing. Even if Selig were to reinstate him, that doesn’t put him in the Hall of Fame. The 15-year statute of limitations has expired on the baseball writers ballot. His Hall of Fame future would be in the hands of the Veterans Committee and I don’t think he’ll have their support.
Also, please, no arguments about steroid users. That’s apples and oranges. Different circumstances.
Permalink | Comments (142) | Post your comment |
TweetStaking claims on steaks (or hamburger)
Chicago Cubs (first place) 5, Cincinnati Reds (1 1/2 games out of last place) 2. Call the coroner. You don’t even need a medical examiner. Cause of death? Anything one can think of that goes bad for a baseball team.
IT WASN’T a fun weekend for the Cincinnati Reds, but I had a great Saturday night - a steak at my favorite steakhouse, The Saloon. It’s in the Seneca Hotel behind the John Hancock Tower.
The first time I walked into the place I saw Joe Nuxhall and George Clooney sitting at the bar. Fans were getting Nuxy’s autograph and ignoring Clooney. I knew it was my kind of place.
It has a wall-to-wall glassed-in case with baseballs signed by major leaguers and some photographs.
AND THE STEAKS are major-league. Ate Saturday with my former sports editior Frank Corsoe and his daughter, Beth. They gave the place two thumbs-up and added two pinkies up, too
Yes, the place is upscale. But not haughty. In fact, they have a complete menu of bone-in steaks and our waiter encouraged the table to pick up the bone when most of the meat is gone and gnaw on it. “That’s what our customers do,” he said. I repeat, it is upscale with white table cloths and white napkins and a large wine list.
And onion soup that is the nectar of the culinary gods.
MY FIVE favorite steak places:
The Saloon (Chicago)
The Oakwood Club (Dayton)
Donovan’s (La Jolla, Calif.)
Vic & Anthony’s, Houston
Hal’s, Atlanta (The name alone merits a plus).
And for those who wonder how I can rate The Oakwood Club over the Pine Club, it’s simple for me. With my eyes, it is so dark in the Pine Club I can’t see my thumb and fear I might slice it off with a steak knife. The place is too small and there is always a wait and the seating quarters are so cramped a big guy like me can barely squeeze into a table. And The Oakwood Club steaks are just as good, if not better.
And for those who wonder about Ruth’s Chris and/or Morton’s. Overpriced and inconsistent from city to city.
So there.
AS FOR THE Reds, they are raw hamburger as they limp home after a 0-6 trip to Los Angeles and Chicago. They might as well be waving a white surrender flag when they get off the team charter in Cincinnati tonight.
They are dead. They are buried. They weren’t a very good team to start with and you have to give credit for them hanging around so long. But now with some underachievers and a whole lot of minor-leaguers, they are barely a notch above Triple-A and there may be some better Triple-A teams out there. Would you believe Double-A?
They simply cannot compete with the big boys and now can barely hold their own against teams of their own ilk. Let’s see how they perform the next four nights at home against the last-place San Diego Padres, one of baseball’s pathetic teams.
MICAH OWINGS pitched three innings Sunday and gave up two runs, three hits and walked four. Then he left with a tight right shoulders. Earlier in the day Jared Burton was put on the DL with physical weakness and shortness of breath.
It is not that I question injuries, but doesn’t it seem to you that the farther a team falls out of first place the more the injuries mount? You just wonder how many would still be playing if the Reds were seven games in first place instead of seven games out of first place. Pain tolerance is a funny thing.
Shortly after I wrote this, Chris Dickerson tried to make a diving catch in right field and came out of the game with his shoulder throbbing. Geesh.
OK, I’M writing this in the seventh inning for there is still time for the Reds to prove me wrong. Earlier in the year when the Reds got behind, 2-1, early in the game one figured they could still come back and win.
Not now.
Now it seems as soon as they get behind, it’s over. When the Cubs went up, 2-1, in the third, I thought, “Well, this one is over.” Now it’s 3-1 in the eighth and the Reds have ONE HIT, a home run by Joey Votto, and I still thinks it’s over.
See what I mean? The Reds loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and didn’t score. Pinch-hitter Jerry Hairston Jr. flied to medium-depth center. Edwin Encarnacion tagged and tried to score and was thrown out - a dubious call by umpire Laz Diaz, bu you see what a mean. Another big chance blown up.
Then Arthur Rhodes gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth and it was over, over, over. For those who kept sniping for Chris Dickerson to play regularly, well, he has started the last four games and he is 3 for 15 with eight strikeouts before he left the game in the eighth Sunday.
Permalink | Comments (50) | Post your comment |
TweetPhilosophizing doesn’t work, either
IT WAS, INDEED, a short night. With a noon game, it was up at 8, shower, shave, dress and grab an orange juice, croissant and non-fat latte in the lobby Starbuck’s. Then a very sane cab ride (same Chicago Livery Cab Co. as Friday’s death-defying dash to Wrigley) to the ballpark.
I would have done better to talke a sailboat out on Lake Michigan, as traveling secretary Gary Wahoff did on the off day Thursday. Right now, though, I wouldn’t want to be on any boat with any Cincinnati Reds players. Talk about a sinking ship.
The Reds lost again Saturday, 5-3, to the Cubs and the Good Ship Cincinnati is taking on more water than a dry creek bed during a summer storm.
With his team a season’s high eight games under .500 and a season’s high 7 1/2 games out of first place (before the St. Louis Cardinals played tonight, manager Dusty Baker was in a reflective and philosophic mood Saturday morning in his office before the latest tragicomedy.
“This losing is frustrating,” he said. “I can go to sleep, but I keep waking up trying to figure answers to the clues.”
BAKER SAID he received a phone call from an old friend, Roger Vogel, a former adidas representative.
“He said, ‘You remember what you signed on a picture for me once,’” he asked me. “I said no and he told me it was, ‘Don’t quit until the end of the run.’ That was 20 years ago and now I have to live that.”
Baker said he reads Proverbs in the Bible every morning and this morning he read, “And I’m paraphrasing now, but it was, ‘How small is your faith if you waver in times of trouble?’”
Talk about Bridge Over Troubled Waters, for the Reds the water is over the roadway.
AND THEN there is Baker’s sister, who attends a bi-lingual church. She called to remind Baker, “God has bigger and better plans for you.” Said Baker with a laugh, “I just wish I knew what it was.”
Baker said he has had more team meetings this year at any time in his managerial career and added, “You don’t usually have meetings with good teams. And I’m not saying this isn’t a good team, but we’ve had a few things to talk about. What you have to do is keep the spirit up. If the spirit is broken, you’re lost. Every team goes through this. We just have to keep scratching and fighting.”
A few timely hits would help, too.
While some people like to reduce baseball to a stack of numbers, it is played by men with brains, hearts, fatty tissues and varying sized biceps.
And yet some numbers don’t lie, especially in the case of the free-falling Cincinnati Reds.
After a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs Saturday in Wrigley Field, some ugly and pathetic numbers are piled against the Reds:
—They are 0-5 on this trip to Los Angeles and Chicago.
—They are a season’s worst eight games under .500 at 44-52.
—They can’t hold their own against good teams like Chicago, Los Angles, Milwaukee, New York and St. Louis. Since July 3, they are 5-13 against those teams.
—And here’s a staggering number. The Cubs scored three runs in the first inning Saturday and that’s 83 runs opponents have scored in the first inning to 51 for the Reds. The second highest amount of runs in one inning against the Reds is 62 in the sixth.
Johnny Cueto is the latest starting pitcher to trip over his pitching toe. Over the last 17 games only one starter has won, two games by Bronson Arroyo — and he had to pitch 16 straight shutout innings to do it. The starters are 2-12 in those 17 games.
Now that’s a bad number.
And Baker wasn’t whistling the Dixieland Blues when he said, “When things go bad, when you aren’t winning, everything goes against you. Nothing goes right. All the breaks go the other way. I’ve seen it over and over.”
Saturday was no different, right from the first minute when Chris Dickerson blooped one to center to start the game. Reed Johnson tried for a diving catch and missed. Dickerson tried for second and Johnson threw him out from the seat of his grass-stained britches.
“We finally get a bloop to fall in and then we get thrown out at second,” said Baker. “That’s the way is has gone for us.”
In the bottom of the first, Dickerson tried for a running catch on Derrek Lee and it skittered past him for a triple as a run scored. Aramis Ramirez followed with a home run and it was 3-1. Game over.
Center fielder Willy Taveras and Dickerson converged on the ball and nearly collided, but Taveras backed off at the last moment.
“That ball was in No Man’s Land,” said Baker. “When the ball went up, it was not high enough for anybody to be sure enough to call for it. You couldn’t have thrown a ball out there better than that. That’s No-Man’s Land. A bad break for us and a big break for them.”
No Man’s Land. Right now the Reds have squatter’s rights on it right now.
The Reds had a runner on third with two outs in the fourth when Edwin Encarnacion shot one up the middle. Pitcher Kevin Hart stuck up his bare hand and stabbed it and threw the first for the out.
“The pitcher catches that ball barehanded and that’s another sign you are in a bad way,” Baker said. “That’s a base hit and a run. Pitchers are taught not to stick up their pitching hand. He does it and doesn’t injure himself and saves a run.
“We’re in a bad way,” said Baker. “We’re not playing very good and a lot of things aren’t going our way right now.”
Of the bad first innings, Baker said, “Those things get in your head sometimes. Sometimes there is no explanation. When you are in a bad way, these things happen. You search for clues, but you don’t find any.”
Joey Votto and Jonny Gomes hit solo home runs in the ninth, but that was cosmetics applied
Permalink | Comments (58) | Post your comment |
TweetMaybe the Reds need this Cabbie
The Travails of Travel, Part 186:
My cab ride today from the hotel to Wrigley was an all-timer. First the guy weaved in and out of traffic on the surface streets like a rabbit dodging sagebrush. Then we got on the Lake Shore Drive and the needle hit 90.
As he got to the Belmont exit to Wrigley, he was three lanes on the inside. Suddenly he cut to the right as horns behind us blared. A Yellow Cab nearly sideswiped us. The other cabbie pulled next to us and questioned my driver’s heritage, ancestry, breeding and upbringing. Said my cabbie, “Sorry, man, I thought you saw me.”
Saw him? How can you miss a maroon blur blasting across three lanes to dive into a narrow exit ramp? The other cabbie accepted that, but I could see a rumble on Belmont, iwth the meter running.
I was going to report him, but decided in these times I don’t want to see anybody lose his job. But if you’re in Chicago and marron cab No. 479 pulls up, take the bus.
THAT WAS the most exciting part of my day, other than the BAB I eat every day at Wrigley with Reds Media Relations Director Rob Butcher. The food in the Wrigley media dining room is just one step above edible. Just across the street and under the ‘EL’ tracks is a Mexican takeout joint. What’s a BAB? It’s a Big-A**-Burritio - about the size of an official NFL football. And it’s $5.
OH, TODAY’S GAME? Forgettable, as is nearly all the games played these days by thge Cincinnati Reds, 2-6 since the All-Star break and fading faster than my grandma’s sun dress.
You have to feel bad for Aaron Harang. He has now started 11 straight games without a win. He is 0-7 in those 11 starts. The Reds lost Friday, 8-5. Harang hit a three-run homer in the second inning, his first home run of any kind since he was in high school.
That gave him a 3-1 lead. But his buddies (well, he thinks they are his buddies) didn’t score aznother run while he was on the mound. He gave up a sixth-inning home run to Aramis Ramirez to break 3-3 tie and Harang left with his team behind, 4-3 (his three runs with his three-run home run).
In his previous start, he lost to Milwaukee, 5-1. The Reds’ only run came when Harang bunted and the third baseman threw the ball away for an error. So in his last two starts over 13 innings, the Reds’ offense has not produced a single run.
If I’m Harang, I sue my teammates for non-support.
I ASKED MANAGER Dusty Baker before Friday’s game if he had given thought to playing Johnny Gomes against righthanded pitchers as well as lefthanded pitchers.
Gomes isn’t sure he subcribes to the phrase, “All good things come to those who sit and wait.” That might work for Heinz ketchup, but it doesn’t work for a guy who is hitting .305 with seven homers and 20 RBIs in 105 at-bats.
While the Reds struggle offensively, Gomes continues to start only against lefthanded pitchers, which means he doesn’t start that often.
When asked if he has thought about starting Gomes against righthanders, manager Dusty Baker said, “Yeah, we’ve thought about it. Yeah. But we see signs of Chris Dickerson getting it together (.318 in his last 29 games, but no homers and only four RBIs). And Laynce Nix has been up and down. The potential is there that we could have a monster.”
Gomes was in Friday’s lineup against righthander Randy Wells, but only because Nix was originally on the card but was scratched with a sore neck. Gomes was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
Entering Friday’s game, Nix was 0 for 11 and his batting average was down to .240.
“With our lack of offense, we need to be better defensively,” said Baker. “Just depends on how we are swinging in the next few games.”
Permalink | Comments (26) | Post your comment |
TweetMy five top baseball moments
Apologies for the lateness of today’s blog. I was traveling all day from Los Angeles (LA fans tried to keep the Reds in town). When I got to Chicago, I started watching the White Sox game and couldn’t quit.
As you know, Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game. And did you see who made that catch over the wall to preserve Buehrle’s perfect game, no-hitter and shutout? DeWayne Wise - former Reds minor-league outfielder.
I remember covering Tom Browning’s perfect game. Rain delayed the start until 10 p.m. and the quick-working Browning finished off the Dodgers (once upon a time the Reds could beat the Dodgers) in less than two hours and the game finished around midnight, right on my deadline.
I wrote my story in about seven minutes.
Because of the delay, Riverfront Stadium was nearly empty, but Browning said recently, “If everybody who told me they were at the game that night were really at the game there would have been 500,000 people in the stands.”
What most people don’t know is that LA’s Tim Belcher took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Belcher later pitched for the Reds and is one of my all-time favorites.
A couple of times after he pitched bad games, he was not in the clubhouse after the game. But he left quotes for the writers. On his locker, he taped a sheet of paper with answers to 10 questions he thought we would ask.
Belcher was one of many (well, all of them) Reds who hated it when former owner Marge Schott took her St. Bernard onto the field before games. More often than not, Schottzie left some droppings - once at shortstop and once in right field. When the writers wrote that the players were upset that even though the stuff was scooped up by the grounds crew, it left a smelly spot, Schott banned some of us from the media dining room. Belcher sent a pizza to the pressbox with a note, “For writing the scoop.”
Seeing Buerhle’s perfecto and seeing what Manny Ramirez did Wednesday got me to thinking. What are my Top Five Moments in covering baseball for 37 years?
Ramirez makes the top five. Unbelievable. He didn’t start because his hand was sore from getting hit by a Homer Bailey pitch Tuesday night. (Why didn’t Bailey hit him harder?)
So with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, tie game, Ramirez comes out of the dugout. I have never heard a louder stadium … ever. Then on the first pitch, he hits a grand slam. I have never heard a louder stadium … ever. The fans went stark-raving bonkers. To add to the drama, it was Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Night.
Did you catch Ramirez when he returned to the dugout? He shook his head back and forth like a bobblehead doll.
So that’s No. 5 on his list.
No. 4 - LA’s Kirk Gibson hitting the dramatic pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley at Dodger Stadium. Gibson did not start because of a bad leg, but Tommy Lasorda sent him up to pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a runner on second, LA down, 4-3. Gibson homered on a 3-and-2 pitch. When he hit the home run, he dragged his leg around the bases, pumping his fist all the way.
No. 3 - Carlton Fisk’s game-winning home run against the Reds in the 12th inning of Game 6 in the 1975 World Series. That moment is replayed so much that I think a lot of fans believe the Red Sox won the World Series on that swing. Not so. The Reds won Game 7. But the photo of Fisk, standing at home plate motioning the ball to stay fair, is one of baseball’s most famous. The ball hit the Fenway Park foul pole above the Green Monster in left field.
No. 2 - Tom Browning striking out Tracy Woodson on a called strike three to complete his perfect game. Does Browning still have that ball? “Naw, it was sitting on my mantel and my kids took it outside to play with it and lost it down a sewer,” said Browning.
No. 1 - Pete Rose’s hit off San Diego’s Eric Show that passed Ty Cobb to become the all-time hits leader (4,192 at the time). There is no cheering in the pressbox, but everybody in the box that night stood and applauded, me included.
Former Chicago sports writer Jerome Holtzman wrote a fantastic book entitled, “No Cheering in the Pressbox.” There was a day long after the book came out when a writer sat next to Holtzman in the pressbox when he covered the White Sox in the playoffs. Holtzman was outwardly cheering for the Chisox.
The guy seated next to him said, “Jerome, didn’t you write a book called No Cheering in the Pressbox?” Said Holtzman, “Well, the boys need my support.”
Permalink | Comments (35) | Post your comment |
TweetJocketty is quiet but Manny Ramirez isn’t
IS IT TIME to dismantle and re-assemble? What can be done? What really can be done in the short term? Not much. This is a long-term project and it looks pretty ugly for years to come.
When you stack up the Cincinnati Reds against the Los Angeles Dodgers, well, it’s apples and prunes, and you know which team is the prunes.
The Dodgers completed a three-game sweep Wednesday night and have beaten the Reds 12 straight times over four years in LA. It’s absurd. It’s Mercedes and Volkswagen, and you know what team is the Volkswagen.
The Dodgers won this one, 6-2, on a B-script grand slam pinch-hit home run by Manny Ramirez. On his Bobblehead Night. On one pitch. Only in Hollywood.
Before you delve into what happened in the game, peruse what general manager Walt Jocketty said before the game.
Are the Reds sellers or buyers? Trade up or trade down?
Jocketty says that if he does anything it will be closer to the July 31 trade deadline than right now.
“We’re still trying to improve, but if we do anything it probably won’t be until close to the trade deadline,” he said. “That’s generally the way things happen. A lot of talk and then when things get closer to the deadline. It never fails. When you get close to the deadline, then people start doing things. They move quicker and make decisions quicker.”
If fans are looking for a quick fix, a quick rent-a-player for the rest of the season, Jocketty says that won’t happen.
“I am looking either way as far as acquiring veterans or prospects,” he said. “I’m just looking for what is the best way to improve the club. I will not do anything that is going to be short term. It has to be something long term, something to help the team down the road.”
Even though the Reds had fallen a season’s worst five games below .500 entering tonight’s game in Dodger Stadium, Jocketty said he isn’t giving up on this season.
“We’re just so banged up,” he said. “But even though we’re under .500 we’re still hanging around close enough to be able to do something.”
OK, you’re the GM. What do you do? Who do you trade and why? Who do you try to acquire and why?
THE SURGERIES just keep piling up. The latest is infielder Danny Richar, who will undergo surgery Tuesday to repair a torn labrum. He is the fifth Reds player to need surgery this year, joining SS Alex Gonzalez (left elbow surgery), C Ramon Hernandez (left knee), RHP Mike Lincoln (disc replacement) and INF Wilkin Castillo (labrum surgery).
OK, what they said last night:
Ramirez was not in the Dodgers’ lineup (sore hand), but the lure of his bobblehead drew a full house of 56,000. And the place went into delirium when he was announced as a pinch-hitter in the sixth with the bases loaded, one out and the score tied, 2-2.
Nick Masset replaced starter Bronson Arroyo and Masset’s first pitch to Ramirez was last seen spiraling toward San Luis Obispo, a grand slam home run and the noise in Dodger Stadium was like five 747s landing simultaneously at LAX.
It actually landed in a section in the left field seats called Mannywood, in his honor, and it was his 21st grand slam, two behind all-time leader Lou Gehrig.
“I would have liked to have faced him,” said Arroyo. “I played with him long enough (on the Boston Red Sox) that I probably have a better insight into his mind than anybody else here. That’s Dusty’s call, his job, not mine.”
Said Baker, “I had my best double play guy (Masset) in there to get a ground ball. His sinker didn’t sink. Arroyo had just walked two and given up a rocket (single to Russell Martin).”
Baker paused to shake his head and said, “That’s stuff I used to see out of Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron. That’s about as dramatic as it gets — a grand slam on one pitch on your bobblehead night.”
Masset said he put the ball in the right area, “But it didn’t sink the way it normally does and it was middle-in. I was trying to jam him, get a ground ball, get out of the inning.
“Bronson pitched a good game and it was my job to come in and execute and get the job done. I failed.”
Ramirez didn’t fail. It was his first career pinch-hit home run.
“It was one of the best moments in my career,” said Ramirez. “It was kind of crazy, but I loved it. Before I hit, I watched some video of myself, trying to find myself. I think I did it.”
Arroyo has seen Ramirez do this stuff over and over and over.
“He’s unbelievable,” said Arroyo. “For as many times as he doesn’t win the battle, it seems like in situations like that he gets it done about 70 percent of the time. He’s like Albert Pujols. You never want to see those guys up with two on in a game-deciding situation.
“Sometimes he can be patient and other times he comes out and hits the first pitch, a 95 miles an hour sinker, out of the park.”
Manny being Manny. And the Reds being the Reds.
Permalink | Comments (88) | Post your comment |
TweetReds to Dodgers: Ease up, guys
Los Angeles Dodgers 12, Cincinnati Redfaces 3. Homer Bailey - 2 2/2 innings, 9 runs (six earned) 8 eights, two walks, two wild pitches, a hit batsman. He threw 81 pitches and the Dodgers swung and missed only twice.
Do we need any more on this debacle? The Reds have lost 11 straight in Dodger Stadium and would have a better time here if they just circled the team bus around an In ‘n Out Burger for three hours.
Brandon Phillips didn’t play - mostly because the game got away in a hurry and Manager Dusty Baker didn’t have to use him a pinch-hitter or as part of a double switch. Phillips probably was happy he didn’t have to participate in this piece of baseball garbage.
BAKER SAYS isn’t a believer in sending messages, but I think differently in this case.
I believe there is a distinct reason he played Adam Rosales at second base Tuesday against the LA Dodgers. Baker benched Brandon Phillips for not hustling Monday and put Rosales at second base.
Of course, he had few options. But Rosales is a guy who runs everywhere - a guy who runs off tghe field after an inning as if he has had to go to the bathroom since Sunday. To me, it meant, “Hey, Brandon. Check this out.”
I’M NOT DEFENDING Phillips, because even he admits he was wrong for not running hard on the fly ball he hit to right that was lost in the sun and fell for a hit. But as I told him, I’ve covered baseball for 37 years and I’ve seen it hundreds and hundreds of time. Watch for yourself. When a major-league player hits a routine fly ball to the outfield, most of the time they trot out of the batter’s box. It’s human nature.
It just happened to be Phillips jogging when that ball fell in. If he had stopped at first, not much would have been made of it. But he compounded his mistake, he tried to make up for it by trying to take second and was thrown out.
Caught. Nabbed. And because of some other instances where Phillips didn’t go full-bore, it stood out.
ROSALES START at second base was his first there this season, third of his career. Hairston’s start in right field was his first there this season.
FOR THOSE ASKING: I had two Dodger Dogs Monday night. And the pre-game meal tonight looked so bad I passed. So tonight might be, uh, three Dodger Dogs?
And somebody asked how many cheesesteaks I had when I was in Philly for four days on the last trip. Just three. Then during the two-hour rain delay in Cincinnati last Saturday I wandered down to the Penn Station concession stand in Great American and had their version of a Philly cheesesteak. Actually? Not bad. Not Philly, but not bad.
SOME SADNESS: The Baltimore Orioles are moving into Sarasota, taking the place of the Reds. The city and county in Sarasota could have done the same thing for the Reds, come up with $31 million, to keep them. But they thought the Reds wouldn’t leave.
Now the Reds are headed to Arizona. I’d rather be in Sarasota, on Siesta Key, where my condo was on the beach. Out the door, left turn, 20 feet, on the beach.
OH, THERE was a piece of humor in this game. Catcher Craig Tatum pinch-hit and grounded out to third on the first pitch of his major-league debut. He stayed in to catch and when David Weathers threw strike two to the first batter, Tatum whipped a throw to third base. He thought it was strike three.
They showed him close-up on TV and his face was as red as his helmet.
Permalink | Comments (36) | Post your comment |
TweetPhillips apologizes and sits
Just before game time tonight, the latest on Brandon Phillips is that he is not in the starting lineup. And Phillips took it in the right spirit, understanding that it was necessary because he messed this one up.
When manager Dusty Baker posted his lineup card for a game in Dodger Stadium Tuesday, Brandon Phillips was not on it.
And Baker had a 20-minute open door conversation in his office with Phillips to discuss the situation.
Baker didn’t say much but when asked if Phillips might be used as a pinch-hitter or part of a double-switch late in the game he said, “I’m not going to sacrifice a game for principles.”
The play that caused the furor was a routine fly ball in the first inning Monday, a play on which most major-leaguers trot to first base, assuming the ball will be caught.
“Brandon told me he thought the ball would be caught,” said Baker. “In this game you assume nothing, you never assume a ball is going to be caught.”
The ball was not caught. Right fielder Andre Ethier lost it in the sun and the ball plopped to the grass. That’s when Phillips ran hard, but his mistake was in trying to make second base and he was thrown out.
A run scored on the Phillips play to give the Reds a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Had Phillips made second (or first), the Reds would have had a 3-0 lead with no outs and a runner on. Instead they had a 3-0 lead with one out and nobody on.
They lost, 7-5.
“I’m not mad or anything,” Phillips said after his meeting with Baker. “I really messed up the game and that’s why I’m not playing. I deserve to be sitting on the bench. I have to learn my lesson and it won’t happen again.
“When I came into the dugout after the play I told everybody, ‘Hey, my bad. I just messed up royally. I hope it doesn’t bite us in the butt. If it goes down and we lose the game, my fault.’”
Phillips said he said something to the team after the game in the clubhouse, too.
“I said to them, ‘Damn, I messed it up and it won’t happen again,’” he said. “One of those negative things that happened. I’ve been consistent lately about running and next thing you know, I messed up. One time I don’t hustle and it just bit me.”
Said Baker, when asked if it is a one-game thing, “At this point, yeah. I don’t send messages. If I want to say something, I say it or do it. One of the easiest things to do is hustle.”
When Baker was told Phillips said he wouldn’t do it again, the Reds manager looked askance and said, “I remember telling me daddy when he was whipping my butt, ‘I’ll never do it again, daddy, I’ll never do it again.’”
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment |
TweetBaker benches Phillips for not hustling
For all you Dusty Baker detractors, well, the Cincinnati Reds manager climbed a step on my respect ladder today.
Even though the Reds are facing a tough lefthander in Randy Wolf and need all the offensive help they can get, Brandon Phillips is NOT in tonight’s lineup.
It is obvious punishment for another incident where he didn’t hustle, a play Monday night on which he hit a fly ball to right field and trotted to first, believing he had hit a sacrifice fly. When the ball was lost in the sun and plopped to the Dodger Stadium grass, Phillips then turned it on.
He should have stopped at first, but he compounded his lack of effort by trying to make second base and was easily thrown out. Instead of three runs in, no outs, a runner on second (if he had hustled from the start), the Reds had three runs in, one out, nobody on.
“That was a rally-killer right there,” said Baker.
One wonders right now, before the media can talk to Dusty, if Phillips said the same thing to him as he said to the media.
“I was just happy to just get that RBI, to finally do something with runners in scoring position (a run scored from third on the play),” he said. “I was happy to hit a fly ball to get the run in. I hit the fly ball to right and said, ‘Damn, I missed it.’ I put my head down and when I looked up I saw that he had dropped it. I didn’t know he messed it until I looked up. Then I tried to get to second.”
Then Phillips realized his explanation was a bit lame and said, “I know I screwed up. When it happened, I was glad I got the run in. I could have done worse and not got the run in at all. But I messed up and that’s my second time not hustling this year. I won’t happen again. I screwed up.”
Said Baker, “Hey, man, we’ve all talked to him until we are blue in the face. Evidently, this must have started long before I got here. All you can ask is for a guy to hustle.”
CAUGHT UP ON my sleep today. Awoke at noon (3 p.m. Eastern). Then a cab driver nearly put me back to sleep. First of all, they don’t seem to believe in air conditioning in the taxi industry in LA. Probably saving gas money, but it’s nearly 100 today and I was sitting in the back seat waiting for somebody to baste me and stick a thermometer in me.
And the driver I had was a nice Asian fellow, but spoke nearly no English. He knew how to get to Dodger Stadium, but once there I had to tell him how to get to the media entrance. Every time I said, “Right,” he turned left. Every time I said, “Left,” he turned right. Once we finally made it I gave him money and said, “Keep the change, but need a receipt.” He kept trying to give me the change and ignored the receipt. After several gestures, we made a connection. He got his tip, I got my receipt.
And I bounded out of the cab, leaving a puddle of sweat in the back seat. I started to mention something about the air conditioning, but it would have been useless. He probably would have popped the trunk for me.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment |
TweetPhillips says it won’t happen again (again)
THE ENIGMA that is Brandon Phillips surfaced again tonight in Dodger Stadium, another time he didn’t hustle, another apology, another quiet shaking of the head by manager Dusty Baker.
The Cincinnati Reds had Jason Schmidt draped over the ropes, groggy and out of it. The first three Reds hit safely to open the game. With two runs already in and a runner on third, Phillips flied to right field and trotted out of the batter’s box, head down, loping toward first.
But right fielder Andre Ethier lost the ball in the sun and it fell for a hit. Only then did Phillips turn on the after-burners and he tried to make second base. He was thrown out.
As Baker said, “We should have scored more in the first.” A walk and two outs followed Phillips getting thrown out at second. No more runs.
Asked if he talked to Phillips about it, Baker said, “Hey, man, we’ve all talked to Brandon about stuff like this until we’re blue in the face. Evidently, this must have started long before I got here. That was a rally killer right there. All you can ask is for a guy to hustle. That’s not too much to ask. Just hustle.”
Phillips, who had three of the Reds six hits, admitted he was wrong.
“I was happy to get the run in from third with a fly ball to right field,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘Damn, I missed it,’ and I had my head down. When I looked up he had dropped it and I tried to make second. I messed up. That’s my second time not hustling this year and it won’t happen again.”
We’ve heard that one before.
IF THE REDS are going to lose out here on the West Coast, three time zones away, can they at least do it more quickly than Monday night’s ghastly affair?
The Dodgers didn’t even have to bat in the bottom of the ninth, so the game was only 8 1/2 innings, but it still took the Reds more than three hours to lose, 7-5.
As far as time of game goes, this one didn’t start very well.
Jason Schmidt, making his first start since June 2007 went to 3-and-2 on leadoff hitter Willy Taveras, who smoked one to left center. The ball bounced back into the playing field and Taveras legged it for a triple.
Baker came out to argue and request a review, the only play in baseball that can be reviewed (home run or not a home run). After further review: no home run.
TWO PITCHES later, Jerry Hairston Jr. swung and missed and his bat ended up in the seats behind the Dodgers dugout. He had to walk to the bat rack, grab a new stick, apply the pine tar and … oh, well, I didn’t have anything to do after the game, did I? No movie starlets returned my calls today.
THEY SAY something you haven’t seen before happens often in baseball. I can testify to that. See something all the time and it happened again tonight. The first three Reds hitters played wall ball - all three batters (Taveras, Hairston, Joey Votto) hit the wall on the fly and I know I’ve never seen the first three hitters in a game hit balls off the wall on the fly.
MAKE IT a two-fer. Another event I’ve never seen. Rafael Furcal led the Dodgers first by bunting. For a double. Yes, he bunted for a double. He bunted over third baseman Edwin Encarnacion’s head and before shortstop Hairston could run it down, Furcal was on second.
Some weird stuff, man, weird.
END OF one inning: Los Angeles 4, Cincinnati 3. I’ve been sitting all day in an airplane and now I’m going to have to sit all night in a press box - and sit and sit and sit. First inning: 43 minutes.
Manny Ramirez put this one out of reach with a two-run homer in the second that was last seen circling LAX between two 747s.
ACTOR CHRIS Noth was in the stands. My wife, Nadine, loved him in Sex in the City and in Law and Order - or in anything. Maybe he could have pitched a couple of innings for the Reds. Or run hard from first to second on a fly ball???
Permalink | Comments (66) | Post your comment |
TweetVotto sends his love from Mannywood
It’s always fun to come to LA and see all the celebrities at Dodger Stadium - Charlie Sheen and Rob Reiner are regulars. Hugh Hefner showed up once with a half a dozen of his, uh, friends and nobody watched the game.
One night after a day game I went to the Improv Comedy Club to watch a bunch of comedians I never heard of. Midway through the show, the host said, “Special treat tonight. Somebody stopped in and wants to say hello. Robin Williams.”
Williams then did about 45 minutes of stand-up and didn’t take a dime for it nor did our cover charge increase.
A HALF DOZEN Reds were taking early batting practice at 3 o’clock in Dodger Stadium when one of them, Joey Votto, looked up at the pressbox and saw a couple of writers and yelled, “Hey, say hello for me to everybody on Twitter. Tell ‘em all I’m having a fun time in Mannywood.”
NO MAJOR incidents getting to LA on American, but they pulled a fast one on some folks. I had a 2 1/2-hour layover in Dallas and heard they cancelled two Dallas-LA flights earlier in the morning (6 a.m. and 9 a.m.). My flight was 10:15 and went off as scheduled, a 757 stuffed to the rafters. And I had a middle seat, which is like sitting in the middle of the front seat of a Honda Civic, only the Civic has more room.
What ticked me off was that sitting next to me was a deadheading flight attendant, a non-paying customer with a window seat. I knew I was in trouble when she said, “I love to talk.” After Saturday night’s rain-delayed game in Cincinnati, I got home at 2 a.m., got to bed at 3:30 and was up at 8 for Sunday’s day game. Then Monday morning I had to get up at 4 a.m. to catch my flight to LA.
So I was TIRED, with a capital Z, and this woman wanted to talk. The first time she paused for breath, I grabbed my iPod, plugged in my ear plugs, put on my Oakley sun glasses, turned my head the other way and went to sleep. For three hours.
After we landed, she tells me, “I went right to sleep. Did you?”
YOU KNOW you are in LA when you have lunch in the hotel coffee shop, order a Chinese chicken salad, a bowl of Seven Onion soup and an iced tea and the bill is $30. Those two iced tea refills must have cost $5 each. Although the salad was loaded with cashews (I love cashews but they don’t love me), it wasn’t that good.
HOPE I MAKE it until the fifth inning. That’s when they put the Dodger Dogs on the media grill. Then I hope I make it back to the hotel without acid indigestion and heart burn. I can’t resist Dodger Dogs - the best hot dogs anywhere. If I covered the Dodgers and worked 81 games at Dodger Stadium, I’d break Babe Ruth’s all-time hot dog record and my stomach would look like Mount St. Helens.
ROOKIES ALWAYS have fun stories and Craig Tatum is no different.
He was called up to the big leagues Sunday for the first time and flew from Cincinnati to Los Angeles with the team. The veterans had a great guffaw at his expense when he got off the bus from the airport and waited to retrieve his suitcase.
“It’s the big show, my boy. We don’t carry our suitcases. They magically show up in our room,” he was told.
Tatum was stunned when he rode a cab from Century City, where the Reds stay, to Dodger Stadium and the fare was $60. He figured he was riding the cab, not buying it. And he said, “They don’t have traffic like this in Hattiesburg, Miss. I saw more cars than we have people in Hattiesburg.”
Then he walked into Dodger Stadium and his jaw dropped. “Never saw a baseball stadium this big. Not even close,” he said.
NOW I KNOW I’ve made it. Walked past Aaron Harang’s locker today and saw his shoes - the idential black Cole-Haan loafers that were on my feet. Of course, mine were only size 13. His had to be 16, maybe 17, and mine would fit inside his.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment |
TweetSurgery set for Ramon Hernandez
Doc Kremchek’s to-do list with the Cincinnati Reds never ends, just gets longer and longer.
On Tuesday he’ll be doing some scalpel work on catcher Ramon Hernandez’s problem left knee, which has been drained a few times and taken cortisone injections. It requires clean-up surgery.
Hernandez was placed on the DL after an MRI Saturday revealed there are loose bodies floating in the knee — and those loose bodies have nothing to do with Hollywood movie starlets.
Catcher Craig Tatum was called up from Class AAA Louisville and when the 26-year-old third-round pick in 2004 and former Dayton Dragon gets into a game it will be his major-league debut.
In another surprise move, the Reds recalled relief pitcher Jared Burton and returned relief pitcher Robert Manuel to Louisville, “Because it’s time to get Burton back up here,” said manager Dusty Baker.
Hernandez said his knee has bothered him for a couple of months and he tried to play through it, but over the weekend the pain became too much. He played Thursday and didn’t slide on a play at the plate, “Because I slid in New York last Sunday and it hurt pretty bad, scared me.”
Hernandez also has been bothered by a sore left hand, “But some cortisone has made it feel better and it’s OK right now.”
When somebody said, “Didn’t your mom tell you not to be a catcher,” he said, “I told myself. In my next life I’m coming back as an outfielder or a soccer player.”
FINALLY, SOME good news. Shortstop Alex Gonzalez began a rehab assignment today at Class AAA Louisville and the plan is for him to play four games there, then rejoin the Reds Thursday for the three-game series in Chicago Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Reds held off making an announcement to see how Gonzalez reacted after hard workouts Friday and Saturday, taking infield, taking batting practice and hitting against pitcher Micah Owings.
THE REDS ARE in Los Angeles and might want to check out the Hollywood Bowl, the La Brea Tar Pits and/or Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
Going to Dodger Stadium is a waste of time and effort. The Reds haven’t won a game there in four years and are 0-9 over the last three seasons.
They completed a four-game homestand Sunday with a 5-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and lugged a 2-2 record since the All-Star break to the west coast.
Before Sunday’s game, Jonny Gomes checked the lineup card, playfully pointed to his name, and said, “Jonny Gomes? What’s he doing in there?”
What he did was win the game, breaking a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning with a two-run home run. And he put the Reds into a 3-3 tie in the third with a run-scoring single after Prince Fielder’s two-run homer off Jonny Cueto, Fielder’s 24th, gave Milwaukee a 3-2 lead.
Gomes was somewhat serious when he saw the lineup card and asked why he was on it because Milwaukee started righthander Yovani Gallardo, “And I don’t start against righthanders for this team,” said Gomes.
Why Sunday?
Because lefthander Laynce Nix, originally in the lineup, showed up with a stiff back and Gomes was a quick replacement.
“Now it’s off to Mannytown,” said Gomes, referring to LA and Manny Ramirez.
Of his team’s La-La Land failures, Baker said, “That’s OK. Law of averages. But first we had to fight for our lives today — it was a fight and a struggle. We’re scratching and clawing and digging.”
Chris Dickerson led the eighth with a single and Gomes was facing relief pitcher Seth McClung, who was a starter for Tampa Bay when Gomes was there.
“Known him a long time,” said Gomes. “You know what to expect, since Day One — power arm with a big slider.”
Gomes admits it bothers him to be classified as a guy who can’t hit righthanders and said, “Yeah, it definitely does. I hit all the way up through the minors. I don’t think I’ve been labeled that, but it’s a role I’ve been thrown into and I’d love to hit my way out of it.”
His single was off a righthander and his home run was off a righthander. Proof enough?
Permalink | Comments (42) | Post your comment |
TweetWas Harang’s downfall ‘One More Batter?’
WONDER IF Aaron Harang regrets IT. Wonder if Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker regrets IT.
IT?
Rewind your memory back to May 25, Reds versus Houston in Great American Ball Park. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Harang owned a 5-3 lead, one out away from the five innings necessary to qualify for a victory
Then came the rain. It rained for two hours and three minutes before play resumed. Harang warmed up under the stands in the indoor batting cage four times. Then he asked Baker to let him go back out after the rain delay and get the last out.
He went back out and gave up a single to Hunter Pence, then struck out Humberto Quintero to qualify for his win and left the game.
What price glory?
Since that day, Harang has made 10 starts with nary a win. Not one. He is 0-6 with a 5.08 ERA in those 10 starts, including Saturday’s 5-1 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers.
On his next start after the rain-delayed outing, he pitched in Milwaukee and gave up eight runs and 12 hits in 4 2/3 innings. He hasn’t been the same since.
Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences. Getting that one out for a victory may have cost Harang his season. And it judging from Harang’s string of 10 straight starts without a win, it is costing the Reds dearly.
WE HAD ANOTHER rain delay Saturday night. What do we do?
Well, there were a dozen major-league scouts from 12 different teams and I asked several about Harang.
Some comments:
“He isn’t throwing with the same velocity.”
“His slider has flattened out. Used to be his out pitch.”
“He is relying much more on his curve than his slider.”
“He can’t put away hitters the way he used to be able to do.”
“He’s a fly ball pitcher, but he isn’t getting that many.”
“His pitches don’t have the moment they once had, they don’t sink the way they used to sink.”
AND FOR those who care, like us who sit and sit and sit and miss our deadlines, Saturday’s delay was the 13th the Reds have endured this season, 10 at Great American Ball Park.
WITNESSED WHAT may have been the worst scoring decision of my 37 years of writing about ball.
Happened in the fourth inning of tonight’s game when Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder scorched one through the box. The ball one-hopped off pitcher Aaron Harang’s glove. A hockey goalie would have been proud to save that one. Harang had zero reaction time and no time to throw up his glove. It just happened to ricochet off his glove toward base.
A run scored and every writer in the pressbox marked hit and an RBI for Fielder in their scorebooks. Came the call from the booth, “Error one, no RBI.”
What? Everybody in the press box was incredulous. Brewers media relations director Mike Still an error that cost Fielder an RBI. Again. Incredulous. Never in my career have I ever seen a pitcher charged with an error on a ball smoked that hard off his personage.
CHATTED WITH TODD Coffey Friday in the Milwaukee clubhouse and he insisted, “Facing Cincinnati is just like any other team. Just give it my best, like I always do.”
Yeah, right? The former Reds bullpenner, booed out of town, looks like the Monster That Ate Boston these days. He’s huge. But the Reds can’t hit him.
On Saturday, he pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, then sat through a rain delay of an hour and 59 minutes, then came back to pitch a 1-2-3 eighth, throwing a 97 miles an hour fastball at Joey Votto.
Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment |
TweetItching to get the game started
Adam Rosales is making his major-league debut at shortstop tonight and I hope I can cease scratching long enough to watch how he does.
Maybe it is Mississippi Revenge, my punishment for saying that the Mississippi State Bird is the mosquito. Whatever it is, I sat down at my space in the pressbox this afternoon and suddenly my hands and feet began itching. Real bad. I scratched and scratched and scratched. Only got worse.
I have no allergies, so it is perplexing. Happened to me one other time this year and at the same spot, my seat in the pressbox. But that time it was only my hands and it subsided after about 10 or 15 minutes.
Not this time.
Made a trip down to the clubhouse and assistant trainer Steve Baumann gave me some packets of hydrocortisone Cream, Maximum Strength Anti-Itch. Rubbed it in and my hands feel better, but my feet still itch a bit.
I’m sitting at my pressbox seat in my bare feet, hoping nobody sits close to me tonight.
And I apologize to the Mississippi Mosquitoes.
WHY ROSALES at shortstop when he has not played there in the majors?
“Jut the best lineup I can come up with for this game,” said manager Dusty Baker. “I’ve talked to (GM) Walt Jocketty about it and to the Triple-A people. He’s been hitting pretty good, too.”
Jerry Hairston Jr. has been playing shortstop, but he is in left field tonight against Milwaukee lefthander Manny Parra.
“I signed as a shorstop and I like it, but I like any position as long as I’m out there,” said Rosales. “They Reds moved him away from shortstop in the minors after he had elbow surgery in 2006, “My arm is fine now. After that season, I took care of it, strengthened my body more so I could protect my arm and ever since I’ve been taking care of my body, stretching more and strengthening my shoulder muscles, my arm has been fine.”
DISABLED PITCHER Edinson Volquez walked into the clubhouse after a long toss session and found one of the bobbleheads of himself that the Reds were giving away tonight. Both arms were broken off.
“Who did this, broke off both my arms?” said Volquez. I knew. I saw who did it. But I won’t tell, other than to say he is righthanded, sits in the bullpen, is called a closer and his initials are F.C.
Asked if he liked the bobblehead, Volquez said, “Yeah, I do. The nose is better than my nose. Now we’ll have 30,000 people with my bobblehead, mostly my relatives.”
Volquez plans to throw off a bullpen mound in Los Angeles Monday. “I’ll do that three times, every other day, then I’ll be ready next week to go out on rehab to either Louisville or Dayton,” he said.
Volquez laughed and said, “It has been so long since I’ve been out there (May 21) that I don’t know where the mound is.” When Baker was told that, he said, “That’s OK, I’ll direct him. It’s that little hump in the middle of the field.”
BRONSON ARROYO isn’t pitching tonight, so it was a surprise to see Ryan Hanigan catching instead of Ramon Hernandez.
“Ramon’s leg is sore,” said Baker. “That’s why he didn’t slide last night. He isn’t fast, but when he doesn’t slide, you know something is wrong. His knee is barking at him a little bit. Hopefully he’ll be OK tomorrow.”
And hopefully I’ll quit scratching by game time. I mean, I’ve head of the Seven-Year Itch, but this is ludicrous.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment |
TweetWake-up calls for Bronson and E.E.
“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”
One of the great lines in a great movie, Animal House, which obviously at least one of our posters didn’t see or know about when he corrected RC about who bombed Pearl Harbor.
Anyway, no matter who bombed Pearl Harbor, the Cincinnati Reds keep twisting on the end of a rope but keep kicking, screaming and breathing.
Just when it looks as if all is over, Bronson Arroyo (The Human Yo-Yo) throws 16 consecutive scoreless innings in two straight wins - including seven innings Friday in a 4-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
And what does he say when asked the difference between now and, say, when he is giving up double-digit runs in one or a few innings in Toronto? “Luck,” he said with a giggle. “Just call me a roller coaster.”
Then there is Edwin Encarnacion, the man we all want to dump (blush, blush from these fingers). I’ve been wanting to trade him for three years. With several scouts at the park Friday, maybe now is the time to offer him up to somebody.
Encarnacion had four hits Friday, including a home run, and has 7 for 7 in the first two games of this series. That, though is his history. For a while, nobody can get him out. Then for a while, he couldn’t hit my Aunt Opal, and she’s in a wheel chair.
If he keeps this up for another week or so, he might be attractive to somebody in a trade. I’m not infield coach, but to me his defense remains deficient.
Anybody else out there besides me who believes that even though he has raised his average from .127 to .227 in two weeks that he should be traded, if anybody will take him?
I know the Reds need some righthanded power in their lineup and he COULD be the man. But he is just as likely to dive into a death stall when the club needs him most - like the last two games of this series and the six-game trip to LA and Chicago.
The Reds have lost nine straight in Dodger Stadium - and they didn’t have Manny Ramirez for any of those games.
Permalink | Comments (24) | Post your comment |
TweetYou have to have an itch for Tunica
Anybody know the state bird for Mississippi? I do. It’s the mosquito. They have mosquitoes in Mississippi as big as helicopters (and I’m glad I learned how to spell Mississippi in grade school before I knew what or where it is).
My wife, Nadine, and I and eight other people were in Tunica, Miss., over the All-Star break on a gambling junket. Mosquitoes hate me, too sour, but they love my wife. She was bit 21 times (that we can count) and I was bitten once and the culprit died on the spot without me smashing that sucker flat.
Played lots of blackjack and Nadine played the slots and we both came back with more money than what we left with, even AFTER expenses. But it isn’t enough to pique the interest of the IRS.
WHILE I WAS in Tunica, a Reds fan named Don Wetzel e-mailed me and asked if he could come to Tunica and buy me a beer and have his picture taken with me. I said sure. Then I discovered the 71-year-old retired insurance man lived in Jackson, Miss., 3 1/2 hours from Tunica. I told him not to do it, but he said there was only one other person he would drive that far to meet and it was Rush Limbaugh.
No comment.
Well, he made the trip and we had a couple of beers and had some photos taken. I’m honored that someone would drive 3 1/2 hours just to meet me. I wouldn’t drive 15 minutes to meet myself.
WATCHED THE end of Thursday’s game after I got home and saw baseballs flying great distances. One of the writers said that if you put the home runs hit by Joey Votto and Edwin Encarnacion together they would stretch from Great American Ball Park to Tunica.
Looks as if Encarnacion’s bat is coming around. When he came off the DL he was hitting .127 and he is creeping toward the Mendoza Line at .196 going into Friday’s game.
THE REDS made a roster adjustment of not much note. They sent young pitcher Josh Roenicke back to Class AAA Louisville and recalled infielder Drew Sutton. Of more concern is the news that pitcher Mike Lincoln will undergo surgery Monday to have cervical disc replacement in his neck. It will happened in St. Louis and be performed by orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. K Riew. It is likely that Lincoln is done for the season.
AS THE REDS begin play tonight, they are a season’s worst 5 1/2 games out of first placed and firmly entrenched in fifth place, 2 1/2 behind fourth place Houston/Chicago and only four games ahead of last place Pittsburgh.
It behooves them to take these next three games from the Brewers before embarking on a six-day trip for three games in Los Angeles and three games in Chicago. With Edinson Volquez still among the missing, with Alex Gonzalez still among the missing and with Jay Bruce absent for probably the net eight weeks, what’s the word?
B-l-e-a-k.
What do you think? Should Don Meredith turned out the lights? Is the party over?
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment |
TweetReds’ Bruce expected to miss 6-8 weeks
This just in from Cincinnati Reds media relations:
Reds OF Jay Bruce had an MRI late (Sunday) night that showed no damage to the tendons or ligaments in his right wrist. He will be examined again on Thursday prior to the Reds first game after the All-Star break. Bruce is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.
Bruce has played in 83 games this season. He’s batting .207 with 18 home runs and 41 RBIs. He has struck out 63 times, most on the team.
Permalink | Comments (30) | Post your comment |
TweetLeaving my mark on ol’ Broadway
I THINK I left my mark on Broadway - dirty underwear strewn from the Marriott Marquis for three blocks to the subway station.
But that’s getting ahead of the story. On Friday and Saturday I had no problems with the subway system. Sunday, though, was, uh, different and I’m just happy it was Sunday morning when travel is light.
The difference Sunday was that I had to drag my suitcase with me to the ballpark because I have a flight out of LaGuardia after the game and the airport is not far from Citi Field.
When I got to the subway station I had to buy a ticket for one ride. The machine wouldn’t take my money. So I went to the booth and told the woman, “My card doesn’t work.” She buzzed me through a turnstile and I walked down a long set of steps.
When I got to the bottom I noticed a side zipper on my bag was open, my Dirty Underwear compartment. Oh, yeah. So I’m sure I left a path of strewn dirty underwear from 46th street to 42nd street.
YOU DON’T notice things like this until you are dragging a 40-pound suitcase. By actual count, between the first subway steps and several sets of steps at Citi Field, I dragged that sucker up and down 138 steps.
ADAM ROSALES was recalled for Sunday’s game to replace Jay Bruce and it was fun listening to him talk about his flight in from Louisville this morning.
“Never been to New York,” he said. “It was neat flying in because I saw the Statue of Liberty on my left and the Empire State Building on my right. Then I cabbed it from the airport to the ballpark. No subway. Haven’t had the full experience yet.”
When Rosales walked into the clubhhouse, outfielder Chris Dickerson saw him and said with a smile. “Hey, you aren’t an outfielder. Go home.”
REDS MEDIA RELATIONS Director Rob Butcher spent a portion of Saturday morning in New York doing his version of Rocky. Butcher, a running devotee, decided to run from the team hotel at 42nd and Lexington to Brooklyn and back.
He ran across the Brooklyn Bridge, then turned and ran back. “It was awesome,” he said. “They have a tier on top of the bridge for runners, walkers and bicycles and the view is spectacular. I saw the Statue of Liberty on my left and the Empire State Building on my right. It was about 10 miles total - awesome, very cool.”
A THOUGHT from Manager Dusty Baker on fundamentals: “When you change organizations, sometimes you realize that either fundamentals are not taught or if they are they are not retained. Players should know most of this stuff but I remember (former manager and pitching coach) Roger Craig telling me, ‘Don ‘t ever assume they know it. You need refresher courses. Even doctors need refresher courses.”
THIS IS PROBABLY it for a few days. Some R&R during the All-Star break. You won’t hear from me for a few days, so play nice. Be good to each other. Discuss whatever you wish. I’m sure Wizard has a few words about why Paul Janish, Ryan Hanigan and Chris Dickerson should play.
Well, with Bruce gone, Dickerson will play. Hanigan and Janish? Good luck.
QUICK ADDENDUM before I call it quits for the first half:
Just saw something I thought I’d never see - Joey Votto ejected from a game. I’ve never seen him argue with an umpire. He might say a word or two, but never argue.
But in the first inning Sunday, umpire Bill Welke called him out on an inside pitch. In his last at-bat Saturday he was called out on an inside pitch. On this six-game trip, the second one Sunday was the sixth time Votto was called out on inside pitches.
He was mad as hell and couldn’t take it any more. He yelped at Welke. And kept yelping. Welke let him go longer than most umpires permit players to argue about balls-and-strikes. Manager Dusty Baker was late arriving to push Votto away. Just when he got there, Votto had one more word for Welke and was ejected - his first ever ejection.
Yep, it’s time for the break. At the time of Votto’s ejection, the Reds trailed by New York Mets, 5-0, and starter Aaron Harang was long gone.
And now - I’m long gone.
Permalink | Comments (43) | Post your comment |
TweetBruce’s immediate future not determined
I watched it as in unfolded and I watched it once on replay, then turned my head. The TV ghouls kept playing it over and over and over.
Well, maybe everybody isn’t as squeamish as I am. When I see somebody fracture a bone, I don’t want to see it over and over and over like a guy returning a touchdown 102 yards.
Jay Bruce tried to make a diving catch Saturday night in the first inning of a 4-0 loss to the New York Mets and Johan Santana. He landed on his gloved hand that forced his wrist to bend in the way wrists are not supposed to bend.
Snap!
Bruce fractured the hand and is to have an MRI in Cincinnati Sunday to see the severity of the injury and to see if surgery if required. If it is, Bruce is probably done for the season. If it doesn’t require surgery, you can wager he’ll miss several weeks.
For those expecting a Drew Stubbs appearance, don’t. Won’t happen. They just need a body for one game Sunday before the All-Star break. They’ll wait until they see how bad Bruce is before they make a post-All-Star break decision.
Enmeshed in a 0 for 14 slump, Bruce sat in the dugout the last two games, “Clearing his head and observing,” said manager Dusty Baker.
Baker had Bruce back in the lineup Saturday and had him batting second. He struck out against lefthander Johan Santana in the first inning, then trotted to right field.
Angelo Pagan led with a single off Cueto and Luis Castillo walked. Bruce was playing deep for David Wright when Wright lofted a shallow fly ball.
Bruce charged in hard and tried to make a diving catch, jamming his left hand into the turf and bending it backwards. He was in obvious deep pain when he stood up and his arm dangled in a grotesque manner.
Bruce left the game immediately, replaced by Chris Dickerson. He will be checked today in Cincinnati by team medical director Dr. Tim Kremchek for a prognosis on how long he will be incapacitated.
“Just trying to make a play,” said Bruce after the game, his arm heavily encased in wrappings. “I had the ball. I caught the ball. But when my glove hit the ground it came out.”
And that’s when he knew he was in trouble.
“I didn’t know it was broken, but I knew it wasn’t good,” he said. “It hurt pretty bad. I was some bad pain. Part of the game, I guess. I watched the replay and it didn’t look good.”
After Bruce left, Wright’s single filled the bases and with one out newly acquired Mets right fielder Jeff Francoeur blooped a two-run single down the right field line. Francoeur was playing his first game for the Mets after he was acquired in a trade Friday for outfielder Ryan Church.
After a walk to Daniel Murphy, Cueto gave up a run-scoring singler to Omir Santos for a 3-0 lead.
The Mets made it 4-0 in the second on a triple by Pagan and a single by Castillo.
Cincinnati’s only early threat against Santana was in the first when Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips produced two-out singles, but Ramon Hernandez flied to the fence at the 415 mark in center.
After that Santana retired 16 of 18, giving up harmless doubles to Dickerson in the third and Edwin Encarnacion in the fourth.
Cueto was done after five innings worth of 101 pitches that resulted in four runs and nine hits.
Manager Dusty Baker, of course, was more concerned about the long-term prognosis for Bruce than the short-term failures on this trip of Cueto, who gave up nine runs in less than an inning in Philadelphia Monday.
“A bloop and Bruce ends up with crack in his wrist,” Baker said with a shake of his head. “That’s tough news. Seems like we get one guy back and we lose another guy. We’re being tested for some reason, but enough’s enough. We just have to keep pushing.”
Baker said a player would be called up for the final game today before the break, but last Saturday night he wasn’t certain who it would be.
“A tough blow, just a tough blow,” added Baker. “I didn’t even want to look at the replay because I saw it live and I knew something bad happened. That’s what happens when you can’t get your glove cleared out of the way. All your weight comes down in that very fragile area of the wrist and the hand. Another inch and he clears (the ground) and catches it and none of this happens — but that’s not the way it happened.”
Baker paused for a deep breath, fearing the worst, and said, “I just hope Jay is not hurt too seriously and let’s hope we don’t lose him for the season.”
Of the game, Baker said, “You give Santana a lead and he is extremely tough. He’s tough without a lead. Cueto’s ball were sinking out of the strike zone for walks and then he centered some balls over the heart of the plate, especially to Santos (three hits).”
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment |
TweetBruce breaks right wrist diving for ball
Jay Bruce suffered a broken right wrist in the first inning Saturday night in Citi Field.
Bruce was making his first start after “observing” on the bench for two days, but was back in the lineup Saturday batting second.
He struck out in the first inning, then took his position in right field. Mets third baseman David Wright lobbed a shallow fly ball toward right and Bruce, playing deep, came charging in and made a dive at the ball.
His gloved hand jammed into the turf and his hand bent backward, breaking the wrist. He was in great pain as he stood in right field being examined and he left the game.
He will be checked further Sunday in Cincinnati by team medical director Dr. Tim Krenchek.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment |
TweetDid somebody move the Carnegie Deli?
A sad day in my life. I walked the 10 blocks from W. 45th to W. 55th, my mouth watering fro a Carnegie Deli salami omelette. Gone. The Carnegie is gone. Not there. Unbelievable. What is New York coming to, anyway.
I went to the Carnegie Deli web-page and it’s still there - as May of this year. If I just missed it, walked past it, I’m going to do something drastic. With my eyes, I could have missed it. But I walked by twice. Used to be a yellow awning.
I have such fond memories of the place. They had long banquet-syle tables at the Carnegie and you sat with strangers. They had hundreds of celebrity photos on the wall and I was sitting there staring at one of my all-time favorites, Helen Hunt. This was 15 years ago. Somebody brushed my back to get past me to a chair two seats down. I looked jup and it was Helen Hunt - in the flesh. My good got cold, but not my cheeks.
I’ve seen Tommy Lasorda in there, holding court at a loud volume, of course. Gone. Man, I can’t believe it. The space is now occupied by Applejack Diner. Since I was there, why not? What a waste of time.
I sat at the bar so I wouldn’t take up an entire table. I ordered and they sat a Diet Coke in front of and took my order. Next to me, there was stacking to-go bags, about 17 of them. Thirty minutes later, my drink empty and my food nowhere I sight, I asked for another Diet Coke. The waitress, with a disgusted look, took my glass. She filled it half way. Nice ice.
After 45 minutes, my western omelette was delivered. I’ve heard of three-egg omelettes and two-egg omelteets, but never half-an-egg omelette.
ON MY way back to the hotel I stopped at a Starbuck’s for vente non-fat latte - normally $3.50. In New York - $4.35. Welcome to the Big Apple.
NOT ONLY is Jay Bruce back in the Reds lineup tonight against lefthander Johan Santana after sitting out two games to clear his, he is batting second behind Willy Taveras. Santana is the kind of guy who can spin your head and fog it up for days. We’ll see about this move.
REMEMBER LAST year when I got off the subway after a night game in Times Square, where my hotel is? Somehow I ended up at the Port Authority bus terminal and took 45 minutes to find my way back. It was scary.
Well, isn’t it amazing how easy it is when you follow signs? On Friday night I got off the subway and looked at a sign. It had an arrow pointing to the right - 8th Avenue/Port Authorityy. It had a sign right next to it, with an arrow pointed left - 7th Avenue, 42nd Street. Now I know what I did. I went right when I should have gone left. Following the signs, I came out right where I entered earlier in the afternoon.
And two years ago I fell in Times Square and and tore the meniscus in my left knee. I was only on the DL for six days after surgery, but I can now tell you when it is going to rain. And when I get tired, my gait is amazingly similar to Amos McCoy - and if you remember that TV series you are getting up there in age, my friend.
THERE IS a walkway behind the hotel that goes about two blocks across Times Square. It is almost like a tunnel and one can avoid the humanity mass on Times Square by using it. Smoking is permitted, so that’s my spot late at night to destroy a cigar and read to mellow out after a game.
And it is a great place to People Watch, a pastime I love.
There is a huge mirror entirely down the left wall. And this is going to sound extremely sexist, but it’s true because I’ve observed it over and over and over. Young women walk by and they can’t resist looking at themselves in the mirror. I never see a man do it.
OK, here’s the lineup Johnny Cueto has behind him to score a run or two off Santana: Taveras CF, Bruce RF, Votto 1B, Phillips 2B, Hernandez C, Encarnacion 3B, Gomes LF, Hairston SS.
It isn’t likely this weak Mets lineup that is missing Carlton Beltra, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes will score nine runs in the first inning off Cueto, as the Phillies did, but let’s see what the Reds can do against Santana.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment |
TweetReds: Buyers, Sellers or Neutral
NO, THESE weren’t the Real New York Mets. These were more like your father’s New York Mets, the ones who lost 120 games in their first year of existence (1962).
But that’s not the fault of the Cincinnati Reds. When an opponent is down, step on their necks. With both feet.
That’s what Bronson Arroyo did Friday night in the new Citi Field, which has about the same dimensions as Manhattan’s Central Park.
The Mets are missing stars Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes, all on the DL, and giving the Mets what Arroyo called a watered-down lineup.
Righ now, with their season clinging by a surgical thread, the Reds don’t care if the opposing lineup is filled with replacement players. A win is a win is a win.
Arroyo held the Half-Mets to no runs, four hits, no walks and struck out five in a 3-0 victory. Afterward, Arroyo addressed a significant issue.
WILL THE Reds be buyers, sellers or neutral between the All-Star break and the July 31 trade deadline? Here’s what Arroyo said - and it makes total sense.
“We’re at the point in the season where we don’t know what management is thinking,” he said. “If we slide too far from the top and there is an opportunity they might want to start getting rid of some guys. We feel we have a real young club with an opportunity to do some good stuff. We hope we keep it tight so they don’t think about that.”
Extremely good point, Mr. Guitar Man.
What do you out there reading this think? Are the Reds buyers? Are they sellers? Should they stand pat and not trade prospects? Should they still add that big righthanded bat (Scott Rolen?) even if it takes prospects?
Whatever, it was humorous to watch the young guys after the game. It ended shortly after 10 o’clock. Friday night. Manhattan beckons. The city that never sleeps. I never saw so many quick showers and quick dashes for the door.
COME TO think of it, what am I still doing here? Manhattan beckons to even a 68-year-old baseball writer with a bum knee. Hey, a beer and a cigar and I’m done.
Hey, on this night, a 3-0 win over the Watership Down Mets, they earned it. But two more is needed going into the All-Star break and they should take advantage of the limping Mets, losers in six of their last seven. The Cardinals won again, remaining 4 1/2 games ahead of the Reds.
A wider gap would not be wise.
Permalink | Comments (27) | Post your comment |
TweetA lovely place for a ballgame
DO TOO many cheesesteaks in a four-day period cause bizarre dreams? During my Thursday night slumber, I had a talking javelina tell me, “Always take the home dog in the NFL.”
What? A prairie dog told me to ALWAYS take the visiting favorite and I know he’s nuts.
The Amtrak train ride from Philly to New York was glorious. For the 9:37 a.m. train, I left my hotel at 8:45 to 30th Street Station. Picked up my ticket. Still had a half an hour to kill - two Dunkin’ Donuts (glazed) and a cup of coffee.
No security lines. I didn’t have to take off my shoes, take off my belt, take my laptop out of my bag, have my suitcase screened after getting to the airport two hours early and still barely making my flight.
We were ushered down the steps at 9:30 to Track 2 and the train arrived promptly at 9:35 and was on the move again at 9:37. What? No waiting on the tarmac? And no seat belts. Doesn’t it frost your knickers when the flight attendance on a plane says, “When the seat belt light is not illuminated, the captain requests that you keep your seat belt on at all times.”
The ride was glorious. Far too short - about an hour and 10 minutes. After an hour on an airplane I’m squirming and muttering, “Just land this damn thing and let me off.”
When the train pulled into Penn Station I was sad. I wanted more. Those 70 minutes were the most relaxing I’ve had since I left Dayton last Monday. Penn State is at 7th and W. 32nd. I walked to my hotel at 7th and W. 45th. Blocks east and west in New York are very close together and the 13-block walk, threading through massive humanity while dragging my bag-on-wheels, wasn’t bad at all.
Oh, you are allowed to use cellphones and laptops on the train - ANY time you want, except on the Quiet Car. Yes, they have a Quiet Car. No cell phones and no talking above a whisper. Alas, no Smoking Car any more.
Love the new Citi Park, all $800 million of it. First of all, it is a closer walk from the subway stop than was Shea. And anything above a stinkhole with bleachers would be better than the sewage dump that was Shea.
Loved the line uttered by Newark Star-Ledger baseball writer Ed Price when I said what a nice park this is. Said Ed, “Yeah, it’s really nice - the second best new baseball park in New York.” He was, of course, talking about the new Yankee Stadium which cost about $600 gazillion.
Forttunaely, I found a media person coming in the front door when I arrived. Finding the pressbox would be a chore for Lewis & Clark. You turn left. You get on an elevator. You walk through a restaurant. You turn right up some steps. You walk down aa hall and turn left down some steps. There is a ‘Y’ in the hall and you take a right up some steps.
Before I learn this place, I’ll just leave bread crumbs.
Somebody asked David Weathers if he’ll miss Shea and he said, “Yeah, I’ll miss riding those rats with a saddle. Those rats were so big I saw them being hunted from a blind.”
IN MANAGER Dusty Baker’s office there are chairs with wheels on them and he said, “Good, if I don’t like a question I can roll you on out of here.”
Of Citi Field, he said, “I love going to new ballparks. Of all the new ones, I think I like Pittsburgh. This one (Citi) is different. Most new ones play small and are small. This one plays begger and has higher walls.”
FOR THE second straight night, Jay Bruce was not i the lineup, but Baker said he’ll be back in right field Saturday against lefthander Johan Santana, “Because lefthanders hit Santana better than righthanders.”
And he flip-flopped Willy Taveras and Chris Dickerson again - Dickerson leading off the Taveras batting second.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment |
TweetReds have their phil of Philadelphia
For those who like to deal in rumors, rumors, rumors - check out the blog I posted before Thursday’s game. Should be right below this one.
It is probably better than reading about another shakedown by the Cincinnati Reds. The difference between a world championship team and an also-ran was glaring in this four-game series — three wins by the Philadelphia Phillies by 22-1, 3-2 and 9-6. The Reds won one, 4-3
Her’s the skinny - and it’s very skinny. The Reds are now in sole possession (that means all by themselves) in fifth place. They are ahead of only the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are a half-game behind fourth-place Houston.
The Reds made more mistakes than a high school dropout doing the New York Times crossword puzzle on this night and what good is it to enumerate them.
The Reds led, 3-0. The Phillies tied it, 4-4. Brandon Phillips hit a two-run homer and they led, 6-4. The Phillies scored the next five.
The most telling thing is that the Reds scored six runs on eight hits against starter Jamie Moyer, then could get NOTHING against a has-been, Chan Ho Park — no runs, no hits, one walk and four strikeouts.
Now that’s embarrassing.
Loved what Phillips said about the Phillies: “Whenever they get runners on base, they turn into the Mighty Phillies or something. Man, they have a good offense.”
And manager Dusty Baker laid down a few things:
He chastised right fielder Chris Dickerson for being a spectator when he should have been backing up center fielder Willy Taveras. A ball hit by Chase Utley caromed away from Taveras several yards toward right field. No Dickerson. Inside the park home run.
He chastised pitcher Josh Roenicke for a late arrival covering first base on a possible double play, then missing the base with his foot on the throw. Instead of an inning-ending double play, a run scored on the play and three more followed.
It was ugly stuff - like the Reds fell out of an ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
They have three more games before the All-Star break this weekend in New York. Things are slipping away. They are 4 1/2 games behind the division-leading Cardinals and looking over their shoulders as if to say, “Can the Pirates be far behind?”
So we abandon this city, where we have been for four days. I’m taking the Amtrak train to New York tomorrow morning and can’t wait. It is only an hour and 20 minutes and when you arrive you say, “Is that all there is? Can’t I stay on? I don’t want to get off?”
Maybe I’ll ride it on up to Boston — and see some better baseball.
Permalink | Comments (32) | Post your comment |
TweetRumors, rumors, rumors - all false???
RUMOR OFF-CENTRAL:
No, the Cincinnati Reds are NOT going to sign pitcher Pedro Martinez, as one scout suggested. Martinez will undergo a physical, probably on Saturday, and if he passes the Philadelphia Phillies will announce he belongs to them.
The Reds have a better chance of signing Pedro Serrano from the movie Major League, but they already had him in the personage of Wily Mo Pena.
No, the Cincinnati Reds are NOT acquiring third baseman Scott Rolen from Toronto for Edwin Encarnacion and a top pitching prospect, as was “reported” on a web-site. The web-site said the trade was reported on the Toronto radio network that carries the Blue Jays, but if that’s true, nobody heard it.
Just to cover the bases, though, a knowledgeable person close to the Blue Jays said that the Jays and Reds HAVE talked. The Jays are NOT interested in Encarnacion. They are most interested in minor league prospects.
When the Reds were in Toronto, GM Walt Jocketty chatted for a long time with Rolen near the batting cage, “Just to say hello.” Rolen played in St. Louis when Jocketty was there. There was no tampering involved, just chit-chat, but I’d be willing to bet all my Tommy Bahama shirts that Rolen mentioned, you know, just in passing, that he sure loves the midwest, being an Indiana boy and all.
Rolen makes $11 million this year and $11 million next year, way over the heads of the Reds. The report also said the deal would be announced this weekend after Jocketty was finished re-negotiating Rolen’s contract. That’s called tampering and is against the rules and Jocketty wouldn’t do it
Rolen, an Indiana guy, loves Cincinnati and may eventually play for the Reds. But not now and not next year.
No, the Cincinnati Reds are not acquiring Garret Atkins from the Rockies for pitchers David Weathers and Nick Masset. Atkins is making $7.05 million and is having a terrible year. The bullpen has been the best part of the Reds this year (until the last week).
As a Reds official said, “We already have a third baseman, so where would Atkins play? There are only a couple of teams that can take on $18 million in salary.” And the Reds ain’t one of ‘em.
Any more rumors need discounted?
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment |
TweetWeathers wasn’t the Lone Ranger
Let’s not pin this one entirely on the 39-year-old body of David Weathers, who trudges up the left side of the mound before every pitch like a sherpa going up the Himalayas.
Yes, he gave up the game-ending, game-winning single to Shane Victorino tonight in the Reds’ 3-2 loss. But it wasn’t an awful pitch. Victorino, an excellent lefthanded hitter, reached out and drove the ball into left-center.
Game over.
The positive of this one was another stellar performance by Homer Bailey. Two in a row. The kid gets it. He looks like a man with a plan who knows how to execute it. For the second straight time, he pitched with aplomb and confidence and vigor.
He was done in by one pitch when he led, 2-1, with two outs and nobody on in the sixth. He wanted to throw a ball inside to Jayson Werth. Then he wanted to get him with a slider. He never got to throw the slider. The fastball for a ball slithered back over the plate and Werth knocked it out of the park.
So poor Mr. Weathers (Stormy is the correct nickname right now) gave up a grand slam last Friday to Albert Pujols after Bailey turned over a 3-0 lead and the Reds lost, 7-4. On this night Bailey turned over a 2-2 tie and Weathers had the misfortune to serve up the game-ender.
But manager Dusty Baker is more concerned with a pokey offense - and rightfully so.
He lamented the stranding of runners in scoring position. The Reds had a chance to bust it open in the fourth when their first four runners reached base and they had a run in with no outs and the bases loaded. The only scored one more run.
“We have to hit with runners in scoring position,” said Baker. “We got one run with no outs and the bases loaded. We just gotta get ‘em in.”
Fundamentals hurt the Reds in that inning. Jay Bruce grounded to second and Chase Utley picked up the ball and tagged Laynce Nix, then threw to first to complete the double play.
“That’s at least three times this year we’ve run right into the second baseman to start a double play,” said Baker. “We can’t let that happen. You either stop so he can’t tag you or you run him over so he can’t throw.”
Baker excused the heavily worked bullpen by saying, “We have to score runs. You can’t expect the bullpen night after night to hold ties and one-run leads.”
So the Reds are back to one-game under .500 at 41-42, with one game left in Philly and three in New York before the All-Star break.
Now excuse me while I go chase a cab and see which way he takes me back to make the meter spin.
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment |
TweetJust call me a sucker for a sob story
Was sitting in front of the hotel late last night, enjoying a cigar and reading, when a gentlemen sat down next to me. Introduced himself. A soldier. Just back from Iraq. We chatted and he saw my Hall of Fame ring and asked about it.
Then came the touch. He needed money for the train to New Jersey, “And a little extra, if you can spare it, for a bite to eat. The train is $13.” I gave him $20. Am I a sucker or what? He probably bought expensive vodka.
But it was worth it when he walked away and I heard him mutter, “Hall of Fame? Damn.”
WHAT I WOULD like to do right now is walk into the media dining room and kick out the plugs on three computers. Fans are voting for the final roster spot for the All-Star game and the Phillies are in an all-out campaign to get Shane Victorino on the team.
The Phillies have three young men in the dining room sitting at laptops punching in Victorino’s name every few seconds. And they are doing it non-stop, nearly around the clock. So when Victorino wins you’ll know it wasn’t a fan vote at all.
Can’t anybody do anything honestly any more? If it were up to me I’d vote for the Phillie Phanatic to be the last player on the NL roster. The guy is hilarious.
HAD MY Five Guys fix today - burger with ketchup, pickle, onion and the bag full of fries - a lunch Valhalla. And tomorrow I’m going to the Reading Terminal to get a Philly cheesesteak at Sparato’s. I’m told it is better than the touristy Pat’s, Geno’s and Jim’s. If it’s better than Jim’s I’ll be stunned, shocked and flattened.
WITH A righthander on the mound tonight (Rodrigo Lopez), Laynce Nix was in left field and Chris Dickerson was in right field, with Jonny Gomes and Willy Taveras on the bench.
“This guy (Lopez) is really tough on righthanders (.217),” said manager Dusty Baker. “Gomes and Taveras will be back in there Thursday (against lefthander Jamie Moyer).”
When Gomes went 0 for 3 Tuesday, it was the first time in his 20 starts that he did not reach base at least once. “When I was 0 for 3 in the ninth and they sent Laynce Nix up to pinch-hit for me, I was thinking, ‘Oh, no, now I can’t get on base,’ ” said Gomes.
Gomes, who fancies himself as Rocky, hasn’t run the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art yet, but says he might do it Thursday instead of running the grandstand steps that he runs four or five times a week.
Hearing that, Jay Bruce said, “I ran up those steps last year. Twice.”
The only step I’ll cover tomorrow is the step up the curb and into Reading Terminal. Load up the onions, please, and don’t spare the Whiz.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment |
TweetFrom four guys (Reds) to Five Guys (hamburgers)
JUST FOUND out there is a Five Guys a few blocks from my hotel. That decides my lunch plans for Wednesday - best burgers and fries anywhere. There is now a Five Guys in Cincinnati and a Five Guys in Columbus. None in Dayton.
Maybe I’ll quit this gig and buy a Five Guys franchise for Dayton. Or I’ll start my own franchise. One Guy. Or Hal’s Hamburgers.
BEING A McCOY, there is one thing in Philly I refuse to eat. You’d have to stuff it down my mouth. It’s a Hatfield Phillies Frank (hot dog). My great grandfather would disown me and whip me with the barrel of his shotgun.
WHEN JOE GARAGIOLA wrote his book, Baseball is a Funny Game, he knew of what he spoke.
How does a team use the same lineup and the same order (different pitchers, of course) one night and lose 22-1, then win the next night, 4-3?
That’s what the Cincinnati Reds did, beating the Phillies, 4-3, Tuesday in Citizens Bank Park. And they spotted the Phillies a 3-0 lead. Well, Aaron Harang spotted them the 3-0 lead. And he had the bases loaded with no outs in the third, already down, 3-0, and everybody was thinking, “Here we go again. Get those double-digit lights ready on the scoreboard.”
Then a strange thing happened. Harang retired three in a row with no damage. The Phillies would not score again.
Then it was time for Brandon Phillips. First he hit a two-run homer in the fourth then a solo homer in the sixth to tie it, 3-3. It stayed that way until the ninth when Joey Votto led with a double. Phillips, 0 for 7 in his career against Brad Lidge, was asked to sacrifice bunt. And he did it. Perfectly. No muss, no fuss, no missing signs, just sound fundamental baseball.
Ramon Hernandez singled up the middle and the Reds had themselves a win after spending a day in Philadelphia feeling like British soldiers wear red coats and getting the bejabbers beat out of them.
That’s four guys contributing mightily - plus the bullpen of Arthur Rhodes, Davie Weathers and Coco Cordero all got out of minor problems during their one inning each.
As usual, Phillips was eloquent after the game.
“We deserved that butt-whipping we got (Monday) and I’m glad it happened. It was kind of funny and it really woke us up. We were just moping along after getting butt-whippings two games in a row (10-1, 22-1).
“We had to play Reds baseball, do the little things,” he said. “You have to learn to do the fundamental things, learn how to bunt to show the little kids in the stands that bunting is important in situations like that.”
ANYWAY, here’s some stuff from one of my favorite journalists, Jayson Stark. At one time Stark was the Phillies beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and now writes for ESPN and is a must read.
-In his two innings of pitching in disaster relief, infielder Paul Janish has given up 11 runs. That’s eight more than he has driven in during his 33 at-bats.
-The Reds allowed 22 runs and 10 extra-base hits in their 22-1 loss to the Phillies Monday. No NL team had given up that many runs and that many extra-base hits in any game since Sept. 4, 1999, when the Phillies did it - against the Reds, of course.
-The Phillies did something the Philadelphia Eagles have never done - beat a team from Cincinnati by 21. The biggest margin of victory by the Eagles in a game against the Bengals was nine, in December 2000. Now that one REALLY hurts.
-The Reds have lost two games in their 19,000-game history by 20 runs or more - both of them to the Phillies. This game broke the previous franchise record, a 26-6 wipeout on July 26, 1892. I may have been there, but don’t remember it.
-Johnny Cueto became the first Reds pitcher in history to give up nine runs or more without getting at least three outs. And this was a guy who had never allowed nine runs in a game in any of the previous 47 starts in his career. Then he allowed nine in two-thirds of an inning.
Permalink | Comments (28) | Post your comment |
TweetA nightmare near Pattison Avenue
IT SEEMS that in Philadelphia, the game will forever be etched in the psyche of all the fans as simply, “22-1.” Nothing more be said.
As Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and I trudged from Citizens Bank Park shortly after midnight, a cab magically appeared - best thing that happened all night. As we got in, the cabbie laughed and said, “22-1.” He didn’t know we were writers covering the Reds and we sheepishly let him have his fun.
OK, so now it’s today, shortly afternoon. Sheldon and I are leaving Jim’s Steaks and magically another cab appears. It dumped a load of passenger’s at Jim’s door and we scrambled in. First thing the cabbie says? “22-1. Man, I thought it was a football score.”
It was. Philadelphia Phillies (Eagles) 22, Cincinnati Reds (Bengals) 1.
My wife Nadine didn’t watch the game and called me as I was in the cab leaving the game. When I told her the score, she said, “Are you ———— me?” No, honey. The god-awful truth.
The Philadelphia Daily News wasn’t kind to the Reds, but then, should they be? Their headline today: “Routrageous: Batmen 22, Jokers 1.” Ouch.
ON TO MORE important things. When it was mentioned that Sheldon and I were going to Jim’s today, a bartender said, “Tourist trap. Geno’s and Pat’s and Jim’s are tourist traps. Jim’s is the best of the three, but you should just find a mom-and-pop place on a corner.”
Hey, as good as Jim’s cheesesteaks are, I can’t fathom anything better. There comes a point when it can’t get better. In my humble opinion, Jim’s rules. I walked 19 blocks to get there, but was too full and too hot to walk back.
THE REDS made a move to cover the widening gap in the bullpen. They called up righthander Robert Manuel from Class AAA Louisville. And they optioned out infielder Drew Sutton.
As Dusty Baker said before tonight’s game: “The sun came up this morning. I thought it would. But I wasn’t sure. I didn’t sleep. I watched it come up. That was a nightmare I don’t want to re-live. Ever.”
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment |
TweetAt least there’s beer and cheesesteaks
AFTER THIS ONE, I’m going to need a couple of EXTRA Yuengling Lagers tonight before I go to bed. And when I get up and go to lunch? Two cheesesteak sandwiches at Jim’s instead of one. Extra Whiz.
What the Cincinnati Reds did on the field in Philadelphia tonight is what cows do in the pasture and elephants do during parades. I’d say they were pathetic, but that’s an insult to the word pathetic.
Never in my 37 years of covering the Reds have I seen anything so stuffed with pure ugliness. The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Reds, 22-1, and it wasn’t that close.
You can go back to the first professional game ever played, since the 1869 Red Stockings debuted, and you won’t find a Cincinnati baseball team losing by 21 runs.
Johnny Cueto gave up a walk and a home run in the top of the first. 2-0 Phillies. He retired the next two. Two outs, nobody on. Then the next eight Phillies not only reached base, they scored. After one inning, Philadelphia 10, Cincinnati 0.
THEY SHOULD HAVE stopped the game right then. A baseball TKO. No mas, no mas. Wave the white flag. Surrender. Unconditionally. It could only get uglier and worse. It got uglier and worse.
Trying to save something in his bullpen for the next six games, three in Philly, three in New York, manager Dusty Baker brought in infielder Paul Janish to pitch the eighth inning. He gave up six runs, including a grand slam home run to Jayson Werth.
Personally, I think they should make a rule: A position player can NOT pitch. It’s like a hockey team putting a centre in as goalie. Or an NFL team putting a defensive tackle at quarterback. It’s a farce.
I’ve seen outfielder Paul O’Neill pitch for the Reds and I’ve seen shortstop Dave Concepcion pitch for the Reds. But this is the second time this season Janish has pitched and it has been gruesome both times.
AND NOW guess what happens? The Reds need to get another pitcher up from Louisville pronto - like in time for tomorrow’s game. So who gets sent back? Probably Janish because he won’t be able to lift his arm to comb his hair or lower it enough to pull on his socks for a week.
He takes one for the team and probably gets demoted for it. We’ll see. Maybe I’m being too cynical here. Maybe they’ll send out Drew Sutton instead.
Whatever. I know one thing, this team is poised to dump on everybody’s parade, everybody who has hopes for a first winning season in eight years and maybe, just maybe, a shot at the playoffs.
Folks, it ain’t gonna happen. The Reds are 40-41 at the halfway mark. They are tied for fourth/fifth with the Houston Astros. In the last two games they’ve been outscored 32-2.
Make that four Yuengling Lagers and three cheesesteaks. And do I really need to show up at Citizens Bank Park tomorrow? I’m going on vacation after Sunday’s game in New York, a little R’nR at the blackjack tables in Tunica, Miss. Can I leave now? I promise to double down every time I can and split 8’s every time.
And I don’t think I’ll ever lose 22-1.
Permalink | Comments (34) | Post your comment |
TweetFour days of Brotherly Love in Philly
NO TRAVEL problems to report today as U.S Airways whisked me away from Dayton and into Philadelphia with no problems, except the guy sitting next to me on the plane was as big as a woolly mammoth and I wasn’t about to argue with him over the middle arm rest.
One problem: As soon as we left the ground shortly after 6:45 a.m., the flight attendance announced, “I regret to inform you that there is no coffee on board.” What? I was ready for a caffeine conniption fit, ready to rip out all the seats, even the one in which woolly mammoth sat. I love orange juice, but in the morning I HAVE TO HAVE MY COFFEE!!!!!!
WILLY TAVERAS is back in the leadoff spot for tonight’s game against the Phillies, but that’s because lefthander Cole Hammels is pitching, meaning Jonny Gomes is in left instead of Chris Dickerson, who is on the bench.
While Hammels is having an off year (4-5, 4.98), not many Reds have had any success against him, other than catcher Ramon Hernandez, “Which is why I’m batting him sixth behind Gomes,” said manager Dusty Baker. “And I’ve got Edwin Encarnacion batting eighth because he is still looking for his stroke.”
The lineup is the 64th different lineup in 81 games, mostly because the Reds have had their original 25-man roster out of spring training on the field for only 10 games.
“I have no choice,” said Baker. But even he didn’t realize he had his full team on the field for only 10 games and said, “Ten out of 80? Really? Wow. Wow. That’s only one-eighth of the time. That’s why so many different lineups. No choice.”
SPEAKING OF MATH and one-eighth of the time, former Reds interim manager Pete Mackanin, now a Phillies coach, was standing behind the batting cage and said, “There are only three kinds of people in this world, those who can add and those who can’t.”
Think about it.
Mackanin finished the 2007 season after Jerry Narron was fired and was 41-39, the only Reds manager with a winning record since Jack McKeon in 2000. Mackanin probably should have been named manager for 2008. He earned it.
“I got them pointed in the right direction,” Mackanin said with a laugh. “Now it’s up to them.”
Mackanin said he was thinking about the Reds before they got here, wondering how they would react to the smallness of Citizens Bank Park, “Then I laughed and thought, ‘Well, coming from their place, which isn’t any better, it’s no big deal.”
ABOUT FIVE times a week, Jonny Gomes runs the steps of a stadium and calls it, “My Rocky moments.” Now that the team is in Philadelphia, Gomes said he might head for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, not far from the team hotel, to run the same steps Rocky Balboa ran in the movie, “Rocky.”
I wouldn’t even run DOWN those steps.
JAY BRUCE heard that Ryan Weathers, the 9-year-old son of pitcher David Weathers, played golf Monday and asked, “What’d you shoot?” Ryan told him he shot 103 and Bruce said, “That would beat me.”
Speaking of golf, broadcaster Marty Brennaman came within four inches of making a hole-in-one Monday, “And I nearly had a heart attack. Never had one and I’m going to keep trying.”
The Phillies already have played in the new Citi Field in New York and hitters are complaining about it being too big, too difficult to hit home runs. Mackanin, though, wanted to talk about the new, cozy Yankee Stadium.
“That place makes our park look like the Astrodome (a park where homers went to die),” he said. “Mark Teixeira broke his bat, snapped it half, two pieces, and the ball landed in the 15th row for a home run,” said Mackanin.
WHAT DO players do in the long hours and minutes before batting practice in the clubhouse. Most visiting clubhouses have a full library of movies on DVD and on Monday many of the Reds watched “Anchorman,” then watched “Super Bad.” Bullpen coach Porky Lopez walked into the room, saw the players sprawled on couches and leather chairs and said, “Do you guys want some popcorn?”
SOMEBODY SUGGESTED that I take photos and post them on the blog when I take the Amtrak train from Philly to New York Friday. Obviously, that person never made that ride. It’s a monument to junked cars, abandoned factories and bad neighborhoods. But it’s still a train ride and that’s all I care.
But first - tomorrow for lunch I’ll have a Philly cheesesteak from Jim’s, WITH the Cheez-Whiz. It ain’t official without Cheez-Whiz.
Permalink | Comments (23) | Post your comment |
TweetCarpenter saws the Reds into five easy pieces
Unless you are a St. Louis Cardinals fan, it isn’t much fun watching Chris Carpenter make your team look aimless and helpless. He makes them pound the ball into the dirt - ground ball after ground ball after ground ball.
After Sunday’s game, there can’t be a worm alive under the Great American Ball Park grass because the Cincinnati Reds beat them to death with their ground balls.
Carpenter pitched seven innings and held the Reds to one run and five hits during an 10-1 victory.
ON THE OTHER side, Bronson Arroyo was up to his recent ineffectiveness - five innings, eight runs (five earned) and 11 hits. Three unearned runs scored because of a throwing error by third baseman Edwin Encarnacion (where have we seen this act before?).
Didn’t matter that much because five earned runs was enough for Carpenter.
Manager Dusty Baker knew what was coming. Usually, there is no batting practice on a Sunday morning before a day game. But on this morning Baker had his boys out there taking BP, “Because we have that nasty Carpenter to face and we need to prepare.”
That one didn’t work so well.
Baker said the other reason he had his team taking batting practice was because it is embarking on a seven-game trip to Philadelphia (four) and New York (three), the last games before the All-Star break, “And you don’t get as much batting practice time on the field on the road.”
These last seven games against a couple of NL East powerhouses are important for the Reds to cling close before the break. What is amazing about the NL Central is that the Reds are as close to the top (three behind St. Louis) as they are to the bottom (three ahead of Pittsburgh). Wins, wins and more wins are needed.
Baker put it quaintly: “What this does for the NL Central is that there are no broken spirits before the All-Star break. Usually there are broken spirits. The spirits are all still alive. Makes for good baseball, though.”
AS EXPECTED, the Reds have only one All-Star representative - closer Coco Cordero (20 saves in 21 chances). It is Cordero’s third All-Star game, all with different teams - Texas, Milwaukee and Cincinnati.
“A good goal for anybody is to make the All-Star team,” he said. “I’m excited. I may not seem like it now, but I will be when I get to St. Louis for the game. It’s real special, something big for me and my family.”
NOW IF US Airways can get me to Philadelphia tomorrow, we’ll see what the next six games will bring. Can’t wait for Friday, though, when I ride Amtrak Business Coach from Philly to New York, a pleasant 1 1/2-hour train ride. No security lines, no luggage hassle, no extra charge for suitcases, no cramped seats.
Amtrak won’t lose my luggage because it will be with me. Last year, US Airways lost my luggage after my flight from Dayton to New York was scuttled halfway there because of a foul odor surfaced in the airplane. We returned to Dayton, I was re-routed to NY through Washington, D.C. - but I think my luggage was re-routed through Washington state.
I got to New York Friday evening, just before game time. My luggage arrived Sunday morning - at check-out time from the hotel. US Airways did pay for the clothing and toiletries I had to buy to get me through those two days.
If I had known that, I would have shopped at Armani’s instead of the The Gap. Live and learn.
Permalink | Comments (23) | Post your comment |
TweetMasset: The Man of the Moment
With his rugged good looks and his chiseled frame, it is no surprise that Nick Masset is a tough guy. He is the kind of guy you like walking with you on a dark night in a big city’s seedier parts - although I don’t inhabit those kinds of places.
‘And it isn’t often I get to extoll the virtues of a middle relief guy. Usually he gets interviewed when he screws up. But when a pitcher stares down Albert Pujols with the game on the line, that guy is worth writing about.
Sometimes a baseball game is reduced to one at-bat, one confrontation, one me-against-you moment.
On the Fourth of July it was Nick Masset vs. Albert Pujols, mano y mano, in the seventh inning.
The Cincinnati Reds owned a three-run lead over the St. Louis Cardinals, but the Cardinals had two men on base with two outs.
The batter was Pujols, arguably baseball’s best hitter, especially in crucial times, and the memory of his Friday night grand slam was still on the surface of every brain wearing a Reds uniform.
Manager Dusty Baker brought Masset in from the bullpen and the battle raged and waged until the count was 3-and-2. Pujols then grounded to second base. Battle over. Game over.
The Cardinals never threatened again and the Reds pocketed a 5-2 victory in Great American Ball Park.
That Masset was even able to walk to the mound was a shocking surprise. That Masset walked into Baker’s office in the morning and said, “I’m ready, I’m a go,” was a shocking surprise to Baker.
On Friday, Masset started the ninth inning and Yadier Molina scorched one directly into the biceps of Masset’s pitching arm. He picked up the ball and threw out Molina, but left the game, his arm dangling like wet linguini.
“I had him as a ‘no’ for today originally,” Baker said of Masset. “This guy wants to pitch and is a tough guy. And they gave him some kind of miracle patch that stops swelling, bleeding, bruising and everything else. I was real shocked that he could pitch. I’m glad he was able to pitch.”
Masset had extra incentive. His parents and grandparents were in the stands, so what’s a little pain in the biceps and what’s a big pain in the batter’s box like Pujols matter?
“It hit me flush on the muscle and it was really sore this morning,” said Masset. “But when I started moving it around it wasn’t as tight as I thought it would be. Some heat made it fine.
“As long as I’m not ill or dying, I’m going to be out there to try to help the team,” he said. He wore a large flesh-colored patch on his arm, but laughed at Baker’s reference to a miracle patch and said, “Just something to keep the inflammation away.”
Of his confrontation with Pujols, Masset said, “I tried to stay away from his power zone and throw my best stuff at him.”
Masset and everybody in the baseball world knew what Pujols did to David Weathers Friday with the grand slam that turned Cincinnati’s 3-0 lead into a 4-3 deficit, but Masset blanked it out. Well, he said he did.
“I never think about what happened in the past, just the present,” he said. “I don’t even think about facing Pujols. I just think about throwing my best stuff at whoever is batting. I had a plan and I executed it and I was excited because my pitches end up where I want them to be and he did exactly what I wanted him to do.”
After Masset, Arthur Rhodes pitched a scoreless inning and Coco Cordero pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 20th save.
Bullpens learn to forget.
“You really don’t want to face Pujols in any situation, but Albert is going to make an out sometime. You have to face him sometime. But that’s nothing you want to do too often,” said Baker.
“The life of a reliever is to forget yesterday if it was bad,” Baker added. “Build on it if it is good. Bullpen work is tough duty. You are either a hero or zero. All the good relievers I’ve been around have an ability to forget yesterday.”
Even if a baseball nearly tore your arm off and left Bud Selig’s signature stenciled on your biceps.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment |
TweetTo pitch or not to pitch to Pujols.
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?
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment |
TweetTonight’s game is sold out; Encarnacion is back
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)
Permalink | Comments (28) | Post your comment |
TweetVotto: Shouldn’t he be an All-star?
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.
Permalink | Comments (28) | Post your comment |
TweetWho is the Reds’ All-Star? Cueto
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.”
Permalink | Comments (20) | Post your comment |
TweetA meeting in a crowded office
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.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment |
Tweet
