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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > October > 23
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Phillies are NOT the Big Red Machine (yet)
Before I depart for Aruba Saturday and a week’s fun on the beach and at the pool as Official Bikini Observer, let me weigh in on the nonsense I’m reading and hearing about the Philadelphia Phillies as The Little Red Machine.
Pshaw and balderdash.
Just because the Phillies are only the fourth National League team in history to win back-to-back National League pennants doesn’t mean they are on a level with The Big Red Machine.
They aren’t even The Little Red Machine yet.
Oh, yeah. They’re good. Very good. But don’t lay the BRM or LRM on me until they win two straight World Series, as the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds did, or they go through the playoffs and World Series without losing a game, as the ’76 Reds did that included a sweep of the Phillies in the League Championship Series and a sweep of the New York Yankees in the World Series.
And the ’76 Reds won the NL West by 10 games.
Want to play the lineup comparison game? OK, here is how I seee it:
Catcher: Johnny Bench over Carlos Ruis in a landslide.
First Base: Ryan Howard over Tony Perez,
Second Base: Chase Utley/Joe Morgan. That one is probably a wash.
Shortstop: Jimmy Rollins on offense and Davey Concepcion on defense.
Third base: Pete Rose over Pedro Feliz, not even close.
Left Field: George Foster over Raul Ibanez, by a wide margin.
Center Field: Shane Victorino on offense and Cesar Geronimo on defense.
Right Field: Ken Griffey Sr. over Jayson Werth because Griffey was a better all-around player.
Starting pitching: The Reds Don Gullett, Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham, Pat Zachry and Fred Norman against Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Joe Blanton and Pedro Martinez, to me, is flip a coin and call it.
Relief pitching: Rawly Eastwick, Will McEnaney, Clay Carroll Pat Darcy and Pedro Borbon were better than Brad Lidge, J.A. Happ, Chad Durbin and Ryan Madson.
Anyway, that’s my opinion? What’s yours? It’s something to discuss while I’m eating, drinking and being merry for a week.
The blog returns the first week in November and will appear two or three times a week throughout the winter.
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