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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 > 2011 > June > 22
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Heisey gives Reds one-two-three punch
CINCINNATI — Drew Stubbs was removed from the leadoff spot for Wednesday afternoon’s game, but it was temporary. Real temporary.
He was completely out of the lineup for the second game after the Reds dropped a 4-2 decision to the New York Yankees — even though a Stubbs single was one of only four hits the Reds put together.
In Stubbs’ spot for the night game, Manager Dusty Baker inserted Chris Heisey in center field and in the leadoff spot.
What a move, what a move, what move.
For the hit-starved and run-starved Reds, Heisey’s at-bat to lead off the first inning for the Reds, was like prying the first olive out of a bottle. Once the first olive rolls out, the rest pour out easily.
Heisey homered to lead the bottom of the first, then homered two more times, and the olives/runs/hits by the Reds flew all over the park — 14 hits in a 10-2 victory.
AND HEISEY, the drum major of this hit parade with his five RBI and four runs, led a band that included two hits by Paul Janish, two hits that included a home run by Jonny Gomes (two hits and two hits Ramon Hernandez.
AND AIM SOME credit Johnny Cueto’s way, too. Cueto pitched seven innings and held the Yankees to one run (a home run in the second), two hits, two walks, six strikeouts and one wild pitch.
Cueto displayed his new herky-jerky Luis Tiant-type wind-up, nearly turning his back to the hitters before delivering. What was that?
“Johnny being Johnny,” said Baker. “If it works and you can hide that ball, that’s great because most pitchers are going to the same conventional wind-up and it makes it a lot easier to pick the ball up. Back in our day, the guys you didn’t like to face were the guys with somewhat unconventional wind-ups. I don’t know where he came up with it, but it sure is working.”
Cueto, smiling broadly throughout a post-game interview, said of his delivery, “I’m learning something new every day in the big leagues, so now I am trying to give some trickiness to the hitters.”
BAKER INDICATED that Stubbs might bat lower in the order when the Reds play their next six games on the road against American League teams and will use the dreaded DH.
“We’ll be using Jonny Gomes mostly as the designated hitter, so that leaves left field to Freddie Lewis and Chris Heisey, so we can bat them leadoff,” said Baker.
“This should relieve a little pressure from Stubbs (2 for 16) and Freddie Lewis has swung the bat well lately (7 for 9 with three doubles and two RBI during a five-game hitting streak before Wednesday),” said Baker. “When you are scuffling in the leadoff spot, those ABs add up rather quickly, especially if you aren’t walking much.
“It’s a temporary thing and we’ll see how it goes for interleague play,” Baker added. “Most of these things come to you when you’re trying to sleep and that’s when things come to you. I’m always trying to figure something out, the best option, or whatever, and that’s a good time.”
Somehow Baker needed to dream up some runs and hits. Before Wednesday night’s game, if runs were cereal flakes the Reds wouldn’t have enough to fill a table spoon — until the second-game explosion against Brian Gordon, making only his second major-league start.
Brian Gordon? That’s why Heisey was in the lineup.
The Great Masses of baseball fans scream for Heisey to play every day, not realizing that Baker is protecting the 26-year-old second-year player.
When Baker spots a pitcher who fits Heisey’s swing and approach, Heisey plays. When there is a pitcher who will make Heisey look foolish most of the time, Heisey sits.
“That pitcher tonight (Gordon) was the perfect fit for Heisey — he doesn’t throw hard and he pitches up. It’s the pitchers who throw low and away that give Heisey trouble.”
In the first game, the Reds were down 2-0 in the fifth inning, the Reds scraped together two runs on an errant throw home and a sacrifice fly to tie it, 2-2. But in the next half inning, Robinson Canoe blooped a single and Mike Leake gave up a two-run home run to Jorge Posada.
Ball game. Reds lose the first game, 4-2.
“You are on thin ice in close games when you aren’t clicking on offense,” said Baker. “We’ve done a good job of keeping them in the ballpark and Posada’s was the first one but a costly one. They got a jam-job hit to left and a home run — a bloop and a blast and that was it.”
THE REDS HAD few bloops and a lot of blasts in the 10-2 second-game massacre.
HOMER BAILEY AND Aroldis Chapman passed their last tests at Class AAA Louisville and are expected to join the Reds soon — Chapman for the upcoming road trip and Bailey will pitch Sunday in Baltimore. It was Travis Wood’s turn to pitch Sunday, but he was optioned to Louisville Wednesday to make room for the activation of pitcher Sam LeCure. LeCure will pitch out of the bullpen and pitched the ninth inning of Wednesday afternoon’s game.
The Bats lost Tuesday, 6-3, to Pawtucket, but it wasn’t the fault of either Bailey or Chapman. Bailey started and went six innings, giving up three runs and eight hits while walking only one and striking out three. Chapman pitched the seventh and went 1-2-3 with a strikeout.
“Bryan Price (pitching coach) talked to Ted Power (Louisville pitching coach) and got verbal confirmation that they both threw the ball well,” said Baker. “That’s what I told Chapman — to go down there and pitch well and he’d have a chance to come back soon. If he didn’t throw well, he’d have to stay there and earn his way back. And that’s what he did.
“I told him straight up that just because he is Chapman, just because he is big for marketing, our decision will be on how he pitches,” Baker added.
“All this increases our problem as to what to do and who to send out,” said Baker. “Somebody who doesn’t deserve to go with have to go. But they’ll be able to help us again in the near future.”
EVERYBODY WAS calling Wednesday’s two games a doubleheader. Not so. Not in the true sense of what a doubleheader actually is.
What the Reds and New York Yankees did Wednesday was play two games in one day. It was NOT a doubleheader.
They played a game at 12:35, then cleared out the stadium and reopened the gates at 5:20 p.m. for a new crowd to witness a separate game at 7:10.
That is not a doubleheader. A doubleheader is two games, back-to-back, with the same crowd — two games for the price of one. For the split games Wednesday, separate admission is charged for each game.
When teams actually scheduled doubleheaders, nearly every team played a true doubleheader on Sunday and doubleheaders on the Fourth of July and Labor Day, plus some makeup games were played. Teams routinely scheduled 25 doubleheaders a year, charging one admission for two games.
For true doubleheaders, the first game was played and then after 20 to 30 minutes, the second game began — barely time for a bathroom break.
“We didn’t have split games when I played, just straight doubleheaders,” said Baker. “With us having two sellout games I can understand why the organization split these two games.”
Asked what he tells his players about playing a game, then having nearly four hours off between games, Baker said, “I tell the at least they have a couple of hours to take a nap or wind down. Personally, I’d rather just get right back at it 30 minutes after the first game so you don’t get sore.”
BRANDON PHILLIPS should have one more career home run on his record, but something happened in 2003 to deny that.
And Phillips has not forgotten it.
MLB Network put together a show and rated the Top 75 Catches of All Time. When it got to No. 14, it showed Pittsburgh left fielder Brian Giles running to the wall to leap and snag a baseball that was two rows deep into th seats.
When I told Phillips about it, I said, “Do you know who hit that ball?”
“Heck, yes,” he said. “It was me. I was playing for the Cleveland Indians. That was one nasty catch, just crazy. But it’s all part of the game. I couldn’t believe it. It was just a great catch. And he ran a long, long way to get there.”
ONE LAST PLEA this week for those dandy Ask Hal questions for Sunday’s paper. Send them before noon Thursday to halmccoy1@hotmail.com and see if your question makes the cut.
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