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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > July > 21
Monday, July 21, 2008
Another strange and ugly night
Yes, it was the San Diego Padres - the worst team in major-league baseball (their record says so), even though they beat the Cincinnati Reds Monday to snap a six-game losing streak.
For the Reds, it is always, “Bring us your tired, your poor, and we’ll fix you right up.”
But Homer Bailey is a semi-happy hurler right now. He owns two straight good starts. No wins, mind you. But two good starts that the bullpen blew when he stood to win. And Monday’s was a monster.
Coco Cordero, alleged closer who makes $46 million, was given a 4-3 lead in the night and when the Padres quit running around the bases they were 6-4 ahead and Bailey’s win, poof, like Pierre’s mustache.
At this juncture, Bailey would have taken a win over the Aunt Hazel’s Butterball All-Stars.
He held the Padres to three runs and eight hits over 6 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out two. It isn’t something to sit down and write the Cy Young committee about, but it has to be a humongous boost to Bailey’s confidence.
That’s two good starts in a row and his last one, the last Sunday before the All-Star break was against Milwaukee - a legitimate team - two runs, five hits over 5 2/3 innings and a no-decision.
And now it is evident why Bailey wears cowboy boots. He is snake-bit and he doesn’t want the poison injected into his ankles.
“Gonna have to put snake guards on them,” he said with a smile, able to smile despite not having a ‘W’ next to his name since late April for Class AAA Louisville.
“He threw the ball good, good enough to win, big-time,” said manager Dusty Baker.
“If you make good pitches, good things are going to happen,” said Bailey. Well, usually.
The Padres struck for two in the first, three straight one-out hits that included a run-scoring double by Adrian Gonzalez and a sacrifice fly by Kevin Kouzmanoff.
“After they got two runs in the first inning, I just did everything I could to forget about it,” said Bailey. “Even in the first inning I thought I made good pitches that they were able to get the bat on.
“It was the first inning and I knew our guys would pick me up,” Bailey added. Edwin Encarnacion homered and Ken Griffey Jr.’s 606th homer gave Bailey a 4-2 lead (And did you see Griffey hand the batting helmet to the kid holding aloft a supportive sign after Griffey hit the homer? Nice. Very nice.
But Cordero expunged that lead in the flick of a few fastballs and a few sliders - actually a whole bunch of pitches, like 40 in one inning, only 18 strikes.
Can you say $43 million?
OK, SO I’VE COVERED baseball for 36 years and I see something every week I’ve never seen. And with the Reds it usually is some inventive base running gaffes. Like Monday.
The Reds had runners on second and third with one out when Bailey shocked the Tri-County with a double when everybody thought he would lay down his second straight sacrifice bunt.
Jay Bruce grounded weakly to first and David Ross, on third, broke for home and stopped. He was easily thrown out at third and Bailey, caught halfway to third, was thrown out at second - just your routine 3-5-6 inning-ending double play. I mean, Tinkers to Ever to Chance this wasn’t.
That reminds me of one of my favorite Jim Murray lines when he columnized for the Los Angeles Times. Describing the double play combination of the early expansion and awful Los Angeles Angels, Murray wrote, “The Angels double play combination is Fregosi to Asprmonte to Avalon Boulevard.”
Of the bizarre double play, a perplexed Baker said, “In all my years in baseball, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one. Strange, very strange.”
TWO OF MY all-time favorite baseball writers died within the last week - Jerome Holtzman of the Chicago Tribune and Neil Hohlfeld of the Houston Chronicle.
Holtzman was retired but was historian for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Holtzman wrote one of my all-time favorite books, No Cheering in the Press Box, a book, he signed for me and a book I read at least every two years.
Holtzman could be a gruff curmudgeon, but if he liked you, you were golden. He wrote always with a cigar stub between his lips and he hummed as he wrote. I sat next to him at a World Series one year and was entertained by the entire score from South Pacific, as hummed by Holtzman.
And there was the time during the playoffs that Holtzman was seated next to another Chicago writer, Dave Nightengale. They didn’t like each other much. The work space was tight and when one thought the other was encroaching, words were spoken harshly, chairs scraped backwards, and the fight was on.
A third Chicago writer said, “I don’t like either one of those Bozos. Let ‘em duke it to the death.”
Hohlfeld was a beat writer for many year for the Houston Astros, mostly when the Astros were the Houston Lastros or the Houston Disastros. Early one year, in April, when only about 10 games had been played, the ‘Stros were in first place.
Paul Meyer, beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was needling Hohlfeld early in a game and Hohlfeld said, “Can’t talk, Paul. I’m covering a first-place team.”
Anyway, if you get the chance, read Holtzman’s No Cheerling in the Press Box. It truly is a classic.
I STILL THINK Reds owner Bob Castellini should hire me to do the half innings when the opposing team bats. I’m cheap. Every time I do the second inning with Marty Brennaman, the other team goes down 1-2-3…and quickly. Almost every time.
On Monday, it was 1-2-3 on six pitches. Marty asked me how Aruba was and I said fine and he said, “Nice talking with you. See you next time.” Next time when I go in the booth I’m going to ask, “Should I even sit down?”
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TweetBack to work, kicking and screaming
I’m b-a-a-a-c-k. Not happy about it, but I’m back from Aruba - kicking and screaming as they pushed me on the plane.
Great place. Great beach. Great sun. Great food.
One thing I wonder about - how did Aruba native Sidney Ponson develop his skills as a pitcher? Aruba is a small island, but try as I might, I could not find one baseball field. Not one.
I did find the casinos and that’s all I’ll say. The IRS might be monitoring. And my wife, Nadine, found the jewelry stories.
If you’re ever in Aruba, you have to eat at Simply Fish, a restaurant with tables on the beach in the open air. The seafood bouillabaisse may have been the best appetizer I’ve eaten. Anywhere.
So I’m back to work - tanned, fat and more tired than when I left. After missing the four-game split with the Mets, I get to watch the San Diego Padres, owners of baseball’s worst record and a six-game losing streak
So tell me, what does a player need with 14 pairs of baseball spikes? There were 14 orange Nike boxes stacked on top of each other next to Ken Griffey Jr.’s locker. Adam Dunn, though, had him beat. He had 25 black boxes of adidas shoes piled in three stacks next to his locker.
He didn’t care about shoes, though.
“What is this, July 21? Only 10 days to the trade deadline. Awfully quiet. Scary,” he said.
Dunn, though, was more interested in the upcoming NFL training camps. And when a story about Brett Favre surfaced on a clubhouse TV and Jerry Hairston Jr. said, “If I was GM of the Packers, I would have signed him last year.”
“And what do you tell the back-up quarterback who has waited and waited and now it’s his turn to play (Aaron Rodgers)?” said Dunn.
“I trade him to Tampa Bay where he could be No. 1,” said Hairston.
“And who is your quarterback at Green Bay next year when Favre leaves?” said Dunn.
“I draft one No. 1.”
“Who?”
“Some kid out of the University of Southern Illinois,” said Hairston.
“That’s what I mean. As a GM, you stink,” said Dunn.
Dunn was on a roll, shifting his attention to the lineup card. There was a Hairston leading off, but it wasn’t Jerry. His brother, Scott, bats leadoff for the Padres.
“I don’t know if I’d hang around if I couldn’t play because I was hurt and my younger brother had more homers than me (15-2),” said Dunn.
Hairston was asked if he gave the Reds pitchers a scouting report on his brother.
“They don’t need it,” he said. “Our scouting reports are good and our pitchers know him. They probably know him better than me. All I know is that he is very talented and that I went out to dinner with him Sunday night and he paid - for the first time.”
As far as news, it’s all about injuries with the Reds.
Hairston (strained hamstring) has it all planned.
“I ran the last couple of days in the pool (next to the training room) and I plan to run on the field Tuesday or Wednesday. If that goes well, I’ll play a couple of rehab games for Dayton and be ready next week in Houston. That’s my plan,” said Hairston.
Manager Dusty Baker said pitcher Aaron Harang is close to “doing some things in the next couple of days,” but he didn’t specify what “some things might be” to test his sore forearm. “He is doing a lot of cardio stuff so when he comes back he ought to be in great shape,” Baker added.
Pitcher Jared Burton isn’t doing anything yet, “Not until they get the inflammation out of his lat,” said Baker.
Somebody asked Baker what he wanted out of Homer Bailey tonight.
“Just a win,” said Baker. “A win for him and a win for us. I know he hasn’t had a win anywhere in a long time (April 27 in Louisville) and he knows that. Let’s just get him a win.”
If the Reds are going to do anything, the time is now, now, now. Their next 12 games are with bad, bad, bad teams — San Diego, Colorado, Houston and Washington - losers all.
Of course, they are 32-29 against teams over .500, but only 16-23 against teams under .500.
Figure that one out and let us know why that’s so.
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