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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 > August > 09
Saturday, August 9, 2008
A faithful mother-in-law
My mother-in-law, Lucille Tomczak, is in her 80’s and a huge fan of the Cincinnati Reds. Huge? She’s devout. Never misses a televised game.
How many of you watched the Reds Friday night instead of the opening festivities of the Olympic Games? She did.
And she didn’t give Francisco Cordero a gold medal.
JOEY VOTTO won’t be around for the next few days. He left the team and is on bereavement leave for reasons he prefers not to be publicized. We’ll honor that wish.
The Reds called up Adam Rosales from Louisville to take his place and removed pitcher Marcus McBeth from the 40-man roster, designating him for assignment.
“We’re hoping he gets here tonight,” said manager Dusty Baker. “Louisville is home and traffic shouldn’t be bad driving up.”
Wanna bet? There is an Indy car race at Kentucky Speedway and traffic on I-71 snarls around the track on race day.
It’s like manager Dusty Baker says, “When things go bad, whatever can go bad will go bad.” Rosales’ car probably will overheat.
If Rosales doesn’t make it by game time, Baker will be two players down. Jerry Hairston Jr. isn’t on the DL but he can’t play. So without Rosales the Reds will be facing the Houston Astros with 23 players.
And what can you do about it?
“You just deal with it,” said Baker with a shrug as he glanced at his office TV, which was televising the Little League World Series.
“Most fun I ever had in baseball,” said Baker, pointing to the screen. “I did the Little League World Series for ESPN last year. Man, that was fun. Those kids can play and they show exuberance.”
(We’ll pause here while you insert your own caustic comment on a team that can play and shows exuberance.)
Speaking of Hairston, Baker said he won’t play tonight or tomorrow, “But decision time is near. We’re hopeful he can play Tuesday in Pittsburgh. That’s decision time.” If not, Hairston probably will land back on the DL, but Baker said Hairston appears to be getting closer every day.
Speaking of exuberance, I told Jay Bruce today that fans appreciate the way he and Joey Votto play hard every day, try hard every day, despite their location in the standings.
“That’s how I play, how I was taught, how I learned - the only way I know how,” said Bruce. “It’s all about playing the game the right way, no matter how bad it is and how bad it looks or how much you struggle as a team.”
Bruce has a promise for frustrated fans who have born witness to eight years of miserable, lousy, frustratingly bad baseball.
“Not only me and Joey Votto, but the whole team is going to be fun to watch for a long time and in the near future,” he said. “This team is going to be fun to watch play. I know fans are tired of hearing it, but just be patient a little while longer.
“We have all the pieces here, we just have to put it together,” he said. “I understand the fans. That’s fans for you. But we can’t, as a team, can’t worry about that because we have to take care of our business. This is a baseball town that has been spoiled in the past. We’re not going to be the Big Red Machine or anything, but this team is going to be fun to watch for a very long time.”
Remember, that comes from a 22-year-old kid who has just arrived and hasn’t suffered the incredibly bad baseball this town has endured. He wants to be right. He thinks he’ll be right.
But fans who have heard nothing but lip service for a long, long time wonder one thing: “Are we having fun yet? No. When does the fun begin?”
My mother-in-law wants to know, too.
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