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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 > September > 20
Saturday, September 20, 2008
When he can’t pitch, he can hit
When a pitcher can’t pitch, for whatever reason, his value to a baseball team usually is the same as a bride at a wedding without a groom.
And there was a wedding in Great American Ball Park Saturday in the stands before the Cincinnati Reds-Milwaukee Brewers baseball game. Both bride and groom showed up.
Micah Owings does not apply — he is a pitcher who can’t pitch right now, but he isn’t useless.
Owings, who has put away his slider and changeup for the year due to an injury, still carries a bat — and for a good reason.
The guy can hit.
The Brewers and C.C. Sabathia discovered that Saturday in Great American when Reds manager Dusty Baker sent up Owings to pinch-hit.
The bases were loaded with one out and the Reds down a run when Owings fought off a 1-and-2 pitch and lobbed a two-run single down the right field line that gave the Reds a one-run lead and they held on for a 4-3 victory.
After making life miserable and unbearable for the Brewers in Milwaukee recently, then ruining Arizona’s hopes and dashing St. Louis prayers for a wild card, the Reds are in the process of squashing Milwaukee’s wild card ambitions. They’ve beaten Milwaukee four of five over less than a two-week period.
It was the second game-winning pinch-hit for Owings since the Reds acquired him from Arizona in the Adam Dunn trade.
“C.C. was throwing a great game and I’d never faced him before and I was just trying to put something out there,” he said. “I love hitting and I’ve been blessed from an early age to be able to hit.
“I just love playing the game,” Owings added. “It was a disappointing season as far as pitching goes. I know I’m a lot better than what I showed, then I hurt my arm.
“I feel a lot better now and they made the decision to shut me down from pitching, but at least they are letting me swing the bat,” he said.
Sabathia, 9-1 when the game began and pitching on three days of rest for the first time in his career, gave up three straight hits to start his day, including a run-scoring single by Joey Votto.
Then he settled in and gave up only a bunt single by pitcher Johnny Cueto in the fifth and the Reds were down, 2-1.
The sixth was when things became unraveled for the blue Brew Crew.
Votto opened with a single and Andy Phillips walked. Corey Patterson dropped a sacrifice bunt that first baseman Prince Fielder picked up. Then he dropped it for an error that filled the bases.
After Jolbert Cabrera popped up, Owings delivered for the 3-2 lead. Adam Rosales followed with another single to make it 4-2, a run that was needed because closer Francisco Cordero gave up a leadoff home run to Rickie Weeks in the ninth.
Jason Kendall then singled and with one out shortstop Jeff Keppinger bungled a potential game-ending double play ball. Cordero walked Ryan Braun to fill the bases, then recovered by striking out Fielder.
The Reds are 10-7 this year against Milwaukee and Cordero, who pitched last year for the Brewers, has six saves, something he says, “Is just a coincidence, something that has just happened because of opportunities. I struck out Fielder with a change-up, a pitch that has been good for me recently.”
Cueto (9-13) held the Brewers to two runs and six hits over six innings to gain his first victory in his last five starts, although he lost only two of those starts.
The Brewers scored their only two runs off him in the fourth, a run-scoring single by Corey Hart and a run-scoring double to Weeks.
“The only bad pitch Cueto made all day was a hanging slider to Weeks,” said manager Dusty Baker.
In the middle of that two-run sixth, Fielder tried to score from second on Hart’s single and center fielder Jerry Hairston Jr. threw him out from the distance between home plate and Newport, Ky.
It was not a prince of a day for Fielder. He veered inside the baseline and elbowed catch Ryan Hanigan while trying to score, he made the error the kept the Reds’ big sixth inning going and he struck out to end the game.
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TweetREDS RECORD!!! - Not Majors
Hey, Aaron - the talk was about REDS - Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. The writer and Dusty Baker were referring to the REDS RECORD FOR ROOKIES - which is Frank Robinson with 38. I don’t think McGwire played for the Reds.
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TweetBaker’s prescription for success
Dusty Baker watches what he is seeing on the baseball field these days from his Cincinnati Reds and feels good about 2009.
And he wonders what might have been in 2008, “If we hadn’t led the league in broken bones, had eight or nine deaths of close relatives that takes it toll emotionally, had to play so many different shortstops (six)and had so many injuries that left us thin in the outfield — like Ryan Freel and Norris Hopper.”
And he mentions three things at which the Reds must improve dramatically:
ONE: Road record (30-45).
TWO: Record within the National League Central (29-41), especially against Houston (2-10) and last place Pittsburgh (6-9)
THREE: Defense, “Improved defense, big-time,” he said. “There was a long period where we were giving away one or two runs every game.”
Baker, though, sees 2009 as a much better season.
“You look at Edinson Volquez (16-6), Johnny Cueto (8-13) and you know Aaron Harang (5-16) is going to be better and you hope Bronson Arroyo (15-10) is going to be the same,” he said.
“Then we have a young kid like Josh Roenicke and you know Francisco Cordero (5-4, 31 saves) is going to be better, even though he has been great lately,” Baker added. “Bill Bray made it through the year without injury for the first time.”
And Bake likes what he sees of some of the young players called up in September and said, “They’ll be better, especially if they make the adjustments and I feel they will.
“Our bullpen is better and I think Jared Burton (5-1) is getting better and better. Brandon Phillips and Edwin Encarnacion will have better years. We’ll hopefully have Jerry Hairston Jr. with us from from the beginning.”
Baker cited a deeper bench and more speed, “And I love speed,” then added, “There are a lot of reasons for optimism. We have a different team right now, one that’s young and with a good nucleus.”
Of course, that’s what every manager says, right?
“You want light at the end of the tunnel and you want hope, but you don’t want manufactured hope, you want real hope. We have it,” he said.
THOSE SEVEN home runs the Reds hit Friday night against the Brewers not only shattered the pysche of Milwaukee’s pitching staff, it emptied the supply of fireworks.
Fireworks are touched off after each Reds home run and after each Reds victory, but that won’t happen the rest of the season — a game today against the Brewers and one Monday against the Florida Marlins.
Because of last week’s windstorm, Rozzi’s World Famous Fireworks stopped production and the company’s supply is gone..
ON YONDER ALONSO: “He hit some good ones, showed some power and hit some line drives and, yes, he hit a few out yonder.” — Manager Dusty Baker after No. 1 draft pick Yonder Alonso took batting practice.
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