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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 > Entry
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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Comments
By Clem
September 21, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this
Is Micah good enough to do the “St. Louis” player{can’t think of his name} thing? Like play left field regularly—with Dickerson in center/Bruce in right? Or do they think he has good potential as a pitcher?
By Mike-Cinci
September 21, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this
It is not over until it is over but the Brewers look like a team with no heart. Ned Yost deserved to be fired…not in the last month of the season… but in the off season. He has a lot of talent and he did nothing with it when it counted. Yost could not keep his team together and it was in the pennant race. To his credit Dusty Baker kept his team together despite being out of the race for months. Moving Griffey and Dunn appears to have helped.
By ShockMonkey
September 21, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this
And Baker likes what he sees of some of the young players called up in September, saying, “They’ll be better, especially if they make the adjustments, and I feel they will. How would he know? He rarely plays them. As for Micah, put him in the lineup instead of Patterson. At least Owings can hit fer-cryin-out-loud.
By redfuture
September 21, 2008 7:38 AM | Link to this
Hal here is an Owings scenario: Lets say that next year that Micah develops a forearm strain the affects his pitching but not his hitting. Do the Reds put him on the DL or send out a utility player, keeping Micah as a PH, and call up a pitcher instead?
By redfuture
September 21, 2008 7:38 AM | Link to this
Hal here is an Owings scenario: Lets say that next year that Micah develops a forearm strain the affects his pitching but not his hitting. Do the Reds put him on the DL or send out a utility player, keeping Micah as a PH, and call up a pitcher instead?
By bigdoc
September 20, 2008 8:31 PM | Link to this
Hal, I know you enjoyed watching Griffey and Dunn, as I did. However, I can’t imagine this latest ‘run’ happening were they still here—too much bad karma. SWEEP! SWEEP!