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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 > October > 02
Thursday, October 2, 2008
So when do the Reds make the playoffs?
Some thoughts about the early playoffs:
QUESTION: Why did they play the White Sox-Rays game in the afternoon in Florida under a roof and make Cubs fans sit in frigid weather for a night game in Wrigley Field?
ANSWER: That’s easy. Television. And what TV wants, TV gets.
QUESTION: When do the Cincinnati Reds play their first playoff game?
ANSWER: 2011. Maybe.
Did you see Ken Griffey Jr.’s throw in the AL Central playoff game that preserved the White Sox’s 1-0 win over Minnesota that punched their ticket to the playoffs?
Reminded me of the throw George Foster made for the Reds in the 1975 World Series against the Red Sox. Foster, who thought defense was something mandatory you had to do before they let you bat, made a catch near a high wall down the left-field line and when Denny Doyle tagged and tried to score, Foster threw him out.
Have to admit I’m torn over the White Sox-Rays series. I’d love to see Griffey get his World Series ring. But I also love that fact the Rays, with a payroll about the same size as the nearest McDonald’s franchise, have a chance to show the baseball world you don’t have to spend like the Bank of America to win a championship.
Afterwards, Foster said, “I’ve been saving that throw for the right moment. I never had to make one like that before.”
THIS IS ONE that bugs me so much I need insect repellent to watch the ninth inning of some games.
Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels is scything down the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1, no runs over eight innings. And he was barely over 100 pitches.
What does manager Charlie Manuel do? He brings in closer Brad Lidge, who gives up a run and nearly blows the game. Why oh why oh why do managers think just because they have a closer they HAVE to use him? Hamels deserved to finish. The Phillies deserved to lose that game just for that reason.
ANOTHER ONE that bugs me enough to squirt two cans of insect repellent on my personage:
The Brewers have Philadelphia pitcher Brett Myers in deep do-do. He has thrown six straight balls. His walk loaded the bases with one out. Up steps Corey Hart. He swings at the first pitch. The first pitch! After Myers can’t find home plate with GPS!! And he swings at the first pitch!!!
And he hits into an inning-ending double play. Sometimes you wonder if even major-leaguers need to go to a school called Baseball Strategy 101.
The Brewers went to the well one too many times. It was a sure-thing that using C.C. Sabathia on three days of rest four straight times was going to exact a toll. His 3 2/3 innings against the Phillies in Game Two showed that.
ISN’T THAT the Chicago Cubs just being the Chicago Cubs? The guess here? The Dodgers go to the World Series with Manny being Manny.
There is Eva Longoria and then there is Evan Longoria — the best player nobody outside of Tampa and St. Petersburg never heard of.
Reds fans, bet you don’t remember Australian Grant Balfour. He spent one entire season with the Reds without throwing a pitch. Former GM Dan O’Brien signed him as a free agent when he had a bad shoulder. He rehabbed all year.
Now he pitches for Tampa Bay and did you see him on the mound Thursday? He recorded a strikeout and made a fist-pumping gesture. The next hitter, Orlando Cabrera (Jolbert Cabrera’s younger brother), kicked dirt toward Balfour on the mound when his first pitch was wide of the plate and shouted, “Throw the ball over the plate.”
Balfour then struck him out, punched the air again, and yelled at Cabrera, “Go sit down.”
Love it. Couldn’t the Reds used some of what the feisty Aussie shows?
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