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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 > 2009 > May > 09
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Two wrongs and now maybe a right
OK, all ye haters and detractors, flog away. I was wrong. I was brave enough to publicly express my opinion and I’m 0 for 2. Now let’s hope I’m right on my other prediction - that Edinson Volquez would win Sunday.
When I made the predictions, I asked not to be chastised if I was wrong, but some folks just can’t help it. But I’ll keep on keeping for those who do enjoy the blog.
And, oh, pardon me for taking a day off after a road trip to have dinner with my wife. Flog me again. Thank you, sir, may I have another.
I’m laughing as I write this. Some folks just take things seriously, but I’ll keep on having fun.
And Saturday night was fun, fun, fun — and daddy DIDN’T take the T-bird away.
Is it too early to call them the Cincinnati For Real Reds?
Probably so, but taking two straight from division-leading St. Louis gives it the feel of for real and it certainly roused a crowd of 40,651 in Great American Ball Park.
On Joey Votto Bobblehead Night, with Votto incapacitated with the flu bug, the Reds unraveled the Cardinals, 8-3.
“We should have bobbleheads every night,” said second baseman Brandon Phillips. “And it felt like Field of Dreams out there — if we win, they will come.”
Phillips came out of the infirmaruy, missing two games with the flu, and contributed two hits, including a double in the sixth that helped torch a deciding five-run inning.
“The Cardinals are a great team, but we went out there and played Reds baseball,” said Phillips. “We really need to beat these guys to show them what the Reds are this year. We’re hungry and we’re out to win the whole thing. That’s what it’s about it.”
Aaron Harang celebrated his 31st birthday by giving up two earned runs over seven innings and then getting those two runs back himself with a two-run single during that five-run sixth inning that broke a 2-2 tie.
OK, Aaron, pitching or hitting?
“I liked my pitching, especially with their lineup,” he said. “The base hit got a couple more runs for us, but I was really pleased with how I pitched. I got out of some jams early and only made one mistake (a home run to Ryan Ludwick).”
Maybe what he did best, though, was to handle St. Louis icon Albert Pujols, retiring him in the first with two on, retiring him in the third with a runner on second and retiring him in the seventh with two on.
“I tried to be aggressive, go right after him,” said Harang. “Great hitters feed off timidness of somebody trying to pitch around them.”
The Reds struck first in the first when Jay Bruce launched one 411 feet, a two-run home run, his ninth. And the Reds had St. Louis starter Kyle Lohse in dire straits when he walked two after Bruce’s homer, but Adam Rosales popped out.
The Cardinals had Harang dangling on the precipice, too, when th first two Cardinals singled to open the game. Harang retired the next three.
He gave up a leadoff single in the second, but escaped that, too. Escapism was over in the third, even though he retired Pujols with one out and a runner on second.
He then went to 3-and-2 on Ludwick and the next pitch left the premises, tying the game, 2-2.
The Reds put Lohse to a survival test in the first, making him throw 30 pitches, then they relented and made him throw only 10, eight, eight and nine over the next four innings and the Reds had only one hit.
That changed quickly in the sixth when Jerry Hairston Jr. led with a single. After Bruce whiffed, Phillips doubled, then Laynce Nix broke the tie with a single and Ramon Hernandez made it 4-2 with another single.
And they didn’t stop. They filled the bases and Harang, victimized so often by lack of run support, supported himself by ripping Lohse’s first pitch to left field for a two-run single and a 6-2 lead.
“I was just trying to make contact, put something in play,” he said.
Willy Taveras provided another run with a single to make it 7-2 — five runs on five singles and a double. As manager Dusty Baker likes to call it, “The merry-go-round offense. That’s contact. The merry-go-round and keep that line moving.”
Hairston put the trim on the paint job in the seventh with his second homer of the season off the second pitch thrown by former Cincinnati pitcher Dennis “Big Sweat” Reyes.
For the Reds, it was no sweat.
“That was a great birthday for Aaron,” said Baker. I’m just glad we got him some runs. The guys are playing hard and it is fun and exciting to manage this bunch. And it was fun in front of a packed house. It is indicative of the fact people are believing in us, especially with 9,000 peopple walking up to buy tickets. That’s a lot. That means there is some buzz in town.
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TweetOf Fraternizing and looking not-so-sharp
When Jason LaRue was with the Cincinnati Reds, he hated it, loathed it, when he saw a teammate talking around the batting cage with an opposing player. And he hated it more when an opposing player walked into the Reds clubhuse to talk to a teammate.
It’s called fraternizing and it used to be frowned upon. The league would fine players caught talking to each other before games, no matter where it was. An umpire used to arrive early and sit in the stands and make notes as to who was talking to whom. And then U.S. Grants would gber lifted from offending players’ wallets.
No more. It’s open gab season.
LaRue was on the field Saturday before the game while the Reds took batting practice, but he was not in his St. Louis Cardinals uniform and he stood behind a rope near the backstop. He talked to Reds media relations direction Rob Butcher, Marty Brennaman and me.
As we talked, a Cardinals player approached a Reds player at the batting cage and LaRue shook his head in disgust. Then he noticed the way the Reds player was wearing his cap and said, “That’s a disgrace. That’s a disgrace to baseball right there.”
No, it wasn’t Brandon Phillips, who wears his hat off-kilter, the bill off center. It was a Reds player who was wearing the bill flat, not rounded as is the accepted manner. And it was sitting atop his head.
We won’t mention names, but I agree with LaRue on two counts: the fraternizing stinks and wearing the cap in that manner is ugly - almost as ugly as nearly ALL the players wearing their pants over the tops of their shoes.
The Fraternizing Rule is no longer enforced because what’s $50 or a $100 or even $500 to these guys? But, as a fan, don’t you hate seeing your favorite player high-fiving and hugging and bumping fists and laughing with somebody with the other team - somebody they are supposed to later go out on the field and knock senseless on a play at second base or run over at home plate to win a game?
Albert Pujols was hanging around the Reds’ batting cage and Reds GM Walt Jockeltty was guilty of fraternizing. He gave Pujols a hand shake and a hug. While he had him, he should have kicked him in the groin. But Jocketty had a slight excuse. He did used to be to be Pujols’ boss as GM of the Cardinals.
But LaRue talking about how somebody else looks is kind of funny. I told him, “Every time I see you, you look different.” And he said, “That’s because I’m getting old.” No, it isn’t. It’s because his hair is down to his shoulders and his facial hair makes him look like - and pardon me for saying this, Jason - but he looks like Charles Manson, without the swastika on the forehead.
While he isn’t the regular catcher, LaRue likes playing for manager Tony LaRussa, “Because it is all about baseball, it’s down-to-businesss stuff, not much horsing around,” said LaRue.
BRANDON PHILLIPS was back in the lineup Saturday after misisng two games with the flu, but Joey Votto was still absent with the same flu and manager Dusty Baker said he may not be bgack until Monday when the team starts a six-game trip in S=Phoenix against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
And Alex Gonzalez believes he might be back Monday, too. He made 150 long toss throws Saturday, took some infield and some batting practice.
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