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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 > July > 07
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
From four guys (Reds) to Five Guys (hamburgers)
JUST FOUND out there is a Five Guys a few blocks from my hotel. That decides my lunch plans for Wednesday - best burgers and fries anywhere. There is now a Five Guys in Cincinnati and a Five Guys in Columbus. None in Dayton.
Maybe I’ll quit this gig and buy a Five Guys franchise for Dayton. Or I’ll start my own franchise. One Guy. Or Hal’s Hamburgers.
BEING A McCOY, there is one thing in Philly I refuse to eat. You’d have to stuff it down my mouth. It’s a Hatfield Phillies Frank (hot dog). My great grandfather would disown me and whip me with the barrel of his shotgun.
WHEN JOE GARAGIOLA wrote his book, Baseball is a Funny Game, he knew of what he spoke.
How does a team use the same lineup and the same order (different pitchers, of course) one night and lose 22-1, then win the next night, 4-3?
That’s what the Cincinnati Reds did, beating the Phillies, 4-3, Tuesday in Citizens Bank Park. And they spotted the Phillies a 3-0 lead. Well, Aaron Harang spotted them the 3-0 lead. And he had the bases loaded with no outs in the third, already down, 3-0, and everybody was thinking, “Here we go again. Get those double-digit lights ready on the scoreboard.”
Then a strange thing happened. Harang retired three in a row with no damage. The Phillies would not score again.
Then it was time for Brandon Phillips. First he hit a two-run homer in the fourth then a solo homer in the sixth to tie it, 3-3. It stayed that way until the ninth when Joey Votto led with a double. Phillips, 0 for 7 in his career against Brad Lidge, was asked to sacrifice bunt. And he did it. Perfectly. No muss, no fuss, no missing signs, just sound fundamental baseball.
Ramon Hernandez singled up the middle and the Reds had themselves a win after spending a day in Philadelphia feeling like British soldiers wear red coats and getting the bejabbers beat out of them.
That’s four guys contributing mightily - plus the bullpen of Arthur Rhodes, Davie Weathers and Coco Cordero all got out of minor problems during their one inning each.
As usual, Phillips was eloquent after the game.
“We deserved that butt-whipping we got (Monday) and I’m glad it happened. It was kind of funny and it really woke us up. We were just moping along after getting butt-whippings two games in a row (10-1, 22-1).
“We had to play Reds baseball, do the little things,” he said. “You have to learn to do the fundamental things, learn how to bunt to show the little kids in the stands that bunting is important in situations like that.”
ANYWAY, here’s some stuff from one of my favorite journalists, Jayson Stark. At one time Stark was the Phillies beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and now writes for ESPN and is a must read.
-In his two innings of pitching in disaster relief, infielder Paul Janish has given up 11 runs. That’s eight more than he has driven in during his 33 at-bats.
-The Reds allowed 22 runs and 10 extra-base hits in their 22-1 loss to the Phillies Monday. No NL team had given up that many runs and that many extra-base hits in any game since Sept. 4, 1999, when the Phillies did it - against the Reds, of course.
-The Phillies did something the Philadelphia Eagles have never done - beat a team from Cincinnati by 21. The biggest margin of victory by the Eagles in a game against the Bengals was nine, in December 2000. Now that one REALLY hurts.
-The Reds have lost two games in their 19,000-game history by 20 runs or more - both of them to the Phillies. This game broke the previous franchise record, a 26-6 wipeout on July 26, 1892. I may have been there, but don’t remember it.
-Johnny Cueto became the first Reds pitcher in history to give up nine runs or more without getting at least three outs. And this was a guy who had never allowed nine runs in a game in any of the previous 47 starts in his career. Then he allowed nine in two-thirds of an inning.
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TweetA nightmare near Pattison Avenue
IT SEEMS that in Philadelphia, the game will forever be etched in the psyche of all the fans as simply, “22-1.” Nothing more be said.
As Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and I trudged from Citizens Bank Park shortly after midnight, a cab magically appeared - best thing that happened all night. As we got in, the cabbie laughed and said, “22-1.” He didn’t know we were writers covering the Reds and we sheepishly let him have his fun.
OK, so now it’s today, shortly afternoon. Sheldon and I are leaving Jim’s Steaks and magically another cab appears. It dumped a load of passenger’s at Jim’s door and we scrambled in. First thing the cabbie says? “22-1. Man, I thought it was a football score.”
It was. Philadelphia Phillies (Eagles) 22, Cincinnati Reds (Bengals) 1.
My wife Nadine didn’t watch the game and called me as I was in the cab leaving the game. When I told her the score, she said, “Are you ———— me?” No, honey. The god-awful truth.
The Philadelphia Daily News wasn’t kind to the Reds, but then, should they be? Their headline today: “Routrageous: Batmen 22, Jokers 1.” Ouch.
ON TO MORE important things. When it was mentioned that Sheldon and I were going to Jim’s today, a bartender said, “Tourist trap. Geno’s and Pat’s and Jim’s are tourist traps. Jim’s is the best of the three, but you should just find a mom-and-pop place on a corner.”
Hey, as good as Jim’s cheesesteaks are, I can’t fathom anything better. There comes a point when it can’t get better. In my humble opinion, Jim’s rules. I walked 19 blocks to get there, but was too full and too hot to walk back.
THE REDS made a move to cover the widening gap in the bullpen. They called up righthander Robert Manuel from Class AAA Louisville. And they optioned out infielder Drew Sutton.
As Dusty Baker said before tonight’s game: “The sun came up this morning. I thought it would. But I wasn’t sure. I didn’t sleep. I watched it come up. That was a nightmare I don’t want to re-live. Ever.”
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