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 > April > 08 > Entry
Milwaukee: a starting point
So we’re in Milwaukee and it is 41 degrees, 30 degrees colder than Dayton/Cincinnati. I’m told Milwaukee does have a summer - between August 12 and August 14 - and the sun DOES shine on one of those days.
Fortunately, Miller Park has a roof. It also has brats, metts and polish sausages. If I worked for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel I would break Babe Ruth’s hot dog record and eclipse the circumference of his waist-line.
I’ve always wanted to participate in the Hot Dog race. The Philadelphia Phillies writers did it one year - all five wieners were writers (the players says the writers always are wieners). Reds Media Relations Director Rob Butcher ran in the race three years ago and WON. I sense the race was fixed, but commissioner Bud Selig wasn’t there that day to ban the other four wieners for life.
Butcher also slid down the huge sliding board used by Bernie the Brewer, Milwaukee’s mascot who slides down the slide after every Milwaukee home run. The Reds hope the slide rusts the next three days.
This is the start of a 10-day, nine-game, three-city trip to Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. That means some extra packing for writers, although I have known a couple of writers in the past who took two week trips carrying a duffel bag - and half the space was occupied by a laptop.
The rest of the duffel: One pair of jeans with regulation holes in the knees, one extra shirt (in case he got spaghetti sauce on the other one), one extra pair of socks and one extra pair of underwear (seriously). No extra shoes, though, because his dirty sneakers with holes in the toes were just fine, thank you.
The guy sat by himself a lot.
Johnny Cueto is once again the focal point when the Cincinnati Reds open the trip tonight in Miller-Under-Roof. That just means the catcher’s mitt will pop real loud with those 96-mph fastballs.
This is a good test for Cueto’s second major-league start. The Brewers are a bunch of hitters, a bunch of free-swingers. They are either going to strike out a lot or hit a lot of home runs … or maybe both.
The Brewers are off to an excellent start and if the Reds are sincere in their due diligence to win the NL Central, Milwaukee is one of the teams they have to run through.
Now, does anybody have any ideas how to jump-start the bats of Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Dunn? For sure those bats won’t heat up if they were left outside last night.
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By Bob
April 12, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this
Last night Jeff Brantley was worried about the wet footing for baserunners. One of the Reds had no worry at all. Jr. coasts in to 2nd on a single in the RF corner with 2 outs and should have been standing on 3rd. I’m so tired of watching that. How does he get away with it. It’s not like he’s the franchise and they’ll crash without him if he gets hurts. How awful it would be to have to fall back to Jay Bruce.
By Bill
April 8, 2008 6:34 PM | Link to this
I have a sure-fire way to get them both to start hitting—trade them both for a good catcher.Then, put Jay Bruce in left,Votto at first—and let them play!
By jarrod
April 8, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this
this is a big road trip. you can’t win a division in april but you can sure lose one. i think if the reds were to win 7 of 9 it could really propel them (not that i expect them to). as long as they don’t go in and tank thats ok. does anybody else feel like the reds have a an unfair schedule? the phillies for 8 instead of 6, the yanks, jays, sox, and then the indians for six. thats brutal.
By Nick
April 8, 2008 2:42 PM | Link to this
I think some Chilli Pepper in their shoes might get them jump started. It would at least get them to him a homerun so that they do not have to stand at homeplate or on the bases for to long.