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 > 09 > Entry
Cueto - live and in color
Milwaukee manager Ned Yost had two words to describe Johnny Cueto after Tuesday night’s Thriller in Miller: “As advertised.”
Yost watched the 22-year-old Reds rookie put on a pitching clinic, Dominican style - 6 1/3 innings, two runs, five hits, no walksk and eight strikeouts.
Over two major-league starts, Cueto has 13 1/3 innings with 18 strikeouts and zero walks.
His record is only 1-0, though, because his teammates forgot to take their bats out of cold storage.
Cueto gave up a run in the third and a solo home run to noted Reds homicide artist Bill Hall and that home run in the seventh nearly plastered a defeat on Cueto’s nose.
The Reds trailed, 2-1, with two outs and nobody on in the ninth. And Eric Gagne had two strikes on Corey Patterson. The loss was Cueto’s.
But Patterson lobbed one into the right field corner where the Brewers shortened the fence last year to install a picnic area. Patterson’s home run probably landed in somebody’s cantaloupe but it tied the game and prevented Cueto from a highly undeserved defeat.
And isn’t it time we critics (me included) get off Corey Patterson’s back a bit. Yes, most of us want to see Jay Bruce (who is hitting .211 at Class AAA Louisville, by the way). But Patterson’s home run was his third and he also drove in the first run of Tuesday’s game with a single.
He is hitting .269 with two doubles, three homers and six RBIs. I’m willing to back off a little - but, but, but…he STILL isn’t a leadoff hitter.
He has scored six runs, three on his own homers, and his on-base average is .286 and he has one walk. My dog, Barkley, gets two walks a day.
So the Reds are 4-4, mostly because the offense is far from offensive. When Adam Dunn (batting fifth) is hitting .130 and Edwin Encarnacion (batting sixth) is hitting .083 and is 0 for 17, that’s a very Black Hole in the heart of your order.
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By Buckey
April 9, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this
Where was our new super relief pitcher Tues? Why Weathers? COnfused. Buckey
By Rick
April 9, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this
EE is a pretty expensive interpreter— he doesn’t seem to be able to fill any other role for the Reds— pitchers must hold their breath every time a ball is hit his direction and he looks clueless at the plate.
By Deaner
April 9, 2008 8:13 AM | Link to this
Another beautiful outing for Cueto. The most impressive stat (although I’m not a stats guy) is his strikout to walk ratio - 18:0. Since I follow the Reds’ games on XM, I listened to the Brewers broadcast last night. Ever notice that Bob Uecker and the other guy sound EXACTLY the same?