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 > 2012 > May > 02
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Samardzija: Can’t spell him, can’t hit him
CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds could neither spell Samardzija nor hit him Wednesday night in Great American Ball Park.
Jeff Samardzija, a former All-American wide receiver at Notre Dame, now pitches for the Chicago Cubs and on Wednesday he had the Reds begging to buy a vowel during a 3-1 Cubs victory during which the Reds scraped together only one run and three hits off him in 7 2/3 innings.
Bronson Arroyo used up 99 pitches to travel seven innings and only gave up three runs on nine hits, but two of those hits left the playing area — solo home runs by Bryan LaHair and Ian Stewart.
The Reds had only six baserunners and only two reached second base — Joey Votto, who struck and reached first on a wild pitch, then scored the team’s only run and Jay Bruce, who doubled.
Down 3-1 in the ninth against Cubs closer Carlos Marmol, The Reds went down meekly and mildly as Drew Stubbs took a called third strike on 3-and-2, Joey Votto flied to the wall in left field and Brandon Phillips took a called third strike for the second time in the game, both times disputing umpire Dana DeMuth.
“That’s the best (pitching) we’ve seen against us this year,” said manager Dusty Baker. “Usually he doesn’t have that kind of control. But he was 95 and 98 all night and when he left he was 96 and 98. It wasn’t us tonight, it was him.”
Of Arroyo, Baker said, “He just missed location (on the two home run pitches), the only two mistakes he made all night. When a guy is dealing against you like that, you can’t give up much and he didn’t. It was just all Samardzija tonight.”
Easy for you to say.
So the Reds’ flirtation with 500 sunk one below again, down to 11-12 and 4 ½ games behind the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals.
WHEN IT COMES to baseball bats, Louisville Slugger is the begin-all and end-all for most players.
Most.
Ever hear of Marucci bats? Me neither — not until I read a piece in Men’s Journal this month.
A few years ago, Jack Marucci’s young son wanted a wooden bat to use in Little League instead of one of those aluminum things that go ‘ping’ in the night. He wanted real wood, like the big leaguers use.
Marucci searched and searched for a wooden bat that his son could use, but couldn’t find one. So he went to his garage in Baton Rouge, La., and made one.
Soon he was making them for his son’s teammates and it began getting out of hand so he began charging $15, what it cost for him to make them. Then it became a hobby.
One day he mentioned it to a friend, who happened to be Eduardo Perez, a former Cincinnati Reds infielder and a son of Hall of Famer Tony Perez. Eduardo asked Marucci to make him one, so he did. Then Marucci was stunned to turn on the TV one night and see Perez using his bat.
A monster was born. Now more than 300 major leaguers, about one-third of them, use Marucci bats — including Albert Pujols.
Three Reds players use Marucci — Todd Frazier, Miguel Cairo, Willie Harris.
Frazier pulled his model out of his locker Wednesday, a black beauty with ‘M’ on the barrel.
“When you get to big-league camp for the first time you are allowed to pick out 12 free bats,” said Frazier. “I decided I wanted to try something new so I got on-line and found Marucci. They are sweet bats, man, really hard wood.”
Marucci’s wood comes from Pennsylvania and its quality was so good that he bought the mill that supplies him. He claims a solid Marucci bat can add 12 to 15 feet on hard-hit balls, “Maybe the difference in five home runs.”
When told that, Frazier said, “Oh, yeah? I’ll take that.”
WHEN THE REDS and Cubs were rained out Tuesday, there was consideration for the teams to play a doubleheader Thursday instead of just the scheduled 12:35 game.
Instead it was decided to play a doubleheader in August when the Cubs come back to Cincinnati.
And Reds manager Dusty Baker was so happy he could have jumped and clicked his heels without losing the toothpick out of his mouth. Why? A doubleheader would have messed up his pitching rotation.
BRONSON ARROYO WAS scheduled to pitch Tuesday, but he came back Wednesday night with an extra day of rest.
Baker was asked if an extra day for Arroyo was good, bad or indifferent, Baker said, “It’s good for Bronson at this point in time of the year. He has been having a little problem with his lower back again and this gave him an extra day of treatment.”
But had the Reds have to play a doubleheader Thursday, Baker’s rotation would be a mess.
He would have had to pitch Homer Bailey and Mike Leake on Thursday, “And that really would have messed up our rotation. Then we would have had to get somebody in here for Friday in Pittsburgh (from Class AAA Louisville) and send somebody out we didn’t want to send out. Some guys would then have been off almost a week.”
When the Cubs return and play a doubleheader, the Reds will be in the midst of playing 17 games in 16 days, another way to shred a rotation. But Baker said, “We’ll be in good shape by then with our pitchers.”
BAKER WOULDN’T BITE when it was mentioned that Jay Bruce is coming up on 2,000 at-bats and he is only 25 years old, so his figures to put up big, big numbers.
“You don’t know,” said Baker “A lot of water has to go under that bridge They thought Bob Horner was going to break all of Hank Aaron’s records, too. Never happened. You just have to live and play. Nobody can predict or project anything.
“That fact that he has 2,000 at-bats at 25 just means he got here quicker,” said Baker.
SOMEBODY ASKED Baker if he was aware of what shortstop Billy Hamilton is doing at high Class A Bakersfield — 29 steals in 23 games, .398, 18 strikeouts, 14 walks.
“Yep, I’m glad for him,” said Baker. “Keep progressing, keep progressing on his total game, not just the highlights, the stolen bases. The total game. He is a great kid and he is playing great. You want him to stay healthy and he is doing a lot of running.
“He’s like a little kid — how do you stop him from running,” Baker added. “Remember when you were a kid and your mom told you, ‘Stop running, boy,’ and you don’t until you bump your heard on a corner of table. But… .run while you can run.”
A JOHNNY ROCKETS restaurant across the street from Great American Ball Park is selling a Dusty’s Bacon Burger in honor of Dusty Baker, but it isn’t held together by a toothpick nor does it come wrapped in wrist bands.
QUOTE OF THE DAY — “I was told a long time ago that staying in the majors is a lot harder than getting to the majors. My rookie year I was standing on first base and Ron Fairly told me that. I thought I was going pretty good and I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about until three or four years later. I thought I’d be here forever.”
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TweetWaving the ol’ Marucci wood
CINCINNATI —When it comes to baseball bats, Louisville Slugger is the begin-all and end-all for most players.
Most.
Ever hear of Marucci bats? Me neither — not until I read a piece in Men’s Journal this month.
A few years ago, Jack Marucci’s young son wanted a wooden bat to use in Little League instead of one of those aluminum things that go ‘ping’ in the night. He wanted real wood, like the big leaguers use.
Marucci searched and searched for a wooden bat that his son could use, but couldn’t find one. So he went to his garage in Baton Rouge, La., and made one.
Soon he was making them for his son’s teammates and it began getting out of hand so he began charging $15, what it cost for him to make them. Then it became a hobby.
One day he mentioned it to a friend, who happened to be Eduardo Perez, a former Cincinnati Reds infielder and a son of Hall of Famer Tony Perez. Eduardo asked Marucci to make him one, so he did. Then Marucci was stunned to turn on the TV one night and see Perez using his bat.
A monster was born. Now more than 300 major leaguers, about one-third of them, use Marucci bats — including Albert Pujols.
Three Reds players use Marucci — Todd Frazier, Miguel Cairo, Willie Harris.
Frazier pulled his model out of his locker Wednesday, a black beauty with ‘M’ on the barrel.
“When you get to big-league camp for the first time you are allowed to pick out 12 free bats,” said Frazier. “I decided I wanted to try something new so I got on-line and found Marucci. They are sweet bats, man, really hard wood.”
Marucci’s wood comes from Pennsylvania and its quality was so good that he bought the mill that supplies him. He claims a solid Marucci bat can add 12 to 15 feet on hard-hit balls, “Maybe the difference in five home runs.”
When told that, Frazier said, “Oh, yeah? I’ll take that.”
WHEN THE REDS and Cubs were rained out Tuesday, there was consideration for the teams to play a doubleheader Thursday instead of just the scheduled 12:35 game.
Instead it was decided to play a doubleheader in August when the Cubs come back to Cincinnati.
And Reds manager Dusty Baker was so happy he could have jumped and clicked his heels without losing the toothpick out of his mouth. Why? A doubleheader would have messed up his pitching rotation.
BRONSON ARROYO WAS scheduled to pitch Tuesday, but he came back Wednesday night with an extra day of rest.
Baker was asked if an extra day for Arroyo was good, bad or indifferent, Baker said, “It’s good for Bronson at this point in time of the year. He has been having a little problem with his lower back again and this gave him an extra day of treatment.”
But had the Reds have to play a doubleheader Thursday, Baker’s rotation would be a mess.
He would have had to pitch Homer Bailey and Mike Leake on Thursday, “And that really would have messed up our rotation. Then we would have had to get somebody in here for Friday in Pittsburgh (from Class AAA Louisville) and send somebody out we didn’t want to send out. Some guys would then have been off almost a week.”
When the Cubs return and play a doubleheader, the Reds will be in the midst of playing 17 games in 16 days, another way to shred a rotation. But Baker said, “We’ll be in good shape by then with our pitchers.”
BAKER WOULDN’T BITE when it was mentioned that Jay Bruce is coming up on 2,000 at-bats and he is only 25 years old, so his figures to put up big, big numbers.
“You don’t know,” said Baker “A lot of water has to go under that bridge They thought Bob Horner was going to break all of Hank Aaron’s records, too. Never happened. You just have to live and play. Nobody can predict or project anything.
“That fact that he has 2,000 at-bats at 25 just means he got here quicker,” said Baker.
SOMEBODY ASKED Baker if he was aware of what shortstop Billy Hamilton is doing at high Class A Bakersfield — 29 steals in 23 games, .398, 18 strikeouts, 14 walks.
“Yep, I’m glad for him,” said Baker. “Keep progressing, keep progressing on his total game, not just the highlights, the stolen bases. The total game. He is a great kid and he is playing great. You want him to stay healthy and he is doing a lot of running.
“He’s like a little kid — how do you stop him from running,” Baker added. “Remember when you were a kid and your mom told you, ‘Stop running, boy,’ and you don’t until you bump your heard on a corner of table. But… .run while you can run.”
A JOHNNY ROCKETS restaurant across the street from Great American Ball Park is selling a Dusty’s Bacon Burger in honor of Dusty Baker, but it isn’t held together by a toothpick nor does it come wrapped in wrist bands.
QUOTE OF THE DAY — “I was told a long time ago that staying in the majors is a lot harder than getting to the majors. My rookie year I was standing on first base and Ron Fairly told me that. I thought I was going pretty good and I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about until three or four years later. I thought I’d be here forever.”
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