Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > May > 03 > Entry
Big batting order changes
What the Cincinnati Reds might need Saturday is a Brook Benton - a rainy night in Georgia so they don’t have to play, as if you actually call what they did Friday playing.
The weather forecast calls for rain over Turner Field, but it is supposed to clear up by 9, so it is likely they’ll play this one.
And they’ll play it with a scrambled batting order, some big-time changes.
Ryan Freel leads off, then it is Ken Griffey Jr. batting second, Brandon Phillips batting third, Joey Votto batting fourth, Edwin Encarnacion batting fifth, Adam Dunn batting sixth, Jeff Keppinger batting seventh and David Ross batting eighth.
“Hey, man, we gotta try something,” said manager Dusty Baker. “All I do is think abut this stuff. I had this one in mind on the off day Thursday. “I talked to Junior during spring training and he offered to bat second, but I didn’t know if he was serious. I’m not crazy about changing things, but I’m trying to find something that works.”
Said Griffey, with a large smile, “I’m movin’ on up. Pretty soon I’ll be batting first and chasing Rickey (Henderson). I just want to hit a leadoff home run, like Rickey, who had 39 of them.”
Early in his career Griffey batted second for Seattle and, in fact, has batted second 62 times in his career.
And maybe the Reds do have a chance. Atlanta manager Bobby Cox is throwing Jo-Jo Reyes at the Reds, one of the few players in baseball history with a hyphen in his name. Reyes faced the Reds a couple of years ago and was sent running for cover in the first inning, recording only a couple of outs.
Last year he was 0-0 on July 17 when the Reds faced him and he went 6 2/3 innings, but the Reds beat him, 6-5.
After sitting out Friday’s game, a 2-0 loss, both Freel and Votto were in Saturday’s lineup. Votto was given Friday off so Scott Hatteberg could play, with manager Dusty Baker saying, “You have to play guys once in a while or when you call on them there is nothing there.”
Hatteberg, 0 for 7 as a pinch-hitter, was 0 for 3 with a strikeout, but in his last at-bat he smoked a line drive right at pitcher Tim Hudson. Had he not fielded it, he would have had a rather large and black bruise right where the ‘v’ and the ‘e’ come together where it saves ‘Braves’ on his uniform.
Cincinnati’s pitcher is Matt Belisle, a former No. 2 Braves draft choice. And what is it they say about pitchers in the Braves system? Something like that a team best beware if the Braves are willing to trade him.
It is time for Belisle to step up. Everybody has heard about the great stuff and he does have it. But he isn’t consistent with it. Too erratic. Big innings surface too often. When he needs the big pitch to get out of jams, it turns into a hanging slider or a fastball up and it gets brutalized.
And this could be a lesson to those chirping for the immediate promotion of Homer Bailey from Class AAA Louisville. Belisle made three minor-league starts on rehab and was 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA. His last start was at Louisville and he held Pawtucket to one run and eight hits over seven innings, with a walk and six strikeouts.
Then he was brought up and in his first start for the Reds against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he gave up seven runs (five earned) and 12 hits in four-plus innings. His next start he was better - four runs and five hits over five innings at San Francisco in a 10-9 win.
As we all know, or should know, the step from Triple-A to the majors is the highest and some can’t take that final step without stumbling.
We’ll see tonight how much better Belisle is in his third start.
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Comments
By MAC
May 4, 2008 1:12 AM | Link to this
I can’t see Griff @ #2 for long; he isn’t willing to take pitches, draw walks, bunt, hit behind the runner or steal bases if he does get on. At least Dunn will draw some walks and try to hit backside on occassion. Kepp is ideal @ #2, but we need his bat for RBIs. Why not try Votto in the 2 hole? He’s disciplined, has good speed and puts the ball in play.By ohdave
May 3, 2008 10:33 PM | Link to this
Is Adam Dunn a run producer? No. He’s a big gaping hole in the lineup where a hitter should be. Is it late enough NOW to panic? This team couldn’t hit its way out of a wet paper bag.By Broadway
May 3, 2008 10:28 PM | Link to this
Get your $21 million wastes of money out of the lineup! Period. They are killing this team. They are godawful! We don’t care if you want to play them, because you invested so much money in them. They suck—in all aspects of the game! Put Hairston back in. Play small ball. “Team” at bats is correct, George—it never happens with these overpaid, over-rated players. Belisle pitched a helluva game—deserved better. Do something Jockety!By Sigh Yung
May 3, 2008 5:33 PM | Link to this
Drop Dunn and Griffey and insert Bruce and Hopper—then you’ll be on to something!By Lefty
May 3, 2008 5:29 PM | Link to this
Just wait Liz—they are here! And, most are still wet behind the ears—but if you ask them they know it all!By Y-City Jim
May 3, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this
Freel is hot but he is not the ling term answer.By liz
May 3, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this
Hal, I just learned about your blog. Thank you so much for having such a professional site. I enjoy reading about the Reds without a lot of wisecrackers on board.