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 > 04 > Entry
Activity on a Sunday morning
It was early Sunday morning, before the bus arrived, and there were a smattering of players in the clubhouse.
In his office, manager Dusty Baker picked at a large plate overloaded with grits, sausage and bacon.
“My daddy knew this stuff wasn’t good for him, but man he could put it away,” said Baker.
In front of Ken Griffey Jr.’s locker, he and batting instructor Brook Jacoby engaged in a 45-minute discussion ranging from where Griffey’s head and shoulders are on his follow-through to the price of gasoline to Eric Davis’ daughter.
“How about Eric calling me at 6:30 before a 7 o’clock game to ask me to leave tickets for his daughter?” said Griffey. “She’s going to school in Atlanta.”
At a table by himself, roving pitching instructor Mario Soto played a Latin version of solataire, and when asked if he won without cheating, Soto said, “I won the first game, but nothing since. I never cheat.”
Soto is in Atlanta to gave sage and veteran advice to Johnny Cueto, but Soto’s heart is in Dayton and Sarasota, the team’s two Class A affiliates.
“I’ve got two guys in Dayton — Luis Montano and Enerio Del Rosario,” he said. “Del Rosario has a 1.35 earned run average in 10 games (two starts) and Montano is 4-0 with a 1.27 ERA. And in Sarasota I have Ramon Geronimo, who hasn’t given up a run in 12 appearances (14.2 innings). I love working with kids. I just love it.”
Flanked on each side of Soto are stationary bikes and Matt Belisle pedaled hard on one and Bill Bray was imitating Lance Armstrong on the other. Both were watching American Pie II on a big-screen HD television, large smiles and they pumped and pumped and pumped.
Back in his office, the breakfast gone, Baker had all three catchers in front of him, discussing how to pitch to Atlanta hitters, who in two nights raked the Reds for 11 runs and 21 hits.
The batting order for Sunday’s game was the same as Saturday’s new twist, except Paul Bako was catching instead of David Ross. But Ryan Freel remained in center and led off, Griffey was batting second, Brandon Phillips third, Joey Votto fourth, Edwin Encarnacion fifth, Adam Dunn sixth, Jeff Keppinger seventh and Bako eighth.
“You have to stay with something sometime,” said Baker.
Then it was time for batting practice to see if the Reds could improve upon the one run they scored in the first two gamers against the Braves - a tough task because they were facing Tom Glavine, who usually beats the Reds even if it is only a rumor that he is going to pitch.
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Comments
By Bob
May 8, 2008 9:51 AM | Link to this
I’ve always felt Jr. must have a contract clause that guarantees his 3 hole spot. He is always one of the lowest producers in the majors in that spot. Also, for the good of future seasons, they’d better lock up Patterson to a multi-year deal. He’ll attract a lot of interest. If this sounds cynical, after 8 yrs of this crab, it’s unavoidable.By Joe
May 4, 2008 8:58 PM | Link to this
How about Soto as pitching coach?By Deaner
May 4, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this
I love these “behind the scenes” posts. It’s 6-8 going into B5. I can’t believe the Reds are making a game out of this!?By got milk
May 4, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this
Hopefully Jocketty has the stones to initiate some activity after the game and options Bronson to AAA. Bring up Homer. Thankfully the Reds lost this game inside of an hour. It’s a warm, sunshiny day in central Ohio and I’m going to go outside and enjoy it. No point in wasting any more time in front of the TV today.