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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 > 2009 > October > 01
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Cards-Reds: some spicy controversy
Nothing like a little mud-slinging to spice up next season’s Cincinnati Reds-St. Louis Cardinals rivalry, which begins on Opening Day.
And most likely that game will be pitched by Bronson Arroyo for the Reds, part of the current controversy during which Cardinals manager Tony La Russa accused Arroyo of cheating and of somebody on the Reds of cheating.
Reds manager Dusty Baker reacted harshly over the charges and said, “Where I come from, man, you call somebody a cheater, you better know what you’re talking about. That’s like calling somebody a liar, a snitch, a cheat or a thief. Those are strong words when you call somebody a cheater and I’m the man in charge over here.”
La Russa and Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan believe Arroyo used pine star to sticky-up baseballs that were slick Wednesday, devoid of the Delaware mud that is normally rubbed on them before games.
St. Louis pitcher John Smoltz said the balls were too slick and La Russa said the balls did not have the mud on them.
Before Thursday’s 13-0 Cardinals victory, ignited by pitcher Chris Carpenter’s first career home run, a grand slam off Kip Wells in the second inning and six RBIs, clubhouse attendant Mike Dillon, who rubs mud on the balls, stopped in La Russa’s office.
“I had nothing to do with those balls (Wednesday) and I’m the one who rubbed them up, but I had nothing to do with them. I don’t know what happened after they were over there but you look at them (Thursday) and they’ll be the same,” said Dillon.
La Russa showed Dillon two balls he saved from Wednesday and said, “Do they looked rubbed up to you?”
Said Dillon, “No. I rubbed up the balls but they weren’t like that. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m telling you I don’t cheat. I don’t lie. I had nothing to do with it. Somehow the mud got off them.”
La Russa said, “I knew they were up to shenanigans. I appreciate you saying that.”
Of Arroyo, La Russa added, “The guy’s got pine tar all over his hat and the our guy (Smoltz) is out there naked. We’ve got about six of those balls around here. That was pretty lousy. (Arroyo) found a little edge. You can’t let the starting pitcher influence how the balls are prepared for the game.”
Said Arroyo, “I pitch on the road, too, and I can’t tell you how many times I was unhappy with the way the balls are rubbed up. Every time I pitch in Milwaukee I can’t stand the way the balls are rubbed up. They can run out any kind of balls they want and I won walk five guys (as Smoltz did).”
Baker said he didn’t hear any complaints about Arroyo rubbing pine tar on the balls until a writer told him Thursday morning.
“If anybody should know about that it would be (Cardinals pitching coach) Dave Duncan and La Russa, maybe,” said Baker. “I remember they had Julian Tavarez over there and they threw his hat out of the game because it had pine tar on it.”
That was 2004 and Tavarez was suspended eight days for using pine tar (later reduced to four days). And remember that lefthanded relief pitcher they had?”
That would be Steve Kline, who wore the same hat all season and by season’s end it was no longer red, it was brownish black — the color of pine tar.
“That is all just stupid,” said Baker. “Nothing went on. News to me. I don’t believe in cheating. Can’t anybody just lose any more without extenuating circumstances?”
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TweetCards upset about stolen base, mudless balls
NOT MUCH WAS made of it at the time, but St. Louis pitcher John Smoltz was perturbed (the polite term for p——-) when Drew Stubbs stole second base in the third inning Wednesday when the Cincinnati Reds led the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0.
It is an unwritten rule, an absurd one, that when a team has a big lead over another team it isn’t polite to steal bases. Why? Who knows? Do hitters quit trying to hit home runs? Of course not. But don’t dare steal bases.
I like what former St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog once said about that: “If the other team promises me they won’t try to score any runs then I’ll promise I won’t try to score any.”
When Smoltz reacted on the steal toward the Reds dugout, manager Dusty Baker held up three fingers, meaning, “Third inning.” Anybody with any sense knows a 6-0 lead in the third inning in Great American Ball Park is not safe, especially when Albert Pujols has three more at-bats.
“Yeah, I guess he was upset,” said Baker. “I held up three fingers and then he held up his hand. I guess he was saying, ‘OK,’ or maybe he was saying, ‘Talk to the hand.’
“I have as much respect for John Smoltz as anybody in baseball because we’ve battled on the field a long time,” Baker added. “He was frustrated about everything, including the balls (too slick). With that offense they have, with a couple of crooked-number innings they are right back in the ballgame. Those guys know how to open that door.
“The kid (Stubbs) has the green light and I didn’t give him the stop sign,” Baker added. “It was only 6-0 in the third inning and I don’t see anything wrong with that. You know sooner or later they are going to score or threaten to score.”
And, oh yes, the balls. While Smoltz complained that the balls were too slick, Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo retired the Cards’ first nine batters and breezed into the eighth inning.
Why weren’t the balls too slick for him?
THE CARDINALS had the answer for that, too. Pine tar. Pitching coach Dave Duncan said Arroyo was putting pine tar on the balls to make them sticky.
Baker said he didn’t hear any complaints about Arroyo rubbing pine tar on the balls until a writer told him this morning.
“If anybody should know about that it would be Dunc, maybe,” said Baker. “I remember they had Julian Tavarez over there and they threw his hat out of the game because it had pine tar on it. And remember that lefthanded relief pitcher they had?”
That would be Steve Kline, who wore the same hat all season and by season’s end it was no longer red, it was brownish black - the color of pine tar.
“It’s not like it’s something new, you know?” said Baker. “They didn’t complain about it during the game and maybe if they called him out on it somebody would call them out on doing the same thing.”
Ah, conspiracy theories. Ya gotta love it.
AS FOR TODAY’S game, well, Kip Wells just gave up a grand slam home run to opposing pitcher Chris Carpenter for a 5-0 lead in the second inning. It was Carpenter’s first career grand slam. And with one swing, the four RBIs double his RBI total for the year. He had six career RBIs before that home run.
Wit his 16-4 record and 2.30 ERA, you can put this one in the books. And let’s see if the Cardinals try to steal a base now.
A REDS CLUBHOUSE attendant who is in charge of rubbing up the baseballs stopped by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa’s office to tell his side of the story as to how the balls used in Wednesday’s game seemed so slick to Cardinals starter John Smoltz.
The attendant told La Russa, “I want you to know something. I had nothing to do with those balls last night. I’m the one who rubbed them up, but I had nothing to do with them. I don’t know what happened to them after they were over there but you look at them today and they’ll be the same.”
La Russa said, “You mean the same as what? Yesterday?”
La Russa then showed the attendant two balls he had saved from the previous game and said, “Do they looked rubbed up to you?”
The attendant replied, “No. I rubbed up the balls but they weren’t like that. That’s all I’m going to say. I don’t want to get myself in trouble or anything like that. I’m telling you I don’t cheat. I don’t lie. I had nothing to do with it.
“Somehow the mud got off them.”
La Russa said, “I knew they were up to shenanigans. I appreciate you saying that.”
Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan had said Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo had gone to some pine tar on his hat to enable him to grip the balls better.
Today, La Russa, “The guy’s got pine tar all over his hat and the other guy (Smoltz) is out there naked. We’ve got about six of those balls around here. That was pretty (lousy).
“(Arroyo) found a little edge. You can’t let the starting pitcher influence how the balls are prepared for the game.
“Maybe I won’t send over our lineup (to the Reds’ clubhouse),” said La Russa, half-smiling. “It would just disappear like the mud balls did.”
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