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 > 09 > Entry
Finding New York - Barely
The continuation of the fantastic USAirways travelogue to New York, brought to you by one frustrated and worn-out baseball writer.
From our last episode (see previous blog), I was put on a flight through Washington D.C. at noon after my 7:11 a.m. direct flight to New York made it halfway before turning around because of fumes that overcame at least one passenger.
That flight was canceled, of course. Made it to D.C. at 1:45 to a 2 p.m. connection to New York. Ran to the gate as the door was being closed. Made it. The plane backed away from the gate. Oh, joyous wonderment.
Not so fast, airline-breath The plane stopped.
We sat on the tarmac for an hour because LaGuardia Air Traffic Control put us on hold. They gave us a glass of water. Lukewarm.
We finally landed at LaGuardia at 5 - a mere 10 hours after the scheduled departure and only 8 1/2 hours late.
You know the kicker, don’t you? Sure you do. You have to know it. My luggage didn’t make it. They put 15 of us who were canceled in Dayton on the Washington flight and only two of us didn’t get our luggage.
If they find my luggage, they’ll send it to the hotel - and it will make it before me. I took a cab directly to the ballpark, chatted with Dusty Baker, came to the pressbox and John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer and I neither could get on the internet to do our work for nearly 45 minutes.
And it’s raining. Hard. They say they’ll play but the New York weather forecasters say it is going to rain until 3 a.m.
What we don’t want is what is planned if it is rained out - a day-night doubleheader Saturday at 1 and 8, probably sponsored by U.S. Airways.
Yeah, yeah. I know. Things happen. Can’t be helped.
That, though, doesn’t improve my demeanor.
Meanwhile, Ken Griffey Jr. was scratched from the lineup, not due to the soaked grounds, but because he came to the park feeling ill.
And Brandon Phillips is out of the lineup after fouling a ball off his left calf Wednesday (he left the game).
In addition, Kent Mercker was placed on the DL with lower back problems and Bill Bray was called back up.
As Baker said, “I told him when he left that it wasn’t because of anything he did or didn’t do, it was just a roster thing and that he would be back as quickly as we could get him back. This was good for him. He was gone long enough to pack some clean clothes and see his grandfather (in Norfolk, where the Louisville Bats played while he was with them.).
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Comments
By Mike Ruf
May 11, 2008 7:31 AM | Link to this
We better get used to the losing of games with Baker. If you check his record,you will see that his teams have a worse record each year he stays. This will be his best year.By Mike Ruf
May 11, 2008 7:30 AM | Link to this
We better get used to the losing of games with Baker. If you check his record,you will see that his teams have a worse record each year he stays. This will be his best year.By ShockMonkey
May 10, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this
Such hatred because Dusty penciled Patterson into the 3-hole. So what! He’s trying to jump-start him, get him going. Check out his career stats: .414 SLG isn’t chopped liver. He’s better placed here than leadoff.By Mike
May 10, 2008 8:17 AM | Link to this
I like everyone else saw the “Speed ” lineup as Baker called it last night. Meaning the 1-2-3- hitters possessed speed etc. Then I saw Patterson’s name at the #3 spot. I thought..that is a misprint. With Patterson batting .200 with an OBP of .260 and only 11 RBI’s why in the world is Keppinger batting #7 at .292 with an OBP of .336 and 16 RBI’s. The last time I saw him on TV he didn’t weight 260 or was the size of Dunn or a WWE wrestler. Keppinger could support the “Speed ” theory better than Patterson. I don’t want to hear this left-right garbage. If you can hit..you can hit! We all know that Patterson is a 3.5 million guy and one can only surmise that the Reds are trying to get thier moneys worth and Baker’s past friendship with Patterson equals quality playing time that translates into batting 3rd (heaven forbid)! Dusty better get his yellow legal pads out again, because fatique,lack of sleep, a headache or something certaihly influenced his thoughts batting Patterson 3rd. Incredible!! This ranks right up there batting Dunn #2 or as Bob Bone did..batted Dunn#1. Sometimes you can’t see the forests for the trees!By Steve
May 9, 2008 7:36 PM | Link to this
Having Corey Patterson batting third is a farce. Dusty Baker has the world’s biggest blind spot when it comes to Patterson. Votto, Dunn, Encarnacion would each be a better three-hole hitter.By Lee
May 9, 2008 6:52 PM | Link to this
I’m watching Real Reds and they showed the lineup….Corey Patterson batting 3rd???? Dusty Baker has lost his mind!! Is Corey Patterson’s real last name Baker?