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 > 10
Saturday, May 10, 2008
A lost and found weekend
From the Lost & Found Dept.: The Cincinnati Reds lost a game, then found a way to win the second game … and my bag was found.
And maybe Bronson Arroyo found himself, pitching a gem-dandy in Game 2 Saturday against the Mets - eight innings, one run, four hits. He was lifted after throwing 115 pitches and with the Reds owning a 7-1 lead in the ninth.
At least I think my bag was found. The US Airways web site says it was shipped to my hotel, but I haven’t been there yet to confirm its arrival. The 800 number you can call is a series of prompts asking you to talk to a recorded voice, which cut off on me four times.
Finally, I got a real person, but his English was bad and my Spanish is worse and I think he said my name and seven or eight indistinguishable words.
Anyway, when I walk into my room tonight I expect a happy reunion between me and my AWOL bag.
For the Reds, they have a chance for a winning trip, even if it is a three-game mini-trip. By splitting Saturday’s day-night doubleheader, losing 12-6 and winning 7-1, if the Reds win today they have a winning trip for only the second time in their last 20 trips.
And they snapped a six-game road losing streak before they finish the series/trip with the New York Mets Sunday afternoon.
Both teams must have left their bats out in the rain Friday. Six bats were shattered in the first three innings with splinters flying hither and yon.
Much-beleaguered Arroyo started Game 2 by striking out the side and then was in and out of trouble with only one-run damage in the first half of the game.
He struck out the side again in the seventh inning as he seems to make Mets-meat out of the NL New York team. He has five complete games in his career, three against the Mets.
No complete-game this time, but he had his Met sandwich.
Isn’t it funny how baseball works? In Game 1 the Reds ripped pitching icon John Santana for 10 hits in six innings and lost the game by six runs.
In Game 2 they faced some Toto from Kansas named Mike Pelfrey and had two runs against him in six innings. When he left, they scored two in the eighth.
Jeff Keppinger once upon a time wore a Mets uniform but they found him not to their liking and got rid of him. In Game 2, he had five hits, setting a career-best and scored two runs.
Scott Hatteberg, getting a rare start at first base, had three hits right behind Keppinger and drove in two runs.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a subway to catch to see if my bag and I are truly reunited. If so, I’m going to a walkway near the hotel on Times Square with a Padron ‘64 cigar and a novel I’m reading and relax for the first time since I boarded an airplane at 7 a.m. Friday.
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It IS Bruce & Bailey time
They served steak and eggs in the Shea Stadium media dining room this morning.
Then Matt Belisle served meatballs in the afternoon.
It’s time. I’ll say it now. I’ve resisted it, saying he wasn’t ready. I’ve supported bringing up Jay Bruce, but thought Homer Bailey needed some maturity and humble pie in Triple-A.
But after watching Belisle on Saturday against the Mets, well, Homer Bailey can do no worse and he certainly can prove nothing more at Louisville. Bring him up and plug him in.
Belisle gave up six runs (five earned), seven hits and three walks in five staggery innings.
Meanwhile, the Reds raked 10 hits off Johan Santana over six innings, but couldn’t bunch them up in any manner. And where have we seen this act before? It tied the most hits Santana has given up in his career and the Mets still gave the Reds a wax job.
Corey Patterson led the game with a hit and was quickly erased when he was caught leaning the wrong way and certainly manager Dusty Baker has to be running out tolerance with this guy. He stunned everybody Friday by having him third in the order, but we didn’t see the results of that head-scratcher because the game was rained out and Baker changed the lineup Saturday.
The Reds had two more hits in the first inning, three for the inning, but didn’t score.
Edwin Encarnacion, 1 for 16, snapped-to with a home run and a run-scoring single, but Patterson struck out with one on in the the fifth and struck out with two on in the sixth.
Right now, this guys is rotten to the Core-y and isn’t helping in any way. Nothing personal, no wisecracks about manager Dusty Baker wanting him here, it is just plain unadulterated fact.
So let’s have no more Belisle and no more Patterson. It truly is Bruce & Bailey time instead of continuing this Barnum & Bailey time.
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Where oh where is my bag?
Now it is more than 24 hours since my luggage was due to arrive in New York. We remain separated. U.S. Airways has not located this little piece of black luggage with the Kentucky Derby logo on it - probably the only piece of luggage between Dayton and New York with a Kentucky Derby logo.
I’ve never been to the Kentucky Derby, the only major event in America I haven’t covered at some time, but I’d like to be there. The bag was a gift from our columnist Tom Archdeacon.
I’ve covered UD, Ohio State, Miami of Ohio, the Cleveland Browns, the Cincinnati Royals (figure that one out, youngsters), the NCAA tournament, the Super Bowl, the Masters, the PGA, the U.S. Open, the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 - but not the Kentucky Derby.
Anyway, the missing bag?
That meant I was up at 7 a.m. today to visit Duane Reade for $40 worth of dop kit material, and with my stubbly beard and unkempt hair not a single street person asked me for spare change. I was one of them.
Back to the hotel for a shower, shave and hair-brushing, then back out to buy some clothes. Of course, nothing opened until 10 and I was due at the ballpark for today’s doubleheader at 11:30. I didn’t make it.
Remember when I got stuck in the elevator by myself for 20 minutes in Milwaukee’s Miller Park earlier this year? Oh, no? Oh, yes.
This time two women and I boarded Elevator B in the Marriott Marquis this morning. The doors closed. Nothing. No movement. One of the women pushed the emergency call button and it was answered immediately. A male voice told her to push the Open Elevator button, which she did, and the doors opened.
The voice said, “Now get out and take another elevator.” We barely heard him because we were out before the doors fully opened. At least it was only a couple of minutes and I had company.
Finally, a store opened and in 15 minutes I bought two shirts, two pairs of underwear, two pairs of socks and a pair of jeans. Thank you, U.S. Airways. You’ll be getting the bill - along with a bill for three Brooks Brothers shirts, two pairs of Joseph A. Banks jeans, three pairs of underwear, three pairs of socks, my meds, a bottle of John Varvatos cologne … unless, of course, they locate my bag by the time they go out of business, which probably is soon.
A 45-minute subway ride to the Shambles that is Shea got me to the park in time for the end of the Reds batting practice. The skies are gray, but it isn’t raining and the forecast is for clear skies and two baseball games.
Hopefully, the Reds slept better than I did. Because of the canceled flight, the delayed flight and the 10-hour delay in getting to NY, plus the lost luggage, I couldn’t go to sleep when I got to the hotel last night.
So, despite the rain and no umbrella, I strolled the Times Square area way past midnight, enjoying the sights and the smells of cooking hot dogs and steaming pretzels. It was only 50 degrees, so the walk was invigorating.
Today HAS to be a better day - even though U.S. Airways still has no clue if my bag is in Pittsburgh or Puerto Rico or The Philippines.
