The Real McCoy

About The Real McCoy

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.

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June 2008

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Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > June > 07 > Entry

An ugly one gets away

By Hal McCoy | Saturday, June 7, 2008, 08:20 PM

This was one of those that feels as if somebody reached inside your body and twisted your guts with a clenched firt and won’t let go.

This was one wrapped up in a tidy bow, but what the Cincinnati Reds didn’t know was that the Florida Marlins were carrying scissors and snipped and snipped and snipped until the bow was in tatters.

Leading 7-5 in the bottom of the ninth, closer Francisco Cordero was awful. First he gave up a leadoff double to Jorge Cantu, who is treating the Reds like ants on a sidewalk. He homered earlier in the game and has three in two days against the Reds.

With one out, Cordero walked Dan Uggla on four pitches. Luis Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly to make 7-6, but Cordero had two outs. Needed one. Never got it.

Cody Ross deposited an 0-1 pitch over the right-center fence. Game-ender. Game-over. Blown Save. Blown game. Back to the hotel for a short night of thinking what might have been, what should have been.

What is staggering about this one, other than the fact Cordero is looking more than a bit shaky as the closer, is that both Cantu and Ross wore Reds uniforms recently.

Cantu, a nice righthanded hitter, played 27 games for the Reds late last season and hit .298. At the end of the season, the Reds pushed him out the door. No trade. No sale. Just, “Good-bye and good luck.”

They also had Cody Ross for about 10 minutes in 2006. He broke his hand when it was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat for the Reds. When he recovered, the Reds traded him to the Marlins.

The other concern is Bronson Arroyo. The Bad Bronson showed up - again. And when he’s bad, he’s as bad as some of the characters Charles Bronson plays in the movies. Arroyo is named after Charles Bronson.

He needed 51 pitches (only 25 for strikes) to get through the second inning. He gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, putting his team behind, 4-0.

His team didn’t rescue him, the Marlins did. They made three errors to permit the Reds to score four runs and take Arroyo off the hook.

Still, Arroyo and Cordero? Scary.

For those patting Corey Patterson on the back because you heard he volunteered to be sent to the minors, it ain’t so.

It was reported that way (not by me), but it just ain’t so. He never volunteered. When he was asked if he volunteered, he said, “No, I never volunteered. I was in Dusty Baker’s office and he told me I was going back. I expected it, but I didn’t ask for it.”

Actually, I applaud Patterson even more than if he had volunteered. He could have let the story ride and said, “Yep, I said, ‘Send my miserable butt back to Louisville, or maybe even Chattanooga,’” and made himself look good.

But he told the truth. He didn’t volunteer. He was told he was Louisvill-bound.

There are stories along those lines that are true, though.

The Reds once had a utility infielder named Chico Ruiz, a helpful player off the bench but stinko when he played regularly. After one long stint in the lineup, he told the manager, “Bench me or trade me,” a new twist on what most players who don’t get to play say, “Play me or trade me.”

Then there was shortstop Gary Templeton (St. Louis/San Diego). He deserved to be on the 1979 All-Star team but wasn’t voted on as a starter. When he was named to the team as a non-starter, he said, “If I ain’t startin’ I ain’t departin.’”

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