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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 > June > 12 > Entry
Burying the silly hatchet with Brandon Phillips
Brandon Phillips and I buried the hatchet after Thursday’s game — and it wasn’t in each other’s head.
It was way back on April 27 in San Francisco, a Sunday, and Phillips hit two home runs and had three hits in a 10-1 victory.
First San Francisco writers approached him and he shooed them away. I approached later and he shouted at me, “Get out of my space. Get out of my face and get out of my space!”
He was angry. And that made me angry and I told him, “Tell you what, Brandon. I won’t bother you the rest of the year.”
“That’s cool,” he said.
And I hadn’t.
But when he hit his three-run triple Thursday in Cincinnati’s 6-2 win, I decided that being a 67-year-old child wasn’t cool and I walked up to him. I asked him a couple of questions.
He smiled broadly and answered them, as polite and cooperative as your Sunday preacher. After the interview, I turned to leave, but he stopped me.
“Hey, man, I want to apologize to you,” he said. I knew what for but I asked, “What for?”
“For San Francisco,” he said. “I wasn’t mad at you, I was mad at an umpire and I took it out on you. I’m sorry. I’m straight, dog. Everything’s cool. Hey, I enjoy reading your articles.”
I told him I was out of line, too, that what I said wasn’t professional, that I wouldn’t bother him the rest of the year. We shook hands and that was that.
I don’t know about him, but I feel much better about myself.
And what did I ask him?
Well, he was given a day off Wednesday, then came back with that three-run triple Thursday and I asked if the day off was good for him, even though he argued with manager Dusty Baker that he didn’t need a day off and wanted to play.
“The day off really helped me out,” said Phillips. “I had a lot of energy today and felt a whole lot better. I didn’t really do anything yesterday. Now I can go out and be myself and not try to do too much.”
Phillips said Baker issued words of wisdom.
“He said, ‘Hey, you can’t win the game by yourself’ and just do what you can do.”
One of the things Phillips did so well last season was hit balls the opposite way, the way he hit his triple Thursday.
“Yes, I tried to go that way and I’m trying to hit more balls to right field,” he said.
“They’ve been pitching me in, and on the day off I looked at a lot of tapes and saw a majority of my hits going to right field. I’m going to try to do that again.”
The other noteworthy: Bronson Arroyo had his fifth straight quality start, maybe his best of the season, but got nothing for it because he had to leave after six innings when his forearm cramped when he led 2-0 and had given up two hits.
The bullpen couldn’t hold it for Arroyo, but a four-run inning during which Paul Janish and Ken Griffey Jr. worked St. Louis pitcher Randy Flores for walks was followed by the three-run triple by Phillips.
Arroyo makes no secret over how much he loves Boston and the Red Sox, for whom he pitched before the Reds traded Wily Mo Pena to get him. Arroyo was asked if he would have liked to pitch against the Red Sox in one of the three games this weekend.
“Of course, but it’s a little bit of a double-edged sword,” he said. “I’ve said for the last three years I really wouldn’t enjoy pitching Opening Day here because of all the hoopla going on, which is the same thing that is going to go on here the next three days.”
Arroy said he is going to warn his teammates.
“We’re going to get booed, be ready for it,” he said. “We’re going to be booed in our own park because the Boston fans are in town and they are going to take over the stadium, even worse than what Cubs fans do when they come here.”
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Comments
By Ed
June 13, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this
Hal said: “The other noteworthy: Bronson Arroyo had his fifth straight quality start,…”. Check the facts Hal, what about the turds he dropped on the mounds in Philly & FLA on 6/2 & 6/7. Let’s not get worked up about a good outing, I can only find six quality starts out of 15 total for BA.By Cait
June 13, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this
Hey Baffled in Bellbrook: Griffey drew a bases-loaded walk to “drive in” the go-ahead RBI. It was a crucial at bat - 2 outs late in the game and for a team full of players who swing at early pitches. Griffey showed amazing patience and if he had struck out, then Phillips doesn’t get a chance to hit a 3-run triple. If Jr. had hit a 3-run double would you say big deal because he struck out 2 times, too? As “they” say, a walk’s as good as a hit and that walk was the game-winning RBI.By bigdoc
June 13, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this
Good column! Inside scoops, as usual for Hal! I love Votto’s determination and hard work—but he is ‘mechanical’—herky-jerky. No Keith Hernandez—not even Sean Casey. Maybe the AAA folks who questioned his defense were not far off. Does anyone know who coined the phrase, “The Big Red Machine’? I remember the team, but not where the name came from.By Coach
June 13, 2008 1:56 PM | Link to this
OhDave: glad someone else saw Dusty’s reaction, too.I, too, was disgusted with that; especially since a starter had not gone seven innings—in the last seven starts.But,hey—if you already have been paid…why extend yourself?By Nick
June 13, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this
wow i never thought phillips would be like that every game i see him out on the field talkin to the fans and he always has a smile on his face.. im glad the reds showed some life this game hopefully get a little momentum so we can sweep “the nation” this weekend to bad there arn’t many tickets left cus i want to see those games..i agree with the person who commented at 10:48 about the worst player we have corey patterson and why he is batting 1st and not 9th cus broson hit better last night then he has the whole year i think he has had like 2 or 3 hits since he got called back up..i was listen to the radio last night and marty asked you if when hooper comes back do we keep patterson up and i started to laugh and couldn’t wait for ur answer cus i think we all no how much u love patterson and u said there is no question that hooper is gonna play when he gets back good answer hal..By Steven Ross
June 13, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this
Give Arroyo a break if he still waxes poetic about the Red Sox. They win, we lose. Can’t say I blame him. Hal: great article!By Steven Ross
June 13, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this
Give Arroyo a break if he still waxes about the Red Sox. They win, we lose. Can’t say I blame him. Hal: great article!By Deaner
June 13, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this
Good to hear that you and Brandon buried the hatchet. Red Sox fans coming to GABP… or as ESPN likes to call them, “The Nation” dry heaves… they’re worse than the great blue horde of Cubs fans that descend upon Cincinnati several times a season.By Baffled in Bellbrook
June 13, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this
Great to see the Reds un-baffled for an evening. Now here’s a laugh. On Yahoo’s sport page, their headline reads: “Griffey, Phillips lead Reds to 6-2 win over St. Louis” —uh, am I missing something? Aside from a walk and another 2 strikeouts, what did Grif do to help win the game? And did you notice who brilliant Dusty picked to bat leadoff? The absolute WORST leadoff hitter in all of baseball, The Automatic Out, Mr Swing at Everything, Oh-fer-4, .195 average Patterson? Tell me, PLEASE, how do you bat a .195 hitter lead off? Just to get his “customary out” out of the way? They won because Brandon pitched beautifully and with lots of walks and screw ups by St Louis. NOT because of anything Griffey did. 95% of the time he’s no fun to watch.By Jeff
June 13, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
I say send Arroyo back to Boston! I get so sick of hearing him talk about Boston and how much he loves it. My God, get over it! Obvisously Boston didn’t want him anymore if they were willing to take Wily Mo!By SJ in Ind.
June 13, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this
I love BP. He was on with Paul Daughterty before the game yesterday and he was great. I like that he eats Lucky Charms before every day. Even better is the thought of Phillps calling old-school Hal McCoy “Dog.” Hal, you should have said you gave him a fist pound instead of shaking his hand. Would have added to the awesomeness even more.By rob
June 13, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this
Is Arroyo going to stay at the Red Sox hotel this weekend? He is always waxing eloquent about his days in Boston. Good Lord, is Harang due or what?By Mike
June 13, 2008 8:44 AM | Link to this
Hal have you been appalled at Dunn’s expertise in left field, how about EE’s performance at 3rd..how about Griffey’s not seemingly hustling and standing and watching a fly ball for 2 seconds before running it out, Dusty’s line-ups..the list could go on and on. Easy to say Votto shold have had it etc. ” Most 1st basemen make that play”..but the play begins with the throw to 1st base. Whatever ensues after the throw is a direct result of a sub par throw from an infielder and the 1st baseman making efforts to clean up what an infielder already began. Save being appalled for the guys who dog it..Votto will be fine..he has made some sensational plays as well.By Florida Buckeye
June 13, 2008 8:38 AM | Link to this
Arroyo’s dead on: The Bo Sox fans are a bunch of thuggish, whinners who invade the Trop down here all the time…I used to think that Phillie’s Fan’s were the worst; but now I know…Chowder Nation is the worst!By bruiser
June 13, 2008 2:43 AM | Link to this
I watched the Marlin’s series and was apalled at Joey Votto’s attempts to play 1B. He is absolutly the worst I’ve seen in a long time. His reactions are all jerky with no coordination shown. After all this time, he should be much better if he is capable of that. No wonder Alonso was the first pick.By bruiser
June 13, 2008 2:28 AM | Link to this
Thanks for relating the Phillips incident. That’s what I like about you Hal, your honesty. Even though you are sensitve to criticism, as we all are, you also don’t hesitate to show your other human frailities.By Kyle
June 12, 2008 11:54 PM | Link to this
Just got back to Columbus from tonight’s game. I was completely disappointed when I saw Patterson starting instead of Bruce. Very fun game to attend. Had a suicide, a pitcher home run, good pitching, exciting finish. Why can’t they play like this all the time?By ohdave
June 12, 2008 11:34 PM | Link to this
I don’t think there are many professional athletes who would show that kind of humility. Makes me like Brandon Phillips even more. On another issue: What about Arroyo? As a former coach myself (track, not baseball) I recognized the look on Baker’s face when Arroyo wanted out of the game. The look was, “you gotta be kiddin’ me. Toughen up.” Arroyo pitched great, but why did he pull himself?By Cait
June 12, 2008 11:18 PM | Link to this
Tonight’s game was fun. Wish I had been to this one instead of Tuesday’s game. Nice to see Arroyo up to snuff. Nice to hear you and BP are back on good terms. Maybe you can bury the hatchet in CP’s head? Or better - chop up all his bats so he has to take some pitches.