OBSERVATIONS: Pham gives the Reds the ol’ flim flam

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, wondering why I lost so much sleep watching the Cincinnati Reds try to win night games on the west coast (or any games)?

~When Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham was 0 for 23 to start the season, I felt sympathy and sorrow for him.

When the fans in San Diego booed him belligerently on each at bat Monday night and he went homer, double, single, I felt happiness for him.

Then I remembered some quotes he uttered on the day he reported to spring training camp after the Reds signed him.

“I’m playing to get some numbers,” he said. “I don’t care about anything else. I’m looking out for me. I have to get mine right now.”

Right then, he threw the Team Player Award out the cellar window, which is about as low as a player can go when spitting on team goals.

“I am going to approach this season as a revenge tour,” he said. “I’m playing to get my numbers, man. I’m being dead honest with you.”

With those comments, he should be dead to Reds fans. I retract my sorrow and sympathy. Does getting his numbers mean a .152 batting average even after three hits in one game?

~Remember when Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga retired 26 Cleveland – – – – dians in a row. When Jason Donald hit a ground ball and appeared out at first, umpire Jim Joyce called him safe, ruining Galarraga’s perfect game.

Both Joyce and Donald admitted the call was wrong, but this was in 2010 and there was no replay/review. The call stood. No perfect game.

Now, a ‘Law & Society’ class at Monmouth University, taught by former New Jersey Superior Court judge Lawrence Jones, has submitted an 81-page document to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, stating a case to rule Galarraga’s game a perfect one.

Eighty-one pages? Manfred doesn’t have time to read that bulky document while he tries to conjure some silly new rule to implement that makes no sense.

~Baseball is full of minutiae which are actually interesting tidbits to drop on that guy who think he knows everything about baseball. And nobody does.

So, here’s one. Who is the only player to hit home runs in a World Series for three different teams? Hint: He is a former National League Manager of the Year.

Answer: Matt Williams hit a World Series home run for San Francisco, Cleveland (yes, the – – – – ians were in the 1997 World Series) and Arizona.

~They made the Cleveland franchise change its nickname, so some out there are suggesting under current circumstances, the Cincinnati Reds should no longer be the Reds.

Some suggestions: Cincinnati Sherman Tankers (Because they are tanking the season), the Cincinnati Castaways (A take off on CEO Bob Castellini and COO Phil Castellini), the Cincinnati Rebuilders (The team is in seemingly permanent rebuild mode), The Cincinnati Deads (for obvious reasons).

The Cincinnati Red Faces (To emphasize the embarrassment), the Cincinnati Castoffs (Because they sign so many players cast aside by other teams), the Cincinnati Taco Bells (For manager David Bell and the heartburn the team gives it fans), the Cincinnati Dreads (Because fans dread to see what’s coming next), the Cincinnati Shreds (Because GM Nick Krall shredded the roster with his trades.)

~The madness has begun. The San Diego Padres became the first MLB team to sell advertising on its uniforms.

Beginning next season, the Padres will wear Motorola logos on the sleeves of their jerseys.

So now, like soccer players and NASCAR drivers, baseball players will become walking sandwich boards (Ask your grandpa).

~Unpopular NASCAR driver Kyle Busch was booed Sunday after he won the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Earlier in the week, Busch urged NASCAR to do away with dirt track racing, which made Busch a dirty scoundrel in Bristol.

And he won the race by default. He was running third when the two front-runners, Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe, battled for the lead. They wrecked each other and Busch motored on down the dirt road to victory lane, his first this season.

As the crowd booed loudly, Busch said over the track public address system, “We got one. It doesn’t matter how you get ‘em, it’s all about getting ‘em.”

What’s next, Kyle? Do away with the Daytona 500?

~Oh, no. Not fencing, too? Recruiting violations in fencing? Touche.

Yep, Ohio State was forced by the NCAA to vacate Midwest Fencing Conference titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018 for recruiting indiscretions and maybe too much swashbuckling.

Apparently, they tried to recruit Athos, Porthos and Aramis. . .the Three Musketeers.

Wonder if the OSU fencing team has time to fix my backyard fence?