By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after a scrumptious meal Monday night at Jimmy’s Italian Restaraunt in Downtown Dayton. Baked Zitti, a side of sausage, house salad with tasty Italian dressing, two glasses of Moscato and one full and satisfied stomach.
—ELLY’S ELEGY: Historic stuff keeps being applied next to Elly De La Cruz’s name, heady stuff for a 22-year-old. And can (They can, but will they) the Cincinnati Reds do what the Pittsburgh Pirates are doing?
After taking three of four from the Reds, the Pirates are moving the 6-foot-7 talented but scatter-armed Oneil Cruz from shortstop to centerfield. Cruz and De La Cruz both belong out there.
In MLB history, there has been only one other shortstop to lead the league in stolen bases and lead his team in home runs.
It happened in ’08 — and that’s not 2008, it’s 1908, It was done by Honus Wagner for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
And do you know how many players have stolen 20 more bases than the guy who stole the second most and hit more than 20 homers, as De La Cruz is on track to do?
None.
And one more. How many players have led the league in stolen bases and hit more than 20 homers? Just three. Well, just one. Willie Mays did it three times.
A fan probably can win a lot of wagers with this question: Who has the highest slugging percentage as of Sunday, Kyle Schwarber, Elly De La Cruz or Pete Alonso?
That would be De La Cruz (.491) over Schwarber (.470) and Alonso (.469) De La Cruz is 18th overall, a long way from Aaron Judge (.725), Shohei Ohtani (.619) and Bobby Witt Jr. (.606).
Judge and his 50 home runs truly is in a League of His Own.
One last thing for De La Cruz: Quiit getting picked off base.
—BELL-RINGERS: Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell comes from baseball royalty — grandpa Gus Bell and daddy Buddy Bell.
And there is something else that Bell did that perhaps no other player has been fortunate to do.
Bell played from 1995 to 2006 and he played for five managers that won more than 1,000 games and at least one World Series ring: Tony La Russa (Cardinals), Lou Piniella (Mariners), Dusty Baker (Giants), Charlie Manuel (Phillies) and Ned Yost (Brewers).
That is an encyclopedia of baseball knowledge he absorbed from family and managers, but to put it to his own use as a manager he needs better players and, at times, better use of all that information.
The baseball web-site FanGraph gives the Reds a 1.6% chance of making the playoffs. I give them 0.0%. The Chicago Cubs are at 2.6% and the St. Louis Cardinals are at 2.8%
—A DOWNED DOZEN: Yes, the Cincinnati Reds have suffered mightily by losing four members of the Opening Day starting rotation.
But the Los Angeles Dodgers laugh at that. The Dodgers have had 12 starting pitchers spent at least one stint on the injured list.
And five are still on it, including their two highest paid pitchers, Yosh Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow. Yet there they are still in first place in the National League West.
—HE CAN’T HIDE: He used to go by Mike but he requested that he be called Michael. Whether it be Mike Siroka or Michael Siroka, nobody can hide on the Chicago White Sox pitching staff (staph?).
The White Sox have lost 19 straight games in which Siroka has appeared and 21 of his 22 appearances this season.
The batboy could do just as well and, who knows, a batboy may have pitched an inning or two because 33 different pitchers have toed the rubber for the Chisox so far, most of them pitching and ducking.
—THE NAME GAME: Toronto’s Bowden Francis entered the ninth inning Saturday with a no-hitter, but Taylor Ward of the Los Angeles Angles was an ol’ spoil sport by leading the ninth with a home run.
Francis is from Tallahassee, FL., home of Florida State University and former football coach Bobby Bowden. Bowden Francis is named after him.
That prompted somebody to ask, “Do you think there are any guys from Alabama named Tuberville?”
—INTENTIONAL WHAT?: Don Drysdale was a mean man on the mound. He was torn from the same page as Bob Giibson, guys who would just as soon hit a batter as strike him out.
The Cincinnati Reds had runners on third and second with one out. The bench ordered Drysdale to intentionally walk Frank Robinson. On his first pitch, he hit Robinson.
Asked why he did it, Drysdale said, “Why waste four pitches?”
—TYPOGRAPHICAL LINE DRIVE: One of my favorite Yogi Berra story, even if some writer made it up.
A writer approached Yogi and congratulated him on his two hits the night before. Yogi said he had three hits.
“I checked the box score and it said you had two hits, so the third hit must have been a typographical error,” said the writer.
“Hell, no,” said Yogi. “It was a clean single to left.”
—WADE’S WISP: Wade Boggs was one of baseball’s best hitters during his days with Tampa Bay and Boston. He also was known for some off-the-field activities, which prompted David Letterman to remark: “According to The Sporting News, over the last four years, Wade Boggs hit .800 with women in scoring position.”
—MANAGERIAL GEMS: Some things uttered by the good people who bring you baseball:
From former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, when asked the ages of two of his pinch-hitters, Manny Mota and Vic Davallilo: “I don’t know, but somebody told me they were waiters at The Last Supper.” (And Lasorda was there entertaining celebrities in his Heavenly Office with a bowl of lasagna in front of him.)
From former manager Alvin Dark on his former teams: “With the Oakland A’s we depended upon pitching and speed to win. With the San Francisco Giants we depended upon pitching and power to win. With the Cleveland Indians we depended upon an act of God.” (The Almighty never believed in Divine Intervention when it came to the Indians.
Former Reds manager Jack McKeon when a young writer asked he planned to break his team out of a losing streak: “Well, young man, baseball ain’t football. You can’t make up any trick plays.” (Yeah, the ol’ fox was lyin.’ I saw some of his trickery.)
From former Rockies/Pirates manager Clint Hurdle: “Your chances of winning, I’ve got to believe, are really, really small when you score one run in 18 innings.” (Well, Clint, not if your guys pitched 18 scoreless innngs. . you win, 1-0.)
From Casey Stengel when his 1962 Mets lost 120 games: “The Mets have found ways of losing that I never knew existed.” (It looks as if the White Sox have found even more ways this year, Casey.)
PLAYLIST NUMBER 85: Have I listed enough songs to qualifty as ‘The Music Man?’
I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles), Let’s Dance (Chris Montes), We Belong Together (Mariah Carey), Danny’s Song (Kenny Loggins), Old Time Rock & Roll (Bob Seger), Livin’ Thing (Electric Light Orchestra).
Legs (ZZ Top), Take The Long Way Home (Supetramp), Your Love (The Jimmies), Till I Can Make It On My Own (Tammy Wynette),