By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after spending the off day at Scioto Downs in Columbus and bet $20 on one race and won $144. Thank you, driver Brent Miller.
—TIPPING OR NOT: The discussions over whethr the Boston Red Sox detected Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns tipping his pitches rages on.
Two of the best at picking up pitchers tipping pitches are former Reds players Aaron Boone and Eduardo Perez.
Boone manages the New York Yankees, the team against whom Burns made his major league debut and struck out the first five and six of the first seven.
If Burns was tipping his pitches, wouldn’t Boone have picked it up? Well, the second time through the lineup the Yankees did score three runs on four hits in the foutrh inning. So. . .maybe.
Perez, though, doesn’t think he was during that seven-run, six-hit first inning against Boston. But he plans to take a closer look on some tapes.
“I will say this,” said Perez. “In that second start he did leave his fastballs and sliders up in the zone. The defense did not help him out (Matt McLain’s throwing error on a double play ball). That should have been a double play to get two outs immediately on the first two hitters.
“After that, everything just sped up on him,” Perez added. “I really do think the clock really affected him. He wasn’t able to take a deep breath or he did not know how to slow the game down. Everything snowballed.
“And when Trevor Story hit that three-run homer off his slider, you could tell there was no confidence or finishing off of his pitches.
“Was he tipping? Right now I haven’t taken a deep dive, but when I do I’ll look at their takes rather than their swings. But the tapes I’ve seen show that he was not tipping,” Perez concluded.
And those crashing sounds? That wasn’t manager Alex Cora banging on trash cans in the dugout. Those were baseballs crashing off the Green Monster.
—SPLENDOR IN PNC: It was obvious that Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster Greg Brown (“Cannonball coming”) is accustomed to watching the Buccos blow baseball games.
He was astrounded after the Pirates swept the New York Mets in PNC Park over the weekend, then make it four in a row with a 7-0 raking of the St. Louis Cardinals.
When the Pirates scored their seventh run, he screamed into his mic, “This is unbelievable. What is going on? This is amazing.”
Amazing doesn’t begin to describe it. In those four straight wins, the Pirates scored seven or more runs in all four games. The Pirates haven’t done that since 1927.
Then, behind Paul Skenes, the Pirates shut down the Cardinals, 1-0, to make it five wins in a row on Tuesday and shut the Cards out for the third straight time, 5-0, beating Sonny Gray.
In three games the Pirates outscored St. Louis, 12-0,
For a brief few days, it is 1979 all over again, not only the last time the Pirates won a World Series, the last time the Pirates were in a World Series.
—CHECK IS IN THE MAIL: It was July 1 again and the New York Mets put a $1.193 million check in the mail, addressed to Bobby Bonilla.
Yep, the Mets are still paying Bonilla his deferred contract stipend to a guy who hasn’t played for them since 1999. And every July 1 through 2035 that $1.193 million check will be in the mail to Bonilla when he is 72.
—THREE’S COMPANY : They should call former Reds outfielder and current New York Yankees broadcaster Paul O’Neill ‘Mr. Perfect.’
O’Neill is the only player in MLB history to play in three perfect games. And he was on the winning side all three times.
His first was in 1988 when Cincinnati’s Tom Browning pitched a perfect 1-0 win over the Dodgers. O’Neill was in righrt field and chased down a long line drive by Mike Marshall.
His second was in 1998 when the Yankees’ David Wells, pitching with a hangover, pitched a perfect 4-0 win over the Twins. O’Neill, playing right field, caught the last out, a fly ball by Pat Mears.
His third was in 1999 when the Yankees’ David Cone pitched a perfect 4-0 win over the Montreal Expos. O’Neill, playing right field, had a double and scored a run. It was his only hit during those three perfectos.
—WONDERFUL WILLIE: Somebody once asked Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax who was the best player he ever saw and his answer was a slam dunk.
“They asked me who was the best player I’ve ever seen and taking everything into consideration it seemed like Willie Mays never made a mistake,” he said.
—STEALING A LINE: One of the best lines about a bad baseball team was written by Washington sports columnist Shirey Povich (a man, not a woman). He wrote about the Washington Senators, “Washington, first in war, first in peace and last in the American League.”
Some St. Louis writer pilfered the idea from Povich when he wrote about the St. Louis Browns, who owned squatter’s rights on last place for many years. He wrote, “St. Louis, first in shoes, first in beer and last in the American League.”
—THE WRIGHT WAY: Betcha didn’t know that baseball’s first pro team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, had a fight song and it honored player/manager/owner Harry Wright. Neither did I.
Part of it went like this:
“Our Captain is a godly man
And Harry is his name;
What’er he does, ’tis always Wright,
So says the voice of fame.”
Hey, ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game’ it ain’t.
—TRIVIA TIME: Where we find obscure stuff:
—Outfielder Roy Sievers played 17 years in the majors and hit 318 home runs and drove in 1,147. The St. Louis Cardinals signed him for a pair of shoes. Socks were not included.
—Bret Saberhagen won 14 games for the 1994 New York Mets and walked only 13 — one fewer walk than total wins while pitching 177 1/3 innings. And he gave up only 13 homers, also one fewer than his total wins.
That had to be the original ‘Cruise Control.’
—Catcher Bengie Molina is the only player in MLB history to hit a home run and not score a run. It was originally thought his hit didn’t leave San Francisco’s Pac Bell Park (Now Oracle Park) and he stopped at first base.
San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy asked the umpires for a second opinion and while they deliberated Bochy sent in a pinch-runner for Molina. The umpires determined it was a home run. But Molina was officially out of the game and couldn’t return. The pinch-runner circled the bases and Molina was credited with a home run but no run scored.
—Cleveland’s Bob Feller struck out 18 Tigers in 1938, St. Louis’ Steve Carlton struck out 19 Mets in 1962 and Seattle’s Randy Johnson struck out 19 Rangers in 1992.
What did those three pitchers have in common in those games? All three lost the game.
—QUOTE MACHINE: Baseball people say the darndest things:
—Former Reds manager Sparky Anderson, when asked about legendary coach George Kissell, a master teacher of everything baseball: “George Kissell could teach a snake how to play shortstop.”
—Former Reds shortstop Dave Concepcion, telling a teammate that he had lunch in San Franciscon at the famous Jack In The Box: “I had a hamburger at Back In The Jocks.”
—Former manager Jimmy Dykes to a reporter after he was fired as the first-year manager of the 1955 Baltimore Orioles: “When I leave I’m going to have mistletoe hanging on the back of my belt.”
—RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY: It is raining again and I can’t remember a day it hasn’t. They say the record is 40 days and 40 night and we have to be getting close.
I thought I saw Noah in a Lowe’s the other day trying to find an associate to tell him where the lumber was.
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 183: As former U.S. Secretary of State Edward Bulwer Lytton put it, “Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit and never dies.”
—Let’s Dance (David Bowie), The Search Is Over (Survivor), Listen To The Music (Doobie Brothers), What About Love? (Heart), You Belong To The City (Glenn Frey), Love The One You’re With (Stephen Stills), Already Gone (Eagles), Come On Eileen (Dexys Midnight Runners), Last Of My Kind (Shaboozey).
—Only Wanna Be With You (Hootie & The Blowfish), You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone (Brooks & Dunn), Money for Nothing (Dire Straits), Do You Feel Like I Do? (Peter Frampton), Missing You (John Waite), If It Makes You Happy (Sheryl Crow), Summer In The City (Lovin’ Spoonful), Wake Me Up (Avicii)