By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, writing this with toothpicks propping open my eyes after staying up all week to watch and write about the Cincinnati Reds on their Lost Journey to the left coast.
—THE HOMER HUNT: It is referred to as Great American Small Park for a reason. Home runs fly out of there like mallards fleeing shotgun shells.
So what is going on with some of the Cincinnati Reds? Elly De La Cruz, who owns the power of a Cat Bulldozer, has hit one home run in his last 54 games.
For him, it has become ‘The Summer of 4 to 3.’ And he isn’t a Lonesome George. Austin Hays, smack in the middle of the batting order, is ended an 0 for 38 homerless skid with a meaningless home run Tuesday night when the Reds trailed the Dodgers, 6-1..
And Matt McLain, who appears to be wandering the Lost Continent in the batter’s box, also is 0 for his last 39 games in home runs.
Leadoff hitter TJ Friedl has 10 homers, but none in his last 24 games.
The team has hit 129 home runs and 23 MLB teams have hit more, which is unacceptable for a team playing in what amounts to a stadium barely bigger than a downtown parking lot.
—CAL-CULATING RALEIGH: When Seattle’s Cal Raleigh hit his 48th and 49th home runs Sunday, he became the owner of the most home runs hit by a catcher in one season.
And it accomplished a more obscure record. It was his ninth multi-homer game for a switch-hitter this season, passing the eight multi-homer games Mickey Mantle had in 1961.
Then on Monday he became the first catcher to hit 50 in a season.
His home run barrage has folks talking about him winning the American League MVP. . .with a current .247 batting average.
Would that be the lowest batting average for a position to win the MVP? Yes. Shohei Ohtani owns the lowest at .257 in 2021, Marty Marion won it in 1944 at .267 and Roger Maris won it in 1961 at .269.
—CLOSING TIME: When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded closer Shelby Miller, manager Torey Lovullo began scanning his bullpen for a warm body and saying, “Hey you, your turn.”
When Jake Woodford recorded a save Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds, he was the 15th different pitcher to annex a save for the D’Backs this season, an MLB record.
Woodford’s first career save joined him with five other first-time saviors: Anthony DeSclafani (former Reds pitcher), Kyle Nelson, Juan Morillo, Kyle Backhus and Andrew Saalfrank.
See if you recognize these other nine D’Back pitchers with saves this season: Shelby Miller, Justin Martinez, A.J. Puk, Kevin Ginkel, Jalen Beeks, Drey Jameson, Bruce Jarvis, Ryne Nelson, Ryan Thompson and a Partridge in a pear tree.
—BERENYI REMEMBERS: When Bruce Berenyi hears about the 2025 Cincinnati Reds scoring two or fewer runs in 44 games so far this season it brings back memories. . .and none of them are fond.
Berenyi, a native of Bryan, Ohio, pitched for the 1982 Cincinnati Reds. Remember that team? The first Reds team to lose 100 games (61-101).
Berenyi made 34 starts for that team and in 21 of them the Reds scored two or fewer runs. No wonder his record was 9-18 despite a more than respectable 3.36 earned run average.
He received one run of support nine times and was shut out three times. With just a little help from his friends he could have been 18-9.
And he was a horse. . .222 1/3 innings.
Said Berenyi, “It was my Summer Nightmare.”
—HE’S SLAP HAPPY: Most relief pitchers seem to be different and some of them are completely off the wall and even demented.
For reference, in your handy Funk & Wagnalls, next to the word crazy is a picture of the Nasty Boys, the three certifiable Cincinnati Reds relief pitchers in 1990 — Rob Dibble. Randy Myers, Norm Charlton.
Miami Marlins pitcher Tyler Phillips is into self-flagellation. As he enters a game, he slaps himself on the cheek. Very hard. Why?
“It pisses me off and I don’t like hitters,” he said. “I see red. I’m a little crazy. I have a screw loose.”
Nobody argues that point.
—MEANS TO AN END: Baltimore pitcher John Means, a great name for a pitcher, retired all 27 batters he faced during a 2021 game against Seattle.
A perfect game, right? Well, as Lee Corso would put it, “Not so fast, friend.”
In the third inning, Means struck out Sam Haggerty. Catcher Pedro Severino missed the ball and Haggerty reached first. But he was thrown out stealing.
So Means retired all 27 batters, but didn’t get the perfect game. He was credited with a no-hitter.
—PICKY, PICKY, PICKY: Toronto’s Barry Bonnell was on first base in a 1983 game against Baltimore.
Orioles pitcher Tippy Martinez picked him off.
Former Reds outfielder Dave Collins reached first base and first base coach John Sullivan told him, “One out, don’t get picked off.”
Tippy Martinez picked him off.
Willie Upshaw reached first base and first base coach John Sullivan told him, “Two outs, don’t get picked off.”
Tippy Martinez picked him off.
Three pickoffs in one inning and three very red faces and one very angry first base coach.
—BOO THE BOY: Milwaukee’s Paul Molitor had a 39-game hitting streak and was hitless in the ninth inning of a tie game. He was on deck, waiting to hit.
Pinch-hitter Rick Manning singled home the winning run, a walk-off win. . .and the Milwaukee County Stadium home crowd booed.
“I am the only guy in baseball history to get a walk-off game-winning hit and get booed by the home crowd,” said Manning.
—QUIZ TIME: Some trivial tidbits that interests only us real baseball nerds:
—Who was the last switch-hitter to win an MVP? It’s a trick question and it happened in 1971. It was a pitcher. . .Vida Blue.
Not only did he win the American League MVP, he won the Cy Young with his 24-8 record and 1.82 earned run average for the Oakland Athletics.
Now, 54 years later, Seattle’s switch-hitting Cal Raleigh is in a neck-and-neck race with Aaron Judge for this year’s AL MVP. Due to injuries, Judge is just DH-ing while Raleigh is playing the toughest and most difficult position on the field.
Isn’t there a song about that: ‘Momma Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Catchers.”
—Three players have hit leadoff home runs to start both ends of a doubleheader and the easiest answer is Rickey Henderson, who hit 81 leadoff homers to start a game.
Yes, Henderson began both games of a doubleheader with a home and so did Harry Hooper and Brady Anderson. Anderson did it in 1996 when he hit 50 home runs. His next highest homer number was 24 in 1999.
No comment.
—Name the MLB teams that are most north, south, east and west. And, no, Toronto is not the most north. Believe it or not, it’s Seattle. The most south is Miami, the most east is Boston and the most west is San Francisco.
—QUOTE MACHINE: Baseball people say the darndest things:
—From Bob Uecker, catcher/broadcaster/comedian: “My manager told me to use a lighter bat, not to get around quicker on fastballs, but because it would be lighter carrying it back to the dugout.”
And another Uecker: “I got to the point in my career where I could tell the different between a fastball and a curveball in total darkness. A fastball raises a larger welt.”
—Hall of Famer Robin Yount relaying what Bob Uecker once told him: “Ueck told me he was not afraid of dying, he just didn’t want to be there when it happened.”
—From former umpire Art Passarella on Joe DiMaggio: “He had the greatest instincts I ever saw and made the rest of ‘em look like plumbers.” (But could DiMaggio unclog a stopped-up commode?)
—From Hank Aaron on looking for a breaking ball to hit: “I never worried about a fastball because they could never throw it past me. None of ‘em.” (As somebody said, “Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank Aaron was like trying to sneak the sun past a rooster.”)
—From Reggie Jackson, Mr. Ego America: “The only reason I didn’t like playing in the World Series is that I couldn’t watch myself play.” (And the Humble Pie Award goes to Reggie. . .Smith or Sanders or Cleveland. Never Jackson.)
—From Hall of Famer Ted Williams: “God gets you into th batter’s box, then you’re on your own.”
—SISTER, SISTER: Anybody know what a nonagenarian is? Me neither and I’m supposed to be a man of words. It’s a person beween 90 and 99 years old.
It came up because Sister Jean turned 106 recently. She is well-past nonagenarian. She’s a centenarian.
Remember Sister Jean? She became famous in 1998 when the Loyola Chicago basketball team made the Final Four. She was 98 and the team chaplain. And still is.
Her pre-game prayers go something like this: “May God bless us and keep us healthy and we need to get up in No. 22’s face or he’ll beat us with 3s.”
And this one is hard to imagine. She walked across the Golden Gate Bridge the day it opened. . .in 1937.
—WRIGHT IS RIGHT: My favorite comedian, Steven Wright, probably was talking about my blog when he said, “How come when somebody asks for my two cents worth, they only give me a penny for my thoughts. Somebody is making a penny.”
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 106: As American composer Aaron Copland put it, “To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivble.”
—A Teenager In Love (Dion & The Belmonts), Hollywood Nights (Bob Seger), Hitchin’ A Ride (Vanilla Fare), Candida (), Get Ready (), Running Scared (Roy Orbison), Raindrops (Dee Clark), Baby Talk (Jan & Dean), Grand Tour (George Jones).
—I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2), Sleepwalk (Santo & Johnny), Keep On Loving You (REO Speedwagon), Losing My Religion (R.E.M.), Any Way You Want it (Journey), Living On A Prayer (Bon Jovi), Da Doo Run Run (The Crystals).