By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from the Man Cave, wondering if the Cincinnati Reds should both taking bats to home plate. They seem to carry them to the batter’s box for no apparent reason.
—TALK TO HER: For the Cincinnati Reds, what a difference a Dane makes. Right now, they need eight more Dane Myers.
Does anybody in MLB have better at bats than Dane Myers? He is the friar of foul balls and the deacon of deep counts.
In the first game of Monday’s doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals, he batted four times and went to a 3-and-2 count all four times.
That’s another first for me in more than five decades of covering baseball.
His first at bat lasted eight pitches before he singled. His second at bat lasted 11 pitches, seven foul balls, then he homered.
But he doesn’t always go deep in the count. He went deep, though, with a second-pitch home run in the second game of that double header — a dramatic two-out pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning to tie the game, 5-5, in a game the Reds won in 10 innings, 6-5.
As a pinch-hitter, he and Baltimore’s Tyler O’Neill are considered the best in MLB this season.
And, of course, when Myers plays center field, his glove is where line drives near the wall go to die. And an arm? Not an arm, a rocket launcher. He made a throw home Tuesday night clocked at 103 miles an hour.
In addition, he brings fun to the game by doing things like talking to his bat and calling it a female bat, “So I don’t treat her too badly.”
Asked if the bat has a name, he said, “No, unless you have one for me.”
How about ‘Bertha the Belter?’
Pinch-hitting, come off the bench cold, isn’t an easy task.
“It’s a very difficult job,” says Reds manager Tito Francona. “Early in the year, when Dane was only gettong one at bat, he was ready to hit. It’s a good trait.”
—CALL HIM. . .NOW: Joey Votto is a regular on the MLB Network and he was asked on MLB Now if he would be interested in returning to baseball as a coach or manager.
“No,” he said. “I don’t want to be flying all over the country and working in the minors with hitters.”
Then he was asked about working in a front office with the Reds.
“Yes, if they want me,” he said. “I’d take the general manager’s job.”
Hey, Reds. You have his number. Call. NOW.
—HOW THEY STAND: MLB Pipeline has ranked the farm systems of the 30 teams since the trade deadline and it is no shock.
1-Los Angeles Dodgers. 2-Tampa Bay Rays. 3-Milwaukee Brewers. Check the standings. The Cincinnati Reds? No 23. Again, check the standings.
Yes, minor league teams exist to develop players, but isn’t it also to foment a winning culture?
If that’s the case, the Reds farm teams are lost in the cornstalks of the Field of Dreams when it comes to winning.
As of now, two of Cincinnati’s four affiliates are in last place and one is next-to-last. One is in first place for the second half after finishing last in the first half.
°°The Louisville Bats (AAA) are 16-30 and last in the 10-team International League West.
°°The Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) are 15-31 and last in the 10-team Southern League North.
°°The Daytona Tortugas (Low A) finshed 21-45 the first half, last in the Florida State East. But the Tortugas are 30-17 in the second half, in first place.
°°The Dayton Dragons (High A) finished the first half 39-27, first place in the Midwest East, but so far they are next to last in the second half at 20-27.
—NO PARTY FOR MARTE: Noelvi Marte and Ketel Marte are not related, but Tuesday was a bad day for MLB players named Marte.
Cincinnati’s Noelvi Marte, a player with a huge upside but downside results, was sent down to Triple-A Louisville.
Arizona’s Ketel Marte didn’t show up for a game due to what is said to be personal problems and he was placed on the restricted list.
As far as we know, everything is A-OK with Kansas City’s Starling Marte. And whatever happened to Yunior Marte? Is he still pitching in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system.
Speaking of Latin players, when the Cincinnati Reds played Miami Sunday, eight of the 10 players in the Marlins lineup were Latinos.
No comment about it other than it was an interesting sidelight that caught my good eye and reminded of the Latin Quarter.
—REMEMBERING ROY: Any Reds fan worth one of Marge Schott’s $1 hot dogs remembers Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt. All he had to do was pick up the rosin bag and the Reds shuddered.
For his career, he was 23-3 with a 2.81 earned run average over 32 starts against the Reds.
And he has a great fan in some fellow named Jay Lucarelli. He wanted Oswalt to pitch a perfect game. . .on the MVP 2005 video game.
So he had Oswalt pitch game after game after game, trying for a perfect game. And he made it. . .on the 1,993rd game.
Owsalt pitched it against the 2005 Boston Red Sox, the team that won the World Series that year.
Wonder what Lucarelli does in his spare time?
—BUTCH OR CLELL? — Remember Boston Red Sox third baseman Butch Hobson? It is understandable why he went by ‘Butch.’ His given name is Clell Lavern Hobson, which probably led to some playground fights.
After his playing days, Hobson managed the Red Sox from 1992-94. Then what?
Hobson became an independent league manager, and not just any independent league manager. Over a 24-year period, he won 1,538 games, a record for independent league managers.
His team(s)? Mobile BaySharks, Nashville Pride, Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, Lancaster Barnstormers and the Chicago Dogs.
When did he have time to father seven children?
And he was a showman. Any time he was ejected from a game, he yanked out a base, then walked to the stands and handed it to a young fan.
—DRIVES YOU BAT-TY: George Carlin, the comedy genius and one of my favorites, said this about attending a baseball game.
“Do you notice all the fans who take baseball gloves to games hoping to catch a foul ball? Not me. I take a bat. If a foul ball comes my way, I want to hit it back.”
—TRIVIA TIME: Stuff that grabs my short attention span for just a few moments:
—Tommy John, for whom TJ surgery is named, won 18 games without striking out a batter over the course of his 288 career wins with 162 complete games.
John passed away last week and I remember interviews with him. The man loved to talk. If you asked him what time it was, he would name all the inner workings of a Rolex watch and how they functioned.
—It was a quick wake-up call and reality check for St. Louis Cardinals rookie Joshua Baez after he hit three home runs in his first three MLB at bats. After that historic game, Baez went 0 for 18 with seven strikeouts.
So St. Louis TV broadcaster Chip Caray was right-on when he said after the third home run, “It ain’t that easy, kid.”
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 200: As Elvis Presley put it, not in a bragging way but in a truthful way, “I’m just an ordinary person who has become a king. If you let your head get too big, it’ll break your neck.”
( On my 200th Playlist, about 2,000 songs, I’m climbing into the Wayback Machine.)
—Whispering Bells (Del Vikings), I Will Folow Him (Little Peggy March), Walk Right In (Rooftop Singers), Ruby Baby (Dion), Still (Bill Anderson),
There’s A Moon Out Tonight (Capris), I Like It Like That (Chris Kenner), A Hundred Pounds Of Clay (Chris Kenner).
—Exodus (Ferrante & Teicher), Take Good Care Of My Baby (Bobby Vee), Michael (The Highwaymen), Hello Marylou (Ricky Nelson), Hello Walls (Faron Young), Quarter To Three (Gary U.S. Bonds), Shop Around (Miracles), To Sir With Love (Lulu),.