Observations: Hunter Greene Is Nothing But Gold For Surging Reds

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after screaming so loud that bear that was chasing me attacked. . .then Nadine woke me up.

—GRENE IS GOLD: When the Cincinnati Reds put a baseball in Hunter Greene’s right hand, it’s like giving Chopin a piana or Hemingway a typewriter or Patrick Mahomes a football.

Hitters facing him like it about as much as taking a called strike three on the outside corner, which they do in bundles against Greene.

His numbers since the start of last season are mind-bending. Hitters are batting .176, lowest in MLB. Hitters have made hard contact on his 100 miles an hour fastball, his slider and his cutter 9.6% of the time, lowest in MLB.

So far this season, hitters are 0 for 29 when they try to hit his slider. He sets up hitters like bowling pins and knocks them down with strike after strike after strike.

Emilio Pagan, serving as the team’s closer during the absence of Alexis Diaz, said of Greene, “Every time he goes out there I expect a complete-game shutout. To me, he is the best pitcher on the planet.”

Manager Terry Francona trusts Greene to go deep into games and Greene appreciates it.

“It’s very rewarding to be able to just keep the team in the game,” he said. “That enables us to save our relievers. I take pride in that.

“At least that’s what i can control when I’m out there,” he added. “I know it’s early in the seaosn, but every game counts and I hope I stay on the same track.”

When he is on track, which is nearly always, the opposing team gets derailed.

—MURKY MERCKER: One of the most humorous and intelligent ball players I ever met was pitcher Kent Mercker.

After pitching for the Atlanta Braves, and pitching a no-hitter. his last season was with the Cincinnati Reds.

When he announced his retirement he was asked what he was going to do and he said, “I’m going to turn vodka into urine.”

Pitcher Chris Hammond sat in fro of his locker reading the Bible every day before a game. Every day.

One day Mercker walked past while Hammond was absorbed in something like Phillippians 4:6-7 and Mercker casually asked, “Haven’t you finished that book yet?”

Mercker lives in Dublin, OH, and is now a player agent. He was spotted last week sitting behind home plate at a Dayton Dragons game.

—SAY WHAT?: There was a discussion on the pitching mound with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki. There was a translator standing next to him.

As the pitching coach chatted with him, Sasaki covered his mouth with his glove so nobody could lip-read what he was saying. That was humorous in that Sasaki was speaking Japanese, so who would know what he was saying?

Sasaki pitched five innings against the Cubs and trailed 3-0 when they took him out. They should have left him in.

In the last three innings the Cubs scored 4, 5 and 4 runs to beat the Dodgers, 16-0.

—INFIELD TRIPLE: Elly De La Cruz is fast, but when is he going to leg out a triple on a ball that doesn’t pass the pitcher’s mound? Say, what?

Well, it has happened. . .in a minor league game. Randy Arozarena was playing for the Class AA Springfield Cardinals. (He now plays for the Seattle Mariners.)

He hit a high pop-up near the pitcher’s mound. Every infielder surrounded it, but nobody caught it. It plopped on earth near the pitcher’s mound.

Arozarena was already near second. The third baseman was one of the infielders getting under the ball, so third base was uncovered and Arozarena kept running and slid into third. . .an infield triple.

In baseball, you see it all. . .and then some. As a actor Humphrey Bogart once said, “A hot dog at a baseball game beats roast beef at the Ritz.”

—SPECULATING ON SPECTATORS: Great American Ball Park seats 43,500, so it was surprisng, if not shocking, to see 12,000 empty seats on Elly De La Cruz Bobblehead Night. . .an announced attendance of 31,888.

In contrast, the San Diego Padres packed 47,078 into Petco Park on a Monday night to see a game against the Chicago Cubs. And there was no giveaway, just good baseball.

On the other hand, the Pittsburgh Pirates drew only 10,402 on Monday to see their pitching sensation, Paul Skenes, pitch against the Washington Nationals.

Guess it all has to do with a winning team, which as it should be.

Ever wonder where the word ‘spectator’ came from? It originates from Late Middle English around the mid-1400s. It’s from the Latin word spectare, which means watcher. And that’s your lesson for today.

—HOLE ‘EM OUT: With the ultra-exciting Masters golf tournament so vividly still etched into our minds, how about a baseball golf story.

Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux also is an exceptional golfer. But so is his brother, Mike Maddux.

Mike also was an MLB pitcher, just not as accomplished as his brother. Mike, though, is an excellent MLB pitching coach.

Mike, though can hold some over Greg’s head when it comes to golf.

On one day, in the same round, Mike Maddux had two holes-in-one, one on the front nine and one on the back nine.

And no it was not done on a Putt-Putt course.

Maddux is pitching coach for the Texas Ranger, but in 2019 he held the same position with the St. Louis Cardinals. The team was in Washingotn and Maddux was playing a morning round at the Army/Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va.

With the two aces he shot one-over par 72 and later shurgged and said, “No big deal. I already had four holes-in-one.”

The PGA tour holes-in-one record holders with 10 eachd are American Hal Sutton and Aussie Robert Allenby

The closest I ever came to a hole-in-one was when my basketball rolled within six inches of an open man-hole.

—TRIVIA TIME II: Everybody knows that Nolan Ryan owned the most no-hitters in MLB history with seven. But who owns the most one-hitters, two-hitters and three-hitters?

That would be the awesome Mr. Ryan with 12 one-hitters, 18 two-hitters and 31 three-hitters.

He probably owns the most four-hitters, five-hitters and six-hitters, too. . .but teams didn’t often get that many hits off ‘The Ryan Express.”

—TRAVELIN’ MAN: Another example of why the transfer portal stinks like Chillicothe on a windy day.

Remember Mike Sharavjamts — Mongolian Mike? He began his collegiate basketball career at the University of Dayton. Then he transferred to San Francisco. Then he transferred to Utah.

And now his name is back in the transfer portal. I wonder if he ever went to a class at any of the schools? His travel bag must have more stickers on it than Lewis & Clark.

—BASEBALL FLICKS: My all-time Top Ten baseball movies: 1-Major League, 2-The Natural, 3-Bull Durham, 4-A League Of Their Own, 5-’42,’ 6-Field of Dreams, 7-Moneyball, 8-Eight Men Out, 9- ’61,’ 10-Summer Game.

—QUOTE: From the movie ‘Moneyball’: “How can you not be romantic about baseball?”

—TRIVIA TIME: An easy one for you. . .what do all these baseball people have in common: Boone, Judge, Nola, Hicks, Bummer, Hill, Smalls, Cook and Sanchez?
They all are named Aaron. Wonder how many were named after Henry Aaron. For certain none were named after Aaron Burr.

—PLAYLIST NUMBER 163: As singer Johnny Cash put it, while he wasn’t walking the line, “Life and love go on, so let the music play.”

—Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar), It Never Rains In Southern California (Albert Hammond), Just The Two Of Us (Grover Washington & Bill Withers), Strange Way (Firefall), Miracles (Jefferson Starship), The Longest Time (Billy Joel), Only You (Platters).

—That’s All Right (Genesis), Peaceful, Easy Feeling (Eagles), Celebration (Kool & The Gang), It’s A Heartache (Bonnie Tyler), How Am I Supposed To Live Without You? (Michael Bolton), Stuck On You (Lionel Richie), Nothing Is Going To Change My Love (George Benson), Right Here Waiting (Richard Marx), Earth Angel (Penquins).