By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave…
—WHAT DID HE SAY?: When Bob Castellini moved into the big executive chair in Great American Park, his first media press conference was a concert of optimism.
One of his quotes, as recalled by great friend Matt Steinmann, was more than naive: “We will bring championships to Cincinnati.”
And so far? Zero.
A couple of years into his reign, Castellini fired general manager Wayne Krivsky. At that media conference I asked him when the team would show some stability and he said, “We just aren’t going to lose any more.”
And so far? Nothing but losing.
When the Reds reached 40 games this week, the quarter-pole, they did what 12 straight Reds teams have done. . .posted a losing start to the season.
Here are the records after 40 games over the last 12 years, all under .500: 19-21, 17-23, 18-22, 12-28, 19-21, 18-22, 18-22, 13-27, 19-21, 15-25, 18-22, 19-21
Now that’s a Dirty Dozen.
—THE BIG SCORE: When the San Diego Padres won a game over the weekend, 21-0, there should be an asterisk plopped next to it: San Diego 21*, Colorado Rockies 0.
Beating the moribund Rockies, 21-0, is no big deal because the Rockies were 9-33 and en route to 130 losses.
Rookie Steven Kolek pitched a complete-game shutout, one run shy of the record for runs scored in a shutout. There have been two 22-0 shutouts, the Pirates over the Cubs in 1975 and the Indians over the Yankees in 2004.
And remember, the Cincinnati Reds beat Baltimore this year, 24-2.
So what’s the modern era record for runs in a game? The Texas Rangers beat the Orioles, 30-3, in 2007, after spotting the O’s a 3-0 lead after three innings.
—SOX IT TO ME: A gem from former WDTN-TV anchor Mark Allan, a devout Chicago Cubs.
“Since Pope Leo XIV is a man of the poor and the downtrodden, it is fitting that he is a Chicago White Sox fan.”
—FOR YOU, MOM: Tim Elko’s first major league hit was not just any ol’ hit.
It was a home run. It came against former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins. It was a three-run rip in the sixth inning, the game-winner in a 4-2 Chicago White Sox victory.
And it came on Mother’s Day with Elko using a pink bat with his mother’s name (Cheryl) on the barrel. He presented her with the ball and the bat.
He was 0 for 5 when he connected and on Mother’s Day he had struck out and hit into a double play before the home run.
*** Also on Mother’s Day this year, the Contreras brothers both homered. Willson did it during the Cardinals 6-1 win over Washington and William did it during the Brewers 4-2 win over Tampa Bay.
It was the third time brothers hit homers on Mother’s Day — Joe and Dom DiMaggio and Jason and Jeremy Gianbi were the others.
I once took out the trash for my mom on Mother’s Day.
—FIRED, YES FIRED: Veteran manager Bud Black was fired by the Colorado Rockies. Yes, fired. MLB teams like to use euphemism when they fire a manager by saying, “He was relieved of his duties.”
No, he was fired. But Black is probably relieved to leave that mess, 8-33 at the time with a pitching staff that thought a 4.50 earned run average was the stuff of Cy Young.
Sparky Anderson, Casey Stengel, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and Tony La Russa couldn’t break .500 with that team.
—MUTT & JEFF: Elly De La Cruz has a twin brother. Are they indentical twins? Well, Elly is 6-foot-6 and his twin, Pedro, is 5-foot-8.
They were the same size when they were 12, then Elly’s growth hormones kicked in and Pedro’s didn’t.
Pedro runs a car wash in the Dominican Republic and word is that Elly can run through that car wash and not get wet.
Speaking of De La Cruz, he is the first player all-time to have 115 extra base hits and 115 stolen bases during the first 300 games of a career.
Not sure if 51 errors in 300 games is a record.
—JUSTIFYING JUSTIN: If the San Francisco Giants are going to win a game that Justin Verlander starts, they are going to have to do it in extra innings and he won’t be the pitcher of record.
Verlander has made nine starts and is 0-3 with a 4.31 earned run average. The Giants are 3-6 in his nine starts and all three wins have come in extra innings: 10-9 in11 innings over Seattle, 8-6 over Cincinnti in 10 innings and 14-5 in 11 innings over the Chicago Cubs.
Is that what you get for $15 million a year? That’s quite the comedown from the $43 million Verlander made at Houston last season.
—THE INSIDE STORY: In 1992, Houston pitcher Butch Henry hit a home run. Not only was it a home run, it was inside the park. And it was the only home run of his seven-year career.
Ichiro Suzuki never had an inside the park home run during the regular season, but hit one in the 2007 All-Star game, the only inside the park home run in All-Star history.
—WHAT A BLAST: Earlier this year, University of Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn won his 900th game by beating Ole Miss.
And his team did it in style by hitting five home runs and three came back-to-back-to back in the fifth inning. Making it even more interesting, Hawaiin brothers Wehiwa Aloy and Kuhio Aloy went back-to-back.
Van Horn is in his 23rd season as Razorbacks coach and as of this week Arkansas is 41-11, 18-9 in the Southeastern Conference.
—TRIVIA TIME: Who is the only player to hit a grand slam home run on two different Opening Days?
It was a guy with one of my favorite all-time names, Milwaukee Brewer Sixto Lezcano. He hit a grand slam on Opening Day, 1978 against Baltimore’s Tim Stoddard and hit another on Opening Day, 1980, a walk-off grand slam against Boston’s Dick Drago.
And a bonus question: Who was Nolan Ryan’s 5,000th career strikeout victim? It was Oakland’s
Rickey Henderson, called out on a 2-and-2 slider.
—QUOTABLE QUOTES: When a book came out ‘allegedly’ written by Pete Rose, he said, “I wrote a book before I ever read one.”
—Former Reds manager Sparky Anderson on his education: “I only made it to the eighth grade and, believe me I had to cheat to get that far.”
—From Yogi Berra after two naked streakers sprinted across the field: “I couldn’t tell if they were men or women. They had bags over their heads.”
—ANOTHER UECKER-ISM: From catcher/broadcaster/comedian Bob Uecker when asked about his career highlights: “I had two. I drew an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.”
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 170: As the author on ‘In Cold Blood,’ Truman Capote, put it: “To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the music the words make.”
—The Wanderer (Dion), Upside Down (Diana Ross), Call Me (Blondie), Do You Feel Like We Do? (Peter Frampton), Oh Girl (Chi-Lites), What’s Forever For (Michael Martin Murphy), Baby What A Big Surprise (Chicago), I Can See For Miles (The Who) Do You Want To Know A Secret? (Beatles). All Right Now (Free), Our House, (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Witchy Woman (On The Border), Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime (Dean Martin), Goin’ Outta My Mind (Little Anthony & The Imperials), It’s Over (Roy Orbison), Mr. Lonely (Bobby Vinton).