Category: Cincinnati Reds

By Hal McCoy

CINCINNATI — Jay Bruce said it was no time to think big, “Just think small.”

And by thinking small, what he did turned out big — a game-ending triple to the right field corner in the bottom of the ninth that scored Brandon Phillips from first base to provide the Cincinnati Reds with a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Reds are 5-and-1 and in first place and giddy.

The Pittsburgh pitcher facing Bruce in the ninth owns a name that is almost as difficult to spell and pronounce as he is to hit — Arquimedes Caminero.

“I know he throws really, really hard, but he didn’t throw me a lot of fastballs,” said Bruce, who turned on a 2-and-2 pitch. Honestly, I was telling myself to think small, that I didn’t need to do a whole lot. You can’t get big there because he throws so hard.

“With two strikes, it is time to just make contact because he has really, really good stuff,” Bruce added. “He has a 94 miles an hour cutter that is really a slider and he a split-finger that’s 90 and a fastball that’s 100. You have to respect that and take what he gives you and it worked out.”

AND WHAT DID Caminero give him? The 94 mile an hour slider/cutter. Bruce laughed and said, “I think he broke my bat but this time that’s fine with me.”

Bruce had two hits and his batting average is .391, indicating that he may be this year’s Renaissance Man.

“It seems like he is liberated and he is really enjoying himself,” said manager Bryan Price. “I couldn’t be happier for him because it was a hard two years for him, a hard two years for all of us because of the losses. It wasn’t harder for anyone more than Jay because he was trying to do so much to help the club.

TIM MELVILLE MADE his major-league debut on the mound for the Reds and his first warm-pitch banged off the backstop and his second warm-up pitch skittered in the dirt in front of home plate.

Was Melville nervous in his major-league debut? Is peanut butter sticky? Do Krispy Kremes and Starbucks go together? Does Donald Trump have a permanent bad-hair day?

Melville walked the first two Pittsburgh Pirates he faced Sunday afternoon and walked three in the first inning. Nobody scored.

It reminded Price of Mike Leake’s major league debut. He walked the first three Cubs hitters he faced but nobody scored. “Remember that?” said Price. “I wonder who that pitching coach was who went out and settled Leake down?” Price, of course, was the Reds pitching coach at the time.

THE PIRATES PUT TWO on in the fourth. Nobody scored.

Melville pitched four innings, 92 pitches worth, and he put nine men on base. Only one scored and that was a solo home run in the second by catcher Chris Stewart, his first home run since 2013.

When the game ended and the Pirates had stranded 14 runners, giving them 34 stranded during the three-game series, a Pirates employee was so angry he lost his car keys and left his jacket in the press box. “Just terrible at bats, so many bad at bats,” he said.

OF HIS PERFORMANCE, Melville said, “Yeah, a lot of nerves and butterflies. This is one of those moments when it is not a dream any more. It is real life. I’m ready to move forward after this first one.”

Melville was told of Leake’s three-walk debut against the Chicago Cubs and he said, “Wow. It happens to the best of them. I’m not saying it’s OK. You have to throw strikes. After I walked the first two I just told myself to get back to my game plan, strike one, focus in on the next pitch instead of dwelling on the last walk.”

That 1-0 deficit stayed at 1-0 until Eugenio Suarez led the sixth inning with an opposite field home run, his fourth home run in six games, to tie it, 1-1.

REDS GENERAL MANAGER Walt Jockey may have made the steal of the century when he acquired Suarez from Detroit last July for pitcher Alfredo Simon. And now that Simon is back with Cincinnati, the Reds basically got Suarez for nothing.

And what a find. He has moved from shortstop to third base and is not only hitting home runs but batting for a high average (.435 with three hits Sunday) and drawings walks.

“Remember after we started playing him at shortstop last year when he had a series of games where he was throwing a lot balls away?” said Price. “I knew that beat him up a lot because he is a sure-handed guy with an accurate throwing arm. He got through that and that showed me he was mentally tough. He hit, but that period on defense was the biggest challenge he had last year and he worked through it.

“Seeing him transition to third base (from shortstop) this spring so comfortably gave me the confidence that he has it, he has the ‘it’ factor — the ability to change positions and play it flawlessly and his hitting is just getting better and better.”

Said Suarerz, “I am not surprised that I am hitting, but I am surprised by the home runs. But my body feels strong. All I care about is helping the team. That’s why I didn’t care about moving to third base. I knew it would help the team.”

PRICE, OF COURSE, is enamored over everything he is seeing from the 24-year-old Venezuelan.

“That home run to right field? Wasn’t that something to see?” said Price. “I’m admiring that he’ll drive the ball that way, but the pitches he has laid off is special. Have you noticed the pitches that he is laying off? He isn’t taking big, free swings at pitches outside the zone. If you make a good pitch tight on him he is not going to swing and try to force the action. That’s what happens when hitters are really feeling good. They allow themselves to wait for a good pitch to hit to be presented to them.”

The bullpen, again, presented itself stylistically, too. After Melville left, Dan Straily made his Reds debut with three hitless innings (one walk, three strikeouts), Jumbo Diaz furnished a scoreless inning and Ross Ohlendorf recorded his second win with a scoreless ninth inning despite giving up two hits.

By Hal McCoy

CINCINNATI — Ann Landers, the purveyor of advice, once told somebody: “Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, ‘I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.’”

There is no record of Cincinnati Reds pitchers Raisel Iglesias and/or Blake Wood ever sending a letter to Ann Landers, but that piece of advice she gave somebody fits snugly into what Iglesias and Wood did Saturday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Iglesias was in more trouble than an aquarium of lobster in a seafood restaurant most of the day, but he held his head high, looked adversity straight in the eye showed the Pirates that, on this frigid afternoon, he was better than they are.

And he was better for 5 2/3 innings Saturday afternoon, escaping several potential mishaps before he finally need somebody else’s help in the sixth inning to preserve his 5-1 victory over the Pirates.

The 26-year-old Cuban defector, who faced at least one base runner in every inning, retired the first two Pirates in the sixth, trying to protect his 3-0 lead, but gave up a walk and a couple of hits for a run before Blake Wood arrived to retire Jordy Mercer on a foul pop.

Iglesias gave up one run, eight hits, walked two and struck out five over his 5 2/3 innings and stopped Pittsburgh’s four-game winning streak.

The first two Pirates in the second reached base but Iglesias wiggled loose when Mercer lined into an inning-ending double play.

The Pirates had the bases loaded with one out in the fourth inning and this time Mercer grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Then it was Wood’s turn to duck disaster. He walked pinch-hitter Matt Joyce to open the seventh and John Jaso doubled, giving the Pirates runners on second and third with no outs. trailing by just two runs..

Andrew McCutcheon grounded to the first base bag and Joey Votto grabbed it and tapped first. Then he whipped a throw to second that caught Jaso off the base and, after a three-minute umpiring review, Jaso was called out. Wood completed the squirm-free inning by striking out David Freese.

Iglesias struck out Freese three straight times before Wood got him, and on Freese’s first at-bat he went down looking at three straight sliders.

Of the constant turmoil on the base paths behind him, Iglesias said, “Oh, si. I just kept trying to keep my pitches down and go as far as I could to keep the relievers out of the game, tried to help the bullpen.”

The defense? Oh, the defense that protected him better than Pinkerton, especially with the two double plays and Votto’s cerebral play.

“The defense was amazing today and helped me out more than a lot,” he said. “That was a huge thing that helped me get my victory today.”

The Reds scored two in the first inning when the first three batters reached base against Gerrit Cole. Billy Hamilton, batting leadoff for the first time this season, poked a double to left and quickly scored on Eugenio Suarez’s single to right.

Joey Votto singled and with one out Jay Bruce singled home Suarez to make it 2-0. The Reds pushed it to 3-0 in the fifth on a walk to Suarez and singles by Votto and Brandon Phillips.

Suarez put the exclamation point to the afternoon by slashing his third home run of the season off left hander Kyle Lobstein, a two-run 425-footer than crash-landed on the grass beyond the center field wall.

Former Reds manager and special advisor Lou Piniella witnessed the first five games during which Suarez hit three home runs and said, “I love that kid. The ball jumps off his bat.”

Suarez came to the Reds last year when Alfredo Simon was traded to Detroit and now that Simon is back with the Reds it was a clean steal for general manager Walt Jocketty. When told how Jocketty got Suarez and then got back Simon, Piniella smiled and said, “Well, they’re both keepers.”

The home runs are nifty, but Price loves the defense that Suarez is showing at third base after moving there this season from shortstop. And he admires some of the plate discipline and base hits that are not home runs.

“Suarez hits good pitching,” said Price. “He doesn’t just clean up on the soft tossers. He hits the guys with legitimate stuff.

“He has grinded out some really important walks these first five games,” said Price. “He is driving the ball hard to right center. It is not just a bunch of pull homers, but at times he is staying in the middle of he diamond. He is a guy I can hit-and-run with if need be. He does all the little things that’s need to be done.”
Everybody feels sorry for the poor pitchers on cold, windy days. But Price believes even on the bitterest of days the pitcher is the warmest guy on the field.

“There are a lot of things a pitcher can do and No. 1 is keeping your hand warm and your body warm between innings,” said Price. “The advantage of being a starting pitcher is that you should be the warmest guy on the field. You warm up before you take the field, you go on the field and run, you long toss, you get on the bullpen mound and throw a 30 to 40-pitch pre-game warm-up.

“The key is not to let yourself cool down and that means to put a jacket on between innings, go back in the clubhouse, get on a stationary bike, go into the batting cage and throw to keep your arm loose and warm,” said Price. “Once your hands get cold the tendency is to lose feel for the ball on your fingertips.”

Iglesias acknowledged that it never gets this cold in Cuba and they don’t play baseball in 38-degree weather. So how did he handle it?

“It was really hard because this weather is something new for me,” he said. “Every time I was in the dugout I was walking around and jumping up and down in order to keep my body warm.”

The best thing he did, though, was cool off the Pirates every time it seemed as if they might get hot.

By Hal McCoy

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds made two major mistakes Friday night in the refrigerated atmosphere of Great American Ball Park, a 6-5 defeat handed them by the potent and powerful Pittsburgh Pirates.

Their perfect 3-and-0 record came crumpling to the grass when Starling Marte hit a grand slam home run in the eighth inning when J.J. Hoover threw a hanging slider right down Central Parkway. And Marte parked it.

It was no mistake for manager Bryan Price to bring Hoover, his closer, into the game in the eighth inning. The game was on the line and Marte was 1 for 14 with eight strikeouts against Hoover.

THE FIRST BIG MISTAKE was even playing the game in the teeth-chilling cold, sleet and rain. Second baseman Brandon Phillips played defense the entire night with his uniform unbuttoned near his belt buckle and his throwing hand tucked inside the shirt to keep it from frost-bite.

If they were playing it for the fans, well, they announced 17,194 tickets sold, but there were not enough fans in the stands to start a fight in an igloo.

THE SECOND BIG MISTAKE was the way the Reds went about things. In their first three games this season, all victories against the Philadelphia, they spotted the Phillies leads in all three games and surged back to win.

On Friday the took the lead early, scored two in the first on a home run by Brandon Phillips and maintained leads of 2-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-2 and 5-2 — all this despite making three errors, committing two base-running gaffes and hitting three Pirates hitters with pitches.

Despite his hand-warming antics afield, Phillips seemed one of the few Reds unaffected by the arctic-like cold.

He hit his two-run home run in the first inning off Pittsburgh ace Francisco Liriano. He hit a sacrifice fly in the third to give the Reds a 3-1 lead.

He manufactured a run without a hit in the seventh to give the Reds a 5-2 lead He walked, moved to second on a ground ball, stole third and continued home on a wild pitch.

All this came after Phillips missed the previous two games with a stomach affliction and was quarantined to quarters for Thursday’s game.

YES, THE PIRATES made it easier by leaving 11 runners on base in the first seven innings and left the bases loaded in the seventh. Tony Cingrani struck out Gregory Polanco with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh, Polanco’s fourth strikeout of the night.

With the Reds in front, 5-2, Ross Ohlander started the eighth. With one out he hit John Jaso with a pitch. After throwing a wild pitch he walked Andrew McCutchen.

David Freese struck an infield single to second base to fill the bases and Price took down Ohlendorf for Hoover. He dangled a 1-and-0 slider in front of Marte and he knocked it to Newport, his first career grand slam.

THE REDS HAD COME from behind in the eighth inning to beat the Phillies on Opening Day and had a walk-off win in the ninth inning in Game 2.

Down by only one run in the eighth and ninth Friday, it was not to be. Neftali Feliz pitched a one-two-three eighth, striking out both Tyler Holt and Billy Hamilton.

Closer Mark Melancon came in for the ninth to face the top of the Reds order. Zack Cozart was retired on a first-pitch fly to center. Eugenio Suarez drove one hard and deep to center and McCutcheon, as he is wont to do, made a diving, rolling catch. Joey Votto grounded hard to first base and the Reds’ perfect season was over and Pittsburgh moved to 4-and-0.

It was evident that the night was not fit for man nor dog nor pitcher when both starters, Pittsburgh’s Francisco Liriano
and Cincinnati’s Alfredo Simon fought the elements more than thkey fought the hitters.

LIRIANO NEEDED 90 pitches, only 47 strikes, to traverse five innings (three runs, five hits, four walks, three strikeouts and a wild pitch). Simon needed 92 pitches, 59 strikes) to cover his five innings (two runs, one earned, five hits, two walks, seven strikeouts and two hit batsmen.

“Both pitchers had to battle to get some feel to the ball,” said Price. “Neither one was vintage by any means and I don’t think anyone who came into the game was. It was an odd game, it really was. A lot of strange things happened.

“It was just so cold and so hard to get a feel for the ball,” he added. “But they battled, both starters battled and kept it a close game. There was no advantage for either club because we both played in this weather.

“It was funky conditions and it was cold and I don’t think anybody from the hitters, pitchers to defenders were going to be able to play their best ball under these conditions,” Price added.

By Hal McCoy

CINCINNATI — It was a lineup that might have drawn the ire of the baseball commissioner if Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price ran it out onto the field for a spring training game.

It was a lineup that had only three so-called regulars in it — Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Eugenio Suarez.

Catcher Devin Mesoraco, shortstop Zack Cozart and center fielder Billy Hamilton were all missing, given the day off because Price’s early-season protocol calls for the three players coming off surgeries to rest often.

And Brandon Phillips was home trying to soothe a stomach ache.

Mix in the fact that Robert Stephenson was making his major league pitching debut for the Reds and it was a mixture of potential disaster.

THANK GOODNESS FOR the Philadelphia Phillies, the only team to lose more games last year than the Cincinnati Reds and a team that figures to outdo the Reds in the Defeat Department again this year.

Two Reds regulars who did play made up the deficit — two home runs and five RBI by Jay Bruce and a grand slam home run by Eugenio Suarez.

Bruce’s three-run homer and the first career grand slam home run by Suarez both came during an eight-run fourth inning of a 10-6 Reds victory to complete a three-game sweep of the Phillies to open the season.

FOR THE YOUNG Stephenson, a 23-year-old right hander and the team’s No. 1 draft pick in 2011, it was a more than passable debut — five innings, four runs (three earned), six hits, two walks, one strikeout, two home runs and a hit batsman.

It for sure Robertson surpassed the major league debut of Philadelphia left hander Daniel Stumpf, who walked out of the bullpen into a maelstrom. His earned run average is at infinity after he faced three batters and gave up two walks and Suarez’s grand slam home run.

It was a cameo appearance, an emergency-audition start for Stephenson because of the rampant injuries through the starting staff. Now he returns to Class AAA Louisville and awaits his next chance.

“It was a lot of fun, I had a lot fun out there,” said Stephenson. “My family and friends were here and made it even more of an awesome day. My off speed stuff wasn’t breaking that much so I relied on the inside fastball. I was settled in from the first inning on and it was just a fun, awesome day.”

SO WHAT DOES Stephenson take with him back to Louisville, other than his first major league win in his first major league start?

“It is always good to get the first one out of the way and get the jitters out of the way,” he said. “When I come back the next time I’ll be more prepared and more settled down. You make the most out of every opportunity you get. When I come back I’ll be ready to go for the long haul.”

There was a link to this game with the first two Reds victories over the Phillies — possible goats came back to be beasts.

In Game One it was Joey Votto who struck out his first three times then delivered a game-winning hit. In Game Two it was Scott Schebler, who struck out his first three times then delivered a game-winnings hit.

ON THURSDAY IT was Bruce. In the third inning when it was 0-0 with pitcher Charlie Morton on second, Ryan Howard singled to right. In his haste to stop Morton from scoring — and Morton had stopped at third — Bruce booted the ball, enabling Morton to score for a 1-0 Phillies lead. Bruce more than made amends.

“You look to your experienced players to shake something like that off,” said Price. “Jay prides himself on his defense and he is out there busting his tail, trying to make a play to save Robert a run. It didn’t happen.

“But he was able to compartmentalize it and focus on his at bats,” Price added. “What a productive day – three hits and five RBI, two homers. He has put a lot of work in. We all know how proud he is and he puts a lot of expectations on his shoulders to do the job he is paid to do. He is disappointed in his last two seasons.”

BRUCE’S SECOND HOME run tied him with Ken Griffey Jr. at 210 for career home runs by a Reds player. Bruce smiled at the comparison, but shrugged it off.

“I only have 420 left to catch him (for career homers),” Bruce said. “I better get going. To be even mentioned in the same sentence with him is special. I’m note worthy. He is a friend of mine and I got to see the way he impacted and changed the game of baseball. As for me, that’s me. I feel normal again.”

Bruce was more excited about the way his team has played, even though it is against the Phutile Phillies. They came from behind in all three games to win.

“The way we’ve won is even more important than the wins themselves,” he said. “We’ve made ourselves believe that we have the ability to come back in games and have everybody contribute. It has been a fun three games and you can’t do better than a sweep.”

MESORACO’S DAY OFF was planned — day game after night game and all that. Also missing was second baseman Brandon Phillips, shortstop Zack Cozart and center fielder Billy Hamilton.

Phillips was removed from the lineup just before Wednesday’s game with an upset stomach and he stayed home Thursday. “I don’t know if he is feeling better, but right now (before the game) he is home. I don’t know if he is coming in.”

Like Mesoraco, Cozart and Hamilton are coming off surgeries and the club is monitoring them closely. “We have Devin, Billy and Zack on certain protocols,” said Price.

“Billy could have the best chance to play today, but I want to make sure I got Adam Duvall (left field) and Scott Schebler (center field) out there together every now and again. This first month will be a month of select days off for those three players.”

On this day, Price chose the perfect time.

By Hal McCoy

CINCINNATI — Like the Rubik’s Cube, the Cincinnati Reds have figured it out, discovered the way to win and win and win.

The plan of attack goes like this: One of the position players strikes out three straight times then comes up late in the game with a chance to win the game and delivers better than UPS and FedEx combined.

One Opening Day it was Joey Votto. He struck out his first three times. Then he came up in the eighth inning of a tie game and squashes a two-run single.

ON OPENING NIGHT IT was was Scott Schebler. He struck out his first three times. Then he came up in the ninth inning with the Reds down a run and rammed a two-run game-ending double to left center field.

Cincinnati 3, Philadelphia 2.

And it saved Reds starter Brandon Finnegan a defeat he didn’t deserve. Finnegan gave up a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning to Maikel Franco and nothing else.

Over six innings he gave up two runs, three hits, walked one and struck out nine. But until the ninth inning the Reds had nothing but a first-inning home run off Eugenio Suarez’s bat. After that the Reds had only three base runners through the eighth inning and never more than one an inning.

THEN CAME THE ninth and the Phillies continued their on-the-job audition for a closer and brought in a guy wearing No. 94 — Cuban-born Danier Hinajosa.

Suarez led the ninth with a single and Joey Votto flied deep to left. Devin Mesoraco beat an infield single and Jay Bruce poked a single to left to load the bases.

Now it was Schebler’s turn. He struck out in the second with Bruce on first and no outs. He led the fifth with a strikeout. Then he struck out in the seventh with one out.

“Man, I struggled those first few at-bats and just couldn’t figure it out,” said Schebler. “I finally made an adjustment. Jay Bruce told me, ‘Hey, you don’t have to hit it 500 feet. Just put the bat on the ball. That really helped.”

After Schebler stirred the breezes with his first three whiffs, he said Bruce told him, “Hey, it is going to come down to you in this game. That’s just how this game works. You struggle throughout the game and it comes down to you.”

AND THE 25-YEAR-OLD left fielder, obtained from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the three-team trade that involved sending Todd Frazier to the Chicago White Sox, was one pitch away from striking out for the fourth time. But he rocketed the 2-and-2 pitch over the left fielder’s head for the game-winner.

“I could hear Jay screaming at me from first base to deliver and that meant the world to me, to have teammates like that,” said Schebler. “I hope we can make a habit of that and hopefully have a lead late in the game instead of having to come back.”

AND IT WAS Finnegan’s night, too.

“The conditions (cold, windy, drizzly) weren’t good, but it was fun,” said Finnegan. “I had all my pitches working for six innings, thank God.”

He had two outs and nobody on in the first when Herrera hit a little dribbler between home and first, a ball that could have been the third out. Then came Franco’s home run.

“You can’t do anything about those kinds of hits and I wasn’t too happy about it. But you are going to give up those kinds of hits,” said Finnegan. “Then Franco got a pitch out and up and went with it. Luckily I came back and kept the ball down in the zone the rest of the game.”

MANAGER BRYAN PRICE was thoroughly impressed by Finnegan’s stage presence after the home run.

“He stayed in the game mentally and threw a lot of quality strikes,” said Price. “This spring her was, I don’t want to say erratic, but he wasn’t as acute as he needs to be. But tonight he was able to utilize his change-up the way he needed, especially the second and third time through the lineup.”

It is the Phillies right now who wish their bullpen didn’t have to face the Reds the fourth time through the lineup. Right now it is definitely The Danger Zone.

By Hal McCoy

CINCINNATI — Toronto manager John Gibbons may live to regret what he said — at least his wallet might regret it — when he said, “Maybe tomorrow we should show up in dresses.”

The feminists aren’t going to like that, but I do, and I’m certainly not anti-feminist. If I was my wife Nadine would remove my teeth (what’s left of them) with a karate kick to the lips.

Although umpires abided strictly by the new rule, rule 6.01j, concerning slides into second base to break up double plays, Gibbons was right about what is happening to baseball.

What used to be a rough and tumble game is fast approaching croquet in games played on lawns.

IT HAPPENED TUESDAY night in a game involving Toronto and Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay led, 3-2, in the top of the ninth inning. The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out and Jose Bautista was on first base.

Edwin Encarnacion (remember him?) grounded to third, a sure-fire game-ending double play. But when Tampa Bay second baseman Larry Forsythe tried to turn it, Bautista, coming from first, slid hard and a little bit wide of second base. He tried to hook Forsythe with his right leg and tried to disrupt the throw with his arm.

Forsythe’s throw bounced past first base and instead of a double play and game over, two runs scored to give Toronto a 4-3 lead. . .for about five minutes. Nobody was protesting the slide, but umpires went to replay and eventually ruled that Bautista violated the new slide rule and both he and Encarnation were called out — a game-ending double play and a startling 3-2 Tampa Bay win.

OLD SCHOOL BASEBALLERS, like me, understand the safety issues and what happened when Chase Utley broke Miguel Tejada’s leg on a wicked, wicked slide last year. But if that hadn’t happened, would this new slide rule be in effect?

Probably not. Baseball is not pro-active. It is re-active. They didn’t ban bowling over the catcher until San Francisco’s Buster Posey was injured. They didn’t ban the break-up slide until Tejada got hurt.

Nearly all the old-time players can’t believe what is happening to the game. How many catchers really got hurt badly getting bowled over at home plate over the first 146 years of the professional game. How many guys got hurt at second base on takeout slides? Sure, it happens (Cincinnati second base Ron Oester’s knee was destroyed on a break-u slide in the early 1980s). But as former pitcher Pedro Martinez said on MLB-TV, “They are taking away the game we all played for 100 years. Now they are making all these rules, changing the game, softening it up.”

IT WAS UNFORTUNATE that the first time the new rule is invoked that it decided immediately the outcome of the game. If it had happened in the fourth or fifth inning nothing much would have been made of it.

But this call, even the right call, gave Tampa Bay a victory on a umpire’s call and took away two runs that gave Toronto the lead and cost them the game. An umpire’s call is no way to decide a baseball game.

Former major league umpire Randy Marsh, now an umpire supervisors and observer, said about the play, “The call was right even before the new rule. He (Bautista) grabbed at the ball when the throw was being made and that’s interference even without the new rule.”

In addition, Bautista violated the new rule by over sliding the base and using the leg kick while trying to impede the throw.

Rule 601(j) says if the runners initiates or attempts to make contact with the fielder for purpose of breaking up a double play, he and the batter are both out.

Yes, it was the correct call under the new rule, which hopefully might be modified a bit before the end of the season, but as Gibbons said, “Maybe we should show up in dresses tomorrow.”

CINCINNATI MANAGER Bryan Price saw the play and he believes, “under the new rule, they got it right.” And he says his team has been instructed, taught and lectured on the correct way to slide into second base on a double play ball.

“Any time you reach out to affect the ability of the middle infielder to turn the double play and you physically grab the player, that’s an infraction,” he said. That’s exactly what Marsh said and that’s exactly what Bautista did.

“I did think it was the right call, but it was unfortunate because the kid was just trying to break up the double play (which you can no longer do),” said Price.

“This sure got everybody’s attention,” Price added. “Anybody who looks at the play would know you can’t do that. We spent a lot of time with our video rules guy and looked at the different rules that give you the different ways you can approach second base and the ways that you can’t.

“Our guys know the rules — slide hard directly into the bag and to make sure their legs and back-sides are down before they get to the base. Do not slide past the base and lose connectivity in trying to break up a double play. But the instinct still is to try to get involved with the middle infielder to break up the double play.”

And that’s what Pedro Martinez said. It’s the way the game has been played for 146 years and players grew up sliding hard at the middle infielder, doing whatever they could to prevent the double play. And now they have to change?

That’s why John Gibbons wonders if his Blue Jays should be ‘Devils With a Blue Dress on.”

By Hal McCoy

For as long as anybody would listen, and the media was all frozen ears, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Zack Cozart thawed out in front of his locker early Monday evening and gave his personal ‘State of the Reds.’

In his world, things aren’t as bad as the baseball world would have you believe. And that’s a good thing. Whether he believes it or not, he has to think it.

“I believe, and everybody in this clubhouse, believes we are better than people outside the clubhouse believes,” said Cozart. “And we are out to show that.”

SO HOW MUCH better does Cozart believe the rebuilding, retooling, reloading Reds will be? Does he mean they won’t lose 100 games, as some believe? Does he believe they won’t finish last in the National League Central, as most people believe? And does he have the audacity to predict the Reds will compete for a division title or a wild card spot?

Cozart is the kind of guy everybody wants to see succeed. He is low-key, he is baby-faced, he is self-deprecating, he is quiet, reserved and polite.

And he is one heck of a shortstop.

HE WAS A sought-after man Monday afternoon after the Reds’ Opening Day 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Cozart went 3-for-3 and hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to tie the game, 2-2.

It was nice to see happy faces and hear optimistic comments in the post-game clubhouse. Realism will strike soon enough.

Consider though: Cozart’s three hits? They were the only hits the Reds had through seven innings. And Joey Votto, The King of Swing, struck out his first three times before banging a two-run single in the eighth inning to give the Reds a 4-2 lead.

“That’s why I’m paid the big bucks,” he said of his big hit after playing The Mighty Joey with three previous strikeouts.

JUST REMEMBER THAT the Phillies are not very good, might finish last in the National League East and might even lose more games than the Reds? At least the Reds sent six players onto the field for Opening Day that were recognizable: Votto, Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce, Cozart, Devin Mesoraco and Billy Hamilton. The Phillies lineup, except for Ryan Howard, looked like a roster from the WPP (Witness Protection Program).

Casting aside that it was the Phillies, the Reds’ pitching, a part of the team most maligned, was stunningly good.

CUBAN DEFECTOR Raisel Iglesias, making his Opening Day debut, gave up a two-run home run in the second inning and nothing more. His 90-pitch six innings resulted in two runs, six hits, no walks and seven strikeouts.

Then the Reds’ bullpen, another WPP roster, pitched three hitless innings and only one Phillie reached base, a walk by Tony Cingrani.

But Jumbo Diaz, Cingrani, Ross Ohlendorf and J.J. Hoover turned the Philadelphia spigots off and tightened the handle so nobody could turn it.

Iglesias, of course, was an EMT starter because the Reds have an entire starting rotation on the disabled list — Homer Bailey, Anthony DeSclafani, Michael Lorenzen, John Lamb and Jon Moscot.

So it could have been a nerve-tingling afternoon for Iglesias. But he said the only thing that bothered him was the finger-tingling cold. Of course, who would the Phillies bother these days? And Iglesias most likely faced more tension and pressure while standing on the mound in Cuba.

SPEAKING THROUGH a translator after the game, Iglesias said, “At the beginning of the game I felt kind of down because of the weather. It was affecting me a little bit but I just picked everything up and tried to throw my pitches the best way I can.”

Somebody asked about butterflies (has anybody ever really swallowed a butterfly and had one in their stomach?) and Iglesias was emphatic. “No, no, no. I didn’t feel any pressure on me. It was just one more game and I just went out there to do my job. I just did the best I could to help my team win.”

Mission accomplished, with style and verve.

MEANWHILE, COZART continued to spread his message before the Reds took a day off Tuesday savoring the sweet taste of victory instead of licking wounds.

“I’m so happy the team played as well as it did,” he said. “I’ve said it over and over today, that was a really good team win. Pitchers did great, defense, hitting (well, in the eighth inning when somebody other than Cozart got a hit and the Reds scored five times).”

Other than ‘The Starting Six,’ the roster is populated by strangers and prospects and Cozart was asked how that feels?

“Actually, I’m kind of curious, to be honest, because you don’t know what they are going to bring to the table,” he said. “We know they have talent. But it is a whole different ball game when you are out there and the spotlight is on you and the big crowds. I’m confident the young guys are going to help us out, take the challenge and compete and that’s all you can really ask for.”

AND IT LOOKS if Joey Votto is going to take it upon himself to inject levity into the season.

He did something Opening Day that probably has never been done before and for sure not on Open Day in Cincinnati, which is a religious event.

When the players were introduced before the game, Votto was AWOL. They announced his name and instead of running onto the field to shake hands with his teammates and line up on the foul line, like every player in the history of the franchise has done, Votto didn’t appear. Was never in line.

After the game he was asked politely if he was, uh, indisposed at the time. He laughed and said, “No, I did it on purpose. I’ve done my LeBron and I’ve done my Reynaldo and now I’ve done my no-show.”

In Votto’s case, as long as he shows up in the batter’s box he can skip all the pomp, circumstance and folderol before any game.

By Hal McCoy

‘Before this little gift was come
The little owner had made haste for home’
—Robert Stephenson

The quote above was, indeed, authored by Robert Stephenson — by Robert Stephenson the poet, not Robert Stephenson the Cincinnati Reds baseball pitcher.

But Stephenson the baseball pitcher did receive a gift this week after he was sent away from home plate in Great American Ball Park. Stephenson was optioned back to Class AAA Louisville last week, the after shock of a miserable spring training performance against Milwaukee.

THE REDS, THOUGH, needed a starting pitcher for Thursday’s Game 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies because they Reds have a complete starting rotation sitting on the disabled list — Homer Bailey, Michael Lorenzen, Anthony DeSclafani, John Moscot, John Lamb.

So Stephenson was presented a gift, a start Thursday, a one-start cameo appearance to see if he can make amends for his last spring training start and leave a lasting impression for when the Reds need a starter again.

“This is probably a one-start situation for Robert and he knows that,” said manager Bryan Price. “It is a great opportunity for him to get his feet wet in this environment. He is on the (40-man) roster, so we didn’t have to create a roster spot for him.”

OF REAL IMPORT, though, is that Stephenson was a No. 1 draft pick in 2011 and the Reds are pushing him to succeed as he ha slogged through every stage of minor-league ball — Rookie League, Low-A, High-H, Double-A and 11 games in Triple-A last season.

Price has had vast experience grooming, prepping and getting pitchers ready for their major league debut as starters. He did it eight times last year to varying stages of success.

“It is something I’ve been doing for however many years I’ve been doing this (as a manager and pitching coach),” said Price. “So much of it rests in the hands of the relationships between the pitchers and the catcher. There is no way to get over the anxieties. Even veteran pitchers have pre-game anxiety. There is certainly more anxiety involved in a young pitcher making his debut.

Price smiled as he leaned back in his leather swivel chair behind his desk in his Great American Ballpark office before Opening Day.
“I don’t know if there is anything I’ve learned greatly about pitchers making their debuts over the years to make it any easier,” he said. “If that was the case the results probably would have been a little bit better last year.

“What we want is for the pitcher to pitch the game that he is comfortable throwing,” said Price. “Don’t spend time attacking a hitter’s weakness or trying to make pitches he is not used to throwing. He needs to throw a familiar game plan that he is used to executing. As far as nerves, it emanates from the staff and the catcher and us telling him, ‘Just go out there and be yourself and have some fun. Just attack the zone because you have eight guys out there trying to help you. Work fast and throw strikes so the defense stays on its toes.’”

IN ESSENCE, DONT’T try to strike out every hitter. Throw quality strikes and make the opposition put the ball in play — as long as he doesn’t hit it too far.”

Can Stephenson do that? For a long time he was a two-pitch pony, a fastball and a curveball. He has worked diligently to perfect a spread-fingered change-up to become a three-pitch horse.

“All three of his pitches are above average major league pitches,” said Price. “His challenges are how he commands the zone, how he puts them inside and outside the zone. He has a put away strikeout split-finger, a really good fastball, a really good curveball. He has to harness the emotions and be more exact than he was against Milwaukee.

“The addition of his changeup, a spread-fingered fastball that gives it speed differential, is a difference-maker for him, if he keeps it down in the strike zone for some swings and misses. Finally he made an adjustment on the spread-finger that gave him a third pitch to make him a quality starter.”

Stephenson, after much trial, error, success and failure, is now confident with the third pitch.

“Overall, I’ve worked hard on it and I’m very happy with it,” he said as he dressed for all the pomp and circumstance of Opening Day. “I’ve worked very hard on it and it has come a long way since I was drafted. When I threw it a couple of years ago I had a tough time repeating it and throwing it for strikes. Now I’m very happy with its consistency.

“I’m very excited to be here,” he said. “I haven’t had a chance to walk around the streets and see what is happening and I know they make a big deal out of it. I’m extremely excited. I called my family and girl friend and told them they had to get on a flight from California and get here. When I was sent out, Price called me in and said to be prepared in case something happened and nothing was set in stone. There was a chance I would come up, so I was excited and on alert.”

AND WHAT KIND of mindset does it give Stephenson to know that after wearing a Cincinnati uniform Thursday he’ll back back wearing the purple of the Louisville Bats?

“We want these guys to be motivated to come up here and perform and force our hand to keep them,” said Price. “We like to create that soft space to fall. You know, you are young and it is all right to come up here and fail. No, we expect our guys to succeed, to instill in them that this is an opportunity. This is what they all dreamed of, what we all dreamed of, to come to the big leagues and pitch. Now go seize the opportunity. We want them to be comfortable, but we want them to take their natural aggressiveness out there. Do something instead of making whatever happens is OK.”

THAT’S THE MESSAGE the 23-year-old right-hander takes with him to that bump in the middle of the field where the pitchers stands tallest and is the boss — until he lets go of the pitch.

In 2007 Price was pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, sitting in the dugout when Johnny Cueto made his debut for the Reds.

“He didn’t want to leave the rotation, did he? And he didn’t,” said Price. “He gave up a solo home run to Justin Upton and that was it. Ten punch outs (strikeouts) in seven innings. That would leave an impression.

Now Stephenson gets a chance to be impressionistic and a Cueto-like outing would certainly do it.