Reds pound Phillies with hit explosion
By HAL McCOY It isn’t often that the Cincinnati Reds score nine runs and amass 14 hits when Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips combine to go 1 for 10 (an infield single by Phillips in the ninth). That, though, is exactly what happened Sunday afternoon when the rest of the Reds scored a 9-4 victory […]
A bizarre ending to another bad night
By HAL McCOY The Philadelphia Phillies continued displaying their methods Friday night on how to win baseball games and the Cincinnati Reds continued their methods of how to lose them. The Phillies execute with fundamentally sound baseball and the Reds execute themselves. The game ended on a perfectly executed play by the Phillies to preserve […]
Reds need to do it the Phillies way
By HAL McCOY The Cincinnati Reds need to check Amazon.com and order those set of mirrors the Philadelphia Phillies are using to win baseball games. The Phillies are in the same rebuilding mode as the Reds but one would never know it by checking their record and their position in the National League East standings. […]
Hit batsmen and hit homers spice things up
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — For two years the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates have used each other as carnival midway kewpie dolls. And both teams score frequent and direct hits. There were six batsman hit with pitches Wednesday night in Great American Ball Park during a 5-4 Pirates win, another bullpen production-giveaway by the […]
Barnhart wears the ‘Tools of Intelligence’
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Carlton Fisk, who could snarl with the best of them, always snarled when somebody referred to a catcher’s protective gear as, “The Tools of Ignorance.” It is a reference that implies that a baseball player has to be stupid to strap on the chest protector, the shin guards, the hockey […]
Reds play a near-perfect game, nudge Pirates
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — If only the Cincinnati Reds could put Monday night’s game in a bottle and put a cap on it, it could be a usable product. They could uncap it and sell it to other teams. Or they could uncap it and use it for themselves. THE REDS PLAYED a near-perfect […]
Another day (even Mother’s Day), another blown save
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — On Mother’s Day, for the Cincinnati Reds there was no Zack Cozart, no Billy Hamilton, no Eugenio Suarez, no Tucker Barnhart and no victory. Manager Bryan Price decided to give those four regulars a day off against the Milwaukee Brewers and their stand-ins weren’t up to producing enough runs. And […]
Odd Couple: Votto, Phillips play 1,000th together; Brewers explode against Reds much maligned bullpen.
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Succinctly put, the Cincinnati Reds bullpen is still a mess in progress and Milwaukee Brewers attacked it like ants at a Sunday picnic. And Brewers third baseman Aaron Hill was the point ant — three consecutive home runs and seven runs batted in. The Brewers scored seven runs in the […]
Adleman, ‘The Bullpen’ silence the Brewers
By HAL McCOY There was big news emanating out of Great American Ball Park Friday night. And it had nothing to do with another noteworthy start by out-of-nowhere pitcher Tim Adleman. The big event was the Cincinnati Reds bullpen. It did not give up a run. Repeat. No runs. After giving up at least one […]