Stephenson’s reward for winning? Back to AAA
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Robert Stephenson is the Cincinnati Reds version of a First Responder, one who knows what to do in an emergency situation. For the second time this year Stephenson was called up from Class AAA Louisville to make an emergency start, this time because scheduled starter Alfredo Simon has inflammation in […]
Finding starters and finding defeats
By Hal McCoy CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds keep finding things while they are losing things. They find starting pitchers and they lose games. For the second straight day the Reds found a useable piece for their fluid starting rotation but lost the game. On Sunday in St. Louis it was Jon Moscot coming off […]
Cozart: Hard work has its rewards
By HAL McCOY The warm and fuzzy story so far this season involves shortstop Zack Cozart and, as they say, “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.” When the Reds took the field Sunday to face the St. Louis Cardinals, Cozart took a .480 batting average with him. Everybody knows Cozart isn’t going to hit […]
Reds need Votto, Hamilton to shake loose
By HAL McCOY There is a promotional message currently running on the MLB Network featuring Billy Hamilton. There is a close-up of his face as he takes a lead off first base and he says, “I’m about to steal second base.” Then he does it and there is another close-up and he says, “Should I […]
Agony on Addison Street for the Reds
By HAL McCOY Do we need Chicken Little right now? Is the sky falling? Do we need the little boy to cry wolf? Many Cincinnati Reds fans were overly exuberant when the team won five of its first six. They didn’t recognize that the first three came against the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that is […]
Can the Reds shake off bullpen disasters?
By HAL McCOY THE CINCINNATI REDS are two pitches away from being 7-and-0, but the 1960 New York Yankees were one pitch away from winning the World Series until Pittsburgh’s Bill Mazeroski hit the only Game 7 walk-off home run in World Series history. That, though, is what makes baseball so unpredictable and lovable. […]
What? A big series against the Cubs???
By Hal McCoy So raise your hand if you thought a series with the Chicago Cubs in mid-April would mean something to the Cincinnati Reds? Put your hand down, Bryan Price. Your opinion is prejudicial, but understandable. Hey, whoever thought any series against the Chicago Cubs would mean anything at any point of the season. […]
Bruce thinks small and comes up big
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 […]
Dear Raisel: ‘Be big, be strong, be better’
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 […]