Leadoff: Christmas in August for Billy Hamilton
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — When Billy Hamilton walked into the clubhouse Friday night and saw the lineup board, he wanted to jump and click his heels — something he can easily do. Instead of finding his name at the bottom of the batting order, ninth, he was back at the top, batting leadoff for […]
Ervin’s walk-off homer in 11th beats Giants
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Pat Kelly was a man caught in the middle — should he go left or should he go right or should he stay right there in the middle. Kelly is the bench coach for the Cincinnati Reds, manager Jim Riggleman’s right hand man. On Friday night, Kelly’s son, Casey Kelly […]
Another clinker for Stephenson, but Reed shines in 4-3 loss
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Watching pitcher Robert William Stephenson pitch is like watching author/poet Robert Louis Stevenson write essays. Tedious. Tiresome. Monotonous. Boring. On the other hand, watching Cody Reed come to Stephenson’s rescue was pure pleasure, welcome relief for the Cincinnati Reds, at least for 3 2/3 scoreless innings during a 4-3 loss […]
How does Riggleman motivate the Reds?
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — What can a manager do? What can he say to his team when it is so deep in last place it can’t see the next-to-last team without the Hubble Telescope and then it is a faint view? That’s the situation Cincinnati Reds manager Jim Riggleman finds himself in as he […]
Romano rocked and Kluber rolls in 8-1 Tribe win
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — When the Cleveland Indians came to town, the Cincinnati Reds actually had something to play for, a reachable goal. They could have won the not-so-coveted Ohio Cup, a nearly secret trinket dangled in front of the Tribe and the Reds. Whichever team wins the season series gets possession of the […]
Dubious distinction: Reds lead baseball in ‘position’ pitchers
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds lead the league in a dubious facet of the game, one classified as minutiae and something no team or manager wants to see. The Reds have used four different position players to finish out-of-hand games as pitchers — Cliff Pennington, Alex Blandino, Phillip Ervin and Brandon Dixon. […]
Reds ripped, 10-3, record is 1-15 in Bailey’s starts
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Does anybody remember the last time Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey won a baseball game? Does it seems like it was back when Prince had that party in 1999? In fact, when was the last time the Reds won a game that Bailey started? Bailey last won a game in […]
Cody Reed is back for another trial run
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — When four young Cincinnati Reds pitchers roomed in the same house during spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., somebody called it, ‘The House of the Rising Guns.’ The occupants were Sal Romano, Amir Garrett, Robert Stephenson and Cody Reed. When camp broke, they sere split in half — Garrett and Romano […]
D-Backs bombard Reds with five homers, 9-2
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — When he isn’t winning 13 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks, pitcher Zack Godley is an avid fisherman and is delightfully proud that he has sunk two boats while searching for bass and while he survived, the bass didn’t. Godley did some more sinking Sunday afternoon in Great American Ball Park. […]