Reds discover (again) that no lead is safe in Coors
By HAL McCOY Anybody familiar with hit-and-run and suicide squeeze in baseball knows that no lead in Coors Field is safe. A three-run lead after the top of the third is the slimmest of leads in the park known as Hitter’s Paradise. The Cincinnati Reds knew that going in against the Colorado Rockies Friday night […]
Suarez hits grand slam, Castillo slams the door
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — It was La Piedra (‘The Stone’) versus a Nova (shining star) Thursday afternoon in Great American Ball Park and the stone prevailed. Luis Castillo, nicknamed La Piedra, started for the Cincinnati Reds against Pittsburgh Pirates starter Ivan Nova and it was no contest, a 5-4 victory for Castillo and the […]
Despite bullpen heroics, Reds lost to Pirates, 5-4, in 12 innings
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — There is little on a baseball field at which Joey Votto doesn’t excel, all the metrics reveal that. Base running, though, is not something he does with success because his instincts on the base paths are suspect and he is the second slowest runner on the Cincinnati Reds behind Tucker […]
Scooter drives in six, Dark Knight records victory
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — If you want to turn Scooter Gennett into Motorcycle Gennett just rev him up. And the best way to rev him up is to intentionally walk Joey Votto ahead of him to load the bases. That’s what the Pittsburgh Pirates did Tuesday night in Great American Ball Park — walked […]
A news avalanche: Lorenzen, Barnhart, Brandon Dixon
By HAL McCoy CINCINNATI — There are days when a baseball writer has to look under clubhouse cushions and under the bat rack to find a story. And then there are days when the writer walks into the clubhouse gets hit in the face with a tidal wave of That was the case Tuesday before […]
Riggleman: ‘Cubs just dominated us’
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds witnessed the Chicago Cubs’ version of Homer Bailey and it didn’t work out so well for the home nine. Cubs starter Yu Darvish, to whom the Cubs are paying $25 million this year, entered Sunday afternoon’s game at Great American Ball Park with a 0-and-3 record and […]
Cubs pound Bailey, rip Reds, 8-1
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — It won’t be long before Cincinnati Reds pitcher Anthony DeSclafani finally comes off the disabled list and that means somebody currently in the starting rotation is going to exit stage right. And who might that be? Based on what he has done so far, especially in his last two starts, […]
Riggleman understands the ‘ups and downs’
By HAL McCOY CINCINNATI — Jim Riggleman has been around baseball long enough to realize that a Major League season is a long and winding road. It does nobody any good to get giddy over a 7-and-3 record over 10 games or a 5-and-2 road trip. Nor does it do anybody any good to become […]
Are Scooter’s days in Cincinnati numbered?
By HAL McCOY The latest whisperings among Major League scouts is that Cincinnati Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett may be wearing a different uniform in the not too distant future. That would be to make room for Nick Senzel once the Reds No. 1 draft choice two years ago shakes his bout with vertigo. It […]