Category: Uncategorized

By Hal McCoy

The Cincinnati Reds’ flair for dramatics is insatiable and seemingly it is done with a cast of thousands.

This time, on a chill Monday night in the City of Brotherly love, it was Spencer Steer providing the heroics — a grand slam home run in the 10th inning to lift the Reds to a 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Steer salivates with the bases full of teammates — 4 for 11 with 10 RBI. And the grand slam was the only hit of the inning and Steer’s first career grand slam.

The Phillies brought in Connor Brogdon for the 10th with free runner Bubba Thompson on second. He walked Will Benson and walked Jonathan India on four pitches to fill ‘em up.

And Steer steered his grand slam over the left field wall to provide the Reds with a win, their first road game of 2024.

“Yeah, yeah, that was a pretty cool moment,” said Steer. “I kind of blacked out running around the bases. I was just fired up to get an RBI in that situation. I kinda blacked out because it was one of those moments where you are running around the bases and you feel like your’re floating on a cloud.”

Cloud Nine, obviously.

Brogdon had thrown seven straight balls when Steer planted himself in the batter’s box. He took a fastball for strike one. Brogdon tried another fastball and Steer was poised and waiting.

“I knew he didn’t want to walk me in that situation,” said Steer. “He was struggling with the command of hs off-speed stuff, so I was looking for a fastball right there and I wanted to put a good swing on it and do some damage, drive in some runs.”

The damage was done, heavy damage.

Indeed, it’s a new year. In previous visits to Philadelphia, the Reds would be better suited to stay away from Citizens Bank Park and visit the Liberty Bell, City Hall or the Reading Terminal Market. They had lost six of the previous seven games in the Phillies’ home playground.

It looked like more of the same in the first inning when Reds starter Andrew Abbott gave up two straight singles and both scored on Alex Bohm’s two-out double off the end of the bat just inside the first base bag. Bohm owns a 14-game hitting streak against the Reds.

And it appeared that 2-0 lead might hold because Philadelphia starter Christopher Sanchez had the Reds mesmerized with a diving change-up.

At one point, he retired 11 straight with eight strikeouts. But when he walked Jonathan India on a full count and gave up a double to Steer, his night was over in the sixth.

The next two Reds, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Jeimer Candelario each singled home a run to tie it, 2-2.

And that’s where it stood until Steer’s deliverance.

Aided by a couple of Phillies’ base-running faux pas, Abbott kept the score at 2-2 through 5 1/3 innings — only one more hit and a couple of walks through five innings. He retired 11 of the last 12 he faced and the one exeception was a walk.

“Gotta give a shout-out to Abbott,” said Steer. “He gave up two in the first and shut ‘em down after that. That’s the fight we talk about on our team all the time. He fought every inning and did a heck of a job shutting them down after that first inning.”

There also was redeption for closer Alexis Diaz after he blew the second game of the season to the Washington Nationals.

With the score 2-2 in the eighth, Brent Suter threw two pitches and gave up singles to Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner. After a flyout, manager David Bell brought Diaz into the high-leveraged situation

Pinch-runner Johan Rojas broke early for third base and Diaz picked him off. Then he finished the assignment by striking out J.T. Realmuto.

Realmuto has faced Diaz four times and has four K’s marked next to his name.

“That’ our guy and he’s always been our guy,” said Steer, referring to Diaz. “He is our closer and has all the confidene in the world when he runs out of that bullpen. It was awesome to see him get the results tonight, but he is our guy and is always going to be our guy going forward.”

After Steer’s home run, the dramatics were not over. The Phillies scored a run off T.J. Antone in the bottom of the 10th with two men on.

With two outs, Bryce Harper was the potential tying run at the plate.

And, of course, Antone dramatically struck him out.

Benson, lobbying heaavily to start against left-handed pitching, face lefties three times Monday and struck out all three times.

By Hal McCoy

Q: Considering the widespread legalization of sports gambling, does this pose a threat to the integrity of baseball? — DAVE, Miamisburg/Centerville/Beavercreek.
A: Absolutely, which is why the 
Shohei Ohtani mess is a crisis. MLB players are permitted to gamble, as long as it is with legal wagering sites and emporiums and as long as they don’t wager on baseball. But we all know there are mavericks who do illegal things. Somebody is going to get caught, you can bet on it.

Q: Several articles have been written about the Cincinnati Reds practicing their bunting, but I did not see one laid down in an exhibition game, so what gives? — DON, Westerville.
A: The Reds have a special small infield near their spring training clubhouse for bunting practice and I’ve seen them practice it every day. Practice makes perfect, but that perfection is useless if it’s not used in games. We live in the age of analytics and analytics say, “Don’t bunt for hits.” So, why practice them?

Q: Is conditioning the reason the Reds have so many injuries? — DAVIID, Springfield.
A: That’s the big head-scratcher. Reds fans believe it is all Reds, but it isn’t. Check every team’s injured list and they are filled up like my wife’s grocery list. Why? It isn’t conditioning with the Reds. Conditioning and working on it throughout the season is a priority. Most injuries are the result of physical activity — diving for balls, trying to beat out his and throws. Most players no longer miss games due to headaches or stomach cramps. Wally Pipp made certain of that.

Q: How did the Reds do in the off-season and was it enough to surge into the playoffs?— SHAUN, Huber Heights.
A: Do teams ever do enough? Fans believe not. They want their teams to sign the highest-priced free agents and trade for other team’s best players. It doesn’t work that way. Usually, teams can only fix one or two needs when they have four or five. The Reds could have used a top-notch starting pitcher, although we’ll wait to see how Frankie Montas pans out. And they could have acquired a power-hitting righthanded outfielder, like Adam Duvall. No, I don’t believe they did enough, but on the bright side, the National League Central is weaker than iced tea.

Q: If it is discovered that Shohei Ohtani gambled on baseball and is banned, are the Los Angeles Dodgers still obligated to the terms of his contract? —RYAN/ELVIS, Englewood.
A: That’s $700-plus million that would come off LA’s books. It would deem the contract null and void. The Dodgers, though, want the player and the contract. This stuff is not really rare. Maverick Carter, business manager to LeBron James, admitted last year that he bet on NBA games. Fortunately, an investigation exonerated James of playing any part in it. MLB and the baseball world are holding breaths and crossing fingers than Ohtani is as clean as Snow White.

Q: What is the latest with Jose Rijo and does he mentor any Reds pitchers? — JAY, Englwood.
A: When I broke a hip a couple of years ago, when I was recuperating at home Rijo showed up at my front door, bearing cigars, t-shirs and hats. What a guy, always one of my favorites. Unfortunately, the Reds are not using him, even though he was one of the best pitchers to pass through Cincinnati. He does do a lot of autograph sessions in southwest Ohio, but young Latinos in the Reds’ system could absorb a lot of positivity from Jose Rijo Abrue (His real name).

Q: If you could write the life story of one MLB player, who would it be? — JOE, Kettering.
A: All the obvious ones, nearly all the Hall of Famers and superstars, have had their lives chronicled by some iillustrious authors. There has not been one done about/by Barry Larkin. Late in his career he told me he’d like me to write his book. Then he decided he didn’t want one done. Maybe, hopefully, he’ll change his mind. I need cigar money.

Q: Do MLB player get paid for spring training and spring training games? — MARILYNNE, Sugar Creek Twp.
A: Spring training and exhibition games are all part of their contract, so the poor guys get no extra pay. But, wait. Each player residing in the team’s headquarters hotel gets $369.50 a day. If they live off-campus, they get an additional $65.50 a day. And each and every player gets $104.50 a day in meal money. Notice that every stipend ends in fifty cents? What’s that about?

Q: Have you read the newest book on Pete Rose, ‘Charlie Hustle,’ and if so what did you think? — MICHELLE, Floyds Knobs, IND.
A: There are enough books on Pete Rose to fill the Floyds Knobs library, if there is one. ‘Charlie Hustle’ just came out this week but author Keith O’Brien sent me an advance copy and I devoured it. Without hesitation, this is the best book on Rose, the definitive work that provides the good, the bad and the ugly. O’Brien thoroughly researched it and did a long list of interviews. The Index is 22 pages and the notes/bibliography is 85 pages. It is a book one can’t put down. And it reminds of something Rose once said about his autobiography: “I wrote a book before I ever read one.”

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, proposing that Happy New Year is not on January 1, it is baseball’s Opening Day. So. . .Happy New Year, basebal fans.

—KLU HAD A CLUE: Ted Kluszewski could hit. He could hit for power and he could hit for average. And he didn’t say much, but when he did it was worth hearing.

Somebody once asked him how easy or difficult is it to hit a baseball and Big Klu said as he leaaned his massive arms on a batting cage, “ How hard is hitting? You ever walk into a pitch-black room full of furniture that you’ve never been in before and try to walk through it without bumping into anything? Well, it’s harder than that.”

One of my favorite all-time sports columnists, Mike Downey, pointed out that Opening Day in Cincinnati was 36 years to the day when Kluszewski died. Big Klu, the Gentle Giant with biceps the size of monster watermelons, would have been 100.

He began and ended his career with the Cincinnati Reds, first as Killer Klu, a power-packed first baseman and then as the team’s hitting coach whose mantra was, “See the ball, hit the ball.”

He also starred in the 1959 World Series for the Chicago Go-Go White Sox. They lost to the Dodgers, four fames to two, but it wasn’t Klu’s fault. He hit .391 with three homers, a double and 10 RBI. And Big Klu hit it the first two home runs for the expansion California Angels in 1961, his final season.

As Downey put it, “Klu could have hit a homer with a wrench, lead pipe or candlestick.” All true, but I’d include a matchstick.

—A REAL STUNNER: As former pitcher Joaquin Andujar once told writers, “I’ll say it in one word. . .youneverknow.”

And that’s why baseball is such a fascinating game. Youneverknow. Former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Travis Jankowski hit one home run all last season for the Texas Rangers.

In 2022 he hit none. In 2021 he hit one. That’s two home runs in three years.

The Rangers trailed the Chicago Cubs, 2-1, in the ninth inning on Opening Day. Jankowski pinch-hit, his first at bat of 2024, and tied the game. . .with a home run. And the Rangers won in the 10th, 4-3.

—AND TYLER, TOO: Those two home runs hit in his first two 2024 at bats by Cincinnati’s 33-year-old Nick Martini and Travis Jankowski’s pinch-hit home run were heart-warming and stunning, but there was another home run story that defines baseball’s improbabilities.

Boston outfielder Tyler O’Neill hit a home run on Opening Day. So what? Lots of home runs whistled out of major league parks on Opening Day.

Well, O’Neill’s home run was his fifth consecutive home run on Opening Days, a major league first.

Three other players had homered in four consecutve Opening Days, all catchers — Yogi Berra, Gary Carter and Todd Hundley.

While Berra and Carter are Hall of Famers and home run hitters, in six previous seasons O’Neill had 79 home runs.

To say it in one word —Whatashock.

—SAME OLD STORY: There is no doubt that former Reds outfielder Nick Senzel would injure himself eating a Cobb salad with a plastic fork.

Senzel, often injured while wiith the Reds, was in the Opening Day lineup for the Washington Nationals. He broke his thumb during pre-game drills.

As former NFL coach Bill Belichick once said, “The mark of a great champion is the one who can get up off the mat and win.”

Senzel, though, has been down on the field so often his uniforms have permanent grass and blood stains.

—QUICK NOTE: Fourteen of the 26 players on the Reds Opening Day roster were not on the 2023 Opening Day roster.

—BALK, BALK, BALK: There was a spring training game in Dunedin, Fla. in 1988 where 12 balks were called. T-w-e-l-v-e.

Seven were called in one inning against knuckleball pitcher Charlie Hough of the Texas Rangers.

Why? That year MLB decided to enforce a rule that a pitcher must come to a halt during his stretch. The rule had been ignored forever and pitchers developed quick pitches.

One was Hough. He quick-pitched, no delay in his stretch. Why? Out of necessity. His fastball was so slow the catcher could catch it with a pair of tweezers. His knuckleball was so slow the baseball arrived at home plate with moss on it.

Hough quick-pitched to keep base-runners from getting big jumps to steal and to deceived hitters.

On that day in Dunedin, when he was called for seven balks in one inning, he forced in two runs.

And the balk rule was called all season to the letter of baseball law. . .137 balks in the American League and 219 in the National League.

Did it bother Hough? Well, maybe. He was 18-13 with a 3.79 ERA in 1987, but a slowed-down 15-16 with a 4.35 ERA in 1988.

—HORSE SENSE: Another of my all-time favorite sports columnists was Bob Verdi when he penned columns for the Chicago Tribune.

And this is why. While covering the Kentucky Derby, he wrote this about a horse named Rumbo after he stumbled all over the Churchill Downs track.

“They say if you cut Rumbo’s head off, he’d be a Triple Crown winner. Of course, then he could never win by a nose.”

One person owned half of Rumbo, but he never said which half.

—QUIBBLE QUOTES?: More earthy and pithy utterings by baseball people:

From former Reds pitcher/broadcaster Sam LeCure: “MLB is a tough league to play in. But that’s why they all drive nice cars.”

From Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer the first time he saw teammate Floyd Rayford, who was 5-foot-10 and weighed a great deal: “Hey, Floyd, how many people are trapped inside your uniform?”

From Hack Wilson on facing Satchel Paige: “It starts out looking like a baseball and when it gets to the plate it looks like a marble.”

From Tony Gwynn: “The cardinal rule for a hitter with two strikes is never trust the umpire.”

From Mickey Mantle, the first time he saw Oakland’s green and gold uniforms: “They should have come out of their dugout on their tippy-toes, holding hands, and singing Kumbaya.”

From pitcher Dizzy Dean on a ball Bill Terry hit off him: “He hit the ball between my legs so hard that my center fielder caught the ball on the fly against the wall.”

—PLAYLIST NO. 33: Baseball is here, so here are songs about baseball:

Centerfield (John Fogarty), Right Field (Peter, Paul & Mary), The Greatest (Kenny Rogers), The Baseball Song (Corey Smith), Night Game (Paul Simon), Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen), Hall of Fame (The Script).

Buy A Boy A Baseball (Granger Smith), Catfish (Bob Dylan), All The Way (Eddie Vedder), Talkin’ Baseball (Terry Cashman), Wild Thing (The Troggs), Angels of Fenway (James Taylor), Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond), Mrs. Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel), The Cheap Seats (Alabama)

By Hal McCoy

There is nothing in the Wide World of Baseball like Opening Day in Cincinnati. The pomp and circumstance is palpable.

No other franchise has an Opening Day parade and then Great American Ball Park becomes the red sea — red hats, red sweaters, red jackets and on semi-frigid days like Thursday’s 2024 Opening Day, red hoodies and red parkas.

And it turned out to be a red-letter day for the Cincinnati Reds, perhaps a message to all baseball afficionados: “Look out baseball world, we’re real, we feel it, better stay out of our way.”

The Reds decimated the Washington Nationals, 8-2. With 161 games to go, there was no champagne celebration.

Just a Martini celebration.

Nick Martini, 33 and participating in his first Open Day game for any team, dramatically homered in his first two at bats and drove in five runs. They resurrected the Viking helmet and Martini was fitted with it twice.

This is a Cinderalla story in which both glass slippers fit. Martini languished in the minor leagues for seven years, hoping some day to never see the inside of another long-distance bus.

From the looks of Thursday, it appears some front office ostrich heads missed badly on Martini.

He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh round of the 2011 draft out of Kansas State University. It wasn’t until June of 2018 that the Oakland A’s called him up.

He played 61 games for the A’S, 26 for the San Diego Padres and 25 for the Chicago Cubs through 2021, with a one-year stop in Korea.

It was a long and winding road full of chuck holes and road blocks for Martini. The Reds actually claimed him off waivers from San Diego in November of 2019,

He never made it to Cincinnati in 2020, was put on waivers after the season and the Philadelphia Phillies claimed. But the only way he saw a major league game was to buy a ticket or watch on TV.

Then it was back to the Reds, signed in February of last season as a free agent. Although at 33 he was at retirement age for some players, he was part of the Reds mostly youthful call-ups late last season.

And although he had hit only two home runs in his previous 108 games, he flexed for six homers in 79 at bats for the Reds.

Then came his Opening Day splurge, joining Frank McCormick (1941) and Adam Dunn (2007) as the only players to hit two home runs on Opening Day for a franchise that stretches back to when Ullyses S. Grant was President.

He homered in the second with one on and homered in the third with two on.

Martini was the designated hitter, batting eighth. In the first three innings, the first four Reds hitters were 2 for 10.

But the bottom five — Jake Fraley, Elly De La Cruz, Spencer Steer, Martini and Tyler Stephenson combined to go 7 for 9, producing seven runs.

It all began in the top of the second when Jake Fraley wiped away his tears and led the second inning with an infield hit.

Before the game, he said, “I’ll probably cry during the National Anthem.” Which he did, thinking about his 5-year-old daughter, diagnosed during the off-season with leukemia. She is in remission.

The benficiary of the run explosing was newcome Frankie Montas, a surprise Opening Day starter choice by manager David Bell. Due to shoulder soreness and surgery, Montas appeared in exactly eight games the past two seasons, only 1 2/3 innings last season with the New York Yankees.

Bell’s choice over Hunter Greene brought on iron-weighted criticism.

But Montas, making his 100th MLB start on the day on his 10th wedding anniversary, sent batter after batter muttering after feeble at bats that producded meager pop-ups and slow-rolling grounders.

For his six innings, Montas gave up no runs, four hits, walked none and struck out four, doing it with the efficiency of a master chef. . .only 81 pitches.

Montas heard the criticism and read the criticism and tossed them to the side of the road.

“To be honest, I was just going out there to try to have fun, just put up a good performance,” he said. “I know what I can do when I’m healthy and people know what I can do when I’m healthy.

“I’m not trying to live up to what people think and their expectations,” he added. “Is this the Frankie Montas from a couple of years ago? No, this is the Frankie Montas of 2024.This is the healthy Frankie Montas, this is the healthy version of me.

“I’m just going out there without thinking about what other people think, just try to do my job and compete.”

And what did everybody think? Wow, with a capital W.

Before the game, Cincinnati native and Moeller Hgh School product Brent Suter said, “I’ll probably tear up, get emptional.”

He has always wanted to pitch for his hometown team and the dream materialized in the eighth inning. Pitching on adrenaline, he made the Nationals tear up by striking out the side in the eighth. And he finished the game with a 1-2-3 ninth and another strikeout.

But the 44,030 seated inhabitants went home jabbering about the two baseballs Martini directed into the right field seats.

“It was special to he ahle to do it with these guys, guys I played with in Triple-A last year. . .an unbelievable group that supported me through everything,” he said.

When told he was only the third wearer of a Reds home run to hit two Opening Day home runs, he said, “That’s crazy. I never would have known that. It’s special and I really don’t have a ton of words.. . .just special.”

He said it with his bat while Montas and
Suter said it with their arms.

Martini had ample help —two hits and two runs scored by Fraley, a hit, a walk and two runs scored by De La Cruz, two hits, two RBI and two runs scored by Steer.

Jonathan India, playing only because Matt McLain is out after shoulder surgery, had a walk and a hit and was smooth at second base, fieldiing five early-game chances flawlessly.

There were only a couple of negatives. Infielder Jeimer Candelario’s Cincinnti debut was strikeouts his first three at bats. And relief pitcher Emilio Pagan’s debut was to give up two-run homer to Eddie Rosario.

It was a fun afternoon for the Reds, tempered a bit by the knowledge that most pundits predict a last place finish for the Nationals in the National League East.

Normally on Open Day, the flyover is with Air Force jets. On this day, it was a pair of slow-moving helicopters, apropos in matching Washington’s sloggy offense.

 

 

(Prediction Column)

By Hal McCoy

Baseball season officially began last week when the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres played a two-game series in Korea.

They split the series so it can be safely predicted that both the Dodgers and Padres will at least lose one game and win one game.

The rest of the MLB world begins play Thursday and predicting how the long, long season will play out is like the Ringo Starr song, “You know it don’t come easy.”

Predictions are precarious. There are injuries, there are trades, there are slumps, there are unexpected rising stars. Lining them up in expected order of fiinish is Pyrite, the high-falutin’ name for fool’s gold.

And only fool’s try to do it. So here is this fool’s yearly attempt to play Guess How They’ll Finish.

Because the Cincinnati Reds are a mere 50 miles down I-75 and so many fans in the readership area live and cry with the Reds, the predictions start with the National League Central.

With the way Reds played at the end of last season and the way so many young players played the part of rising stars — Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Spencer Steer, Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott and others — expectations are higher than the light standards in Great American Ball Park.

Injuries, though, already have hit McLain, T.J. Friedl and others, plus the 80-game suspension of highly-touted Noelvi Marte due to PED usage.

Those are example why the prediction racket is difficult. It happens to every team. Spring training barely commenced before the New York Yankees lost Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge. Injuries strike like summer heat lightning.

Nevertheless, a deep-dive into a cloudy crystal ball reveals some feathers, indicating the St. Louis Cardinals are going from last to first in the NL Central.

The Birds have improved their pitching and winning usually begins and ends with pitching. They’ve added three starting pitchers, former Reds right-hander Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson.

And they still have first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, the best all-around third baseman in baseball.

The Chicago Cubs finished second to the Milwaukee Brewers last year, one game ahead of the Reds. This time they’ll finish second to St. Louis, again ahead of the third place Reds.

Even though they lost pitcher Marcus Stroman, they have 16-game winner Justin Steele and they wisely re-signed free agent Cody Bellinger, coming off a career year to show the way offensively and to be a steady hand among mostly young, talented players.

And they lured Craig Counsell, one of baseball’s more cerebral and likeble managers away from Milwaukee.

The Reds, the youngest and potentially the most exciting team, are just that. Young and potential.

While the front office addressed and overdressed the infield, it failed to obtain much-needed outfield help and pitcher Frankie Montas is not the veteran help the pitching staff could use.

But De La Cruz alone should be worth at least half the price of an expensive MLB ticket.

The Brewers lost pitcher Corbin Burnes and Counsell and did little in the off-season to defend their division championship. Pittsburgh? The Pirates continue their 25-year rebuilding plan.

NATIONA LEAGUE CENTRAL: St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinntati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh.

The toughest division in all of ball probably is the National Leaague East. Defending champion Atlanta (102 wins), Philadelphia and the New York Mets all have first-place talent. That’s why Atlanta will not repeat. And the Phillies, who beat the Braves in the playoffs, will finish third.

Atlanta has the offense, led by Ronald Acuna Jr., but could use the days of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery for its pitching staff. The Braves do have 20-game winner Spencer Strider and acquired Chris Sale.

Even though the Mets strangely fired manager Buck Showalter, the franchise filled in a lot of gaps in the off-season to an already multi-talented group like Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor. The Mets will be baseball’s surprise/shocker this season.

Miami is young and improving and Washington is still in the league with a patriotic well-lit view of the Capitol Building far beyond National Park’s left field stands.

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST: New York, Atlanta, Philadephia, Miami, Washington.

The popular pick in the Natonal League West, every year because of its multi-biillions in spendable cash, is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Not here, even though the inhabitants of Chavez Ravine have Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani. One wonders if the recently surfaced Ohtani gambling story might be a season-long distraction.

Arizona was the stunner last year, coming through the playoffs as a wild card team to the World Series. The Diamondbacks have young stars Corbin Carroll and Gabe Moreno, plus solid pitching in Zac Galllen, Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez. A solid team. No wild card path this year. A solid NL West title

San Diego has Manny Machado and a nice ball park. The Padres lost Juan Soto, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Nick Martinez (to the Reds), Seth Lugo, Drew Pomeranz and Trent Grisham.

San Francisco made some quality moves and Colorado is still in the league with a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains beyond the Coors Field center field wall.

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST: Arizona, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Colorado.

The weakest and worst division is the American League East, which means even the Cleveland Guardians are in the hunt, with Minnesota a contender, followed by Detroit, Kansas City and Chicago is still in the league and has a depresssing view of the burned-out Cabrini-Gtreen slums.

The American League East has five teams that could win the East, Central or West. Baltimore is the up-and-coming team, followed by New York, Toronto (with or without Joey Votto), Tampa Bay and Boston is still in the league and is worth seeing balls bounce off the Green Monster, mostly against Red Sox pitchers.

The American League West has defending World Series champion Texas, but the Rangers will finish second behind Houston, followed by Seattle, Oakland and Los Angeles is still in the league and is in sight of Disneyland. But Mike Trout won’t be standing in front of a camera saying, “I’m going to Disneyland.”

WORLD SERIES: Atlanta (via wild card) beats Houston, four games to two.

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, counting the hours until Opening Day. . .er, make that counting the minutes.

—OH, OH OHTANI: Shohei Ohtani seemed honest and sincere during his ‘no questions asked’ press conference when he said he has never bet on baseball, sports or the future cost of sushi in Japan.

But something still smells rotten from here to Rotterdam.

Ohtani’s long-time translator, Ippei Mizuhara, used $4 1/2 million from Ohtani’s bank accounts to pay off gambling debts. Ohtani said he knew nothing about it.

So how did Mizuhara dip into Ohtani’s account. The only way is if his name, via power of attorney, is on Ohtani’s account. If not, Ohtani had to approve those withdrawals.

And that’s the major question that hasn’t been answered. Is Mizuhara’s name on the account or isn’t it. If it is, he stole $4 1/2 million. If it isn’t, Ohtani gave it to him.

Ohtani also said he knew nothing about an investigation, but his team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, did and they fired Mizuhara. Wouldn’t the Dodgers tell Ohtani what was going down?

If the investigation reveals that Ohtani knew what Mizuhara was doing, or worse, was Mizuhara paying bookies for Ohtani’s bets, will Ohtani land on the same list as our Favorite Son from Cincinnati?

And here is Pete Rose’s response: “Back in the 70s and 80s if I had had an interpreter I’d be Scott free.”

—YOU CAN BET ON IT: Did this really happen and if it did is this the height of hypocrisy or the depth of hypocrisy? This, contributed by former Big Red Machinist Darrel Chaney, is supposedly how ESPN introduced a story on the Shohei Ohtani betting scandal. Or could have.

“Welcome back to SportsCenter, presented by ESPN Bet, for more on the Ohtani situation we go to our FanDuel MLB Insider Jeff Passan at our DraftKings studio in Los Angeles brought to you by Caesar’s Sportsbook. Jeff, how could something like this happen?”

—DON’T THROW A MEATBALL: Everybody wonders, “What does a pitching coach say to a pitcher during a mound visit?” Different things and some of the coaches don’t even swear.

For example, this one from Al Lautenslager’s excellent book, ‘Baseball Confidential.’

Chicago Cubs pitcher Bob Scanlan retired the first two batters in the ninth, one out from victory. Then he gave up two hits and pitching coach Billy Connors trudged to the mound and said, “Get this last out. I’m hungry. There’s lasagna waiting for us in the clubhouse.”

On the next pitch, the batter grounded out to end the game and Scanlan says, “Any time I get nervous, I just think about lasagna.”

—THE JOKE’S ON HIM: Bob Uecker, Mr. Baseball, is one of the earth’s funniest men with his self-deprecating comments about his career — six years, .200 career average, 14 home runs.

But of those 14 homers, three came against future Hall of Fame pitchers — Gaylord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins, Sandy Koufax.

“It was the worst day of my life,” said Perry. “Not just my baseball life, my whole life. My teammates laughed at me for a week.”
Said Uecker, “Every time I saw Sandy Koufax, I apologized for the home run I hit because I was afraid it might keep him out of the Hall of Fame.”

—A TEAM WITH NEW NAME: When the Oakland Athletics move to Las Vegas, they’ll need a new nickname. Athletics is too bland and stilted for the Sin City.

After long and deep thought, by George, I’ve got it. The Las Vegas Strippers.

That covers two facets: the Las Vegas strip and the vocation of so many young ladies in that environment.

Hey, MLB. You’re welcome and unbutton those stuffed shirts.

—PUT A ’30’ ON IT: The Boston Celtics, the best basketball team playing on a parquet floor or any other surface these days, blew a 30-point lead Monday night and lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 120-118.

True, the Celtics were missing two starters, but without them they constructed a 68-38 lead in the second quarter.

President Joe Biden, 104-year Sister Jean from Loyola Chicago and three blind mice shoud be able to hold a 30-point lead.

It was only the second time in NBA history that a team with the NBA’s best record squandered a 30-point lead.

A ’30’ at the bottom of newspaper copy signifies the end of a story. The Celtics certainly believed that 30-point lead was the end of the game.

It wasn’t.

As inventor Thomas Edison once said, “I have never failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” And the Celtics discovered 10,000 ways that won’t work to protect a 30-point lead.

—STAY AWAY FROM ‘A’: An interesting but meaninful factoid. . .and why Daytonians dislike Arizona, unless they can vacation under the scorching Sonoran Desert Sun.

Both Wright State and the University of Dayton were knocked out of March Madness during their last NCAA tournament appearances by the University of Arizona.

In 2022, after beating Bryant in the First Four at UD Arena, WSU lost to Arizona, 87-70, in San Diego.

This year, after beating Nevada, UD’s Flyers were stopped by Arizona, 78-68.

—ALL SMOKED OUT: Downtown Cincinnati’s Straus Tobacconist was more than a smoke-filled establishment that would choke Dumbo the elephant.

It was a hang-out for cigar-loving sports celebrities. Oscar Robertson, one of basketball’s legendary icons, was a daily visitor, puffing away in a comfortable leather chair. When Jack McKeon managed the Cincinnati Reds, he was a daily visitor surrounded by a halo of smoke.

Local and out-of-town baseball and football stars popped in — Jose Rijo, Johnny Bench, Dusty Baker, Joe Torre, Don Sutton, Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco), Jeff Blake, Max Montoya, Mean Joe Greene. Joey Votto wandered in to purchase wine, “For my mother,” he said.

After pitching a no-hitter against the Reds, Cubs’ pitcher Jake Arrieta stopped in to purchse a Meerchaum pipe.

Straus opened in 1880 and is/was the third oldest cigar store in America. But owner Jim Clark is retiring and closing shop.

Shall we say a historic landmark is going up, well, not in smoke. . .without smoke.

—TRUE ASSESSMMENT: When Mike Tyson was 20, the youngest heavyweight boxing champion ever, trainer Angelo Dundee was asked a question about Tyson, who would lead a troublesome life of problems with the law.

“How do you fight Miike Tyson,” said Dundee. “With a gun.” Trouble is, Tyson probably also carried a gun.

—QUOTES WITHOUT QUALMS: More things that were said from the baseball world:

From former Cincinnati Reds manager Dave Bristol during a losing streak: “There will be two buses to the park today. The first one is at 3 o’clock for those that need extra work. The empty bus wll leave at 4 o’clock.”

From former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine: “The extra workout today is optional. Whoever doesn’t come gets optioned.”

From former manager Billy Martin, who was hired and fired five times by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner: “When I pass people on the street these days, they don’t know whether to say hello or good-bye.”

From pitcher Claude Wright on pitching in Yankee Stadium. “I’d rather be in a ring with 15 pit bulls and no clothes on.”

From Tommy John when he pitched for the New York Yankees: “The Yankees are America’s Team — mom, hot dogs, apple pie, Gucci loafers and Rolls Royces.”

NON-PLAYLIST: Songs that won’t ever be found on my iPod because they assault my ears:

Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Joe Cyrus), Macarena (Los Del Rio), Copacabana (Barry Manilow), Afternoon Delight (Starland Vocal Band), Livin’ La Vida Loca (Ricky Martin), Final Countdown (Europe), La Bamba (Ritchie Valens), Kokomo (Beach Boys), I’m Too Sexy (Right Said Fred), Do Ya Think I’m Sexy? (Rod Stewart).

Disco Duck (Rick Dees & His Cast Of Idiots), Believe (Cher), What’s New, Pussycat? (Tom Jones), I Want Candy (The Strangeloves), We Built This City (Starship), Karma Chameleon (Culture Club), Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (Wham), Tequila (The Champs), Bread And Butter (The Newbeats), You’re Having My Baby (Paul Anka), Don’t Worry, Be Haappy (Bobby McFerrin), My Sharona (The Knack).

By Hal McCoy

Q: With the continuing construction of new stadiums, which franchise is in dire need of a new stadium? — DAVE, Miamisburg/Centerville/Beavercreek.
A: Not what you might think. Some believe Boston and Chicago need new parks so those franchises can add the upscale suites and other amenities. Not me. I love Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Most franchises have excellent modern venues — San Diego, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, both New Yorks, Atlanta, Minnesota and even Cincinnati. Two of the oldest parks, other than Fenway and Wrigley, are Dodger Stadium and Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and both are wondrous. Really, no franchise really needs a new facility.

Q: Who would you replace injured T.J. Friedl with in center field to start the season? — KEITH, Brookville.
A: I have no problem with manager David Bell moving Will Benson to center. Benson and Jake Fraley originally were to share right field, even though both bat lefthanded. I’m still tub-thumping and screaming through a loudspeaker for them to move Elly De La Cruz out there from shortstop to more utilize his world class speed and whiplash arm. It is not unprecedented. The Reds moved both Eric Davis and Billy Hamilton from shortstop to center field. I seem to remember that panned out.

Q: Who was a player who had a short major league career but had success in other endeavors? — GREG, Beavercreek.
A: That’s a tough one, because most players with short careers leave the game and their absence is not missed because their presence was never noticed. One case comes to mind because I lived part of it. Lefty O’Doul appeared in 970 games in the 1920s, first as a pitcher before hurting his arm, then briefly as an outfielder. Now comes my part. When he left baseball, he opened a highly successful bar/restaurant on Union Square in San Francisco, a hangout for visiting baseball teams. And, yes, I hung out.

Q: Have you heard anything about how Alex Blandino is doing with his knuckleball this spring? — KEVIN, Springboro.
A: Blandino was a versatile utility infielder in 2020/2021 for the Reds. In 2021, he made four appearances on the mound in blowout games and featured a knuckler. He pitched 3 2/3 inning and gave up four runs and four hits, a 9.82 earned run averaage. Not so hot. But he worked on his knuckler in winter ball and asked the Reds to take a look. They put him on their Class AA Chattanooga roster. No report yet on if the knuckler is dancing and fluttering better than it was.

Q: Are umpires in spring training games competing to make the majors? — MARILYNNE, Sugarcreek Twp.
A: No, they aren’t, but they should be. The umpires union is extremely strong and one of the reasons Angel Hernandez is still calling them as he sometimes sees them. Major league umpires are under contract and usually hang around until retirement. Minor league umpires are under minor leaague contracts and some do work major league spring exhibition games and are graded, as they are during their minor league seasons. MLB hires the best to fill in for the retirees.

Q: If the Reds perform haka before each game, would that improve their winning percentage? — PHIL, Centerville.
A: First I had to look up haka and discovered it is a ceremonial performance dance. The Reds need less ceremony and more performance. I know the Japanese do heavy exercises before games in their league. In MLB, you might, if you look fast, see an MLB player or two do a few pre-game wind sprints and get themselves stretched. Haka? Too strenuous.

Q: Baseball is always referred to reverently as the national pastime. but as the talent pool becomess postnationalistic shouldn’t it now be the international pastime? — JACK, Vandalia.
A: The international pastime is spoken for. Everywhere but in our nation it is soccer, or futball. But, you are certainly right. With the influx, for a long time now, of Latins, Japanese, Koreans and Canadians, maybe it’s wrong. But it’s the game, our game invented in our country, that makes it the national pastime. Of course, football fans vociferously argue that baseball no longer is our national pastime. Actually, it probably is video games.

Q: In all your years, can you pinpoint one moment that meant the most to you as a writer covering baseball?— JAY, Englewood.
A: As a lifetime lover of baseball, every pitch of every game is meaningful. And in more than 50 years covering the game, picking one moment is difficult. For one moment, it is difficult not to pick the moment Pete Rose deposited his 4,192nd hit into left field. And there is the moment Tom Browning threw the last pitch of his perfecr game to strike out LA’s Tracy Woodson. And there was the moment Ken Griffey Jr. swung and launched his 500th home run against the Cardinals Matt Morris. Those three moments stand out vividly.

Q: What is the major reason that great players like Blake Snell wait so long into spring training to sign a contract? — CHRIS, Waynesville.
A: It isn’t a major reason, it is the only reason. It is for long-term, high-priced contracts. Most of the players who do it are represented by super agent Scott Boras, who tries to squeeze teams out of their bottom dollar. He wants long-term deal for his clients and it didn’t work this team. Snell had to settle for a mere two years from the San Francisco Giants, but it is likely he’ll survive on the $62 million. Cody Bellinger, another Boras client, settlled for three years and $80 million to re-up with the Cubs, but he wanted more years and more cash. Both players have opt-out clauses and can become free agents after this season so they can do it all over again.

By Hal McCoy

The Cincinnati Reds Opening Day roster that was on paper a few weeks ago turned out to be tissue paper.

What fans will see on Opening Day Thursday in Great American Ball Park against the Washington Nationals isn’t exactly what manager David Bell and President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall envisioned.

The inevitable injury bug took a large bite out of what the Reds planned for their 26-man roster for Cincinnati’s pomp and circumstance of Opening Day.

Center fielder T.J. Friedl broke his wrist diving for a ball during an exhibition game and is out indefinitely.

Pitcher Brandon Williamson was thought to be part of the pitching rotation but is bench-ridden with shoulder issues.

Second baseman Matt McLain has pain in his non-throwing shoulder. He is getting a second opinion on how serious the matter might be, but Bell said he will start the season on the injured list. There is the possibility of surgery.

Third baseman Noel Marte tested positive for a PED and was suspended for 80 games.

Young Edwin Arroyo was a sensation at shortstop this spring, but was optioned out. And any thoughts of bringing him back was erased when he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last week.

All this has forced Krall and his staff to do some quick late-spring scrambling.

The plan to start the season was to have Will 
Benson and Jake Fraley share right field, even though both bat lefthanded.

That plan was scuttled with Friedl’s injury and Bell’s counter move is to place Benson in center field.

Nick Lodolo, slowed all spring by lingering pain from off-season shoulder surgery and a tibia injury, is expected to start the season on the injured list.

But the Reds are hopeful he will be ready to pitch at the end of the rotation when his turn arrives April 10 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

With McLain non-functional, it is expected that Jonathan India will slide back into his second base spot, where he was named National League Rookie of the Year in 2021. But with the emergence last season of McLain while India was on the injured list, the grand plan was for McLain to play second while India performed DH duty and roamed around at different positions as a utility player.

But to fully cover Mclain’s absence, Krall grabbed his cell phone and quickly made a deal with the Toronto Blue Jays for infielder Santiago Espinol.

Espinol was an American League All-Star in 2022 and hit .263 with seven homers and 51 runs batted in. But his role was reduced last season, only 93 games, and he hit .248 with two homers and 25 RBI.

Marte’s suspension most likely means that free agent signee Jeimer Candelario will slide into third base and give more playing time at first base to Christian Encarnacion-Strand.

So where does that leave the Reds for able-bodied participants on Opening Day?

The biggest makeover for 2024 is in the bullpen with signficant additions like Brett Suter and Emilio Pagan joining closer Alexis Diaz, Lucas Sims, Sam Moll, Buck Farmer, Fernando Cruz and Justin Wilson.

The rotation is stuffed with familiar fuzzy-cheeked young pitchers, except for the Opening Day starter, veteran free agent pick-up Frankie Montas.

He is a Myster Man. Due to shoulder issues and surgery, he appeared in only eight games the last two seasons, only 1 1/3 innings last year.

The Reds are holding their collective breaths that Montas returns to his 2021 numbers with Oakland — 32 starts, 13-9, 3.37 earned run average.

Montas will be folowed in the rotation by Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft, Andrew
Abbott and Nick Martinez.

Martinez is a stand-in for Lodolo and when Lodolo returns Martinez can slide into the bullpen, where he has experience.

Once again catching will b shared by Tyler Stpehenson and Luke Maile, with Stephenson the regular and Maile the back-up.

The infielders are Encarnacion-Strand, India, Elly De La Cruz, Espinol and Candelario.

The outfield will be occupied by Benson, Fraley, Spencer Steer and Stuart Fairchild. Steer also could play some third base, making room for Fairchild in left field. Fairchlld has had an extremely productive spring.

The 26th man? Hard to say after the Reds cut Tony Kemp and sent down Mike For last week.

All this, of course, comes down to avoiding more injuries because, after alll, there are still five days before the first pitch.

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS, for the second day, from press row, second row, seat 12 at the NCAA First Four in UD Arena, where former Syracuse coach turned TV analyst Jim Boeheim is seated within a layup:

—STORIES, STORIES, STORIES: During the embryonic days of network television, there was a police drama show called the Naked City. At the end of the show, a narrator said, “There are eight million stories in the Naked City and this has been one of them.”

Dayton isn’t the Naked City. It is officially the Gem City, but for college basketball it is Mecca, Hoops Heaven, where it all starts for March Madness with the First Four.

And once again UD Arena was flush with fans for the second straight night, even though most couldn’t name one player on any of the four teams. Or the team nicknames.

No matter. It was college basketball, it was March Madness, it was First Four and it was Dayton Ohio USA.

And, yes, there are stories, maybe not eight million of them, but stories.

The first story on Wednesday was close to a Grimm’s Fairy Tale. It was nothing more than a game between two lowly No. 16 seeds. But the fans were treated and entertained by a game played by two teams exerting energy and perpetrating massive clutch plays as if it was THE game for the national championship.

It was Grambling State 88, Montana State 81 in overtime. Grambling is playing in its first-ever NCAA tournament and Montana State was after its first-ever NCAA tournament win.

Grambling trailed by 13 early in the second half, but a pair of quick-like-rabbits guards attacked the basket like hungry tigers attacking a gazelle. And these were hungry Tigers.

Jimei Cofer scored 19 and Jourdan Smith scored 18. Smith is 6-foot-7, but today he stands 7-foot-6. That’s how tall he looked when he grabbed a missed shot and nearly dislodged the rim from its moorings with a two-handed slam dunk in the dying moments to give Grambling a four-point game-clinching lead.

When last seen in UD Arena, last December against the Dayton Flyers, they lost by 30.

The story about Grambling State is not a positive one. Talk about strangers in paradise. . .or is it interlopers? Grambling State earned its inalienable right to be here by winning the SWAC.

But for a quick clue as to whether they really belong, well. . .before they began SWAC play, they played six teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament and were blown away from headlights to exhaust pipe by each one.

The awful accounting: Colorado 95-63, Iowa State 92-37, Dayton 76-46, Washington State 83-65, Drake 68-56, Florida 96-57.

But they did beat Champion Christian, 113-77. Oh, OK.

Grambling’s reward, if one cares to call it that, is a game against Purdue and the Leaning Tower of West Lafayette, 7-foot-4 Zach Edey.

It will be a massive challenge for the vastly undersized Tigers and their one big, 6-foot-11 Jonathan Aku from Nigeria. But, hey, what’s five inches?

—And there is a good story involving the Montana State basketball team.

His name is John Olmsted, a 6-foot-10 son of a copper miner in Chile. Olmsted was a walk-on at Arizona State and spent four years on the practice scout team.

He transferred to Montana State as a graduate student and came of basketball age late this season. He played only 27 total minutes in February, but became a major off-the-bench contributor in March. He had games of 15, 15 and 16 points during the Grizzlies four-game winning streak upon their arrival in Dayton.

That’s not bad for a guy who is so thin he could pass for a totem pole on Arizona’s Painted Desert.

“He has completely changed the dynamics of our team in the last couple of weeks with his play,” said coach Matt Logie. “John is a great story.”

He came off the bench against Grambling and played 28 minutes. He hit 4 of 5 shots and scored 10 points. Not bad for a kid who spent his first four collegiate years standing as cannon fodder in pratices, his only view of the floor during games was from a cushy folding chair.

—WHAT’S IN A NAME?: Nicknames are a must for star players and Montana State has a great one in Tyler Patterson. He is a three-point specialist and is from Snoqualmie, Wash.

So, of course, he is the Snoqualmie Sniper. The 6-foot-8 junior guard began play Wednesday against Grambling State with 72 three-pointers.

Snoqualmie? A popular name in Washington. There is Snoqualmie Falls, Snoqualmie Ridge and Snoqualmie Pass. Snoqualmie, population 14,000, is 28 miles east of Seattle.

The Snoqualmie Sniper’s long range shooting was a myth and a miss at UD Arena. He was 1 for 8 from three and had a critical three-point attempt in overtime returned to sender.

—TAKE THE LONG WAY: Colorado traveled 1,219 miless to Dayton and Boise State traveled 1,952 miles just so two best friends, the opposing coaches, could try to win an NCAA basketball game and the right to take the next step against Florida.

Colorado coach Tad Boyle and Boise State coach Leon Rice are air-tight friends.

“When I saw Boise next to our name, I was like, ‘Oh, gosh, are you kidding me?’ I don’t want to be playing Leon. I’ve watched his team a lot this year, which is a good thing,” said Boyle. “But he is one of my best friends in this business, without a doubt.”

The friendship may be on hold for a fortnight or two after Boyle’s Buffalos stopped Rice’s Boise State, 60-53

Colorado was led by German-born Tristan Da Silva, a 6-9 forward from Munich with 20 points. And he had aid from K.J. Simpson, a slim, wispy guard who scored 17 and Edie Lampkin Jr. with 11.

Boise State played in the First Four in UD Arena one other time and drew Dayton and 13,400 hostile voices. This time, no excuse, just poor target shooting with the basketball.

—SPECIAL AWARDS: As for a musical story, for sure, the Grambling State pep band wins the blue ribbon for the loudest music in UD Arena history and it surprising all the windows survived. They made the Tijuana Brass sound like chamber musicians.

The painted body award goes to Boise State’s Julian Hammond III, who has enough body art to cover Julian Hammond I and Julian Hammond II.

The worst uniform award was buckled up by Colorado. Itss black shorts were close to being Speedos and for sure doubled as their Tommy John underwear.

Which school’s cheerleaders wore the shortest skirts? An eight-way tie over the two days. Every group. Remember the song,’Who Wears Short Shorts?’

—REST? WHAT REST?: And this is a story about giving everything one has and then some, a story we missed in the March Madness Mayhem Tuesday night. . .something profusely incredible.

Wagner defeated Howard, 71-68, almost blowing a 17-point lead. Why?

Wagner finished with tongues wagging. The Seakhawks had only seven able bodies. Three players played the entire 40 minutes — point guard Javier Ezquerra, who scurried about the UD Arena floor like a water bug trying to evade combat boots, Julian Brown, who made two decisive free throws in the waning moments and Melvin Council Jr., as smooth as Silky Sullivan while scoring 21 points, dishing seven assists and snagging five rebounds.

Those three troupers deserve gold medals emblazoned with diamond-encrusted ’40’s.