OBSERVATIONS: Pitchers Look For Nothing But Swings And Misses
By Hal McCoy UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after a weekend of watching the Cincinnati Reds put together more zeros than the Japanese Air Force in World War II. —LOOKING FOr K’S: Bob Feller pitched more than 300 innings three times for the Cleveland Indians, once pitching 371 innings. In today’s game, a pitcher […]
McCoy: Cardinals Shut Out Reds. . .Again, This Time, 2-0
By Hal McCoy Somewhere there is a signed document that reads: “The Cincinnati Reds shall not win two games in a row nor win a series.” They had the opportunity Sunday afternoon to shred that document, but failed miserably, a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in Busch Stadium. They entered the game with […]
Ask Hal: There Are Current Iconic Players Like Ohtani, Trout
By Hal McCoy Q: Following the recent passing of Willie Mays, news outlets have drawn comparison between his greatness and that of the iconic players of his era, so does this raise questions about today’s player being less talented? — DAVE, Miamisburg/Centerville/Beavercreek. A: No, it doesn’t. He was just being compared to his contemporaries and […]
McCoy: Reds Rout Sonny Gray, Rip Cardinals, 9-4
By Hal McCoy Carson Spiers versus Sonny Gray? A mismatch, right? On paper, yes. But Saturday afternoon’s game was played on the 90-degree grass of Busch Stadium, not on an 8×11 piece of paper. And the Cincinnati Reds treated nine-game winner and former Reds pitcher Sonny Gray like Sonny Bono during a 9-4 blitz of […]
McCoy: Reds Whitewashed, 1-0, By Cardinals
By Hal McCoy It was inevitable. For the Cincinnati Reds it is like the clockwork of Big Ben. They score a lot of runs during the first game of a series, then their bats go into cold storage in game two. It happened again Thursday and Friday during the first two games of a four-game […]
McCoy: Reds Celebrate Marte’s Return With 11-Run Explosion
By Hal McCoy The Cincinnati Reds did everything Thursday night in St. Louis but knock down the Gateway Arch. And they nearly did that during an 11-4 crushing of the St. Louis Cardinals. They treated St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas like an old coach batting practice pitcher — 10 runs and 12 hits in 4 […]
OBSERVATIONS: Whatever Happened To Baseball Fundamentals?
By Hal McCoy UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, wishing one of my grandkids was here to help me solve the technological mystery of getting hooked into a Podcast, which I failed after 45 minutes of desperation. —FUN-DA-MEN-TALS: The word fundamentals has two words tucked inside it that apply to baseball: ‘fun’ and ‘mental.’ If […]
McCoy: Reds Again Fall Down In The ‘Pitts’
By Hal McCoy The lineup for Wednesday’s matinee against the Pittsburgh Pirates was a combination Cincinnati/Louisville Reds/Bats. It didn’t work. There were no matinee idols for the Reds, 6-1 losers, their eighth loss in 11 games. After winning the opener the Reds lost the next two. It is the ninth time this season they won […]
McCoy: Pirates Extract Revenge
By Hal McCoy It happens nearly every time. Baseball’s unwritten rule is that if a team scores a bushel of runs one night, the next night it can’t find home plate with a seeing eye dog. And that’s what happened to the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates a 9-5 defeat. After scoring […]