By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, wondering why in the name of Sol, the Norse sun goddess, they play high school football in the furnace of the August heat.
—EXPLANATION POINTS: Yes, the Cincinnati Reds are putting together a push to climb up to that much-coveted third wild card position in the National League. It’s within grasp of any one of five or six teams who decide to win a few games.
Much is being made that the Reds are a plus-55 in run differential, but until recently they struggled to stay out of last place. How can that be, they ask incredulously?
Well, how about the fact that in 51 games they have scored three or fewer runs. That seems high, doesn’t it? Well the Chicago No Sox (29-93) have scored three or fewer runs in 74 of their 122 games.
Of course, there is that 10-21 record in one-run games for the Reds. And they have been shut out 10 times, three times by 1-0. All three are to fellow NL Central teams — Pittsburgh, Chicago and Milwaukee.
And they are 15-41 when the opposition scores first.
While the Reds have outscored the opposition by 51 runs, the No Sox have been outscored by 250 runs.
Despite all that, the wild card spot is within the Reds’ boarding house reach — if they avoid one-run games and don’t let the opponent score first.
—THE ROSE REVIEW: Pete Rose never fails to surprise interviewers with unexpected answers and comments.
One interviewer asked him what accomplishmeht makes him proudest, expecting Pete to say his 4,256 hits. Wrong.
“The best record I have. . .seriously, think about this,” he said. “I played in a game for my team 1,972 times that we won the game. That’s 200 more than the guy second. And the guy second was a pretty good player, a guy named Carl Yastzremski.
“If you play 19 years and win 100 every year, you’re still 70-some games short. That’s a good record. Winning is what the game is all about,” he added.
—THE TORONTO SONS: The Toronto Blue Jays might consider renaming themselves the Toronto Sons. Not Suns, Sons.
More than any other franchise, the Blue Jays sign the sons of former major leaguers: Vlad Guerrero Jr. (Vlad), Bo Bichette (Dante) and Cavin Biggio (Craig).
And they’ve done it again. Will Wagner, son of former Houston Astros closer Billy Wagner, made his debut Monday with Toronto. And what a debut. He had hits in his first three major league at bats.
Is he making certain he makes the Hall of Fame, something unrightfully kept from his father. Billy Wagner, one of the first pitchers to routinely touch 100 miles an hour, recorded 422 saves with a career 2.31 earned run average. And he struck out 1,196 battders in 903 innings.
And yet the writers keep saying no, not enough x’s next to his name on their Hall of Fame ballots.
—QUOTE: From former Houston Astros closer Billy Wagner: “Coaches and owners are just like the fans on the street. They can always do better and they always would have done it differently when it doesn’t work.” (It worked more often for Wagner than it didn’t.
—ANOTHER DEBUT: And the next day, the Washington Nationals called up rookie Andres Chaparro. Talk about patience and a applying Winston Churchill’s famous quote, “Never, never, never give up.”
Before getting his chance, Chaparro spent eight years in the minors, 627 games, 2,634 plate appearances. And how did he do in his debut? Three doubles, helping the Nationals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-3.
—CAN’T BE TRUE: The most unlikey baseball outcome of the season occurred Monday night in Chicago. . .and it wasn’t in Wrigley Field.
The New York Yankees (72-50) visited the Chicago No Sox (29-93), losers in 24 of their previous 25. Final score: Chicago 12, New York 2. Say what?
It was the most runs scored by the No Sox all season and their widest margin of victory. And it was interim manager Grady Sizemore’s first win.
And to put a cherry on top of the whipped cream as they whipped the Yankees, the No Sox had lost all 14 previous games they played on Monday. The Mamas & The Papas song, ‘Monday, Monday,’ was never heard in the No Sox clubhouse.
As one broadcaster said, “A 12-2 White Sox win over the Yankees? I love baseball.”
—THE REAL ‘WILD THING’: No matter what you see in MLB, when you believe you’ve seen it all, something amazing, even astounding happens.
The Texas Rangers traded two minor leaguers to Detroit at the deadline for bullpen help, acquiring Andrew Chafin.
Enter Chafin. . .and the Rangers now wish he had never entered fhe game against the Boston Red Sox this week. He did something I’d never seen in 51 years of covering baseball.
He faced four hitters and walked all four. Not only that, he never threw a strike. Four hitters, 16 balls, no strikes. I’d think a pitcher could be blindfolded and throw atl least one strike in 16 tries.
—EASY MONEY: When Christy Mathewson pitched for the New York Giants, he once took a trip to West Point. Some cadets thought his reputation as a control artist was vastly exaggerated.
So they nailed a catcher’s mitt against a wall and gave Matty 12 to 1 odds that he couldn’t hit the glove 20 times.
Matthewson put up $50 and walked away with $600 of the cadets’ cash.
They never invited him to Annaplois.
—DOUBLING UP: It was not uncommon at the turn of the 20th century for one pitcher to pitch both ends of a doubleheader.
But what Chicago Cubs pitcher Ed Reulbach did in mid-Septemr of 1908 was uncommon and unduplicated and will never be done again.
Not only did he pitch both games of a doubleheader against the Brooklyn Dodgers, he pitched back-to-back complete-game shutouts.
They didn’t keep pitch-counts then, but you can wager a pocket full of Franklin fifty-cent coins that he threw more 100 pitches in each game.
—GOOD QUESTON: Asking for a second cousin: “If the NCAA wants schools to remove their Indian-themed mascots to be ‘politically correct,’ why is the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana?”
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 82: Does anybody believe 100 can be reached without duplication? I do.
There Goes My Baby (The Drifters), Let Your Love Flow (Bellamy Brothers), Bad Moon Rising (Credence Clearwater Revival), No Matter What (Boyzone), Angel Of The Morning (Juice Newton),
Little Red Corvette (Prince), Little Deuce Coupe (The Beach Boys), You’d Be Surprised (Joy Buzzer), Orange Blossom Special (Doug Kershaw), Cathy’s Clown (Everly Brothers), Make Me Lose Control (Eric Carmen).