By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave with some idea for the Cincinnati Reds, one tongue-in-cheek. . .and speaking of tongues, does Reds President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall have a forked tongue?
—ANOTHER DAVID?: Some ideas for the Cincinnati Reds, even though it appears they don’t like my idea of moving Elly De La Cruz to the outfield.
The Pittsburgh Pirates did it with Oneil Cruz, practically a Xerox copy of De La Cruz — both very tall, both very slim, both very fast, both with rifle-like arms, both very athletic. It appears the Pirates know what makes sense and the Reds don’t.
So, it is guaranteed the Reds won’t like my two names to replace David Belll as manager: Corky Miller or another guy named David, David Ross.
Miller, a former Reds back-up catcher, already works for the Reds as a roving instructor. Everybody loves him for his knowledge of the game, his dry sense of humor, his outgoing personality and his leadership.
Ross is also a former catcher for the Reds and everybody knows catchers make great managers. Ross managed the Chicago Cubs for four season. He was 83-79 in 2023 and they fired him so they could steal Craig Counsell from Milwaukee and force a $40 million contract on him.
And his first-year record with the Cubs? It is going to be very close to the same record Ross produced in 2023.
The next idea? Look for a pitcher whose last name begins with ‘Sk,’ as in Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal.
The Reds know about Skenes. They scored a mighty one run off him in three games this year. Last week he held them to no run, five hits and he struck out seven in five innings. He is 11-3 with a 1.99 earned run average for a bad Pirates team.
Skubal is 18-4 with a 2.39 earned run average for the Detroit Tigers. In a massive game Tuesday, a game the Tigers had to win to keep playoff dreams afloat, Skuval held Tampa Bay to no runs, two hits and struck seven in seven innings and 104 pitches. The Tigers won, 2-1.
That’s ‘Sk.’ Get those scouts on it, pronto.
——A GUTTER BALL: Once upon a time, the Cincinnati Reds offered Fan Appreciation Day near season’s end and gave away a couple of new cars and other expensive items.
This year? No Fan Appreciation Day, but if you attended Sunday’s last home game you were given a bowling shirt. That strikes me as pretty weak, a real gutter ball.
—OF NEAR MISSES: Wonder how many mirrors Dave Stieb broke, how many black cats walked in front of him, how many ladders he walked under.
As they say, if Stieb didn’t have bad luck, he would have no luck at all. Four times in five years he took no-hitters into the ninth inning, only to give up a hit in the ninth.
***In August of 1985 he was one out from a no-hitter in Comiskey Park, but gave up back-to-back two-out home runs to Rudy Law and Bryan Little of the Chicago White Sox.
***On September 24, 1988, he was one out away from a no-hitter when Cleveland’s Julio Franco hit a ground ball right at the second baseman, but it took an incredibly high hop and bounced over the defender’s head for a single.
***In his next start six days later, once again he had two outs in the ninth inning on his way to a no-hitter when Baltimore pinch-hitter Jim Tabor blooped one down the right field line that plopped just inside the foul line.
***It got worse. On August 4,1989, he was one out away from a perfect game, 26 up, 26 down. Needing one more out for his perfector, New York Yankees outfielder Roberto Kelly (later with the Cincinnati Reds) lined a 2-and-0 slider into left field for a double.
***Finally, on Sept 2, 1990, facing the Cleveland Indians, he pitched a no-hiiter, undoubtedly holding his breath with his finges crossed as he faced the last hitter, Jerry Browne. On Stieb’s 123rd pitch, a breaking ball, Browned lined it hard to right. Another heart-breBuakers? Not this time. Right fielder Junior Felix caught it.
And it’s still the only no-hitter in Toronto Blue Jays history. But the Blue Jays have had eight no-hitters pitched against them.
The Los Angeles Dodgers own the most no-hitters with 26. Amazingly they aslo have had the most no-hitters thrown at them, 20.
—QUOTE: From Kansas City infielder Freddie Patek after Nolan Ryan threw a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals in 1973: “Is this his first one?Well, I don’t believe it’ll be his last.” (What a sage ol’ Freddie was. Ryan threw six more no-hitters.)
—JUST HOLD ON: In 1999, MLB came up with another new statistic that was never kept before. Relief pitcher Tony Watson holds the record with 246.
What is it? The answer is in that above sentence with Watson’s name in it. It is called ‘holds.’ A relief pitcher gets a hold when he comes into a game with the lead and holds that lead.
Talk about contrived and meaningless stats. This one is a blue ribbon winner.
—QUOTE: Satchel Paige’s simplistic theory on successful pitching: “Just take the ball and throw it where you want to throw it. Throw strikes. Home plate don’t move.”
—GETTING FRAMED: From my intrepid unpaid correspondent Jeff Singlegton:
In the 1980, the Oakland Athletics’ accounting department was distraught when the books were off $1 million and owner Charlie Finley was threatening to roll some heads.
Finally, they discovered that Rickey Henderson hadn’t cash a $1 million bonus check. He had it framed and it was hanging in his den.
I framed something like that once. It was $999,999 less than Henderson’s ‘picture.’ Mine was of a one-dollar bill.
—QUOTE: From the all-time No. 1 base-stealer Rickey Henderson, who always talked about himself in the first person: “Nothing’s impossible for Rickey. You don’t have enough fingers and toes to ever count out Rickey.”
—GETTING HIS KICKS: Kansas City placekicker Matt Prater is the first NFL ‘player’ to score 1,800 points. He is 40 and still kicking and has been kicking since 2006.
He has kicked 80 field goals of 50 or more yards and set an NFL record last season with 75 extra points.
That takes me back to my childhood when Lou ‘The Toe’ Groza kicked for the Cleveland Browns in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. He hung up his kicking shoes when he was 44 after playing 21 years.
The amazing thing about Groza is he did something no kicker does these days. He also played offensive tackle and was named to nine Pro Bowls as a tackle.
And he was a straight-on kicker before the the soccer-style kick with the instep became the way to do execute it today.
And every year the top collegiate kicker is given The Lou Groza Award.
—QUOTE: From former Chicago Bears runningback Walter Payton: “When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.”-
——MY DEAR WATSON: DeShaun Watson, the ‘alleged’ quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, is being paid nearly $885,000 a game to so far go 1-and-2.
He has completed 67 passes, $39,626 per completion. He has thrown three touchdown passes, $885,000 per TD.
Where do I sign up?
—QUOTE: From former NFL coach Don Shula: “Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.” (The Browns are paying a ton of money for a lot of bad luck.)
—NEVER GIVE UP: On Juni 18, the Houston Astros were 10 games behind the Seattle Mariners in the American League West. On Monday, they led the second-place Mariners by five games. . .a 15-game turnaround in three months, for the mathematically-challenged.
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 97: Closing in on that century mark:
Wasted On The Way (Crosby, Stills & Nash), In Case You Didn’t Know (Brett Young), Tougher Than The Rest (Bruce Springsteen), The Boxer (Eric Clapton), Only The Lonelyy (The Motels), Harden My Heart (Quarterflash), Angel (Aerosmith).
Turn Me Loose (Loverboy), I Can Dream About You (Dan Hartman), The Wonder Of You (Elvis Presley),
Time To Say Goodbye (Andre Bocelli), Don’t Close You Eyes (Keith Urban), Bed Of Roses (Bon Jovi), How Am I Supposed To Live Without You? (Laura Branigan), With Or Without You (U2), The Way You Love Me (Faith Hill).