The Real McCoy

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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 37th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.

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July 2009

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Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > June > 19 > Entry

The ‘p’ word, plus Thompson, Dunn

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, June 19, 2008, 01:24 PM

Nature’s call can sometimes become a scream. Just ask me and my limo driver about our Thursday trip.

Yes, a limo driver. Because I can’t drive, for about half the games on a homestand the paper rents a limousine for me for the hour-and-fifteen minute trip from Englewood to Cincinnati - and the hour-and-fifteen minutes back home.

Usually it is an hour-and-fifteen.

On Thursday two tractor trailer trucks collided on southbound 75 near Tylersville Road, shutting it down completely. In one 30-minute stretch we moved 100 feet.

Of course, both my driver and I had an abundance of morning coffee and, well, what is a guy to do. He was seat-scooting in the front and I was seat-squirming in the back.

Finally, we both did what we had to do. Large coffee cups hold more than what Juan Valdez grows.

I missed a scheduled 10:30 meeting with manager Dusty Baker and for a while I thought I might miss some of the game.

Reminded me of a time when I rode from Los Angeles to San Diego with Greg Hoard, then the beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer. He wanted to set a land speed record and refused to make a pit stop as he roared down I-5.

I tried and tried and tried to not think about what nature wanted me to do as San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano and Oceanside flew by my window.

Did pretty good, too, but one block from the hotel I could stand it no more. With the car still rolling toward the hotel parking lot, I leaped out and set a personal best for the 60-yard dash to a service station restroom. I may have shouldered down the door because it was locked and I had no time to secure a key.

THE REDS have yet to make it official, but punch it into your Blackberry or iPod — 22-year-old rookie Daryl Thompson will pitch Saturday in Yankee Stadium against the New York Yankees.

Thompson is 3-0 with a 3.25 earned run average in four starts at Louisville (AAA) after starting the season at Class AA Chattanooga and going 3-2 with a 1.76 ERA in 10 starts.

Thompson is an interesting story and was, basically, a throw-in to the deal that sent Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Ryan Wager to the Washington Nationals.

In return, the Reds received Royce Clayton, Bill Bray, Gary Majewski, Brendan Harris and Thompson.

What ensued was a dispute between Nationals general manager Jim Bowden and former Reds GM Wayne Krivsky over whether Majewski was damaged goods.

Amazingly, Washington insiders said Thompson was included in the deal because he had major shoulder surgery in 2005 (torn labrum) and Bowden didn’t think he would last. As one Bowden acquaintance said, “Bowden thought he was sticking it to the Reds with Thompson.”

As a matter of fact, Reds medical director Dr. Tim Kremchek performed the surgery while Thompson was in Washington’s minor-league system and he was still rehabbing the surgery when the trade was made.

It isn’t likely Thompson will be intimidated by the Yankees, Yankee Stadium or the ghosts of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

Thompson had a dose of Yankee-sim this spring when he pitched an inning against the Yankees in packed Legends Field in Tampa, Fla. and struck out the side.

AND HERE is what Toronto Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said on his radio show when a caller asked if he would be interested in trading for or signing Adam Dunn:

“Do you know the guy really doesn’t like baseball that much? Do you know the guy doesn’t have the passion to play the game that much? How much you know about the player? There is a reason why you are attracted to some players and there is a reason why you’re not attracted to some players. I think you would not be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn here. We’ve done our home work on guys like Adam Dunn and there is a reason why we don’t want Adam Dunn.

“I don’t want to get into specifics. He is a lifetime .230 to .240 hitter that strikes out a ton and hits home runs.”

Loved some of the comments by the callers after Ricciardi’s barrage.

“Do you have a passion for baseball, J.P.?”

“Yeah, all Adam Dunn does is hit home runs and the Blue Jays don’t have anybody to hit home runs.”

My question to ol’ J.P. is, “How do you know what Adam loves or hates or has a passion for or doesn’t have a passion for?” Yes, Dunn loves football. Even has a passion for it - probably more than he has for baseball.

But he does like the game and he does have a passion for it. Does he watch football? Absolutely. Does he watch baseball? Not much. But he does watch tapes of himself and opposing pitchers.

Hey, when I’m not working I don’t sit behind another base]ball writer and watch him work. And I believe I have as much for baseball writing as any other beat writer I know.

And here was Dunn’s response after the Reds left another odiferous deposit in the middle of GABP, a 6-4 loss to the Dodgers that left the Reds 2-7 on the homestand and about to hang a sign on last place that says, “Squatter’s Rights.”

“I have a lot more important things to worry about than some wind-bag GM in Canada says about me,” he said. “It is very unprofessional. He can talk about his players all he wants. If he said that about anybody on our team I’d be angry because he has no right to talk about anybody other than his own team.

“Passion? He can say what he wants about the strikeouts and that I don’t fit in their scheme, whatever, but you can’t tell me about something you have no idea about. You’re not even in the U.S., you’re in Canada,” Dunn added. “He can’t tell me I don’t love the game or I wouldn’t play 160 games a year.”

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