Mesoraco swings his bat like a broom

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, May 24, 2012, 10:23 PM

CINCINNATI — Six in a row, six games over .500, a four-game sweep over the Atlanta Braves — can life be any sweeter these days for the raucous Cincinnati Reds?

“I can’t remember any team I’ve ever been involved with sweeping four games from the Braves, that just doesn’t happen,” said Reds manager Dusty Baker. “That’s really tough against any team.”

It happened this week in Great American Ball Park behind some big pitching, some big defense and some big, big booming bats.

For the series, the Reds hit more home runs (10) than the Braves scored runs (eight) and all four Reds pitchers anchored it all with quality starts.

IT WAS HOMER Bailey’s turn Thursday during a 6-3 victory — six innings, two runs, four hits, one walk, six strikeouts.

And the massive blow was struck by catcher Devin Mesoraco, a grand slam home run in the sixth inning that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead.

It was Mesoraco’s first big-league grand slam, but two years ago in his debut at Class AAA Louisville he hit a walk-off grand slam and in his first at-bat the next day he hit another grand slam.

“I’ve been scuffling at the plate, but me and (hitting coach) Brook Jacoby have been working hard and I could feel it coming and it came at the right time,” said Mesorco.

While the big-pay guys like Jay Bruce (1 for 31), Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips (two double plays Thursday) have been strangely quiet, it has been guys like Todd Frazier, Zack Cozart, Chris Heisey and Mesoraco picking up the slack.

Mesoraco’s home run was a straight-as-a-ruler drive down the left field line, no hook, and Baker said, “He kept it fair, no hook, and that’s the way Hank Aaron used to hit them. It has been a lot of different guys in this series, mostly young guys, and you like that because it builds their confidence.

“We haven’t been hitting a lot of home run and they usually come in bunches,” said Baker. Owner Bob Castellini, the fruit and vegetable magnate, doesn’t sell bananas in as big a bunch as the Reds hit home runs this week.

MESORACO WAS pleased with Homer Bailey, except for one pitch — a home run by Michael Bourn in the fifth inning that gave the Braves the 2-1 lead. Bourn, who had 13 home runs in his first seven years in the majors in more than 2,800 at-bats, hit three in this series.

“I was not happy with that pitch, that we gave him a fastball,” said Mesoraco. “It was not a great call on my part or a great pitch on Bailey’s part.”

But it was a rare mispitch.

“He is throwing every pitch over for strikes — sliders for strikes, curveballs for strikes, fastballs for strikes and he is using his split-finger as a chase pitch,” said Mesoraco of Bailey, now 3-and-3.

IN AN UNUSUAL and extremely classy decisions, the Cincinnati Reds honored a retiring opponent before Thursday’s game, Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones.

Before the game, a writer asked Reds manager Dusty Baker, “Do you see Chipper being a Hall of Famer,” and before he answered Baker looked as if the guy three eyes, two heads and a purple mustache

“Come on, dude. That ain’t no tweeter question is it?” he said with a shake of his head.

“What’s he got four hundred and sixty-something home runs (469)?” said Baker. “A lot of guys are in the Hall with less than that. How his average (.304), his RBIs (1,5xxx), his runs scored (1xxx)? And that was mostly in the steroids era and that has to count for something in itself.

“He fits all the criteria,” Baker added. “He has been on winning teams, MVP, batting champion — all the areas other guys in the Hall have and some less. He is a switch-hitter and a third baseman, the position with the least number of players in the Hall.”

THAT NATURALLY led to the question of whether Dave Concepcion, a shortstop Baker played against belongs in the Hall of Fame.

“Yeah,” Baker said right away. “Yes, I do. He was a bad boy, man. He was just overshadowed by a great team. But you take him off that team and that team is not as great without him.

“A shortstop does a bunch of work and then when he learned to hit he became even more dangerous,” Baker added. “When he came up, he couldn’t hit…(pause).”

Somebody filled in the blank and said, “He couldn’t hit .200 when he first came up,” and Baker smiled and said, “Yes, I didn’t want to say that, because he’s my boy.”

Joe Torre, who finished with a .299 career average, was once asked if Concepcion was a Hall of Famer, and Torre said, “I would have hit over .300 for my career if he hadn’t played and taken away so many of my hits in the hole.”

DESPITE ONLY ONE hit in his last 27 at-bats, Jay Bruce was in right field Thursday, batting in his usual No. 5 sot behind Brandon Phillips.

Asked if he was trying to let Bruce swing his way out of the funk, manager Dusty Baker said, “That’s how he usually does it. If we a player I didn’t know, but I know him.

“Most of the time when you are going bad you are fouling off pitches you should hit and he is pulling everything,” Baker added. “He has the quick shoulder and quick hip right now (not waiting on pitches). Nobody likes the get jammed, but he needs a jam hit. And there are more hits on the handle than on the end of the bat.”

NICK MASSET played catch before Thursday’s game, 30 light tosses. That’s 24 more than the last time he tried to throw and quit in pain after six throws.

“He looked pretty good for his first time throwing the ball,” said Baker. “He felt a little something, which is natural. We’ll see after tomorrow, because he is slated to do it again (Friday).

“The real tell-tale day is the third day, after he throws again tomorrow,” Baker added. “You have to get the thought out of your head that something is wrong. That’s the real tough thing. Once you

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Mike Costanzo, a graduate of Coastal Carolina University, where Joey Votto was supposed to attend at the same time but opted to sign with the Reds: “Yeah, and he was going to be my roommate. Just think if some of that talent had rubbed off on me.”

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Baker: Chipper, Davey are Hall of Famers

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, May 24, 2012, 06:45 PM

CINCINNATI — In an unusual, and extremely classy decisions, the Cincinnati Reds honored a retiring opponent before Thursday’s game, Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones.

Before the game, a writer asked Reds manager Dusty Baker, “Do you see Chipper being a Hall of Famer,” and before he answered Baker looked as if the guy three eyes, two heads and a purple mustache

“Come on, dude. That ain’t no tweeter question is it?” he said with a shake of his head.

“What’s he got four hundred and sixty-something home runs (469)?” said Baker. “A lot of guys are in the Hall with less than that. How his average (.304), his RBIs (1,5xxx), his runs scored (1xxx)? And that was mostly in the steroids era and that has to count for something in itself.

“He fits all the criteria,” Baker added. “He has been on winning teams, MVP, batting champion — all the areas other guys in the Hall have and some less. He is a switch-hitter and a third baseman, the position with the least number of players in the Hall.”

THAT NATURALLY led to the question of whether Dave Concepcion, a shortstop Baker played against belongs in the Hall of Fame.

“Yeah,” Baker said right away. “Yes, I do. He was a bad boy, man. He was just overshadowed by a great team. But you take him off that team and that team is not as great without him.

“A shortstop does a bunch of work and then when he learned to hit he became even more dangerous,” Baker added. “When he came up, he couldn’t hit…(pause).”

Somebody filled in the blank and said, “He couldn’t hit .200 when he first came up,” and Baker smiled and said, “Yes, I didn’t want to say that, because he’s my boy.”

Joe Torre, who finished with a .299 career average, was once asked if Concepcion was a Hall of Famer, and Torre said, “I would have hit over .300 for my career if he hadn’t played and taken away so many of my hits in the hole.”

DESPITE ONLY ONE hit in his last 27 at-bats, Jay Bruce was in right field Thursday, batting in his usual No. 5 sot behind Brandon Phillips.

Asked if he was trying to let Bruce swing his way out of the funk, manager Dusty Baker said, “That’s how he usually does it. If we a player I didn’t know, but I know him.

“Most of the time when you are going bad you are fouling off pitches you should hit and he is pulling everything,” Baker added. “He has the quick shoulder and quick hip right now (not waiting on pitches). Nobody likes the get jammed, but he needs a jam hit. And there are more hits on the handle than on the end of the bat.”

NICK MASSET played catch before Thursday’s game, 30 light tosses. That’s 24 more than the last time he tried to throw and quit in pain after six throws.

“He looked pretty good for his first time throwing the ball,” said Baker. “He felt a little something, which is natural. We’ll see after tomorrow, because he is slated to do it again (Friday).

“The real tell-tale day is the third day, after he throws again tomorrow,” Baker added. “You have to get the thought out of your head that something is wrong. That’s the real tough thing. Once you

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Mike Costanzo, a graduate of Coastal Carolina University, where Joey Votto was supposed to attend at the same time but opted to sign with the Reds: “Yeah, and he was going to be my roommate. Just think if some of that talent had rubbed off on me.”

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This could be ‘The Year of the 12’

By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, May 23, 2012, 10:46 PM

CINCINNATI — The smile on manager Dusty Baker’s face lit the room like a strobe light and through a broad smile he said, “Year of the 12, man, year of the 12. That’s what my wife and son told me.”

Year of the 12? That would be Baker’s uniform number (12) coupled with the year 2012 (12).

It is beginning to look like magic, something special, as the Cincinnati Reds rescued another win Wednesday night, 2-1, over the Atlanta Braves — their fifth straight win, pushing them five games over .500 for the first time this season.

Year of the ’12?’ Well, reverse Todd Frazier’s No. 21 and what do you have? 12, that’s what.

FRAZIER, SO slump-shrouded recently (.184 in his previous 10 starts) that Baker benched him Tuesday, was back in the lineup at third base Wednesday and ended the game abruptly.

With one out in the ninth of a tie game, Frazier banged a Cristhian Martinez slider over the right field wall for a 2-1 walk-off victory.

“Hey, my first walk-off home run, how about that?” said Frazier. “The first of many, I hope.”

While he didn’t get the win, the team victory salvaged the day for starter Bronson Arroyo, who gave up one run (a home run to Dan Uggla that chipped pain off a chair in the upper deck), pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up one run, four hits, two walks and struck out seven.

In his last two starts, the Reds have given Arroyo one run in 14 /13 innings.

AND WHAT DID Frazier do on his day off? He worked with hitting coach Brook Jacoby.

“That was really nice, especially with the way I’ve been going — striking outt way too much,” said Frazier. “On my day off I worked a lot with Jacoby, watching a lot of video. I needed to get my weight on my back side (to load up). Jacoby knows me, he understands me, so praise be to him.”

NEED IT BE said that Arroyo was aided and abetted by stupendous glove work by shortstop Zack Cozart, first baseman Joey Votto (a throw home to cut off a runner) and another from the seat of the pants play by second baseman Brandon Phillips?

“Defense has been huge, just play after play after play, even ones that are not highlighted,” said Arroyo. “And Brandon is always making plays.”

Said Baker, “We’re used and accustomed to seeing Brandon make those plays. It could have been bases loaded, so it might have been a game-saver.” He blocked the ball and it rolled away from him, but he retrieved it and from the ground made a rolling backhand flip for a force to end the inning.

Routine. And, yeah, maybe The Year of the 12.

ROOKIE SHORTSTOP Zack Cozart played in 39 of the first 40 Cincinnati Reds games. And he felt it. Not physically. Mentally.

So manager Dusty Baker gave him a Day of Rest in New York, some time to sit and reflect and contemplate — something to take his mind off a 3 for 28 skid.

And Baker also noticed something in his approach and chatted with Copzart about it. After that Cozart hit safely in his next three games, including two home runs.

“Everybody is going to go through slumps,” said Cozart. “It’s a matter of how quick you can kick your way out of it. The day off helped me mentally more than physically. And Dusty talked to me about some things he saw.”

When asked about it, Dusty quickly said, “Who told you that? How do you know about this?”

When told that Cozart volunteered it, Baker said, “He credited me with helping him? He didn’t have to do that. But we’re all here to help.

“Sometimes you get out of synch,” said Baker. “Usually it is something very minor that gets you out of synch and can get you back in synch. Sometimes it is something so minute that you can’t see it.”

And what was out of synch?

“He just wasn’t starting his swing soon enough,” said Baker. “If you watch, you see certain things. And you hope whatever you saw can be the thing to get the young man back under way. It is very discouraging to make outs, especially when you are getting pitches to hit and not hitting them hard. I could see the frustration on his face.”

Cozart started against Wednesday and had two of his team’s four hits and scored the first run in the 2-1 victory.

RELIEF PITCHER Nick Masset got the clearance from the medical staff to try to throw before Thursday’s game. He tried to test his shoulder in mid-April but shut it down after six pitches due to pain. Now he gets to see if he can throw in mid-May without any pain.

“We have our fingers crossed and hope he doesn’t feel anything,” said Baker. “We hope that he is healed. So we’ll see. If no pain or discomfort, he’ll progress as tolerated.”

The time frame remains at least a month before Masset could return ¬— and that’s if he can throw Thursday with no pain and no reaction.

MANAGER DUSTY BAKER doesn’t just give sound advice to his players. He also helps out writers/softball player like Gary Schatz, author of the blog Full of Schatz — even if Dusty doesn’t know it.

Baker was talking hitting during spring training with Donald Lutz and told him, “Stay in the pocket, and by that I mean don’t come out of your crouch too soon, don’t stand up and come out of your crouch when the ball is coming.”

Schatz was listening and employed it into his softball. He was excited, eager to tell Baker about the double he hit Tuesday night.

Baker laughed and said, “Yeah, and Donald Lutz is killing that ball, ain’t he?” Lutz, 23, was signed out of Netherlands and never played baseball in his life until he was 15.

The 6-3, 235-pound first baseman/outfielder played 15 games during spring training and hit .320 with two homers and eight RBI. Now he is playing for Ken Griffey Sr. at high class A Bakersfield and leads all Reds minor-league players with 38 RBI while hitting .302 with 12 homers and 15 doubles.

LAST CHANCE this week to appear in Sunday’s Ask Hal column by sending questions to halmccoy1@hotmail.com. And while I’m asking for things, here is hoping one of the Reds’ biggest fans, Joe Greenberg, has a fantastic 90th birthday Thursday.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: From White Sox scout and former Reds pitcher Bill Scherrer as he looked at a statistical sheet: “These numbers for Aroldis Chapman? They look like high school numbers. It’s absurd.”

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Tip from Baker jump-starts Cozart

By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, May 23, 2012, 06:39 PM

CINCINNATI — Rookie shortstop Zack Cozart played in 39 of the first 40 Cincinnati Reds games. And he felt it. Not physically. Mentally.

So manager Dusty Baker gave him a Day of Rest in New York, some time to sit and reflect and contemplate — something to take his mind off a 3 for 28 skid.

And Baker also noticed something in his approach and chatted with Copzart about it. After that Cozart hit safely in his next three games, including two home runs.

“Everybody is going to go through slumps,” said Cozart. “It’s a matter of how quick you can kick your way out of it. The day off helped me mentally more than physically. And Dusty talked to me about some things he saw.”

When asked about it, Dusty quickly said, “Who told you that? How do you know about this?”

When told that Cozart volunteered it, Baker said, “He credited me with helping him? He didn’t have to do that. But we’re all here to help.

“Sometimes you get out of synch,” said Baker. “Usually it is something very minor that gets you out of synch and can get you back in synch. Sometimes it is something so minute that you can’t see it.”

And what was out of synch?

“He just wasn’t starting his swing soon enough,” said Baker. “If you watch, you see certain things. And you hope whatever you saw can be the thing to get the young man back under way. It is very discouraging to make outs, especially when you are getting pitches to hit and not hitting them hard. I could see the frustration on his face.”

RELIEF PITCHER Nick Masset got the clearance from the medical staff to try to throw before Thursday’s game. He tried to test his shoulder in mid-April but shut it down after six pitches due to pain. Now he gets to see if he can throw in mid-May without any pain.

“We have our fingers crossed and hope he doesn’t feel anything,” said Baker. “We hope that he is healed. So we’ll see. If no pain or discomfort, he’ll progress as tolerated.”

The time frame remains at least a month before Masset could return ¬— and that’s if he can throw Thursday with no pain and no reaction.

MANAGER DUSTY BAKER doesn’t just give sound advice to his players. He also helps out writers/softball player like Gary Schatz, author of the blog Full of Schatz — even if Dusty doesn’t know it.

Baker was talking hitting during spring training with Donald Lutz and told him, “Stay in the pocket, and by that I mean don’t come out of your crouch too soon, don’t stand up and come out of your crouch when the ball is coming.”

Schatz was listening and employed it into his softball. He was excited, eager to tell Baker about the double he hit Tuesday night.

Baker laughed and said, “Yeah, and Donald Lutz is killing that ball, ain’t he?” Lutz, 23, was signed out of Netherlands and never played baseball in his life until he was 15.

The 6-3, 235-pound first baseman/outfielder played 15 games during spring training and hit .320 with two homers and eight RBI. Now he is playing for Ken Griffey Sr. at high class A Bakersfield and leads all Reds minor-league players with 38 RBI while hitting .302 with 12 homers and 15 doubles.

LAST CHANCE this week to appear in Sunday’s Ask Hal column by sending questions to halmccoy1@hotmail.com. And while I’m asking for things, here is hoping one of the Reds’ biggest fans, Joe Greenberg, has a fantastic 90th birthday Thursday.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: From White Sox scout and former Reds pitcher Bill Scherrer as he looked at a statistical sheet: “These numbers for Aroldis Chapman? They look like high school numbers. It’s absurd.”

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Latos discovers the seventh inning

By Hal McCoy | Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 10:37 PM

CINCINNATI — For the second straight night, the boom of the bats was eye-catching and eye wash for the Cincinnati Reds, but it was what happened on the mound that was more significant.

The Reds hit three more home runs, two by Brandon Phillips, just enough to beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3. In two nights, the Reds have hit seven home runs against the Braves and scored nine runs.

So it is of utmost importance what has transpired on the mound, especially for Mat Latos, who has pitched recently as if the fifth inning was a complete game.

On Tuesday he went seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.

“I’ve been throwing a lot of pitches just to get to five innings,” said Latos. “I was stretched out to a little more than 100 pitches tonight (116). I was just tired of only going five innings and was ready to go seven.”

HE DIDN’T HIT 100 pitches until the sixth inning. The first batter he faced, Michael Bourn, homered. Bourn also later homered off Logan Ondrusek to draw the Braves within 4-3 in the eighth.

Phillips hit his first homer in the bottom of the first, a two-run shot to put the Reds in front, 2-1. Cozart hit his third home run in three games, making it 3-1, after four. The Braves scored one in the fourth and Phillips struck again in the bottom of the fourth, making it 4-2.

PHILLIPS HADN’T homered since April 24, 27 games ago, and said he had chats with hitting coach Brook Jacoby and with Atlanta superstar Chipper Jones before the game.

“I came in early and sat down with Jacoby and said I feel like I’ve got my legs back and he told me, ‘Come and look at this video,’” said Phillips.

He checked video from last year to this year and discovered he was standing more straight-up this year and Jacoby told me, ‘Just go out and lower your stance and see what happens.’”

What happened? Two home runs in his first two at-bats.

“Chipper told me I have great hands and I should start using them at the plate,” said Phillips. “Me and Chipper are cool. I looked at him in their dugout after the home runs and he just busted out laughing.”

AND THERE WAS, of course, the final touch. Aroldis Chapman, a.k.a. Speed Racer, pitched the ninth in 1-2-3 order with two strikeouts, showing that he was not distracted by the flood of publicity over his speeding tickets.

“A much bigger deal was made of it than it is,” said Baker. “You show me a young person who hasn’t gotten speeding tickets and I’ll show you somebody who doesn’t drive. We’ve just told him to slow down. Even though he doesn’t understand English that much, he said the policeman told him the same thing.”

Chapman was sitting in a large black chair in front of his locker late Tuesday afternoon and, fortunately, there was no steering wheel in front of him.

Neither Chapman nor the Reds addressed the elephant in the clubhouse, the apparent speed genes in Chapman, both on the mound and in an automobile.

Chapman was stopped early Monday morning in Grove City on I71, near Columbus, when his black Mercedes S63 flashed through a speed trap at 93 miles and hour and the cops must have thought they’d just spotted Dale Earnhardt Jr. after he made a wrong turn.

It was discovered that Chapman’s Kentucky driver’s license was suspended after he failed to appear in court after two speeding violations, one a 95 miles an hour beef in a 55 miles an hour zone.

And he had two outstanding tickets in Florida and both times he failed to appear in court there.

He has a court date in Grove City on June 6 and it is fairly certain his garage full of exotic cars will be parked for a while and he will have to hire a chauffeur to ‘Drive Mr. Chapman.’

Chapman has a Lamborghini with the license plate number ‘105MPH’ and the Mercedes S63 plate number is ‘104 MPH.’ And here we thought those were because his pitches have been clocked that fast. Now we discover that’s how fast he drives his cars.

FOR THOSE WONDERING, ‘Whatever Happened to Nick Masset,’ well, he is still around, still working to rehabilitate his sore shoulder.

But don’t look for him on the pitching mound any day soon. He is, at least, a month away from returning. At least.

Masset was in his clubhouse seat before Tuesday’s game, fairly perplexed about his situation.

Asked about his situation, Masset rubbed his chin and said, “Where should I start? I really don’t know.”

But he tried.

“I don’t have a whole lot of information,” he said. “I’m starting to feel really good, my strength is back, my mobility is there.”

But Masset was waiting to see team physician Dr. Tim Kremchek for tests and a workout program. Masset hasn’t thrown since mid-March, other than one day in early April when he tried to throw six pitches and there was too much pain.

He hopes to start throwing late this week, but that could be more hope than reality.

“I will be trying to throw this week to see where I am,” he said. “They don’t want me to do anything until I don’t feel a thing in my shoulder. Right now, it feels like I’m almost completely healed. And the next test is to try to throw and see how I rebound after I throw, how my recovery is.

“It is kind of like starting spring training all over again and it is a tough situation,” he added. “We’re going off feel and as long as I’m feeling good I’ll keep throwing, as long as I’m rebounding good.”

Said manager Dusty Baker, “Masset is the one who has to feel good, not just us feeling good about him. He is the one who knows, the one who will know.”

EVER WONDER what that wrap is that Joey Votto wears around his right forearm, covering his elbow. It is clear it is not a protective device.

Votto smiled when asked about it.

“It’s called a compression pad,” said Votto. “I don’t really need it. I wore it in the minors when I had a sore arm. I must have hit well when I wore it because I never quit wearing and I still wear it every day.”

ONE VETERAN National League scout’s observation on Atlanta pitcher Brandon Beachy, before Tuesday’s game: “I saw him last year and I thought he was the best pitcher I saw all year.”

Beachy was 7-3 with a 3.68 ERA in 25 starts and took a 5-1 record with the league’s best ERA, 1.33, into Mondays game. “Now watch the Reds beat him to death,” said the scout.

The Reds didn’t exactly emasculate Beachy, but they hit three home runs, scoring four runs on only six hits in seven innings, enough to hand him his second loss.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Asked if he scoreboard watches when the Reds are so close to the top, Manager Dusty Baker said, “I pay attention to the standings every day — in every division, both leagues — from the start to the finish. We’re only a quarter of the way through the season, but I’d rather be in our position right now than be way back.”

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Chapman: Speedy on and off the field

By Hal McCoy | Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 05:48 PM

CINCINNATI — Aroldis Chapman was sitting in a large black chair in front of his locker late Tuesday afternoon and, fortunately, there was no steering wheel in front of him.

Neither Chapman nor the Reds addressed the elephant in the clubhouse, the apparent speed genes in Chapman, both on the mound and in an automobile.

Chapman was stopped early Monday morning in Grove City on I71, near Columbus, when his black Mercedes S63 flashed through a speed trap at 93 miles and hour and the cops must have thought they’d just spotted Dale Earnhardt Jr. after he made a wrong turn.

It was discovered that Chapman’s Kentucky driver’s license was suspended after he failed to appear in court after two speeding violations, one a 95 miles an hour beef in a 55 miles an hour zone.

And he had two outstanding tickets in Florida and both times he failed to appear in court there.

He has a court date in Grove City on June 6 and it is fairly certain his garage full of exotic cars will be parked for a while and he will have to hire a chauffeur to ‘Drive Mr. Chapman.’

Chapman has a Lamborghini with the license plate number ‘105MPH’ and the Mercedes S63 plate number is ‘104 MPH.’ And here we thought those were because his pitches have been clocked that fast. Now we discover that’s how fast he drives his cars.

FOR THOSE WONDERING, ‘Whatever Happened to Nick Masset,’ well, he is still around, still working to rehabilitate his sore shoulder.

But don’t look for him on the pitching mound any day soon. He is, at least, a month away from returning. At least.

Masset was in his clubhouse seat before Tuesday’s game, fairly perplexed about his situation.

Asked about his situation, Masset rubbed his chin and said, “Where should I start? I really don’t know.”

But he tried.

“I don’t have a whole lot of information,” he said. “I’m starting to feel really good, my strength is back, my mobility is there.”

But Masset was waiting to see team physician Dr. Tim Kremchek for tests and a workout program. Masset hasn’t thrown since mid-March, other than one day in early April when he tried to throw six pitches and there was too much pain.

He hopes to start throwing late this week, but that could be more hope than reality.

“I will be trying to throw this week to see where I am,” he said. “They don’t want me to do anything until I don’t feel a thing in my shoulder. Right now, it feels like I’m almost completely healed. And the next test is to try to throw and see how I rebound after I throw, how my recovery is.

“It is kind of like starting spring training all over again and it is a tough situation,” he added. “We’re going off feel and as long as I’m feeling good I’ll keep throwing, as long as I’m rebounding good.”

Said manager Dusty Baker, “Masset is the one who has to feel good, not just us feeling good about him. He is the one who knows, the one who will know.”

EVER WONDER what that wrap is that Joey Votto wears around his right forearm, covering his elbow. It is clear it is not a protective device.

Votto smiled when asked about it.

“It’s called a compression pad,” said Votto. “I don’t really need it. I wore it in the minors when I had a sore arm. I must have hit well when I wore it because I never quit wearing and I still wear it every day.”

ONE VETERAN National League scout’s observation on Atlanta pitcher Brandon Beachy, before Tuesday’s game: “I saw him last year and I thought he was the best pitcher I saw all year.”

Beachy was 7-3 with a 3.68 ERA in 25 starts and took a 5-1 record with the league’s best ERA, 1.33, into Mondays game. “Now watch the Reds beat him to death,” said the scout.

IT’S THAT TIME to get a jump on others by sending in your Ask Hal questions for Sunday. Do it now and have a good chance for them to appear in Sunday’s paper. Send them now to halmccoy1@hotmail.com.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Asked if he scoreboard watches when the Reds are so close to the top, Manager Dusty Baker said, “I pay attention to the standings every day — in every division, both leagues — from the start to the finish. We’re only a quarter of the way through the season, but I’d rather be in our position right now than be way back.”

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Leake shines in pitcher’s box, batter’s box

By Hal McCoy | Monday, May 21, 2012, 10:25 PM

CINCINNATI — The attention-getter Monday night was the big, booming bats — four home runs by the Cincinnati Reds (back to back to back in the fourth inning, plus two homers by Drew Stubbs, as the Reds whipped the Atlanta Braves, 4-1.

The news of importance, what strengthened hearts in the clubhouse, was the performance of one Mike Leake, long-haired surfer boy who stood on the mound for the Reds for eight innings as if he caught a big wave and was taking it to the beach.

He made his second straight good start and this one was sensational — eight innings, one run, two hits, one walk six strikeouts. And he hit one of the four home runs, too. Zack Cozart hit the other one.

LEAKE’S ONLY MISHAP was a solo home run by Atlanta third baseman and former Cincinnati Reds third baseman Juan Francisco.

For what he did, Leake took a direct-hit shaving cream pie in the face during his post-game interview, gamely aimed by fellow pitcher Homer Bailey. But it wasn’t for Leake’s eight one-run innings. “You hit a home run, you get a pie in the face. Will I ever get one? No.”

Leake needed only 98 pitches to get to the eighth, but it wasn’t manager Dusty Baker who took him out. It was Leake.

“I pulled myself because my back was tightening up a little bit,” he said. “When I sat down, it got tight. I didn’t want to take any chances.”

Of his performance, Leake said, “I was attacking hitters, going after them, not worrying who was in the box. It’s nice to have a little attitude, which is what I had the last couple of outings.”

And because it was ex-teammate Francisco who hit the home run, Leake had an attitude about that, too. After the home run, he retired 14 in a row.

“I’ve finally sucked it up and I think I’m heading down the right track, “he said. “It kind of p—-ed me off that it was him (Francisco to hit the home run), of all people, but it was nice to get a run going where I could stay in the wind-up.”

STUBBS HOMERED in the first and Francisco tied it with his homer in the second. Then Leake homered in the fourth, followed by Cozart’s and Stubbs’s — back to back to back. Said Leake, “I started a trend.”

Said Stubbs, “Three home runs in a row is a little bit contagious and a little bit of luck. Whenever you see the guys in front of you hit homers, that kind of ramps you up to want to do it also. Today was the best day for a month, but everything was moving slow for me and I was able to put good swings on the ball inside the zone.”

BEFORE THE GAME, there were five video cameras and a dozen microphones and digital recorders pointed at manager Dusty Baker’s face when one media type asked:

“Where are you on Aroldis Chapman as a closer — is it a fluid situation?”

Baker shook his head and said softly, “I’m tired of talking about it, to tell you the truth. Just let us play and do our thing.&#8221

What the media didn’t know at the time was that Chapman had been arrested at 12:53 a.m. Monday in Grove City, near Columbus, on an interstate. He was stopped for hot-pedaling a Mercedes 93 miles an hour (slower than his average fastball) and then arrested for driving on a suspended license he has a court appearance June 6. But he was at the ballpark Monday night.

After pitching in set-up the entire season, Chapman closed Sunday’s game in New York and recorded a save against the New York Yankees. And it was his fourth appearance in five days.

“We still have to monitor him because he still isn’t used to going three and four days in a row, as most closers do,” Baker said. “It is going to be a situation on who we feel is best on that day and hopefully he is rested and is the best guy for that day.

“It could be a number of guys and this is what happens when you lose your closer (Ryan Madson),” Baker added. “I talked to Aroldis about it a couple of weeks ago. Asked if he felt he had graduated to the point where he can handle it. You just don’t throw guys into it. Hopefully, though, he has graduated to the closer’s role. It depends upon how often we can use him.”

Baker said it has to be Chapman telling the coaching staff if he is up to pitching after two or three straight appearances and said, “We’re on the honor system here. I tell him, ‘Just make sure you tell me truth, because right now is not hero time. It’s May. Not August or September.”

There was a closing situation Monday, but it wasn’t Chapman trotting in from the mound. It was Jose Arrendondo sent in to protect Leake’s three-run lead. He retired the first two, but couln’t finish it. He walked the next two and Baker brought in Sean Marshall, the former closer.

On a 1-and-2 pitch to left hander Jason Heyward, Marshall threw a wild pitch, moving the runners to second and third. Then he flied out to right to end it.

AFTER MONDAY’S GAME, No. 41, the rest were just barely past the one-fourth portion of their season and Baker was asked to assess where the team is in his eyes.

“We’re still in the process of learning,” he said. “I know they play hard and they play smart, most of the time. We still have a few things to learn because we have a young team.

“Right now we’re still trying to mesh everything together — good pitching, good defense, good hitting,” he added. “There is still a long way to go and some things we have to get together.”

The Reds still have to do some hitting with runners in scoring position because they are 29th of all major-league teams. They are 13th of 16 National League teams in hitting (.238) and 14th in hits. But the Reds are second in relief pitching (10-6, 2.66) and sixth in fielding (.984)

AFTER FIVE DAYS in New York, richer of wins and thinner of wallets, the Reds returned to Cincinnati, but Chris Heisey won’t forget his time in Yankee Stadium.

“Those three games felt like more than they were, felt like more than a three-game regular-season series in May,” he said. “With the big crowds and all the tradition, it felt like a playoff atmosphere. It was the bright lights and the big city. I think we can take that experience and run with it.”

HOMER BAILEY, sweating in rivulets, walked into the clubhouse after doing his between-starts throwing in the bullpen, not facing hitters, and said, ‘I just threw a no-hitter.”

Somebody said it should have been a perfect game with no batters to face and he said, “Oh, no. I’m sure I threw a few walks in there. But I didn’t give up a hit.”

Bailey (2-3, 4.34), coming off a couple of strong outings, faces the Braves Thursday night.

BRANDON PHILLIPS, as guilty as the next guy over his team’s failure to hit recently, expects it to change.

“A lot of guys, like myself, are not hitting the way we are supposed to hit. But we will. We can be so much better than we are, yet here we are only a half-game out of first place.”

INTERNET RUMORS that say the Reds forced Scott Rolen onto the disabled list and that he will not return are totally incorrect and founded in no validity.

“It’s only been a week and I hope he is progressing well,” said Baker. “Even though we’ve played well, still need Scotty. His throws to first base are never off-line. Never. And you get spoiled by that. That’s’s not how it is everywhere — it’s not how it is for most teams.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: White Sox scout Bill Scherrer was in the press box Monday and somebnody reminded him of his time with the 1982 Reds (102 losses, the only Reds team ever to lose more than 100) and the former left handed pitchers said, “Don’t ever make fun of The Little Red Caboose.”

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Is Chapman the closer? Wellll….

By Hal McCoy | Monday, May 21, 2012, 05:54 PM

CINCINNATI — There were five video cameras pointed at Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker and at least 12 microphones and digital recorders in front of his face when one media type asked:

“Where are you on Aroldis Chapman as a closer — is it a fluid situation?”

Baker shook his head and said softly, “I’m tired of talking about it, to tell you the truth. Just let us play and do our thing.”

After pitching in set-up the entire season, Chapman closed Sunday’s game in New York and recorded a save against the New York Yankees. And it was his fourth appearance in five days.

“We still have to monitor him because he still isn’t used to going three and four days in a row, as most closers do,” Baker said. “It is going to be a situation on who we feel is best on that day and hopefully he is rested and is the best guy for that day.

“It could be a number of guys and this is what happens when you lose your closer (Ryan Madson),” Baker added. “I talked to Aroldis about it a couple of weeks ago. Asked if he felt he had graduated to the point where he can handle it. You just don’t throw guys into it. Hopefully, though, he has graduated to the closer’s role. It depends upon how often we can use him.”

Baker said it has to be Chapman telling the coaching staff if he is up to pitching after two or three straight appearances and said, “We’re on the honor system here. I tell him, ‘Just make sure you tell me truth, because right now is not hero time. It’s May. Not August or September.”

AFTER MONDAY’S GAME, No. 41, the rest were just barely past the one-fourth portion of their season and Baker was asked to assess where the team is in his eyes.

“We’re still in the process of learning,” he said. “I know they play hard and they play smart, most of the time. We still have a few things to learn because we have a young team.

“Right now we’re still trying to mesh everything together — good pitching, good defense, good hitting,” he added. “There is still a long way to go and some things we have to get together.”

The Reds still have to do some hitting with runners in scoring position because they are 29th of all major-league teams. They are 13th of 16 National League teams in hitting (.238) and 14th in hits. But the Reds are second in relief pitching (10-6, 2.66) and sixth in fielding (.984)

AFTER FIVE DAYS in New York, richer of wins and thinner of wallets, the Reds returned to Cincinnati, but Chris Heisey won’t forget his time in Yankee Stadium.

“Those three games felt like more than they were, felt like more than a three-game regular-season series in May,” he said. “With the big crowds and all the tradition, it felt like a playoff atmosphere. It was the bright lights and the big city. I think we can take that experience and run with it.”

HOMER BAILEY, sweating in rivulets, walked into the clubhouse after doing his between-starts throwing in the bullpen, not facing hitters, and said, ‘I just threw a no-hitter.”

Somebody said it should have been a perfect game with no batters to face and he said, “Oh, no. I’m sure I threw a few walks in there. But I didn’t give up a hit.”

Bailey (2-3, 4.34), coming off a couple of strong outings, faces the Braves Thursday night.

BRANDON PHILLIPS, as guilty as the next guy over his team’s failure to hit recently, expects it to change.

“A lot of guys, like myself, are not hitting the way we are supposed to hit. But we will. We can be so much better than we are, yet here we are only a half-game out of first place.”

INTERNET RUMORS that the Reds forced Scott Rolen onto the disabled list and that he will not return are totally incorrect and founded in no validity.

“It’s only been a week and I hope he is progressing well,” said Baker. “Even though we’ve played well, still need Scotty. His throws to first base are never off-line. Never. And you get spoiled by that. That’s’s not how it is everywhere — it’s not how it is for most teams.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: White Sox scout Bill Scherrer was in the press box Monday and somebnody reminded him of his time with the 1982 Reds (102 losses, the only Reds team ever to lose more than 100) and the former left handed pitchers said, “Don’t ever make fun of The Little Red Caboose.”

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Just call Aroldis Chapman Mr. Closer

By Hal McCoy | Sunday, May 20, 2012, 04:54 PM

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after a great Saturday night doing Dayton Dragons TV with personable Tom Nichols and wondering why 9,172 people show up to see a last place team that lost 14-3 to the Great Lakes Loons. I can come up with only two reasons: the Dragons folks are fantastic marketers and promoters and Dayton fans are the greatest.

IT LOOKS AS if The Changing of the Guard is here — Aroldis Chapman, Closer.

Manager Dusty Baker used former closer Sean Marshall for one left handed batter in the eighth inning. And it worked.

Then he used Chapman as the closer in the ninth inning. And it worked.

Cincinnati Reds 5, New York Yankees 2.

THE REDS MADE it easier for Chapman’s debut as a closer by scoring two runs in the top of the ninth so Chapman only had to protect a three-run lead instead of a one-run lead.

DESIGNATED HITTER Ryan Ludwick, who had three hits and three RBI, provided the extra two runs with a two-run double in that decisive ninth. Ludwick was supposed to be the DH for the entire Yankees series, but he was hit by a pitch Thursday against the Mets’ R.A. Dickey and he had a sore forearm for two days.

Chapman retired Nick Swisher on a pop to first base for the first out. Then he faced three straight pinch-hitters. Mark Teixeira hit one hard to third base for an infield hit. Russell Martin flied to right and then, on a 3-and-2 pitch, Chapman hum-fired a 98 miles an hour fastball past Andruw Jones to end it.

RETREAT TO THE eighth inning when the Reds led, 3-2. Curtis Granderson singled to open the inning on starter Johnny Cueto’s 108th pitch.

Manager Dusty Baker brought in Sean Marshall — the kind of spot he was acquired to do. He wasn’t acquired to be the closer, but was forced into the job when Ryan Madson went down for the season.

Marshall faced left hander Robinson Cano and biff, bang, boom, he struck out Cano on three pitches. Baker then brought in Logan Ondrusek and he retired A-Rod and Raul Ibanez. A-Rod mangled one to left that on a normal day easier would have reached the seats. But a stiff breeze blowing in held it up and left fielder Chris Heisey tracked it down on the edged of the warning track.

AS ADVERTISED, this one was a pitcher’s afternoon in the sparkling daylight on Yankee Stadium — Johnny Cueto against CC Sabathia.

Cueto gave up at least one hit in each of the first six innings, but the Yankees scored nothing. And the Reds scored nothing against Sabathia, either.

The Yankees broke through on Cueto in the sixth on Cano’s double and a home run by Raul Ibanez, who is 6 for 14 for his career against Cueto.

Those two runs looked as insurmountable at the K-2 with Sabathia dealing. That quickly changed.

Ludwick led the top of the seventh with a home run and one out later Ryan Hanigan also homered, tying it, 2-2.

And the Reds didn’t stop there, thanks to Sabathia. Zack Cozart beat an infield hit, then Sabathia walked three straight to force in the go-ahead run. Drew Stubbs walked, Joey Votto walked on a full count and Brandon Phillips also walked on a full count to force in the run.

That made Cueto a winner, pushing his record to 5-1 after he held the Yankees to two runs, eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts for his seven-plus inning.

Cueto was aided by some heavy-duty leatherwork, too. First baseman Joey Votto made three outstanding players, Heisey made a nifty running catch and second baseman Brandon Phillips started a double play, making the throw to first base from the second base bag on his knees.

And who said, “Never on Sunday.” The Reds are now 6-0 on Sundays. They took two of three from the Yankees and finished the nine-day trip 5-4.

They return home Monday night for the start of a four-game seres against the Atlanta Braves. And now the $30 Million Question. Chapman has pitched two days in a row. Will he be able to close Monday night, if necessary?

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Reds survive by skin of Arredondo’s teeth

By Hal McCoy | Saturday, May 19, 2012, 04:30 PM

UNSOLICITED OBSERVARTIONS from The Man Cave, watching the Reds-Yankees before leaving for a guest commentary appearance tonight with Tom Nichols on a Dayton Dragons TV broadcast.

FOR SURE, isn’t it time to look for a new closer for the Cincinnati Reds — Aroldis Chapman or Jose Arrendondo?

Sean Marshall evokes to many memories of The Bad Times of Coco Cordero.

Marshall was given a three-run lead to close out in the ninth Saturday and couldn’t get through the inning. He faced five batters and gave up four hits and two runs, plus the New York Yankees had the tying and winning run on base.

While Baker probably would have stuck with Cordero in the past three years, he didn’t stick with Marshall. He brought in Arredondo and he did it — to the final two outs for his first major-league save.

He retired Derek Jeter on a first-pitch fielder’s choice then got Curtis Ganderson on a roller to first base and the Reds escaped, barely, 6-5.

RYAN LUDWICK best prepare himself for a long squat in the dugout, other than pinch-hitting appearances, but Chris Heisey is playing left field these days as if he purchased the property.

Heisey had two more hits, helping Homer Bailey and Joey Votto get this victory.

Heisey began the game hitting .362 over his last 10 games and is now 8 for his last 19. In addition, he made a superb running catch in the fifth inning to rob Russell Martin of a double.

And the much-maligned Bailey cranked up another good one — three runs, seven hits, one walk, seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. That was Bailey’s sixth quality start (three runs or less in six innings or more) in his eight starts - the same number of quality starts as Raul Ibanez.

FOR THE EIGHTH straight game, the Reds struck out 10 or more times (15 times Saturday) and Yankee starter Ivan “Super” Nova recorded eight of his first nine outs via strikeouts. Cano finished with 12 strikeouts in only six innings, but in between stirring up the Yankee Stadium breeze with whiffs, the Reds scored five runs off him.

The Reds were able to construct a 2-0 lead in the first two innings, scoring once in the first when Nova walked Drew Stubbs and Joey Votto before Brandon Phillips blooped a single to right.

They made it 2-0 in the second on a double by Devin Mesoraco and another double by Heisey.

THE YANKEES battled back to tie it. They scored a run in the third on a home run by catcher Russell Martin and a run in the fourth when Bailey walked the first batter, Curtis Granderson, and he came around to score on a double by Raul Ibanez.

Wilson Valdez, playing shortstop in place of of slump-ridden Zack Cozart, singled to start the fifth. Heisey dropped a perfect bunt and beat it, putting runners on first and second with no outs.

Doesn’t this call for a sacrifice bunt by Drew Stubbs? Nope. Instead Stubbs was permitted to hit and bounced into a force play.

Votto, though, made it all go away. Votto looked helpless Friday night, striking out three times, and he looked baffled and confused, when he struck out on a bad pitch in the third. This time, though, he pulled a three-run home run over the right-center wall for a 5-2 lead.

The Yankees retrieve one run off Bailey in the fifth when No. 9 hitter Jayson Nix, a brother to former Reds outfielder Laynce Nix, drilled a two-out home run to make it 5-3.

Bailey started the seventh and record an out, but also gave up two singles and manager Dusty Baker went to the bullpen. He brought in Logan Ondrusek, who hadn’t given a run all year until he gave up five runs in one innings Thursday against the New York Mets.

Ondrusek shook off that disaster by getting the last two outs on a fielder’s choice by Nix and a fly to right by Derek Jeter.

Aroldls Chapman, who like Ondrusek had his scoreless year dirtied up by the Mets Thursday, pitched a perfect eighth against the filet mignon of the Yankees order, striking out both Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano on 3-and-2 pitches, then finished off A-Rod on a pop to short.

AFTER STRIKING out his first two times against Ivan Nova, surprise designated hitter Mike Costanzo singled his third time up, his first major-league hit, then in the eighth he lofted a sacrifice fly to deep center, provided the Reds with an insurance run — a big, big run, the winning run, when the Yankees cut the ninth-inning 6-3 to a 6-5 final.

IT’S PROBABLY TIME for Dusty Baker to give Jay Bruce a day off and that may come Sunday when the Reds face lefthander CC Sabathia. Bruce is 0 for 13 and struck out three times Saturday.

SHOULD BE A fantastic pitcher’s duel Sunday in the finale — CC Sabathia against Johnny Cueto.

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