MLBeat

Anytime we come across a thoughtful piece on the subject of steroids we'll do our best to help echo-chamber it. We don't always necessarily agree with Jason Whitlock, but today's piece in the Kansas City Star is worth a look at the absolute least.

The latter-day incarnation of the steroids issue is one of the more fascinating topics to come through the sporting mill in a long time. It may be impossible to determine why such a fuss is being made about performance-enhancing drugs now, as opposed to a decade ago; why baseball is subjected to the majority of the overly preachy coverage, as opposed to any other sport; why Barry Bonds is suffering the brunt of the public's aggression, as opposed to the slew of other players that have been implicated directly or indirectly of steroid use; and similarly, why the federal government has gotten involved, as opposed to spending their resources on any number of more practical issues.

So many unanswered questions. Would it be giving our president too much credit to suggest that he started the whole thing with his highly random and unexpected mention of steroids in the 2004 State of the Union?

It’s AM 700, the Reds Station. I am picking it up in St. Louis, sitting here listening to the Reds play a late game in San Francisco. There’s something magical about hearing this Cincinnati broadcast, this late at night, on a tiny hand-held Walkman. Especially when the outcome of this game determines whether the hometown Cardinals will be co-owners of first place in the NL Central, or still atop the division by their lonesome. If the Reds win this game, they will have caught the Cardinals after many months of second place.

When I tuned in, it was 3-2 Giants with the Giants batting in the sixth. But now the Reds have returned to the plate in the seventh. There’s a Ken Griffey, Jr. two-out single. And now Easy Ed Encarnacion has doubled him in. This is a tied game, folks.

Milton has come back out in the bottom half. He gets two quick outs. He’s
only thrown 78 pitches through six and two-thirds. True, he’s given up a couple of gopher balls (Winn and Feliz) but not a bad outing. There’s another hit for Winn. Three hits for him tonight—the quintessential second-half player.

A game like this, finding me from across the entirety of Indiana. From across the Wabash. Leaping over the RCA Dome. Marty Brenneman and company. There’s something reassuring about free baseball late at night. A little static makes it real. Oh, how I love West Coast baseball and its two-hour delay. Sure, I could switch over to a local station and listen to frustrated Cardinals fans lambast Jason Marquis and wonder out loud why Chris Duncan wasn’t pinch-hitting for the woeful So Taguchi with two-outs, runners at second and third, and Roberto Hernandez on the mound in the top half of the seventh at Shea, the Cards trailing 5-2.

Winn to third on a single by Vizquel. Now Shea Hillenbrand. Narron outta the Cincy dugout. He’s lifiting Milton. On comes Ryan “Don’t Call Me Wayne” Franklin in relief.

This is one amazing feature of being in the Midwest. With my simple Walkman I can pick up a handful of broadcasts after sunset. In the comfort of my own home I’ve heard: The Rockies on KOA 850; the Cubs on WGN 720; the Reds on WLW 700. And if I’m lucky I can pick up the Brewers on 620 WTMJ and the Indians on WTAM 1100. You used to be able to get the Braves on 750 WSB but they moved to 640 WGST, which I can’t get up here in St. Louis.

Hillenbrand grounds out 6-4 and the Reds get out of a jam. Ryan Franklin does the job once again out of that revamped Reds ‘pen.

David Ross has just jacked one! The Reds are up 4-3! He’s got 17 home runs now, if you can believe that. He hits ‘em long and deep. He hit one offa Izzy in Cincy that never came down. It’s out there campaigning to take Pluto’s place as the ninth planet. Todd Hollandsworth is gonna bat and there’s gonna be a pitching change. Felipe Alou and Jerry Narron are spinning the wheels here in Frisco.

I’m sitting here drinking some Whitehorse Scotch and reading The Cantos of Ezra Pound.

Todd Coffey just gave up a single to Durham. Bonds got on after Cormier walked him. Now Feliz is batting and Benitez is loosening up in the Giant pen. Two on for the Giants, nobody out.

Double play Reds! De la Rosa, running for Bonds, stands on third. Another pitching change. Out with Coffey in with Schoeneweis. This Whitehorse is some decent scotch. It’s a blended whisky with Lagavulin at its core and also containing some Talisker malt. A Diageo product. It’s the single best Scotch for the money, period. A bottle is $13 or so. You can drink it neat, on the rocks, or with Coke. Sure, you can do that with Johnnie Walker, too. But not at $13.

Benitez has ceased throwing. Stanton is now getting loose for SF. Steve Finley bats with two outs. Three Cincy pitchers in this the eighth inning. Eliezer Alfonzo on deck. Finley is a switch-hitter. He walks. Weather is warm in the Cincy pen but Narron’s gonna leave Schoeneweis in to face the SF catcher. Alfonzo fans.

To lead off the ninth, the Reds have Freel, Hatteberg, and KG. In the bottom half, the Giants will have a pinch hitter, Winn, and Omar. Now Freel fans looking and he’s arguing with home plate ump Chris Guccione. Narron runs out to get Freel off the field. He’s their best defensive outfielder. Did you see that catch he made against the Cardinals a few weeks back? The Giants go with Stanton.

Stanton gets Hatteberg swinging. Now Griffey, who walks. Easy Ed loops a rainbow over Omar, and Griffey, moving on contact with two outs, has made it all the way to third. The Reds are threatening with two outs. Here’s Adam Dunn. They’re gonna walk Dunn to face Juan Castro.

And Castro hits a bases-loaded two-run single! This sends many fans to the exits. Reds lead 6-3. Here’s Brandon Phillips, who strikes out swinging.

Who will it be for the Reds to close this thing out? Weathers. How’s the Weather? Bad for Mark Sweeney, who strikes out looking and takes issue with the call, jawing with Guccione. This could be Weathers’s first save in months, May 7 in fact—when Narron decided it was Coffey time. Of course, that was just a cup of Coffey for Narron.

Two strikes on Winn. Franklin is in line for another win. Winn is down on strikes, although he does not argue with the call. Vizquel is the last hope. He flies out and the Reds have a come-from-behind victory to step into a virtual tie with the Cardinals in the NL Central! They win this first game on their 10-game road-trip.

Goodnight from Cincinnati, San Francisco, the White Horse Inn, and St. Louis.

Labels: cincinnati reds, game reports, san francisco giants

Willy T. made a catch last night where he was waiting at the top of Tal's Hill, just left of dead center, to catch a ball right at the wall.  I've never seen that play occur before, where the outfielder caught a ball on the hill's warning track—though I figure someone has seen this, that it's happened before.  The only plays I distinctly remember involving Tal's Hill are: (1) Andruw Jones going up the hill on back-to-back plays but failing to make the catch both times; (2) The Edmonds catch from this year, where he caught a ball over-the-shoulder while going up the hill; and (3) This Taveras play from last night.  There must be others.  That Wiki link has several including a Berkman catch and a Biggio biff.