Sunday Notes: Badenhop’s Reds, Twins, Pirates, Papelbon, more

Burke Badenhop wasn’t expecting this when he signed with Cincinnati last winter. The free agent reliever thought he was joining a club that could contend. Instead, the Reds have floundered. With a lone game left on the docket, the team built by Walt Jocketty is 64-97 and will finish in last place for the first time since 1983.

Injuries weren’t the only issue, but they played a big role in Cincinnati’s crash-and-burn campaign.

“We never really got a chance to hit the ground running,” said Badenhop. “Right off the bat, Homer Bailey went down. Then Devin Mesoraco went down, Zack Cozart had a catastrophic knee injury just running to first base. We’re playing in the toughest division in baseball – the Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs would be in first place in every other division – and facing teams like that while battling injuries makes for a real uphill battle.”

Despite their doldrums, the Reds drew over 2.4 millions fans to Great American Ballpark this summer. Not that they were always there to see the home team.

“Last weekend, pretty much the whole third base lower level was Mets fans,” Badenhop said. “There were a lot of ‘Let’s Go Mets’ chants. That’s a little disheartening to hear in your own ballpark, but it is what it is. There are a lot of Cubs fans in Cincinnati as well, so it was kind of the same when they played their last series here. But at the same time, we’ve had pretty good fan support, especially when you consider the weather. I think we had something like 40 hours of rain delays at home.”

Joey Votto was one of the few bright spots. Badenhop has played for five teams over eight big-league seasons, and he’s only had one teammate impress him as much with the bat.

“Hanley Ramirez’s batting title season (2009) is probably the best display of pure hitting that I’ve seen,” said Badenhop. “Joey’s approach is different – he’s more patient – but what he’s doing is every bit as impressive. He’s reached base 48 games in a row and his OPS is over 1.000. I’ll probably never get a chance to play 162 games with somebody like that again, not unless I’m lucky enough to come back here next year.”

Badenhop has a mutual option for next season, which includes a buyout. Whether the 32-year-old sinkerballer stays or goes, he’ll do so having finished with his highest ERA in five years. It stood at 3.99 when we spoke before yesterday’s game, and his response to my suggestion that he keep it below 4.00 speaks to his stat-savvy.

“If someone doesn’t want to sign me because my ERA is a tenth of a run too high… I’d like to think that’s not how teams make decisions,” said Badenhop. “For relievers, ERA isn’t the heaviest thing you want to lean on.”

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On June 4, I wrote an article called “The Twins as the Orioles.” It included the following:

“(For) the first-place Minnesota Twins… a descent in the standings – possibly a steep one – is imminent. Unless it isn’t. What if they continue to outperform their expectations and their peripherals? What if the Twins are this year’s Orioles?”

I’d like to say I predicted what’s come to pass. The article spelled out reasons contention was plausible, but in all honesty, I didn’t expect them to defy the odds. Somehow they did. Four months later – on the last weekend of the season – they were still alive for the second Wild Card spot. Had Glen Perkins not battled injuries in the second half, they quite possibly would have advanced to the postseason.

They didn’t – Paul Molitor’s overachievers were eliminated yesterday – but Twins fans shouldn’t be too dismayed. Their team had a fantastic year.

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The Pirates will have a plan when they go up against the Cubs in the National League Wild Card game on Wednesday night. Clint Hurdle doesn’t follow a strict script, but his team is as well-prepared as any. With few exceptions, every decision he makes has been thought out beforehand. That was in evidence when the Pittsburgh skipper was asked about about a decision-gone-wrong during last month’s four-game set with the Cubs.

“It depends on which side of the argument you want to be on,” Hurdle told a group of reporters. “We have had a rhyme and a reason, and a consistent method, for what we’ve done all year. This wasn’t an outlier for any reason; we just didn’t get the result we wanted.

“When you sit on this side of the desk, you make decisions expecting to get them all right, knowing that you’re not going to. When they work out, you expected them to, so it’s not like you pat yourself on the back and go, ‘That was really smart.’ The ones that don’t work out the ones you pay a little more attention to.”

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I didn’t include the following quotes in last Sunday’s look at Logan Forsythe. I probably should have, because his words were bluntly poetic. Addressing his career-best numbers, Forsythe said:

“I think the game is going to tell all. This year is going to end up like this year is going to end up. Whatever they are, next year I’m going to try to get better.”

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As of Friday, 253 players had made their MLB debut this season. Every one of them will have a story to tell someday, regardless of how long they play.

Charlie Montoyo’s career began and ended in 1993, and consisted of five at bats over four games. The Tampa Bay third base coach played his first with the Montreal Expos on September 7, and he made the most of it.

“I found out I was getting called up before the second game of the (Triple-A) playoffs,” recalled Montoyo. “Mike Quade was the manager, and around 2 o’clock in the afternoon he asked me, ‘Do you want to play today?’ I said, ‘Yeah; I don’t know why I didn’t play yesterday.’ He said, ‘Well, you’re going to go play for the Expos.’

“We were in Ottawa, and I rented a car and drove to Montreal. I got lost and stopped at a a gas station, but they spoke French, which didn’t help me any. I ended up getting to the ballpark at 7 o’clock, for a 7:15 game.

“In the bottom of the eighth inning, (manager) Felipe Alou says, ‘If they bring in the lefty, you’re going to pinch-hit.’ I got lucky. They brought in the lefty and I got the game-winning RBI; my first at bat in the big leagues and I got a hit to win the game.”

What does Montoya remember thinking as he stood on first base?

“I got my ball,” said Montoya. “Nobody can take that away from me. It was pretty cool.”

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Steve Sparks appeared in one postseason. The former knuckleballer – and current Astros broadcaster – played for the Oakland A’s when they lost to the Red Sox in the 2003 ALDS. It was a nail-biting series that featured extra-inning games, a Tim Hudson off-the-field fracas, and a dramatic home run.

Game One was won on a bunt.

“Ramon Hernandez was up in the twelfth inning with a runner on third and two out,” remembered Sparks. “Ramon was our catcher and he bunted for a hit to score the winning run. The third baseman was back behind the bag and (third base coach) Ron Washington pointed to his eyes with two fingers. First pitch, Ramon laid it down and we won the game. It was awesome, and Ron Washington is very smart.”

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Some further thoughts on backup sliders – a subject in recent columns — courtesy of Royals pitcher Chris Young:

“Even though you see backup sliders resulting in outs and swings-and-misses, there are others that result in balls, hit-by-pitches, and even home runs. It’s not always a positive outcome.

“Why don’t (pitchers attempt to throw them)? We’re so in-tuned to doing things correctly that when we do something incorrectly, we’re probably not even aware of how we did it. We know what the correct feel is, and we know how to make that correction, but to repeat something that you don’t consider correct… inherently, your mind tells you that’s not right.”

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The recent set-to in the Washington Nationals dugout has elicited no shortage of strong opinions. Many have pilloried Jonathan Papelbon, and for good reason. Putting your hands around someone’s throat is by no means an acceptable way of getting your point across.

Following from afar, I can’t help but think back to the numerous interactions I had with Papelbon earlier in his professional career. As a minor-leaguer, he was fun-loving, personable, and accommodating. As a young major-leaguer, he remained much the same. Most scribes in the Boston market will agree with that observation.

He’s changed. Based on what I’ve read and heard – and from a brief conversation two years ago in Philadelphia – Papelbon has grown increasingly gruff and aloof. Even before the Bryce Harper episode, the supremely-talented reliever had devolved into one of the least-liked players in the game. Knowing how likable he once was, that’s sad to see.

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I get both sides of the unwritten-rules argument as it pertains to showboating. I’m not a big fan of the Fernando Rodney arrow shoot – to cite one example – but I also don’t get my proverbial panties in a bunch when he aims at the sky. Ditto when a batter takes his sweet time rounding the bases after a home run. Baseball is supposed to be fun, and a little pizzazz is entertaining and good for the game. I temper my old-school predisposition with that in mind.

Even so, I think the Twins had every right to take umbrage at Jose Ramirez’s bat flip earlier this week. What the Indians rookie did was part youthful exuberance, but it was also button-pushing. Flipping lumber 10-15 feet in the air while passing in front of the opposing dugout? That’s inviting a ball in the ear, whether you’re from Peravia Province or Paducah.

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I don’t have an awards vote this year. One drawback of being in the Boston chapter of the BBWAA is that there are far more members than there are voting slots. Each chapter has two votes per category, which means eight Boston writers are casting votes for the four American League awards.

This is what my ballot would look like if I had a vote in every category, in both leagues:

AL MVP: 1. Josh Donaldson, 2. Mike Trout, 3. J.D. Martinez
NL MVP: 1. Bryce Harper, 2. Joey Votto, 3. Paul Goldschmidt
AL CY Young: 1. Dallas Keuchel, 2. David Price, 3. Chris Sale
NL Cy Young: 1. Clayton Kershaw, 2. Jake Arrieta, 3. Zack Greinke
AL Rookie: 1. Francisco Lindor, 2. Carlos Correa, 3. Eduardo Rodriguez
NL Rookie: 1. Kris Bryant, 2. Jung Ho Kang, 3. Matt Duffy
AL Manager: 1. Paul Molitor, 2. Joe Girardi, 3. Jeff Bannister
NL Manager: 1. Joe Maddon, 2. Clint Hurdle, 3. Terry Collins

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Last week’s Random Facts and Stats mentioned Mike Cuellar, who pitched for the Astros and Orioles in the 1960s and 1970s. This past week I discovered that Cuellar was a member of the 1963 Double-A Knoxville Smokies, who were a Tigers affiliate at the time. It was a memorable squad. Six ’65 Smokies – Cuellar, Pat Dobson, Frank Lary, Denny McLain, Joe Sparma and Tom Timmermann – won a combined 653 big-league games, and had ten 20-win seasons between them. The Knoxville outfield — Willie Horton, Jim Northrup and Mickey Stanley – went on to hit 595 home runs and capture four Gold Gloves.

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

LaTroy Hawkins, who plans to retire at the end of the season, ranks 10th all-time in regular-season pitching appearances. His 1,042 games is even more impressive when you consider that 98 of his first 99 appearances came as a starter.

Matt Thornton has appeared in 55-or-more regular-season games in every one of his 11 full seasons in the big leagues. The southpaw – currently with the Nationals – has pitched in 60 or more in each of the last 10 seasons.

The Phillies go into today’s finale with 99 losses. They haven’t lost 100 games since 1961.

MLB games have lasted an average 2:56 this season, down from 3:02 a year ago.
Minor league games lasted an average 2:43 this season, down from 2:49 a year ago.

On this date in 1906, the Chicago Cubs won their final game of the season to finish 116-36 (with three ties). They went on to lose the World Series to the White Sox. whose starting staff included “Big Ed” Walsh. On Friday, Chris Sale broke Walsh’s White Sox record for strikeouts in a season. Walsh had 269 in 1908; Sale has 274.

In 1886, William Van Winkle “Chicken” Wolf of the Louisville Colonels hit an 11th-inning game-winning inside-the-park home run against the Cincinnati Red Stockings. On the play, Cincinnati outfielder Abner Powell was attacked by a dog that had been sleeping near the fence.