Casey questions logic of having a doubleheader

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

CINCINNATI | As do many baseball people, Sean Casey wonders why Thursday's rained-out game that was tied, 2-2, after seven innings, had to be replayed in its entirety.

It meant the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros had to play an unscheduled doubleheader Saturday and there were no more than a few hundred people in the Great American Ball Park stands when Game 1 began.

As soon as it was announced Thursday that the 2-2 game was a suspended game, that all the statistics would count but the game did not count in the standings, Casey was on his cell phone.

Casey is the team's representative to the players union and that's where his call went.

"I called them and said, 'This has to be changed because this makes no sense, has no logic,' " said Casey. "They agreed and said it would be on the agenda for the off-season meetings.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to pick up that game in the eighth inning at 2-2 and finish it?" asked Casey. "It was wasted time and a wasted game. It turned out to mean nothing to either team, but it wrecks bullpens and makes teams make roster moves to cover (Saturday's) doubleheader. The game was just for personal statistics and there is no logic to that."

The Astros had to place ultra-veteran relief pitcher John Franco on the designated for assignment list prior to Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader to make room for starting pitcher Ezequiel Astacio.

Catcher Jason LaRue was listening and said, "Who makes up rules like that?" Good question, Jason. . .and nobody can answer that, either.

Wake-up call

Catcher Javier Valentin took a bat out of his locker and began pounding it on the floor, pounding it hard and saying, "Wake up. C'mon, wake up."

The bat broke.

He retrieved another, resumed the pounding and said, "Wake up, c'mon, do something."

Valentin was 0 for 4 Thursday, but before that was on a four-game hitting streak and has hit .341 in his last 15 games.

Seems his bats ARE awake.

Mix in a hit

Aaron Harang, Saturday's first game pitcher, was taping a bat before the game and it was suggested that was pretty useless because a bat in Harang's hands is a harmless piece of wood.

At the time he was 1 for 33 this season (.030) and 6 for 111 (.054) for his career.

"Hey, I'm working hard in the batting cage every day and I'm going to break out of this," he said, tongue deeply in cheek. "I get robbed all the time, every game. That stuff has to start falling in."

Speaking of pitchers, at least the other teams can hit against the Reds. Opposing pitchers have driven in 12 runs against the Reds, most in the majors for pitchers against one team.

Serrano signs

The Reds added a Pacific Coast League All-Star pitcher to the Class AAA Louisville roster when they signed Jimmy Serrano, a 28-year-old righthander.

Serrano was 8-3 with 89 strikeouts in 92 innings for Sacramento, Oakland's Class AAA affiliate, but he had an "out" clause enabling him to take free agency if he wasn't in the majors with the A's by July 1.

"He's only about 5-foot-8, but he has a very good arm," said general manager Dan O'Brien.

A different approach

Elizardo Ramirez, 0-3 with a 6.75 earned run average during a one-month stay earlier this season, is the Reds' Fourth of July starter in San Francisco.

His numbers are not glossy, but manager Jerry Narron likes the 22-year-old Dominican righthander.

"I like him and think he is going to be a good pitcher," said Narron. "Anybody can go out and have a bad outing or two. We want everybody to come up from the minors and dominate, but that's just not going to happen. I like him a lot and there is something different about him.

"I Ilke the way he goes about his business," Narron added. "A lot of guys come up from the minors and try to fit in and change, but he stays with his program and that's nice to see."

No cameras, please

An amazing oddity: Before the Reds lost Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader, they were on a 10-game winning streak in games not televised locally. That made them 13-5 in games not televised locally.

Apparently, the Reds are camera shy, but not as bad as Kenny Rogers. They are 17-44 when folks in this market can watch on TV.