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All-Star Game here in 2011?
By C. Trent Rosecrans
Post staff reporter
PHOENIX - Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said Monday night that Cincinnati is still in the running for the 2011 All-Star Game, along with the Arizona Diamondbacks and other teams.
"They've got a chance, a good chance," Selig said of Phoenix at Monday's Reds-Diamondbacks game at Chase Field. "... There's a lot of cities trying to get it. It's making my job tough, but that's OK. I like it. It didn't used to be that way. I like their chances."
He was asked then about Cincinnati's chances. The 2007 game is in San Francisco and Selig said he wants to alternate the game between American League and National League stadiums for the foreseeable future. With the 2009 game going to St. Louis, the Reds would need to look to 2011, 2013 or 2015 for their chance to host the game.
"They're there too," Selig said of Cincinnati. "That's the problem, years ago you used to go to people and ask if you wanted the All-Star Game. Now everyone's waiting in line for it."
By that time, the Mets and Nationals will have new stadiums and will also likely be vying for the midsummer classic.
Cincinnati last hosted the All-Star Game in 1988. The game was also held at Riverfront Stadium in 1970. Crosley Field hosted the game in 1953 and 1938.
SELIG ON GRIFFEY - Not only will many players wear 42 this Sunday to honor the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first Major League game, but some entire teams will wear the number.
The idea to wear No. 42 came from Reds right fielder Ken Griffey Jr., who called Selig at home last week to ask for permission to wear the number in Robinson's honor.
Because it was late when Selig got home that night, he didn't call back. When Selig got into his office the next day, Griffey was already on the phone.
Selig said he already had a very high opinion of Griffey, but his latest idea impressed him even more.
"We had a great conversation. It says a lot about him," Selig said. "I asked him once we knew he was going to do it, if he minded if other people wore it and he said, 'of course not.' He said he knew Torii Hunter wanted to wear it.
"It was great. I had a lot of respect for him to begin with, but now I just think this shows not only his knowledge of the history of the sport, but his understanding of what Jackie Robinson did."
Selig said he's excited about Sunday's festivities, which will include the official ceremony at Dodger Stadium, where the entire Dodger team will wear Robinson's No. 42.
"It was the proudest moment in baseball history and one of the proud moments of American history," Selig said of Robinson's first game.
LEFTY LINEUP - So far this season, Reds manager Jerry Narron has had two basic lineups - one for facing right-handers and another against left-handers.
Facing left-handed Doug Davis on Monday meant Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips flip-flop the second and third spot, putting Dunn third and Phillips second, and bumping left-handed hitting Ken Griffey Jr. to fifth.
No matter who is pitching, Narron wants to get Dunn an at-bat in the first inning.
"It doesn't matter where, we try to get him up in the first," Narron said.
So far this season, Narron has consistently attempted to split his left-handed hitters, with three in the Opening Day lineup. Against right-handers, Scott Hatteberg has been starting at first base and Jeff Conine has started there against lefties.
"If I were a manger or general manager, I'd want to do the same thing," said Hatteberg, who entered Monday's game in a double-switch in the eighth inning. "It's not that I can't hit lefties, I hit them pretty good. It's just that (Conine) kills them."
Conine is a career .303 hitter against left-handers and batting .333 against them this season.
And even though the start-sit carousel can disrupt a batter's timing, Hatteberg said he understands and accepts the role.
"I want to win. I'm not going to do anything to hurt the team,"Hatteberg said.
It also helps that it's Conine that's replacing him.
"I've played against him for a long time, and I just have the utmost respect for him," Hatteberg said. "Everyone in baseball respects him. He's a great player."
Hatteberg will likely start today against Diamondbacks right-hander Edgar Gonzalez.
HOME, SWEET HOME - Even in his own, comfortable bed, Kyle Lohse didn't get much sleep Sunday night and it was OK with the Phoenix-area resident.
Lohse's son, Kameron, got him up a couple of times during the night Sunday and Lohse expected a repeat Monday night.
"I'd been away two weeks, and it seemed like forever," Lohse said. "He's only 3 months old, so two weeks is a big period of time."
Although baseball etiquette prohibits the media from talking to the starting pitcher the day of his start, there's apparently nothing against babysitting on the day of a start. Lohse said his wife had already planned on going out Tuesday and leaving him with Kameron.
"I can't do much but sit on the couch with him," Lohse said. "But I'm not too disappointed."
Another Arizona resident, infielder Juan Castro, was happy to be home, but it was tempered by the fact he was ill with flu-like symptoms. Still, Castro said, it was better to be sick at home rather than in a hotel.
While the Diamondbacks were taking batting practice, there was another welcome. The scoreboard read, "Welcome back Thom" for Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman, who had been Arizona's TV play-by-play man since the beginning of the franchise.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT - Class AAA Louisville was being no-hit through 8 1/3 innings on Monday night, but pinch-hitter Aaron Herr doubled and with two out outfielder Bubba Crosby singled him in to give the Bats the victory, 1-0.
Bats starter Michael Gosling pitched six scoreless innings, giving up only three hits. Gary Majewski gave up two hits in his scoreless inning and Wes Wilkerson pitched two innings for the win.
Class AA Chattanooga also broke a tie in the ninth to win 3-2. At Mobile, outfielder Chris Dickerson stole two bases in the top of the ninth and scored on Caonabo Cosme's single. Dickerson also had a two-run double in the first.
Mike Flannery pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth for that save.
NOTEWORTHY - The 49,481 at Chase Field was the largest crowd ever for a Diamondbacks game here. It was also the first Opening Day sellout in Arizona since 2001. ... An X-ray on reliever Bill Bray's left index finger revealed a small, non-displaced fracture at the tip. Bray, already on the 15-day DL, will be in a splint for 7-10 days, but his treatment isn't expected to change. ... Griffey's eighth inning intentional walk was the 218th of his career, tying him for sixth place all-time with Frank Robinson.
Publication date: 04-10-2007
