Saturday, September 11, 1999
REDS NOTEBOOK
Gullett, Griffey remember Hunter
Though neither Don Gullett nor Ken Griffey Sr. had seen Jim “Catfish” Hunter for a while, they retained the strong impression the Hall of Fame pitcher left on them.
The Reds coaches recalled Hunter, who died Thursday of Lou Gehrig's disease at 53, as a man of integrity on and off the field.
Gullett was Hunter's teammate on the 1977-78 New York Yankees. Griffey played with the Yankees from 1982-86 when Hunter served as a spring-training pitching instructor.
“It's a terrible loss for baseball,” Gullett said Friday. “He was a personal friend, a great teammate and a great professional, father and husband. A tremendous individual.”
Griffey remembered being regarded coldly by every member of the Yankees' coaching staff except Hunter, his former opponent from the 1976 World Series.
“He was the only one who treated me like a person, not somebody who was with the Cincinnati Reds who swept the Yankees,” Griffey said.
Gullett occasionally visited Hunter at the latter's Hertford, N.C., farm for hunting and fishing outings after both had retired from pitching.
“He was a down-to-earth individual,” Gullett said. “My heart goes out to his family.”
Hunter, Gullett recalled, was diagnosed with diabetes while he was still playing. But he never let the disease erode his spirit. In fact, he became active on behalf of the Diabetes Foundation.
“It was something he was able to handle and accept,” Gullett said. “Rather than be down, he did a lot of great things for the Diabetes Foundation.”
Morris update
Reds medical director Dr. Tim Kremchek said he planned to remove the cast from Hal Morris' fractured right wrist Friday night. If Morris felt OK, Kremchek said he'd allow the first baseman to start gripping a bat and taking some light swings.
Kremchek said Morris could return during the season's final week.
Alternative routes
Though Mike Cameron has returned to the lineup, Reds manager Jack McKeon said Pokey Reese will continue to bat leadoff. Cameron had performed capably in the leadoff spot for a month until he missed 10 games with a strained left hamstring. Before going 0-for-6 Thursday, Reese hit .500 (13-for-26) in a six-game hitting streak.
But McKeon is happy with the flexibility he knows he now has.
“Pokey's doing fine,” McKeon said. “If he struggles, we know we have an alternative.”
Harder than it looks
Mark Sweeney has made pinch-hitting look easy, though the task of coming off the bench cold to face a challenging reliever is anything but simple.
Sweeney would prefer to ignore the rigors of his job. “It's like (putting) negative thoughts in your mind,” said the left-handed batter, who had three consecutive pinch hits until grounding out in Friday's seventh inning. The streak included a double and a pair of RBI singles.
Sweeney, who owns a .308 lifetime average as a pinch hitter (60-for-195), prepares intensively for his scattered, brief appearances.
“I look at what (opponents) have in the bullpen and I look at what our situation is,” Sweeney said. “It's almost like you manage the game, in a sense, and try to put yourself in those places. If you're not in it, it's easier to take off the batting gloves off and sit on the bench. But if you're in it, you're not surprised, because you've already put yourself in the situation you're in.”
Etc. Left-hander
Ty Howington, the team's No.1 draft choice, is scheduled to visit Cinergy Field today to meet Reds staff and players and probably throw in the bullpen. “I don't know how much work he's been doing,” Gullett said. “If he hasn't thrown for a quite a while, we don't want him to try to sell us on anything. I think he sold us, (considering) where we drafted him.”
• The Marlins adjusted their pitching rotation, assigning Sunday's start to A.J. Burnett (2-1) and moving Brian Meadows (11-14) from Sunday to Monday's series finale.
Up next
Juan Guzman, whose only defeats have come at Cinergy Field, will confront the Marlins and right-hander Vladimir Nunez as the series continues tonight.
Guzman is 3-0 on the road and 2-2 at home, though his first loss, which came in his first Reds appearance, was a 2-1 setback. Nunez made his two previous appearances against the Reds in relief, going 0-1 with a 11.57 ERA.
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