Thursday, September 23, 1999
REDS NOTEBOOK
Guzman expects to make next start
Greg Vaughn gets his bat sawed off by a pitch from Padre Andy Ashby in the first Wednesday night.
(AP photo)
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SAN DIEGO — Juan Guzman's sore back forced him to leave Tuesday night's game prematurely but shouldn't cause him to miss his next scheduled start, the right-hander said Wednesday.
Guzman sounded more concerned about his quest to reach 200 innings than his health. He worked five innings against the San Diego Padres, allowing two runs (one earned) and four hits before the pain prevented him from continuing.
“That messed up my program,” Guzman said, referring to his innings total. He has logged 190ö innings, including 122ö with Baltimore before joining the Reds in a July 31 trade. “But I still have two more games.”
Guzman believed his back became sore from lounging in his seat during the team's charter flight, which lasted nearly five hours, from Pittsburgh on Sunday. “I thought it would go away,” Guzman said.
Instead, the tightness lingered as he played catch with teammate Denny Neagle before the game, then worsened as he pitched.
“Every time I tried to throw my fastball inside to a righty, it was getting sore,” he said.
Guzman felt certain that massage and whirlpool treatments, along with stretching, will help him make his next assignment, which probably will be Sunday against St. Louis.
All but final
Pitching coach Don Gullett said he and manager Jack McKeon were “90 percent sure” that the starting rotation would be altered to give right-hander Pete Harnisch extra rest.
Instead of taking his regular turn Saturday against St. Louis, Harnisch instead will start Tuesday's series opener in Houston, which will be an exceedingly crucial game if the Reds remain in postseason contention. Harnisch is 3-0 with a 3.18 ERA against Houston this year.
Steve Parris will open the St. Louis series Friday at Cinergy Field, followed by Neagle on Saturday, Guzman on Sunday — assuming his back's OK — and Ron Villone on Monday.
OK, I guess
General Manager Jim Bowden gave the Colorado Rockies permission to interview Buddy Bell, the Reds' director of player development, for their impending managerial opening — “but not to hire him,” Bowden said through a club spokesman.
Dan O'Dowd, the Rockies' new general manager, became enamored of Bell when both were with the Cleveland Indians organization.
Occasionally, teams have asked for compensation in the form of players when a valued member of their organization has a chance to move elsewhere. Reds insiders already are speculating that this process could evolve again in Bell's case.
Lineup change
Center fielder Mike Cameron, benched for Michael Tucker in the series' first two games, returned to the lineup Wednesday and batted leadoff. “We have to change something around,” said McKeon, still dissatisfied with the club's offensive performance.
Cameron had struggled since recovering from a hamstring injury that forced him to miss 10 games. He was hitting .136 (6-for-44) since his return, dropping his average from .268 to .256.
With Cameron back, second baseman Pokey Reese moved from first to eighth in the batting order.
Switch. So what?
Told that the Houston Astros had realigned their starting rotation to allow 20-game winners Jose Lima and Mike Hampton to face the Reds next Tuesday and Wednesday, McKeon remained calm.
“That's all right,” he said. “They're getting set up for the postseason, evidently. We're not worried about the postseason. We're worried about getting there.”
Not-so-big-Mac
St. Louis' Mark McGwire probably won't quake in his spikes when he ponders the Reds' pitching rotation for the upcoming four-game series at Cinergy Field. He couldn't be blamed for groaning a little bit, though.
The home-run king is 1-for-28 lifetime against Cincinnati's four probable starters: Parris (1-for-4), Neagle (0-for-10, five strikeouts), Guzman (0-for-11, five strikeouts) and Villone (0-for-3).
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