Sunday, April 29, 2001
Reds Notebook
Tired arm? Not Graves
By Chris Haft
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DENVER — You might think Danny Graves' arm would be fatigued after pitching every day for most of the past week. You'd be wrong.
The relief ace was prepared to save his fourth consecutive game Saturday before the Reds' four-run ninth inning removed the urgency to use him. Still, Graves had thrown with a purpose for four days in a row — beginning with an extensive side session Tuesday, followed by saves Wednesday through Friday.
During that streak, Graves retired all nine batters he faced, extending his overall streak to 16 consecutive hitters. He hasn't allowed an earned run in 13 1/3 innings. His eight saves ranked second in the National League entering Saturday.
Two factors have helped Graves: his tendency to gain effectiveness the more he pitches, and manager Bob Boone is using him for just one inning per appearance. In previous years, Graves occasionally worked multiple innings.
“I'm telling you, this one-inning stuff, I can do it every day, unless I throw 25 pitches an inning,” said Graves, who has pitched only the ninth in 10 of 13 outings. “If I throw 11 or 12, I can pitch every single day and it wouldn't bother me.”
FOLLOWING EXAMPLES: As Dmitri Young rounded first base on his two-run, tiebreaking double in Friday night's eighth inning, he reached up with one hand to knock off his batting helmet. Fans from the 1970s and '80s saw a lot of this from Gary Matthews, the 1973 NL Rookie of the Year who played for San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia and the Chicago Cubs.
Told this was a Matthews quirk, Young nodded and grinned knowingly. “That's who I got it from. He was my hitting coach in the Arizona Fall League.”
Young said different aspects of his on-field appearance are borrowed from various hitting coaches.
“The long pants are from George Hendrick. My Afro is from (Ken Griffey) Senior. And my big butt is from Johnny Lewis.”
BACK TO NORMAL: Todd Walker's two-run homer for Colorado in Saturday's third inning ended a streak of 20 consecutive innings at Coors Field without a home run being hit.
It marked only the second time that no homers were hit by either team in two consecutive games here.
NO E: Shortstop Barry Larkin handled five fielding chances Saturday without an error, ending a streak of three consecutive games in which he had erred. Larkin, who has never erred in four straight games, has endured three-game streaks four times in his career.
UP NEXT: The Reds get a break today. Mike Hampton (3-0) was today's scheduled Rockies starter, but he's bothered by a sore neck caused by sleeping on a hotel pillow. He'll be replaced by Shawn Chacon, who was 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts at Triple-A Colorado Springs. Jim Brower (2-0) will start for the Reds.
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Tired arm? Not Graves
