Hal McCoy

5 days ago | daytondailynews.com | Hal McCoy

They won that game, 6-2, to creep within 6½ games of the Cubs. Two more wins and they would be within 4½ games. It was not to be. Instead they lost both, 2-0 on Saturday and 7-2 on Sunday afternoon to fall 8½ behind. In those two games, they totaled five hits and scored in only two of the last 21 innings. And on Sunday, with the series tied at a game apiece, the Reds had a chance to take the series.

6 days ago | daytondailynews.com | Hal McCoy

A: To be considered great, a player would have had to lead the league in a lot of categories and made several All-Star teams. There was a player I greatly admired who never got enough credit and that was second baseman Ron Oester. He played the game hard and it played it right, never made a mistake, never threw to the wrong base, never made a baserunning blunder. And despite the fact he was as skinny as a palm tree, he was heavyweight tough.

6 days ago | daytondailynews.com | Hal McCoy

That’s because Junior’s father, Ken Griffey, was a notable player in his own time. ExploreWhile dad was playing right field, one of The Great Eight on The Big Red Machine, Junior was a little squirt sneaking into the Riverfront Stadium manager’s office to surreptitiously snag a soft drink out of Sparky Anderson’s mini-fridge. And when Donora, PA. is mentioned, most fans think of Stan Musial, who was born there. Ken Griffey Sr. was born there, too.

6 days ago | journal-news.com | Hal McCoy

With the wind blowing in at fickle Wrigley Field Saturday afternoon, offense was put in cold storage. The day’s theme song was Bob Seger’s “Against The Wind.”All fly balls were chased toward the infield by the outfielders, who played shallow all afternoon. So it figured Mother Nature would get the ‘W’ or the ‘L’ and that’s exactly what happened. ExploreNick Lodolo held the Cubs to no runs and five hits over six innings, then turned a 0-0 tie over to Scott Barlow for the seventh.

1 week ago | daytondailynews.com | Hal McCoy

Abbott’s numbers are better than them all, by far — 5-0 with a 1.51 earned run average after Friday afternoon’s 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field. For the second time in a week, Abbott put a muzzle on the high-scoring Cubs, this time shutting out the division-leaders on one hit over seven innings. He gave up a leadoff single in the third to Justin Turner and only one other runner, a walk, and retired the last 15 batters.