'Need ya on third, Brucie' has become Reds' mantra
GOODYEAR ? They were both on the disabled list, Rolen with a concussion, Bruce with a broken wrist. They spent the games on the bench, talking. Actually, Rolen talked. Bruce listened.
?He spent a lot of time picking my brain,?? Rolen says now.
At some point, the discussion turned to scoring runs. Lots of runs, the best way, which is not hitting home runs, but getting runners on third base with less than two outs. ?I came up in Philly. You?re on first, base hit to right, you?re on third,?? Rolen explained. ?That was just good National League baseball."
The Reds didn?t play that way. With Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn in the lineup, they played base-to-base baseball. They hit a bunch of mighty home runs, and always lost more than they won. ?First to third with less than two outs is a huge play,?? Rolen would say to Bruce. ?That turns everything around and all it is, is effort."
Starting late in ?09 and all last year, ?Need ya on third, Brucie?? morphed from a joke to a directive to a mantra. It didn?t matter who was on first; he was ?Brucie." If the Reds were in the field and an opposing base runner stopped at second, Joey Votto might yell across the diamond to Rolen, ?Need ya on third, Brucie."
The Reds gospel of aggressive base running went national at the All Star Game, when Rolen made like Brucie to start a rally. In the NL dugout, a mic-ed Brandon Phillips said, ?That?s how we do it in Cincinnati!??
CONT...
OUCH.
