Sports
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Page 16
Tuesday, August 4, 1981
The Michigan Daily
CINCINNATI PRACTICES IN ANN ARBOR
Reds prepare for 'second' season
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By RON POLLACK
DailySports Writer
When the Cincinnati Reds began practice yester-
day it almost seemed as though the baseball strike
had never taken place (the Reds are in Ann Arbor.
because Riverfront Stadium is currently holding a
jazz festival). The morning rains forced the Reds into
the Michigan Fieldhouse (normally the domain of Bo
Schembechler's Wolverine gridders during in-
clement weather) and any traces of the strikes bit-
terness were replaced by joviality and horse-play.
A number of Cincinnati players proceeded to line
up in a football formation. The "offensive and defen-
sive lines" set, a chatcher's mitt was placed under
center asa make-shift football.
"WANT TO GET the tackling sleds out," joked pit-
cher Mike LaCoss.
"Can we play touch football," asked third baseman
Ray Knight.
"No," said manager John McNamara, trying to
maintain some order.
"THEN HOW ABOUT tackle," retorted Knight.
But when the rain ended, and Cincinnati went to
Fisher Stadium to take batting practice it became
evident that while the baseball strike may not have
dulled the players sense of humors, it had done exac-
tly that to their skills.
Having particular difficulty were the hitters. "I'
haven't seen any real pitching in a while," said in-
fielder Junior Kennedy. "Batting practice helps, but
you need real pitching. I think the biggest thing is to
work on your timing. It's hard to say how long that
will take."
"THE OFF SPEED pitches are the toughest
because when most of the guys have been hitting,
they've been hitting hard stuff," explained outfielder
Mike Vail.
Infielder Ron Oester also noted a difference bet-
ween batting practice during the strike and now when
the pitchers are firing away. "I was hitting every day
off of (Cincinnati) pitchers, but they weren't
throwing as well as they are now. They were just
trying to keep their arms in shape. Now they're
throwing hard. Plus, you start getting into some bad
habits without hitting regular pitching every day. But
more batting practice should take care of that."
And as if it is not difficult enough for most hitters to
get their batting stroke back into the groove, Oester
has the added work of doing so asa switch hitter.
"RIGHT NOW I'm having problems with timing on
both sides of the plate," he said. "But I do think it is
more difficult getting my timing down since I have to
do it on both sides of the plate."
George Foster, whose 14 home runs led the Cincin-
nati ball club when the strike began, noted some of
the detrimental effects that the long layoff has had on
him, which aren't as harmful to other players.
"I'm a power hitter, so I have to have my timing
more than a singles hitter. The most important thing
is to get in running, because you need your legs to
push off asa power hitter."
THE STRIKE came at a particularly bad time for
first baseman Dan Driessen. Driessen was having a
hard time at the plate early on in the season, but was
breaking out of his slump when the walkout took
place.
"I was hitting .160 for awhile and raised it to .205.
So I was feeling good then. With just over a 100 at bats
so far, I can close a lot of ground."
Those players least effected by the strike for Cin-
cinnati seem to be the pitchers, according to Reds'
pitching coach Bill Fischer.
"THE PITCHERS are ahead of the batters in
training," said Fischer. "Everyone is worried about
the pitchers, but I feel they'll be ahead of the hitters.
All of our pitchers worked hard during the strike, and
they worked hard because they're in good shape. I
talked to them a couple of times during the strike,
and they said they were working out faithfully.
They're class guys. They knew they were a half game
out and had a chance to win it all."
McNamara also praised his team for the condition
they are in. "The pitchers are in good shape leg-wise
and arm-wise. All we've got to get them acclimated
to is hitters. None of the players just laid off during
-the strike. That's what this club is all about, there's
pride and a winning attitude."
When discussing the starting pitchers, Fischer ex-
presses worry about only one-Tom Seaver. It's not
that Fischer thinks Seaver is washed up, after all the
6-1, 210 pound pitcher was the Reds' ace with a 7-1
record when the strike began, he just thinks that the
36-year old may take more time than the other pit-
chers to recover from the layoff.
"THE STRIKE WILL hurt him most because of the
age factor," said Fischer of Seaver.
Among pitchers, the players who need the most
conditioning are the relievers, said Doug Bair, a
relief pitcher himself. "We have to pitch every day,
so-there's more wear and tear.than on a starting pit-
cher. We have to tie in top shape since we may have to
go in the first three or four games from the word go."
Pitchers are not the only athletes who depend on
their arms when the Reds are in the field. In the same
boat are catchers. "The arm strength is still there,"
said catcher Joe Nolan. "I just have to get my ac-
curacy. It'll take about a weeks worth of games."
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Bair catches batting
practice for
By RON POLLACK
Daily Sports Writer
Amidst the numerous red and white
Cincinnati Reds' uniforms at Fisher
Stadium yesterday, were two players
who stuck out quite conspiculously. The
reason they stood out was that they
wore maize and blue jerseys. Wearing
these jerseys were Michigan catcher
Rich Bair and Kevin Wright, a catcher
from Miami University who is in Ann
Arbor for a summer league.
Cincinnati
After catching batting practice for
the Reds, Bair did not try to hide his en-
thusiasm. "It's a thrill," he said. "I'm
from Dayton, Ohio, so I'm right in the
middle of Cincinnati Reds' country.
They've always been my team. It's an
honor. I know that sounds trite, but it's
a real thrill."
Wright, who warmed up some of the
Reds' pitchers in the bullpen in addition
to spelling Bair during batting practice,
compared professional pitchers to their
college counterparts. "They (pro pit-
chers) have more control," Wright
assessed. "The ball goes where they
want. They have control of all their pit-
ches. It's a little harder to catch
professional pitchers since the ball has
more movement on it.
Michigan notes - When asked if he
thought that the Reds' presence in
Fisher Stadium would help recruiting,
Michigan baseball mentor Bud Mid-
daugh said, "I don't think it will hurt. I
just think it makes it more evident what
super facilities we have. Don Canham
has done a super.job with our facilities
and I think that this is shown by a major
league team coming in to use
them ... Attending practice today will
be Ray L. Fisher, the former Michigan
manager for whom Fisher Stadium is
named. Fisher, who is 93 years old, was
a member of the Re ds 1919 world
championship team.
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I
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Back to work AP Photo
New York Yankee Dave Winfield gets down to business with a little leg work
as the first game of the restored season is less than a week away.
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. .. catches Reds' pitchers