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John Fay
John Fay has been the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer since 2001. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles for the Enquirer: backup Reds writer, UC beat writer, backup Bengals writer and as a general assignment reporter. He is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Elder High School and the University of Dayton.

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Teammates on Cueto

The Reds were not surprised by Johnny Cueto's one-hit, one-run, 10-strikeout, seven-inning debut. But they were giddy. Some examples:

Bronson Arroyo: "I never saw Pedro (Martinez) throw in his younger years in person. But he reminds me somewhat of him -- smaller guy, Dominican, throws the ball on a really low plane, 94 to 96, not an unbelievably big curveball -- Pedro's is bigger -- but a pitch to get them off the fastball and then good change. It was an unbelievable debut. A young guy, great circumstances -- not much of crowd, more of spring training feel -- any way you cut it it's a nerve-racking day. To do what he did, especially command-wise. When someone's throwing that hard, you'd expect them to be up in the zone a lot. He was just painting at the knee all day. Pretty nasty. The only debut I saw that came close to that was (Jonathan) Papelbon. He's turned out to be pretty damn good."

Francisco Cordero: "Unbelievable. Everything was downhill. Everything was a strike. He attacked the hitters. He made the pitches he wanted to make. Even the home run pitch wasn't bad. The guy just put a good swing on it. It was just amazing. I just wanted to get my job done so he got the win. When you pitch like that, you deserve a win, especially in your big debut."

Adam Dunn: "He's fun to play behind. He gets the ball and throws. He doesn't take a lot of time between pitches. He throws strikes. He's one of those special guys. You can tell it on the mound. He's total different on the mound than he is in the clubhouse. I don't know how describe it."

Paul Bako: "He's tough. He's going to be tough for quite a long time. It was nice to see him come out and be himself, not try to do too much. He obviously wasn't rattled. It really doesn't surprise me. It was very nice to see. Just the way he handles himself, the confidence he has and the ability he has, it doesn't surprise me. He's nice and cool and collected. He knows he's good. He doesn't exude cockiness but he's got confidence about him that just every time out we're going to have a chance to win."

Mike Lincoln: "That was a special outing. But we saw that in spring. He's got that kind of stuff to be able to pitch like that every start. You can see it in him. He's a competitor and he has the stuff to carry him to another level."

Dusty Baker: "What can I say about Johnny Cueto? Great debut. He threw strikes. The linescore says it: Seven innings, one run, one hit, 10 strikeouts. That is some debut right there."


28 Comments:

at 4:42 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

yes!!!

finally the reds are developing the pitchers to compete

cueto, voltron and bailey have the potential to be dominant together

 
at 4:53 PM Blogger Cheviot Sports Authority said...

Great job by Johnny Cueto. He is the real deal. We need a similar performance from Volquez (can't expect what we got from Cueto today). Fogg and Arroyo are nothing special, but if they can be .500 Reds will be looking good. Got to address catching though. There has to be someone out there who can actually catch and hit his weight.

 
at 5:16 PM Blogger Unknown said...

If they can continue to live up to the hype, they can be the Big Red "Pitching" Machine.

 
at 5:30 PM Blogger Nate said...

Did CSA actually post something positive on an Enquirer blog??????
WOW

 
at 5:37 PM Blogger Unknown said...

Yes, this is all fine and dandy, but what did Josh Hamilton do today???? Why coudn't we have traded Cueto instead?? LOL!

 
at 6:31 PM Blogger BtotheU said...

Yeah, great outing and all...but can the kid catch a post corner route? We're in need of some WRs here in Cincy...

 
at 6:31 PM Blogger Deshawn Zombie said...

Has anyone coined the nickname "Johnny Francise" yet? I call dibbs on it for Cueto. Holy Crap. That was utterly electric. I giggled through most of the game.

 
at 7:00 PM Blogger Unknown said...

That was truly amazing. Can anyone remember when ANY Reds starter looked that dominant? I can't. Let alone a guy in his big league debut.

 
at 7:03 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's what I am talking about!

 
at 7:14 PM Blogger Frank Robinson's Ghost said...

Mike --

The last one was Mario Soto, and that was a long time ago. Wow.

 
at 7:21 PM Blogger Tom said...

I'm impressed. He's worth buying a ticket to watch pitch. Can't wait to see him in person.

 
at 7:25 PM Blogger cowboys150 said...

As great as Cueto was, I'd like to applaud Mike Licoln. What an awesome job he did getting the Reds out of the Weathers mess.

 
at 7:34 PM Blogger Dan H said...

It sure was nice watching a Reds pitcher dominate rather than an opposing pitcher dominate the Reds. That hasn't happened in quite some time. Awesome job by Cueto and our $48m closer nothing more needs to be said today.

 
at 8:05 PM Blogger Manda said...

Is it just me or do you kind of like Bako behind the plate? Valentin isnt that consistent of a bat anyway, and Bako catches a much better game. Im hoping he gets most of the starts until Ross is back.

 
at 8:25 PM Blogger BigRedBaseball said...

Great start by Cueto. I know it is only one start but at least it is encouraging. Did anyone notice Bailey's line at Louisville.

Bailey (L, 0-1) 7.0 5 1 1 1 2 1 1.29

 
at 8:30 PM Blogger Randy said...

What a great job today by this young pitcher. I just hope that the coaches are watching his pitch count. I can remember another young pitcher, Jim Simpson who came up young and threw his arm away thowing to many pitches. Do you remember what happened to some young Cub pitchers?

 
at 8:42 PM Blogger Mr. Redlegs said...

Jose Rijo ( 7-7-0-2-5) in Game 1 of the 1990 World Series is the last game I remember seeing a Reds pitcher being this dominant. Before that, Browning's perfect game against the Dodgers in 1988, and before that Frank Pastore on Opening Day in 1980 (9-3-0-0-5) against the Braves.

Certainly there's a few others sprinkled in along the way, but when you think about it . . . only a handful of outings in the past 28 seasons!

How many of you were born in that time? Hmmmm.

 
at 9:12 PM Blogger bearcat1984 said...

SEISMIC event today.

The Return of the Big Red Machine.

 
at 9:29 PM Blogger mike jo said...

very exciting was looking forward to his start and like arizona i was blown away and with the rest of the brat pack ready not to contribute but to explode its a great time to be a reds fan winning is contagious and johnny cueto is sick

 
at 10:25 PM Blogger KevinFtMyers said...

Just finished watching the replay on MLB.com, and I had no control over the "wows" and "holy sh!" coming out of my mouth. I just dont see how he wont get to double digit wins, even with a rough patch at some point.

If Volquez is even 75% of Cueto today..look out!

Lincoln was good.

Keppinger has to be in the lineup, I dont care if he plays a different position every day.

Alot of positives today, but also a BIG NEGATIVE:

WAY too many stranded runners.
(15!)
Playoff teams just dont do that.
This game should have been like 8 to 1.

ANYWAY, Reds are 1 game over .500 and in a 3 way tie for first, so 3 games in, theyre right where they need to be.

Lets hope they can keep it up.

 
at 10:27 PM Blogger flard said...

June 1978 Tom Seaver's no-hitter.

 
at 11:18 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

In my 21 years on earth this was the most dominating I've seen a Red's pitcher throw.

 
at 1:56 AM Blogger Unknown said...

the nasty boys are back but this time they're starting pitchers - the rest of baseball might not have realized today what this means to the entire N.L. but we'll let them figure it out slowly - cant wait to see how volquez does on sunday

 
at 4:38 AM Blogger cowboys150 said...

When Gonzo comes back why not put Keppinger at third? That way you keep his bat in the lineup and he couldn't do any worse in the error department.

 
at 9:39 AM Blogger Osogato said...

John, I see you didn't get a quote from Weathers. I imagine it would have went something like this: "I hate the kid. I did everything in my power to keep him from getting that first W, but Dusty yanked me too soon..."

 
at 9:56 AM Blogger kevin in west lafayette said...

Ryan said...
- cant wait to see how volquez does on sunday

However Volquez does, we have to remember he has already pitched against the Phillies heavy lineup twice in spring training games. I bet he gets hit around a little bit. Nothing to worry about too much.

 
at 12:19 PM Blogger reaganspad said...

Those are all great games Mr. Redlegs, but I agree with Frank Robinson. Mario Soto is the most dominant pitcher we have seen in this generation until yesterday. The difference was Soto would have had to complete the game to have a chance to win.

To CSA's point, NOBODY on the 1983 team hit their weight (Dressen was high at 277, and nobody had 60 RBI's). Billardello and Alex Trevino Catching.

Soto's 1983:

273 innings, 18 Complete Games, 3 Shut Outs, 242 SO's and a 17-13 record.

It was Paul Householder's best year as a Redleg

 
at 1:40 PM Blogger Red Faced said...

I grew up on Reds baseball in late 70's and early 80's before Eric Davis came around Mario Soto was my hero. It's ashame he never got to play with a good team. I would compare Cueto with him.

Two quick memories of Soto. #1 losing his no hitter with 2 down and 2 strikes in the 9th against St Louis (I think he struck out 4 in one inning that game also), and then another game in which he hit Cluadel Washington of the Braves and Washington, after a brief delay, decided to rush the mound. Well Mario had already gotten a new ball back from the catcher and promptly fired it at Washington about halfway to the mound. It was priceless. I've hated the Braves ever since.

I say a good nickname for Cueto would simply be JC because he might prove to be the savior of this organization.

 
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