Votto endures as a portion of the Reds’ past moves on
Jay Bruce retired April 19. Let’s remember 2010 and the biggest knock the Reds have had since Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb.
On Sept. 28, 11 years ago, Bruce sent a fastball into the right-field moondeck in the last of the ninth inning, a walkoff blast that sent the Reds to the postseason for the first time in 15 years. Name the pitcher he took deep, win fabulous prizes chosen just for you.
That home run set the tone for the Reds’ most recent run of success, brief as it was and as long ago as it seems now. It symbolized, too, a team that seemed poised for better days. The roster was full of younger players whose names still resonate in the minds of a generation of Reds fans: Aroldis Chapman, Bronson Arroyo, Brandon Phillips, Mike Leake, Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto and, of course, Joey Votto.
If you want to feel old(er): Now that Bruce has retired, only three players from the 2010 team are still in the game: Cueto, Chapman and Votto, who offered this to his great friend and former teammate: “You made it, man. Congratulations.”
Votto is 37. He spent the previous two seasons proving age really is more than a number. At the moment, he seems locked in on proving otherwise. I wanted to ask Votto, after his three hits off the great Shane Bieber April 18, if Bruce’s retirement gave him a keener sense of how short even a long major league career can be. Bruce turned 34 less than a month ago.
Votto had left the clubhouse by then. In the Age of Zoom, media are beholden to the good efforts of club media relations folks. I missed Votto.
I watched him hit that day, though. That was worth a few soundless words. He jumped on Bieber’s first pitch to him in the first inning and lined it up the middle for a single. Then, against an extreme shift in the third, Votto managed a seeingeye dribbler that barely had steam enough to bounce over the third-base bag.
Since Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez was parked over near second base, even Votto had time to lumber into second with as flukey a double as he has ever hit. Turnabout is fair play for Votto, who has hit into lots of bad luck this season and last.
He finished his day versus Bieber by lining a two-RBI double down the first-base line in the fifth. Three at-bats against Bieber, three hits to three different fields.
The Reds remained in first place and three games over .500 to start the week. The last time they were as many as three games over. 500 was May 9, 2017. That makes 2010 and Jay Bruce’s knock seem a few lifetimes ago.
And yet these are the best of times for the Reds, who turn triple plays when they most need them and win games because the other guys can’t field routine ground balls. And that was just on April 18. They’re not as young as 2010, and economically speaking they look to be less capable of maintaining October dreams. But they’re interesting now.
The face of the ’10 team was Scott Rolen, who was marvelous but aging fast. Bruce’s mug wasn’t far behind, though. He was 23, in his third big-league season.
He had a home run bat, a big arm and an engaging face to present to the winning-starved fans.
Eleven years later, Votto’s face endures. A long baseball career is but a short time, for even the best players. Thanks for hanging out, Jay Bruce. Stay awhile longer, Joey Votto. We’ll miss you when you’re gone.
Tim Byrdak gave up Bruce’s home run, by the way. He’s gone, too.