Setting The Stage: Reds Sweep

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Very pleased to be joined by Michael McHenry. We're going to be talking about tonight's game that you can see at 7 o'clock, 2013. It's April 14th. The Pirates are looking for a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. And Michael, before I start there, I want to ask you 2011, 2012, that Pirates team had almost gotten over the hump, but then had terrible second halves. And fans are hoping that you're going to get over 500 and compete for a playoff spot. What was sort of the mentality early on in that 2013 season?

Building From 2011–2012

Russell Martin’s Impact And Leadership

SPEAKER_01 0:30

I think 11 and 12, Kinger, was more of building that foundation and building it so so firmly that we could actually grow from it. And then 2012, you you felt like a little bit of shift. The talent was a little bit better, the depth got a little bit better, the pitching fell off then with some injuries, but then it was combated going into 13, bringing in Russell Martin, a veteran, a guy that played in the playoffs, a guy that could kind of lead that staff along with me. It was just a big difference maker. I mean, I always say Braha started it and Martin finished it as kind of the team leader. But one thing about that 13 team is we had a group of leaders. It wasn't one guy that really stood up. AJ uh led the staff. Russell Martin kind of led from afar and kind of oversaw everything. You had Grilly in the bullpen with the shark tank, and then you had Barmis in the infield. So you had a group of guys kind of creating a wolf pack of sorts that made that team have a different type of culture than 11 and 12. I mean, the culture and the camaraderie in 11-12 were outstanding, but in 13, it was just a little bit different.

Embracing A Reduced Role

SPEAKER_00 1:35

You mentioned Russell Martin. You know, in 11 and 12, you split some time with Rod Barajas. 12, you had a really good season, 12 home runs, you slung 442. Now all of a sudden you have to start dealing with playing less under Russell Martin, uh, with Russell Martin being the everyday catcher. What was that like for you? What kind of an adjustment was that?

SPEAKER_01 1:53

It was tough because I went into the offseason, you know, kind of having the rights to that job and being able to split time with somebody. That was the plan going into it. But you see a guy like Russell Martin on the free agent market, you go get him. So they brought him in, and luckily he was a guy that kind of let me lead first. He wanted to ask questions hey, what does this guy have? What's his mentality? What's his personality? How do you attack Vado? How do you do this? How do you do that? He was a learner first. And when you have a guy that's been around the league that long with that much experience and that much talent asking you those types of questions, we had an instant bond. And I felt like our relationship grew. So it made it easy as a human being, not just a player, to say, man, this is special. And I always said I wanted to try to embrace the role I was in, whether it was starting, whether it was playing. But that you know, four or five days in between, I tried to get ready for that one game I had and tried to win.

Early Hole And Latos On The Mound

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Well, this game you had, your team falls behind. I don't know how well you remember the game, but you fell behind five-nothing early on. Matt Latos on the mound for the Cincinnati Reds. He could be really nasty when he was on. Um, do you remember any thoughts about this? You guys were looking for a sweep. And I mean, you look, you sweep a three-game series, you pick up three games, you lose that third game, you've only picked up one game, uh, a chance to get to 500. Uh, what do you remember about the early portions of that game? With, by the way, Phil Irwin on the mound, making one of his two major league uh career starts.

The 2-0 Homer That Sparked Life

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Right. And if I'm not mistaken, that was his debut. Yes, it was. At a kind of shaky first inning, and then settled in, gave us enough to get it to the bullpen and give us a chance to win. But you know what I remember most is you know, day game. I know it's my time. Letos is a guy that owned me in the minor leagues, and he owned me early on in my big league career. So when I when I saw the lineup and I saw Letos, I said, today's the day. I gotta get this guy at some point. He's a little arrogant, he's a little narcissistic. He's a guy that kind of like struts around the mound. He's gonna fist pump when he strikes you out. So he's a guy you want to tap. You want to make sure you can absolutely crush him that day. So we get down early. It kind of felt like we were gonna lose it a little bit, but we held our ground and we ended up coming back, which was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Well, you started the comeback in the seventh inning, down five-nothing. He had a solo shot out to center field off Latoast. What do you remember about that home run?

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Those are the homes you don't forget, King. It's the ones that don't even you don't even feel it coming off the bat. It feels like a trampoline off your barrel. But yeah, I got luckily I was ahead in the count, 2-0, and he tried to just groove fastball. I mean, I was playing playing to see that fastball 2-0. I knew that they had the lead. They have a veteran catcher behind the plate. They're gonna try to just get one by me. Hopefully, I foul it off. And I just tried not to do too much, and they cleared that center field fence.

Tying Shot Off Broxton

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Well, then you come back to the next inning. Uh the team, uh, the Reds pick up a run. You guys pick up a couple more down. Six to four. Very next inning, Jonathan Broxton. And, you know, if Pirates fans think about Jonathan Broxton, they might think, well, this guy wasn't much. He was a terrific pitcher against everybody in seat except the Pirates. I don't know why you guys seem to have so much success against Jonathan Broxton, but you hit a two-run home route to left this time to tie the game that you guys eventually wind up winning. What do you remember about that at bat?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

I was praying it was gonna get far enough. Uh if you watch, uh I think it was Heisey or Heisley or the left fielder, he almost falls into the uh stands trying to catch it. I hit it just out in front. It was a slider. Broxton was known to throw more sliders than fastball. I always felt comfortable off of him, even though he was letting it go from the moon. I think he's 6'8 or 6'9, 7,000 pounds. Huge, huge person. So when he's out on the mound, he looks big. So, you know, you just try to pick up that spin and just try to stay on it. He kind of manipulates the speed, caught it out in front, hit it really high, and just kind of started blowing as hard as I could, hoping it would go. Luckily, left fielder did not catch it and he did not fall in the stands, and we ended up having a tie ballgame.

Why 2013 Was Different

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, you guys wind up winning that game 10 to 7. And there are games that are important. And I think early on in that season, that was important. That was a big win to get the sweep and to come back from 5-0, which doesn't happen very often. Was there a moment though in 2013 where you knew you just knew, hey, this is different than those 11 and 12 uh seasons that we talked about a little bit earlier?

Bullpen Ends Games

SPEAKER_01 6:10

I would say late July, um, when we felt I felt like we were picking up steam. I I had just gotten hurt um in Miami, and it felt like we were on we were on a week-long road trip during that time, and it seemed like even when we weren't playing great, we were still hanging in there, and then someone would come up with a big hit, whether it was Kutch, Jay Hay, Russell Martin, Barmist, it was just constantly a different person stepping up, and I felt like that momentum shift was really in that late July and into August. We started playing our best baseball. We all knew, you know, Kutch in June, July, and August was gonna get absolutely crazy hot, but it was almost like the whole team started to shift that. Guys started throwing better, Lariano got better towards the end of the season, and I felt like we knew at that point we got over that hump. And you know, you could see it right out in front of us. Man, we just got to get over that hill, get over that hill. We're just winning series and winning another series and winning another series. But on that team, Kinger, I would say if we had a guy that could go five, six innings, even the guys that debuted, if we could get the ball to the bullpen, that bullpen was so good. I mean, it didn't matter if Jared Hughes came in in the six or Tony Watson, if you get the ball to Melanson and then to Grilly, it was game over.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, it was fun to watch. Those teams were fun to watch. And tonight's game is going to be fun to watch at seven o'clock. Michael, great catching up with you. See you soon, my friend. Absolutely. Thank you, Kimir.