[Stardust]

What happened Monday at Macy’s is a matter for the court. Mike Leake says his story will come out. Leake might guilty of theft or stupidity or he might be innocent. But what was clear Thursday was sometimes athletes can perform very well in the most trying of times.


With his team desperately needing a win, Leake pitched one of the better games of his young career. He went seven innings and allowed three runs on the four hits to beat Arizona 7-4 before a crowd of 17,319 at Great American Ball Park. The win snapped a four-game losing streak.

“I was glad for him,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “I was proud of him. And we needed it badly. That’s as big a win as we’ve had since Opening Day.”

The Reds finish the homestand 2-5. But they’re back over .500 at 10-9 and in first place as they head to St. Louis for three games, followed by three in Milwaukee.
Leaving on losing note after a 1-6 homestand would have been rough. To prevent that, Leake had to pitch well.

He did. He struck out six, walked two and retired 15 of the last 16 hitters he faced.

“It was important to uplift myself,” he said. “And, hopefully, uplift some other people. Just to get things off my back a little bit.”

Leake did not address the charges against him. But he answered when asked how he was doing mentally.

“I’ll be better once it’s all done,” he said. “But right now, I’ve got to eat it and go out and there and do what I can for the team. It was nice to go out there and erase some things and pitch.”

Leake wondered about fan reaction.

“A little bit,” he said. “I was wondering if they were going to support me or not. For the most part, they were very nice.”

The Reds considered whether to pull Leake from the start in the wake of his arrest.

“I didn’t know how he was going to react,” Baker said. “I didn’t really have a thought. I had a hope and a prayer he’d respond. You really don’t know, especially when a guy’s young like that.

“He was really hurting for a few days there. I’m sure he still does and still will. I’m glad he responded the way he did. He needed it. We needed it.”

Baker talked to Leake before deciding to let him pitch.

“What you gauge and what is are two different things,” Baker said. “Usually, you can look in a person’s eyes and read that person at that moment. His eyes were gentle eyes, which lets me know that he knows nobody knows joy and bitterness in anybody’s heart but that person. No matter how their face looks. His eyes were gentle to the point of pain and embarrassment.”

The game did not start well for Leake. The Reds found themselves behind for the fifth straight game before they came to bat. Leake gave up a one-out double Ryan Roberts in the first inning. An out later, Stephen Drew singled Roberts home.

The Reds came right back in the bottom of the first. Brandon Phillips singled with one out. Joey Votto singled to send Phillips to third. Jonny Gomes walked to the load the bases. Jay Bruce then walked to force in Phillips. Miguel Cairo lined a single to score two more runs.

After Ramon Hernandez was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Paul Janish walked to make it 4-1.

The D-Backs got a run in the second on pitcher Daniel Hudson’s perfect squeeze bunt. Only a very nice play by Phillips and Leake kept Hudson from beating it out.
Leake and pitching coach Bryan Price had a talk after the second inning.

“I started off slow the first couple of innings,” Leake said. “Price made a comment. The way he said it kind of fired me up. From there on, I kind of got in the groove. I hit my spots and attacked them.

“I didn’t want to back down, so I went after them. I wanted them to hit my pitch. They got a pitch every once in a while, but they really didn’t do too much damage. I just attacked.”

Kelly Johnson cut the lead to one in the fifth with his second home run of the series.
Votto made it 5-3 with a 406-foot homer to right for his third of the year.

The Reds added a run to chase Hudson in the sixth. Cairo walked with one out. He was running when Hernandez tattooed the ball to left for a double. Janish greeted Sam Demel with an RBI single to make it 7-3.

Baker shook hands with Leake after the seventh and then hugged him.

“I love these guys,” Baker said. “They’re like my boys, like my sons. Sometimes you chastise them. Sometimes you’ve got to spank them. I got many a spankings. They weren’t called spankings in my day. They were called whippings. I know my dad still loved me.”
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110...304210083/