CINCINNATI — Ryan Ludwick was thrilled
beyond comprehension — his first appearance on FOX Sports Ohio as the
Star of the Game for the Cincinnati Reds and first appearance on any
Star of the Game Show for a long, long time.
For a
guy seemingly locked in mediocrity, as least as far as his batting
average was concerned, it was a special moment for the 33-year-old
outfielder.
What made matters even worse than his
anemic batting average (.206), Manager Dusty Baker said he would be the
team’s designated hitter when it began interleague play last Friday
against the New York Yankees in the golden resplendence of the new
Yankee Stadium.
But while pinch-hitting in Citi Field
against the New York Mets, Ludwick was hit on the left forearm by a
pitch so he was unable to answer the DH call Friday and
Saturday.
But he recovered enough so that Baker had
him playing DH Sunday afternoon, and what a Sunday after it was. Ludwick
had three hits, including a home run off CC Sabathia when the Reds
trailed, 3-2, and a two-run double in the ninth to push that one-run
lead into a 5-2 margin, the final score.
So there he
was, standing in front of the FOX camera with broadcaster Jim Day,
enjoying the moment.
Then, just as the interview was
about to end, Ludwick said, “May I say one more thing?” Told that he
could, Ludwick looked into the camera and said, “Cody, I love
you.”
Being the solid interviewer, Day asked about
Cody and Ludwick told the story. Cody Clark is Ludwick’s 20-year-old
nephew, hospitalized in California after a leg amputation due to
cancer.
And it took off my from there. Day put it on
Twitter with the hash tag, “Pray for Cody,” and it went
viral.
@TerriClarkLV Cody
—
and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers, hang tough Cody,
we're here to support you! #prayforcody
Jim Day (@JimDayTV) May 20,
2012
Ludwick said he was
reluctant to share Cody’s story on television, fearful he wouldn’t want
his story out there, “But he was ecstatic. He is a huge baseball
fan.”
So the three hits, the home run, the three RBI,
the big victory over the Yankees were great stuff, but the reaction
from Cody and his mother not only made Ludwick’s day, it probably made
his year.
But it is a year he expects to get better
and better. He remains in a collar-to-collar race with Chris Heisey for
the left field spot.
“I’ve worked and worked with
(hitting coach) Brook Jacoby on just the basics,” he said. “Batting
practice is great, but I’ve had a really hard time transferring it into
games, as far as timing. In BP, I’ll be on top of the ball hitting line
drives, then I I get in the game and all of a sudden I’m underneath the
ball. I’ll get a good pitch to hit and swing through it or foul it
off.”
Ludwick wants to produce, be a factor, not
matter what his role. And that’s the way he approached it when he signed
with the Reds last winter.
“The main thing is
winning and that’s why I came here I came here to win,” he said. “I sure
came to get my career back on track, but the most important thing is
that I’d love to win a championship before I retire, before I’m doing
playing. And this team, of all the teams I talked to, I thought had the
best chance of doing that.”
Ludwick spliced together a
monster year in 2008 for the St. Louis Cardinals — .299, 27 homers, 113
RBI. And 2009 wasn’t bad — .265, but 22 homers and 97
RBI.
Since then, though, with stops in San Diego and
Pittsburgh, Ludwick is working to fit the pieces back together again,
pieces that were scattered all over the expansive outfield in San
Diego’s Petco Field.
The thing is, Ludwick’s average
is .206 but tucked within those small numbers is production — four home
runs (third on the team) and 15 RBI (third on the team and that’s in
only 87 at-bats.
“Yes, if you look at the RBIs and
the power numbers and the amount of at-bats, it’s OK. It’s really OK,”
he said. “That’s a home ever 20 at-bats and I’m driving in some runs.
Obviously, the average isn’t real good,” he said with a guffaw. “It’s
hard on all of us when we’re not helping the
team.”
He was one huge help
Sunday.
“We’re playing pretty good
baseball,” he said. “We just came back from splitting games with Atlanta
and the Mets, both teams playing over .500, and took two of three from
the Yankees in their own house. In the big picture, that’s what I’m
trying to focus on. So Sunday for me? It was fun. It was nice. I can
build on that.”
Yes, the Reds are doing well and
Ludwick was enthralled with his Sunday
contribution.
“But the best part of the day was given
that little shout-out to my nephew with cancer,” he said. “It was
amazing the response it got when it hit Twitter. Complete strangers
started tweeting, ‘How can we help?’ That brought a smile to his
face.”
And the smile remains on Ludwick’s face, too.
