It’s not that Votto is aloof. Far from it. Sitting in front of his conspicuously tidy locker in the Reds’ clubhouse a few hours before a game, he holds forth on a range of subjects, the dinner-party guest you feel fortunate to be seated alongside. And for all his professional drive, he’s not ruthless. “He’s as polite as anyone I’ve ever met,” says Baker.
But until Votto can figure out how popularity will benefit his job performance, he’ll keep a low profile. “Attention goes both ways, it creates expectations and it also creates limits,” he says. “When you buy into that, it’s almost like you’re not being fair to yourself … and, to me anyway, it distracts from the job.”
Finally, it has occurred. The Reds lead the league in fielding percentage. They dropped down two suicide squeeze bunts in a week. They hit cutoff men, they move runners over a base, they’re aggressive and mostly smart on the basepaths. Joey Votto works counts. Like he’s building a monument from the first brick, up.
“He’s not the show guy,’’ Jacoby said. “He’s got a little different demeanor. He’s very intense when he prepares for a game. Like no one else. He’s got a real good understanding (and) he doesn’t deviate or panic. He trusts his abilities.’’
“It was difficult,” he says. “I was in the middle of playing well, and we were doing well when I left. The team had a good direction.”
But directions change quickly in baseball. First in ’09, Votto’s did. Then, for a variety of reasons, the Reds’ did, too. They finished 78-84, their ninth consecutive losing season.
“It was tough,” Arroyo says. “For a long time, we didn’t know what was going on with him. They didn’t say what the reason was.
“I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, and I didn’t understand how a guy can hit two home runs in a game and then go inside and start crying. It was hard for the team to understand. We didn’t know about his father’s death.
“You play the game like little kids — you don’t think about tragedy while you’re out there. That made it hard for all of us. We depend on him. It was hard for us because we relied on him. He’s such a big load, and then we weren’t going to have him.”
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