Monday, July 6, 1998

Paul Konerko will play when he catches up with the Reds in Arizona on Friday. But where?

"I don't have any idea," manager Jack McKeon said. "We'll sit down and talk. He signed as a catcher. He's played first, third and outfield.

"I'd like to get a look at him at all three."

Konerko was obtained Saturday along with left-hander Dennis Reyes from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for All-Star reliever Jeff Shaw. Konerko came to Cincinnati for Sunday's game.

Konerko is the third young hitting prospect on the Reds' roster who is best suited for first base.

Recently, Sean Casey has been playing first. When he was inserted there, Dmitri Young was moved to left field.

Lately, Willie Greene has been playing left field because Young is hurt. But Sunday, Greene played right field because Reggie Sanders was sick.

Greene is ordinarily the third baseman, but Pokey Reese has been playing there because the Reds started winning while he was playing there during interleague games.

So who's on first after the All-Star break? That's for McKeon to figure.

Pleased with deal

"To get those two guys, it's a helluva deal," McKeon said of Konerko and Reyes.

McKeon was consulted before the deal was done. He thinks the Reds could get ahead of their 2002 schedule for returning to contention. "You bring all those young guys together and go from there," McKeon said. "You put all those premium guys in place, then in a year and a half you fill holes with a little experience.

"Hopefully, we have the money to do it. If we don't, Marty (Brennaman) and I will take up a collection."

Deja vu

Jeff Shaw was in Montreal when the Expos went with a youth movement. "The difference is, here they have more money to work with," Shaw said. "If they become good in 2000, 2001 or 2002, they have the money to get free agent guys."

Attendance

The Reds drew 28,830 Sunday, putting them at 1,015,207 for the year. It marks the 29th straight year at Cinergy - Riverfront that they have gone over 1 million.

They are slightly behind last year's pace. Last year after 45 dates, they had drawn 1,030,256.

White right

Gabe White ran his streak of scoreless appearances to six. He went one inning, allowed no baserunners and struck out one. In the streak he's gone 4 1/3 innings, allowed one hit and struck out eight. White, a left-hander, has come through in tough spots. Saturday, he struck out Ray Lankford with the bases loaded to preserve a 6-3 lead.

"He's been outstanding," McKeon said. "We've always known he could do this. It's a matter of when you have a bad outing, it's not the end of the world."'

Reggie out

Reggie Sanders was a late scratch from the lineup Sunday because of an upset stomach.

Greene made his first start of the year in right for Sanders, and Chris Stynes was inserted in left field.

Greene was a little shaky out there. He let Gary Gaetti's ball in the second inning drop in front of him, then bounce over his head for a double.

Stynes work

The Reds turned a nice double play Sunday. Stynes ran down John Mabry's shot to left and relayed to Barry Larkin, who threw to first to double up Mark McGwire.

Big Mac attack

Mark McGwire did take batting practice Sunday (he had considered skipping it).

He hit 13 of 28 balls out -- one into the red seats, one that would have gone red if it hadn't hit the foul pole, and two into the yellow seats.