Thursday, July 16, 1998

BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Proving that a baseball season is a truly long and strange trip, the Reds have in three weeks gone from the brink of oblivion to the verge of the playoff race.

With their exhilarating 4-2, come-from-behind victory Wednesday to beat the Cardinals in 11 innings, the Reds have won 10 straight and 15 of their last 16. Their 11th come-from-behind win in that span put them eight games behind San Francisco in the National League wild-card race, and they find themselves building for the future and contending for the playoffs at the same time.

If they beat the San Diego Padres tonight, it will be the first time the Reds have won 16 of 17 games since 1909.

HIGHS AND LOWS
The Reds have won 10 straight and 15 of their past 16. Before that, the Reds lost 11 straight. Here's a look at how key players performed during both streaks (losing streak stats at left):
Players' Averages
Player	H	AB	AVG	H	AB	AVG
Fordyce Sanders Perez Reese Taubens. Larkin Young Boone Greene Stynes Team	6 3 2 3 5 13 11 11 8 6 70	19 32 13 8 23 40 29 43 27 22 304	.316 .094 .154 .445 .217 .325 .302 .256 .296 .273 .230	7 20 3 15 17 20 14 17 8 3 184	17 55 8 41 17 60 46 61 50 21 622	.412 .364 .375 .366 .362 .333 .333 .279 .163 .150 .296
Pitchers' ERAS
Player	IP	ERA	IP	ERA
White Tomko Reml. Winch. Graves Harnisch Sullivan Team	2.1 14.0 14.0 9.0 7.1 12.2 11.0 78.0	3.37 7.71 3.86 9.00 6.14 3.55 1.64 5.19	12.2 24.2 18.1 12.0 11.2 19.1 10.0 162	0.71 2.19 2.95 3.00 3.18 5.03 4.50 3.11

And remember, this is all on the heels of their worst skid of the season, a period where they lost 19 of 22, including 11 straight before this torrid tear.

So what's next for the Little Red Wagon?

Only one of the toughest stretches of their 1998 schedule. In the next three weeks the Reds play 13 of 20 games on the road, with 13 of those 20 against teams that would make the playoffs if they started today.

That span includes three games with National League West leader San Diego this weekend in Cincinnati, seven against N.L. East leader Atlanta (four here and three there) and three at San Francisco. Only two games at Colorado next week and three at Florida the week after offer any kind of apparent break, and the Dodgers will be a tough two-game series in Los Angeles next week.

The front office maintains the plan is to build for the future, and they'll stick to it. But it might be nice if that plan for contention moved up from 2002 to 1998.

"If we're within striking distance by Aug. 7 (when they begin a nine-game homestand against Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Montreal), anything can happen," said general manager Jim Bowden.

"This is a remarkable run. I've never seen anything like this," Bowden said. "This is a tremendous feat. It's also very characteristic of young players because they're so streaky. These young players haven't even come to their potential."

Why the sudden surge? There are almost too many reasons to count. Barry Larkin has returned to his All-Star form, the kids (Mike Frank, Sean Casey, Paul Konerko) are contributing in big ways and have infused the team with a new attitude, Dmitri Young continues to hit in the .315 range and Pokey Reese has added a spark both offensively and defensively.

Eddie Taubensee has come out of his slump. Bret Boone continues to hit and drive in runs. Even Reggie Sanders, who overall has had a disappointing season, has contributed some big hits, as have bench players like Chris Stynes, Brook Fordyce, Eduardo Perez and Melvin Nieves.

The starting pitching has been outstanding. Brett Tomko is 4-0 with a 2.36 ERA during his own streak, Pete Harnisch continues to pitch well, Mike Remlinger threw a complete-game shutout last Saturday, Steve Parris has been solid since his promotion and Scott Winchester, who hasn't won in this streak, has kept the Reds in the game.

The bullpen also has been strong, with Danny Graves, Gabe White, Scott Sullivan, Rick Krivda, Stan Belinda and John Hudek all contributing with key innings. Relievers haven't allowed a run in their last 19 2/3 innings and have a 1.80 ERA in the last 19 games, spanning 70 innings.

"Everybody has been doing his part," Boone said. "At this point you don't even need to ask why. We're just enjoying it."

The Reds aren't making mental or physical errors in the field and they're producing with men on base, two big differences from their 11-game skid. The only loss in this run was a 2-1 defeat to Minnesota's All-Star ace, Brad Radke.

"We weren't as bad as we were when we were losing and we're probably not as good as we're playing now," manager Jack McKeon said. "You can't get carried away. We didn't get too low when we were losing and we're not going to get too high now."

It started with a meeting McKeon held in Chicago on June 25, the day this whole thing started with a 7-5 victory over the White Sox to break the 11-game skid.

"I told them, "Let's have some fun. Quit trying to do too much,' " McKeon said. "We've been having fun ever since."

Most teams that get hot stick with one lineup, but the Reds aren't likely to do that. In fact, during the streak, the only position that has stayed unchanged is Larkin at shortstop. Every other position has had at least two different starters.

At first base it has been Casey, Konerko and Perez; at second, Boone and Reese; at third, Reese, Greene and Konerko; at catcher, Taubensee and Fordyce; and in the outfield, in various positions, it has been Young, Sanders, Stynes, Frank, Nieves, Konerko and Greene.

Game-winning hits have come from Reese, Boone, Casey, Konerko, Perez and Taubensee, while all the others have had hits that were just as important. Casey, Boone and Larkin have all saved runs with their defense.

So what lineup will McKeon stick with? All of the above.

The regulars will be Taubensee behind the plate, Casey at first, Boone at second, Larkin at short, Young in left and Konerko wherever. Make no mistake -- Konerko, the young power-hitter, will be in the lineup as a regular, but because he can play third, first and outfield, he may not have a guaranteed spot every day. Third base seems to be a good fit for him.

That leaves Greene to switch between third and right field, Reese to fill in at third and elsewhere on the infield, and Sanders and Frank playing in both center and right.

"There's a lot of enthusiasm and energy," Bowden said. "They really seem to be pulling together. There's not a lot of egos. Everyone's pulling for each other. You should see the dugout during the game. This place is rolling."