Monday, July 27, 1998

BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sean Casey

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Sean Casey that Jim Bowden was raving about on Opening Day eve finally showed up at the All-Star break.

After the scary eye injury, all those 14-hoppers to second base, the demotion to Indianapolis and some more weak grounders, Casey has found himself. And how.

Since the All-Star break, Casey is hitting .321 with eight doubles, four of which came on the seven-game road trip the Reds completed Sunday. He was 0-for-3 in Sunday's 2-1 loss in 10 innings to the Giants, but he drove in the Reds' only run.

"He's starting to drive the ball now," Reds manager Jack McKeon said. "You still see a few of those weak grounders on off-speed stuff, but he'll adjust to that, too."

Casey's eye injury -- he was hit by a ball thrown by Damian Jackson during infield practice on April 8 -- and subsequent quick recovery had him trying to get back into playing form in the big leagues.

Casey only had 10 at-bats in the majors before the trade that brought him from the Cleveland Indians to the Reds for Dave Burba the day before Opening Day.

"I was trying to find my stroke in the big leagues," he said. "That's tough to do."

In fact, Casey couldn't do it. He hit .135 in 16 games before he was sent back to Triple-A Indianapolis. He was on a 1-for-28 skid when he was sent down.

The trip down helped. Casey is hitting .285 since.

"A lot of it is confidence," he said. "Obviously you get down on yourself when you're struggling. There are so many ups and downs in this game. You have to keep things in perspective."

McKeon has been pleased with Casey's overall development. "He's become a pretty good first baseman," McKeon said. "He's a much better base runner. He's done a lot of things to make himself a better player."