Thursday, April 22, 1999

REDS 7, METS 4

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Black garb, big bats spark rally

BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Denny Neagle gave up four runs in four innings in his first Reds start. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

        After fumbling around in the dressing room for 12 games, the Reds finally found the look they wanted.

        They strolled down the runway Wednesday night with the assurance they had conveyed all spring. They knew Greg Vaughn's instant offense could match the suffocating bullpen nicely. And the black outlines of their new uniforms would trace every step of their swagger.

        If the true Reds have decided to show up for the season fashionably late, maybe their 7-4 victory over the New York Mets marked their arrival.

Mike Cameron runs out a two-run double in the fourth inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Vaughn's two-run homer sparked a six-run fourth inning that erased a 4-0 deficit and snapped a three-game losing streak before 15,040 at Cinergy Field.

        “This is the thing we said all along: When you're down three or four runs, a guy like him is capable of making it close,” manager Jack McKeon said. “When he hit the home run, I think right then it lifted everybody up and (we said), "Hey, we're back in this game now.' ”

        Though the season is barely two weeks old, Vaughn spoke with urgency, addressing the specter of a fire sale without prompting.

        “We all want to stay here,” the left fielder said. “We don't want to let this drag on out until July and next thing you know, they start shipping guys off. We all have to start making it happen now so we will be here to put ourselves in position to battle for that Central Division title.”

Barry Larkin reacts after striking out in the seventh. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

        Cincinnati's eruption spared Denny Neagle from losing his regular-season debut. The would-be ace, having overcome the weakened muscles in the back of his shoulder, allowed four runs and three hits in his four innings, including homers to Bobby Bonilla and Todd Pratt. But the left-hander retired the last six Mets he faced.

        “Am I disappointed? Sure. I would have liked to do better,” Neagle said. “But we won and that's what it's all about.”

        Neagle held the Mets hitless after Roger Cedeno's double led off the third inning. Scott Sullivan (1-0) worked three innings, followed by Dennys Reyes and Danny Graves, who earned his second save.

Eddie Taubensee congratulates Danny Graves after the final out. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

        Under orders from General Manager Jim Bowden, who doubtless was sick of the Reds' 1-6 home record, they matched their new 1999 home uniforms with black undershirts and black, red-billed caps for the first time this season. Previously, they had worn red undershirts and red, black-billed caps.

        Expect them to keep this look for the foreseeable future.

        “Black is the color of the world,” Vaughn said. “If it ain't broke, why fix it?”

        “I think it looks awesome,” Graves said. “It's something different, trying to change it up because we've been losing in red. But I think it looks so much better. It makes us look tougher. It gives us a little attitude.”

        In the fourth, the Reds drove Mets starter Masato Yoshii (1-2) from the premises.

        The first big blow was Vaughn's homer, his third of the season, on a 1-0 sinker. It ended a four-game homerless streak for the Reds, who had homered at least once in each of their first eight games. Vaughn, meanwhile, interrupted a hitless streak of 11 at-bats, which had lengthened a 1-for-16 skid.

        Yoshii then suffered the same type of malady that has afflicted Reds pitchers, walking Dmitri Young, Eddie Taubensee (whose fifth-inning homer off Josias Manzanillo ended the scoring) and Aaron Boone. Pokey Reese contributed a sacrifice fly and Mike Cameron added a two-run, go-ahead double.

       

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