Denny Neagle glares after giving up a first-inning HR. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        Denny Neagle has earned some slack. He has done too much over too many years to be judged on the basis of one arctic night in April.

        We need a body of work — not just one example — before we leap to any lasting conclusions about the Cincinnati Reds' sage left-hander. Statisticians insist on a representative sample. Neagle deserves a fair test.

        But the early returns from Tuesday night said things aren't nearly so bleak as they appeared last week in Florida. Maybe spring training was just Neagle's way of working out the accumulated kinks of a Colorado winter. Maybe the hidden message of his March was not to believe everything you see.

        Because after a month of alarming auditions, Neagle staged an Opening Night performance to comfort his critics. Though the Reds lost their postponed opener to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1, Neagle pitched six encouraging innings, allowing only one run on a first-inning home run by Jeromy Burnitz. He left the game with no decision but much vindication.

        “I was probably one of the few people who wasn't worried about myself,” Neagle said. “I knew I was throwing better pitches than my line score (indicated), and tonight I proved it.”

        The Brewers should not be confused with Murderer's Row. Davey Lopes' lineup is about as lethal as a leaky squirt gun. Yet all of the Milwaukee hitters carry bats to home plate, and Neagle has lately done for Louisville Sluggers what Lemon Pledge does for dusty credenzas.

Take that, media
        In 25 spring training innings, he allowed 31 hits — 10 of them home runs. After the Toronto Blue Jays were done tormenting him Thursday, Neagle's earned-run average for March was 9.72. His work was so underwhelming that a pool was conducted in the press box Tuesday night on how many earned runs he would allow. (My number was 3, chosen by lot. It looked low.)

        Yet after Burnitz had circled the bases — hitting a misplaced pitch that was intended to back him off the plate — no other Brewer would advance as far as third base against Neagle. He allowed only five hits, retired 11 of the last 12 hitters he faced and made Thursday's debacle in Dunedin seem like a distant memory.

        “Everybody was ready to bury him,” Reds manager Jack McKeon said. “But you never know what happens when the bell rings.”

        What happens to Neagle — and to a lot of veteran pitchers — is that they exert themselves more when the season starts. Young pitchers must try to impress people if they are to make a major-league club in spring training. Accomplished pitchers can afford to tinker.

        One of the four home runs Neagle allowed last Thursday was a 2-and-0 fastball to Raul Mondesi. It was a pitch, Neagle said, Mondesi would be unlikely to see in a regular game. Like Greg Maddux, Neagle doesn't overpower hitters so much as he outthinks them.

Hold the panic
        “My philosophy is that every pitch should be the most important pitch in the ballgame,” he said. “In spring training, sometimes you don't bear down on a pitch that much because the stats don't count. ... We were laughing about it. I said, "Is it wrong to feel good after giving up nine runs in five innings?'”

        Some pitchers talk that way after getting pounded, and it is assumed they are in denial. Neagle gets the benefit of the doubt. He is a former 20-game winner, and was the Reds' most effective pitcher at the end of last season. In preseason, Neagle knew his velocity was encouraging and his curveball was wicked. He figured he'd be ready.

        “Some guys have great springs and the season comes around and they can't do anything,” said Reds pitching coach Don Gullett. “Randy Johnson had a tough spring, and I don't think Arizona is too worried about him.”

        Neagle said he wasn't worried before Tuesday's game. After it, he wasn't relieved. His only real regret was that he neglected to get the ball from his 1,000th career strikeout.

        All things considered, a pretty small problem.

        Tim Sullivan welcomes your email at tsullivan@enquirer.com

Brewers 5, Reds 1 Neagle proves bad March meant nothing Die-hard fans brave chill Burnitz, Brewers remain Reds killers Parris looking ahead, not back REDS NOTEBOOK Runs, box score

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