Who wouldn't want that? Singles hitters, gap hitters, hitters to dent the red seats. Speed and power. Slash and bomb. Life could be a dream.

        Six months and 109 games later, what looked too good to be true, was.

        The Reds can barely buy a big hit, and you can't blame that on market size. When the death bell sounds on Cincinnati's 2000 pennant race — and it's close enough now to make your ears ring — it's not the pitching we'll mourn. The pitching has been spotty, but with the arms being deployed now, what did you expect?

        It's the hitting. “To a man, I don't think any of us has had the season we're capable of having,” said Dante Bichette before Saturday's game. “Me included.”

What could have been
        Until Benito Santiago delivered a rarity — a clutch two-run single in the 8th inning — the Reds had lost their previous three, all well-pitched, all by a run, all for want of one big hit. Through seven innings Saturday, the song remained the same: They left runners in scoring position in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th innings, and trailed 3-2.

        They couldn't score with the bases loaded and none out in the 6th. They didn't with the bases loaded and one out in the 9th. Griffey singled in the tying run in the 10th, another rarity: He was batting .222 with runners in scoring position.

        By the 6th inning, it had begun raining, hard enough to force a short delay. It was a nice metaphor for the Reds 2000 parade, if you were looking.

        You can't explain away the Reds underachieving batters simply by the pitchers they've faced lately. Mike Hampton, yes. Al Leiter, maybe. Ryan Dempster? Well, OK.

        But A.J. Burnett? He was 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA, a career five-game winner. Burnett held the Reds to two runs in six innings.

        “Our style is consistent with a home run-hitting ballclub,” Larkin decided before the game. Since the Reds are 7-23 in games when they haven't homered, that makes sense.

        “We have decent speed, but we haven't done anything with it,” Larkin said. “We've got guys who can handle the bat, but we don't use it.” Not enough hitting and running, he said. “It's not a criticism of anyone, it's just been our style. We go about it like an American League club.”

"Middle of the road'
        That is, frequently all or nothing. Lately, it has been more of the latter.

        The Cardinals won Saturday, keeping at least a five-game lead over the Reds. That shouldn't concern Cincinnati much now. How do you catch the Cardinals if you're running with the Marlins?

        “It has been,” Larkin summed up, “a very middle-of-the-road season for a team that's got a chance to compete.”

        The flashbulbs still pop when Griffey swings. Attendance is up more than 8,000 a game. The expectations will remain until the Reds are officially out of it. But in the end, we'll be lamenting the hitting problems, and wondering how the lineups Bowden scribbled could have underachieved enough to sink the Reds pennant hopes.

        Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.

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