Tuesday, June 05, 2001
Cardinals 5, Reds 2
May Meltdown becomes June Swoon
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ST. LOUIS -- The Reds were in a nice, tight ballgame for 6 1/2 innings Monday night. Then, as is their mode this season, they blew up. The St. Louis Cardinals walked away with 5-2 victory on a chilly night at Busch Stadium.
The bullpen, which had been good, was bad. The hitting, which had been bad, was bad.
“Two runs doesn't get it,” Reds manager Bob Boone said.
It added up to another bad series. The Cards took three of four in the series. The Reds go to Milwaukee to start a series today, and they've lost eight of nine at Miller Park.
The Reds have lost seven of eight, 11 of 13, 20 of 25 and 26 of 33 games. The May Meltdown has bled into the June Swoon.
The Reds, who were 15-10 on May 2, are now 21-35. They are on pace to finish 60-102, which would be the worst record in team history.
Monday's game was like so many in the skid. The Reds had their chances, but they simply couldn't con vert.
“The hard thing is we've been in every game,” said Dmitri Young, who had two of the Reds' seven hits. “But at the end, the other team does the little things to get extra runs and we haven't been able to.”
It's the first week of June, but all this losing can wear down even a young team like the Reds.
Young said that hasn't happened yet.
“Every night, we come in and think it's going to click,” he said. “What else
are we going to do? Who's going to care if we pout? We've got to go to Milwaukee, wake up (today), go to Miller Park and shatter some windows.”
The Reds opened the scoring in the first inning. Deion Sanders led off with a single through the middle. After Michael Tucker struck out, Alex Ochoa singled up the middle, sending Sanders to third.
Sean Casey got Sanders home with a single to left. The hit extended Casey's hitting streak to nine games.
Young bounced into a double play to douse the rally.
The Cardinals took the lead in the third. Fernando Vina led off with a single. Kerry Robinson singled to send Vina to third. An out later, J.D. Drew's groundout scored Vina. Craig Paquette followed with a single to score Robinson and make it 2-1.
Kelly Stinnett got the run back in the fifth with his fourth home run of the year. Stinnett tattooed an 0-2 pitch from St. Louis starter Andy Benes. The ball ended up in the seats above left field - a shot of 375 feet.
The Cardinals came right back with a run in their half of the fifth. With one out, Robinson singled. Then, with the hit-and-run on, Placido Polanco drove a ball into the right field corner that got past Ochoa. Robinson scored and Polanco ended up with a triple.
Fernandez avoided more trouble when Casey snagged Drew's line drive and threw to third to double up Polanco.
The Reds had a big, fat chance to tie it in the seventh. Young led off with a double into the left-center field gap. Bill Selby's groundout got him to third. But Pokey Reese and Stinnett grounded out to leave him there.
“Selby battled pretty hard to get the runner over,” Boone said. “Then we don't get professional at-bats. They didn't get where they had one good swing.”
On a positive note — and the Reds are searching for them these days — starter Osvaldo Fernandez returned to some semblance of form after two awful outings.
Fernandez went six innings, allowing seven hits and three runs. He walked two and struck out two. In his previous two starts — both against the Chicago Cubs -- Fernandez failed to get out of the fourth inning. He allowed 11 earned runs in seven innings in those two starts.
“He pitched pretty good,” Boone said, “about like I expected.”
It wasn't a one-run game for long.
Scott Winchester took over to pitch the seventh. He allowed a leadoff single to Albert Pujols. Vina followed with a triple into the right-center gap. Robinson's sacrifice fly got Vina home, and it was 5-2.
Polanco followed with a single, ending Winchester's night. Hector Mercado avoided further damage. Reds relievers had allowed only three runs over the previous 32 innings of work.
Still, if Winchester held at 3-2, there's no guarantee the Reds would have done anything but lose 3-2.
“It's frustrating from a manager's and coach's standpoint,” Boone said. “Because you're constantly scrambling to catch up. It's the same thing ... we just can't score.”
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Cardinals 5, Reds 2
