ST. LOUIS — Manager Bob Boone said he briefly considered batting Aaron Boone fourth in Tuesday night's series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals — not to spotlight his son but to nullify St. Louis' strategy.

        With six homers in 175 at-bats, Aaron Boone doesn't fit the profile of an ideal cleanup hitter. He typically bats fifth or sixth. But Bob Boone explained that with Ken Griffey Jr. and Sean Casey hitting third and fourth, respectively, in Cincinnati's lineup, St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa would be more likely to summon his top left-handed reliever, Steve Kline.

        Bob Boone reasoned that the presence of consecutive lefties in a crucial part of the Reds' order would enable LaRussa to use Kline liberally and leave him in for longer stretches. Kline, who had made an NL-high 42 appearances, entered the game with a 1.83 ERA while limiting left-handed batters to a .102 batting average (5-for-49).

        Actually, all of St. Louis' lefty relievers have been effective. Kline, Mike Matthews and Jason Christiansen have held opposing left-handed batters to a .125 average with no home runs.

        Ultimately, the manager stuck with the Griffey-Casey tandem, deciding that he wanted his lineup to “take its best shot at (Cardinals starter Andy) Benes.”

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