Nobody bitches like a Reds fan. Nobody ker-bumps from quasi-crisis to pseudo-catastrophe like the guy at home with the radio on and the sound turned down on the TV. Nobody complains more about less.

        No media stokes an empty fire like the Reds media. No microphones and pens can turn a nothing into a flaming, smoking something like we can. To whine more, we'd have to be six days old and hungry.

        We milked dry yet another Junior melodrama. We took the erstwhile Kid's psychological temperature yet again. We loved every moaning minute. The fact Griffey was unhappy is not news. Griffey is unhappy a lot. So what?

ADAM DUNN WALLPAPER Click to load image, then right click to Set As Background

Adam Dunn takes one deep. (AP photo) WALLPAPER

        If Griffey plays out the year and sadly hits 40 home runs, everyone who ripped him will be waiting in the players' parking lot for his autograph.

        The Reds beat the Giants two Sundays ago. All we talked about was Bob Boone walking Barry Bonds in the ninth inning. I get e-mails daily, questioning Boone's tactics, as if managing is neurosurgery. It ain't. Managers are good when they have good players. Ask Tony La Russa how good a manager he is when five of his starting pitchers are hurt. Managers win or lose three or five games a year, max, with how they run a game.

        Reds win. Get rid of Boone.

        Right.

        This just in: The Reds are in first place. They've played well enough, long enough, we're close to making the case they'll be hanging around all summer, making fans and media miserable with how well they're doing.

        (What if Griffey returns to slam 50 homers, smile a lot and kiss babies before every home game? Man, we'd really be in pain then, wouldn't we?)

        The Reds play St. Louis 10 times in the next 28 days. If they can win six or seven, we'll have to re-frame the question: Who's going to hang with the Reds?

        Look at the NL Central: Who's obviously better than Cincinnati? Eliminate Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, whose followers have reason to cry. St. Louis? Two terrific starters, but an overworked bullpen and a Mark McGwire replacement who's struggling.

        Houston? Wade Miller's shoulder is iffy, the bullpen is thin.

        Chicago? On paper, a good starting rotation. But the everyday lineup invites skepticism.

        The Reds have the best bullpen in the division, the best depth, the hottest young hitters and chemistry that smells like 1999. They're winning without much from Barry Larkin, Aaron Boone or Todd Walker. And nothing from Griffey.

        Joey Hamilton's shoulder works well enough he can throw his sinker. Chris Reitsma has great stuff. Should we still be wondering about Elmer Dessens as a quality third starter? He has been solid for two-plus seasons.

        The Reds could keep this up. Or the starting pitching could collapse, the bullpen could fold from overuse and Austin Kearns could stop hitting curve balls, thereby eliciting a prolonged spasm of whining that could carry us all the way to football season.

        That'd be great.

        Meantime, we fans and press will have to settle for complaining about Boone's choice of pinch-runners and Larkin sitting out day games after night games. You know, important things.

        Paul O'Neill has said playing baseball in Cincinnati is harder for a great player than playing in New York. I believe it now. In Big Town, fans and press have any number of people and teams to carp about. Here, between April and August, we only have one.

        We all need to take a pill.

        The Reds are in first place. Live a little.

        As our fathers said: “Stop crying. Or I'll give you something to cry about.”

       Contact Paul Daugherty at 768-8454; e-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com.

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