There are some things better than being a general manager in a pennant race in July, and there are some things worse. But there is nothing quite like it.

        At 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, Reds general manager Jim Bowden received a call from the agent for Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers, telling him Rogers probably was going to be a Red. Rogers just needed to talk some more with his wife.

        At 1:15 p.m., agent Scott Boras called Bowden back to say Rogers had changed his mind and he was staying in Texas. No sooner had Bowden hung up the phone with Boras than he called Detroit Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski and pulled the trigger on the deal for right-hander Brian Moehler.

        “We actually thought over (last) weekend we might have a deal consummated, but then the Kenny Rogers conversation came into play,” Dombrowski said. “Jim stayed in touch to assure us, "If this (Rogers deal) falls through, we'll call you right away.' ”

        Bowden, who is renowned for how much he works the telephone, had the prospects to make deals for Cleveland's Bartolo Colon (Montreal got him) and Chuck Finley (St. Louis got him) and Detroit's Jeff Weaver (the Yankees got him), but he couldn't make the deals happen, probably because he didn't have the money.

        That's when he completed a deal that got Florida's Ryan Dempster for, principally, outfielder Juan Encarnacion.

        Bowden had the money for Moehler because the Tigers are picking up the rest of Moehler's salary for this season. They're also picking up the rest of Reds minor-leaguer David Espinosa's $2.2 million salary.

        Is the dealing for additional starting pitching done? Probably. Maybe the Reds will take third baseman Scott Rolen off the Phillies' hands if Philadelphia pays his salary and doesn't insist on the Reds' top prospects in return, but Bowden isn't talking about that.

        But he will talk about pitching deals.

        “I don't know (if the dealing for pitching's done),” Bowden said. “The Colon/Weaver thing has gone away; the Finley/Rogers thing went away. There's really not — we don't think — an impact guy (available) who we can get without giving away our top prospects.”

        That might not move Reds fans, who haven't been impressed so far with Dempster. These same fans realize that Moehler, who has had only three recent starts (1-1, 2.29 ERA) because he'd been rehabbing from shoulder surgery, might not be any more ready to help the Reds immediately than was Dempster.

        Does Bowden think the Reds have enough pitching to catch the Cardinals?

        “As long as I have this job, we'll never have enough,” Bowden said. “But so far, we've shown we have enough pitching to win. We're not where we are because we don't have pitching. But why do we want experienced guys? Because when you get to August and September, you want experienced arms in pennant races. You don't know what young guys are going to do.”

        But pitching really isn't the rub right now, even though the Reds have pulled out all the stops (except the financial ones) to stockpile it.

        “For us to win, we've got to hit,” Bowden said. “We've got Junior healthy and we've got to get our guys who aren't quite doing what they normally do to hit. Our pitchers have shown they are going to give up three to four runs a game, that's it. They aren't going to give up five or six runs a game.”
       

        Neil Schmidt contributed to this story.
       

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