Brian Moehler gave up four runs in the first inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        From outside the Reds clubhouse, one could hear the music, the cheering and the stomping of feet. Yes, they were dancing again. They dance after every Reds victory.

        And yes, Brian Moehler, the newest Red, the starting pitcher who was on the ropes after giving up four runs in the top of the first inning Wednesday, was right in the middle of it.

        “Come here,” his teammates had told him, as he walked up the tunnel headed for the clubhouse after the team's 10-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Cinergy Field. “We got something for you.”

        “Uh-oh,” Moehler responded. “I can't dance.”

        So, yes, he had heard.

        Five hours away — up I-75 in Detroit — he had heard.

        He had heard about the dance.

        And, now, he was doing it.

Moehler sits in the dugout after being relieved in the sixth inning. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        What does the dance look like, anyway?

        The media don't know, because it occurs before reporters are allowed into the clubhouse. All the non-immediate Reds family knows for sure is that first baseman Sean Casey leads the dance.

        “I don't think I can give it away,” Moehler said. “If we get to the playoffs, we'll let you guys come in here and see it.”

        Playoffs?

        The mere word is music to Reds fans' ears.

        Maybe Kenny Rogers, the reluctant Ranger who didn't want to be a Red, would have done the dance. After all, Rogers is left-handed, isn't he? But he wasn't here.

        “I do want to be here,” Moehler said. “I've heard nothing but good things about this team. It's a good feeling to be wanted here.”

Todd Walker watches his grand slam in the third inning. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        Fans hope Moehler is the real deal, but if the Reds didn't hit the way they hit Wednesday — a three-run homer by Brandon Larson in the bottom of the first inning to cut the deficit to 4-3; a grand slam by Todd Walker in the third to make it 7-4; a solo homer by Kelly Stinnett on the next at-bat to make it 8-4 — today's game story would be different.

        “Six years in the big leagues and I've never seen a standing ovation like Walker got in his home park,” Moehler said. “Walking to the on-deck circle, the hair on my arm was standing up.”

        But the Reds did hit, and the best thing that could be said about Moehler is that he knows what to do with a lead: He shuts down the other team by throwing strikes, moving the ball around and daring them to hit it.

        “If you make the ball move and have good pace on the ball and hit spots with it, velocity is irrelevant,” Reds manager Bob Boone said.

        The top-of-the-first woes weren't totally of Moehler's doing. Without the mile-high bloop hit to short right-cen ter that second baseman Walker said he should have gotten to, Moehler would have been out of that inning with one run. But Moehler hung a pitch to Kevin Young, who hit a three-run homer to make it 4-0.

        “He hit it where you're supposed to,” Moehler said.

Brandon Larson is greeted by Adam Dunn after his three-run homer in the first inning. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        After that, Moehler settled down.

        “The way I've always approached it — the way I've always been taught — is you're only one pitch away from getting out of an inning,” he said.

        The way he pitched to Young with two outs in the top of the fifth was impressive — called strike outside corner; another called strike outside corner; ball away; called third strike, outside corner. Eighty-eight mph on the black. Bye.

        Game, set, match. 95 pitches.

        “I didn't notice it early in the game,” Moehler said, “but later I noticed Young was standing pretty far from the plate. So we stayed away.”

        What else do you want to know about Moehler, Reds fans?

Kelly Stinnett points toward the dugout as he rounds the bases after his third-inning homer. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        That before he pitches, he traces in the dirt the initials of his late father (F.M., for Fred Moehler; he died seven year ago) and says a prayer that everybody on the field will be kept safe?

        That there's a statue of an angel in a baseball uniform in his locker, given to him by his wife and kids this past spring training to watch over his comeback? (“The head broke off during the last trip and I had to glue it back together,” Moehler said.)

        That he knows he's going to “hear it” from his wife, Deana, because he didn't realize there was a players' family game Wednesday, and that he could have dressed their daughters, Jackson Rae, 2 1/2, and Canton Reece, 1 1/2, in Reds uniforms and they would have gotten to hit and run the bases?

        The experts say Moehler isn't in Rogers' class. Maybe they're right. But Reds fans know this: Moehler holds a lead, does the dance and promises to let you see it if the Reds make the postseason.

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