Aaron Boone takes another one deep Friday. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        Back in the first half of the season, when Aaron Boone was experiencing the mother of all slumps, he could have used a crystal ball.

        He could have used anything that would have said, “Relax, kid. On Aug. 9, you're going to hit three home runs in your first three at-bats , wind up with four hits and five RBI, your team will win the game 12-10 to move within two games behind the Cardinals, and you will have career highs in home runs, stolen bases and runs scored. You won't have cost your old man his job. You won't be the whipping boy for every sports-talk show caller from Huntington to Hamilton who would rather have a cadaver at third base than you. Oh, and you'll be a better player because of it.”

        Because, then, maybe, the kid could have relaxed.

        Back in April and May and June, he knew none of these things.

        All he could do was keep going out there, take his pre-game hacks, try to figure out what he was doing wrong, and keep believing that if he stayed with it, he again would put up the numbers on the back of his bubblegum card.

        And, though he would never have said it publicly, maybe, just maybe, he'd have even a bigger year than he'd ever had before, because, after all, he was healthy.

        It all came to fruition Friday. Boone had a career night in the Reds' wild 12-10 victory.

        Wild because they had scored nine runs in the first inning to go up 9-1, and then had to hold their breath through the ninth inning as the Padres scored two runs to make it 12-10 before calling it a night.

        After Boone's second home run in the first inning, he remembered thinking, “Two at-bats, two home runs, four RBI, we're up 9-1. Pretty cool!”

        But after his third straight home run, that gave the Reds a 10-5 lead in the fourth inning, the feeling hit him. “This is weird.”

        “I was like a fish out of water after that,” Boone said. “I was a little uncomfortable the rest of the game. I'm usually pretty animated out there, intense and talking to people. But after that third home run, I felt like I didn't want to step on anyone's toes. And yet, I was trying to have the right frame of mind on my next at-bat.”

        He knew he was walking close to history at that point.

        Only 14 players have ever hit four homes in a game, and three of those guys bear the name Gehrig, Mays and Schmidt.

        “I wanted to go for it (a fourth HR); I wanted to take a shot at history a little bit,” he said. “And yet, I was also trying to control all that. It was just weird.”

        Jared Fernandez picked a good night on which not to have control of his knuckleball.

        Or, perhaps better put, the knuckleball picked a good night on which to be out of control.

Jason LaRue yells out in the dugout after he hit a home run in the first inning. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        Fernandez wasn't good — 84 pitches in three innings, seven hits, five runs (four earned), four walks and three strikeouts — but the Reds bats were better.

        They battered the Padres' Brett Tomko for nine first-inning runs (two Aaron Boone home runs) to pave the way for a 12-10 victory Friday before 22,708 fans at Cinergy Field. In the fourth inning, Boone hit his third home run of the night.

        Boone became only the 40th major-league player to hit two home runs in one inning.

        His first home run would have gone into Great American Ball Park if there was not a big black screen covering the opening of it, from the floodwall up to the girders under-hanging the second deck. That home run was well above the floodwall.

        He came into the game with only three hits in his last 26 at-bats.

        The fans were so thrilled with Boone's three straight home runs, they gave him a standing ovation when he struck out swinging in his fourth at-bat.

        “I heard a pretty good roar,” he said. “I think my last curtain call here was in '99.”

        “The (slump) was tough, but there is no doubt in my mind it made me a better player and a better hitter now than I have ever been,” he said. “I feel like I can do some things in this game.”

        When he came to bat for the fifth time Friday, the fans cheered loudly, “Boooooone!” He swung at the first pitch, grounding it to second base for an infield hit.

        Boone is the 21st Red to hit three home runs in one game. It was the sixth time a major-leaguer has hit two HR in one inning this year. Boone, who is in his sixth Reds season, has never had a full year. Injuries have always befallen him But this year, he is making up for it. He is the only Red to appear in all 114 games (109 starts). Friday, he became the first Red since Ray Knight in 1980 to hit two HR in one inning.

        “I feel I'm on top of things right now — every part of my game,” Boone said.

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