By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Thursday's game

Contrary to what you hear on talk radio and in the stands of Great American Ball Park, a loss tonight to the Chicago Cubs will not officially eliminate the Reds from the playoffs.

The magic number is not two.

The fat lady isn't waiting in the wings.

It just seems that way.

The opening series at Great American Ball Park ended as it started: poorly.

The Reds lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-5 Thursday before a crowd of 26,096. As ugly as the series was - and it was very ugly - the Reds want to quiet the alarms.

"I don't want people to be discouraged," Adam Dunn said. "We haven't been playing well. We know that. When all this new ballpark stuff is behind us, we'll be fine."

The Reds, rather than building off the energy of the opening of Great American Ball Park, have been crippled by self-inflicted pressure.

"I'm sure everybody's pressing a little bit," Barry Larkin said. "You try your damnedest to win."

Dunn, who got his first hit of the season Thursday, pleads guilty to the trying-too-hard charge.

"It's like Opening Day every day," he said. "We're putting too much pressure on ourselves. You want to do something for the fans. You can't play that way. If you do, you'll never win a game."

With 159 left, the Reds will win a game. But if they continue to play as they did against the Pirates, they won't win enough to contend. The Reds hit .192 for the series; the Pirates hit .302. The Reds hit four home runs; the Pirates hit eight. The Reds scored 10 runs; the Pirates scored 24.

Thursday, the starting pitching failed for the Reds. Former Pirate Jimmy Anderson, the left-hander who made the Reds' rotation as a non-roster invitee, was lit up for seven runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings.

Anderson started the game with a 1-2-3 inning and the Reds got him a 1-0 lead in the first.

He gave that back in the second, then let the game get away from him in the third.

"He lost his sinker," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "Everything straightened up on him."

The big blow of the four-run third was Reggie Sanders' three-run homer.

"It was about thigh-high and out over the plate," Anderson said. "With two people on, I want a strike."

Sean Casey hit his first homer of the year - a two-run shot in the third - to make it 5-3.

But as was the case the whole series, the Pirates answered.

They scored two runs in the fifth, the second coming on Sanders' second home run.

That made Aaron Boone's two-run shot in the seventh too little, too late.

It's the first time the Pirates have swept three from the Reds in Cincinnati since August 1998.

The Reds last started a season 0-3 in 1999. They ended up winning 96 games that year.

The bad start, coupled with the bad finish to spring training, has fans in an uproar.

Is manager Bob Boone concerned?

"It doesn't matter," he said. "We've got to play the next one and the next one after that. It doesn't matter if I'm concerned."

The Pirates were one of the teams the Reds handled pretty well last year, taking 11 of 18 games.

But Pittsburgh looks like a different and better club. Sanders, a late signee for $1 million, is a big part of that.

"I think they've got a good ballclub," Boone said. "Reggie Sanders is a 30-home run guy. We know what (Brian) Giles and (Aramis) Ramirez can do. ... They're a legitimate team. No question."

As for the Reds, questions remain.

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Reese 2b	5	0	0	0	0	0	.083
Mackowiak cf	5	2	3	0	0	0	.500
BGiles lf	4	1	1	1	1	0	.250
ARamirez 3b	3	2	2	1	1	0	.333
RSanders rf	5	2	4	5	0	0	.636
KYoung 1b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.167
CWilson c	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000
JWilson ss	4	0	1	0	0	1	.091
Fogg p	3	0	1	0	0	1	.333
DReyes p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Simon ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.375
Tavarez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sauerbeck p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
MiWilliams p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	38	7	12	7	2	7

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
FLopez ss-3b	3	1	0	0	1	1	.000
ABoone 2b	4	1	2	2	0	1	.231
Griffey Jr. cf	4	1	1	0	0	0	.273
Kearns rf	3	1	1	0	1	1	.333
Casey 1b	4	1	1	2	0	0	.167
Larson 3b	3	0	0	0	0	0	.100
JManzanillo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Taylor ph	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
WPena ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
GWhite p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Dunn lf	3	0	1	0	0	0	.091
LaRue c	4	0	0	0	0	1	.182
JAnderson p	1	0	0	0	1	1	.000
Sullivan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Larkin ss	2	0	0	0	0	0	.200
Totals	32	5	6	4	3	6

Pittsburgh	014	020	000	-7	12	1
Cincinnati	102	000	200	-5	6	2

E-Fogg (1), Casey (1), Dunn (1). LOB-Pittsburgh 7, Cincinnati 4. 2B-BGiles (2), ARamirez (1), JWilson (1), Griffey Jr. (2). 3B-Mackowiak (1). HR-ABoone (1) off Fogg; Casey (1) off Fogg; RSanders 2 (3) off JAnderson 2. RBIs-BGiles (2), ARamirez (1), RSanders 5 (7), ABoone 2 (2), Casey 2 (2). SF-ARamirez. GIDP-Griffey Jr.

Runners left in scoring position-Pittsburgh 4 (Reese, RSanders, KYoung, JWilson); Cincinnati 2 (FLopez, Casey).

Runners moved up-KYoung.

DP-Pittsburgh 1 (Reese, JWilson and KYoung).

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Fogg W, 1-0	6 2/3	6	5	4	3	5	99	5.40
DReyes	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.00
Tavarez	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	6	0.00
Sauerbeck	2/3	0	0	0	0	1	11	0.00
MiWilliams S, 2	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	7	0.00

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JAnderson L, 0-1	4 2/3	8	7	7	1	1	79	13.50
Sullivan	1 1/3	1	0	0	0	2	23	0.00
Mercker	1/3	0	0	0	1	0	14	0.00
JManzanillo	1 2/3	1	0	0	0	4	27	7.71
GWhite	2/3	1	0	0	0	0	13	4.50
Williamson	1/3	1	0	0	0	0	3	0.00

Inherited runners-scored-JManzanillo 1-0, Williamson 1-0.

HBP-by Fogg (Dunn). WP-Fogg.

Umpires-Home, Sam Holbrook; First, Greg Gibson; Second, Randy Marsh; Third, Larry Vanover.

T-2:49. A-26,096 (42,263).