By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Sean Casey finally arrived here early Friday evening after a whirlwind trip following the birth of his son.

Casey returned to Cincinnati on Wednesday for the birth of his second child. Jacob Peter Casey, 8 pounds, 7 ounces, was born at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Casey tried to get a private plane arranged. When that fell through, he flew to Philadelphia to try to catch a flight to San Juan.

He was delayed by mechanical problems in Philly.

Casey, who leads Reds regulars with 20 hits and a .333 average, will be available for today's day-night doubleheader against the Montreal Expos.

The Reds last played a day-night DH on Sept. 21, the second-last day at Cinergy Field.

They lost both games to Philadelphia - 5-3 in 10 innings in the first, 5-4 in 11 in the second one.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Ryan Dempster, scheduled to start Friday's game, will start the first game of the doubleheader today. He'll oppose La Salle High grad Zach Day.

Jimmy Anderson faces Javier Vazquez in the second game.

LAST TIME: When was the last time an Expos "home" game was postponed by weather? It was July 13, 1991, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. That was before Montreal's Olympic Stadium had a permanent dome.

FIRST CLASS: The Reds' team bus got an eight-car police escort from the airport to the hotel. "They had motorcycles and everything," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "It was pretty impressive."

NEW YARD: Hiram Bithorn Stadium, where the games are played here, has a bandbox look.

"They say it plays a lot bigger," Boone said. "There's a prevailing wind. They didn't score a lot of runs here until the wind died."

There is a lot of foul territory - 100 feet at the widest point.

To get ready for the Expos' 20 games here, $7 million was spent on the stadium, but it isn't the lap of luxury like new major-league parks.

"This is how it used to be," Boone said. "There used to be only a few places where you could get a hot shower."

FARM REPORT: The Reds' top draft pick last year, Chris Gruler, allowed seven runs and didn't get out of the first inning in Single-A Dayton's 14-9 loss to Kane County on Thursday. Gruler is 0-2 and has been rocked in both starts. He had shoulder trouble last year, but the Reds opted not to operate.

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E-mail jfay@enquirer.com