We like to talk about being "on pace" in baseball now. Had Junior Griffey hit two homers on Opening Day, he'd have been on pace to hit 324 this year. Until he wasn't.
Adam Dunn has now fanned 64 times in 162 at-bats. He's on pace to move more air than monsoon season. Wily Mo Pena, whose 0-for-4 Sunday makes him 2-for-24 this year, is on pace to get another hit during China's next free election.
Reds starting pitchers haven't won a game in 12 days. To maintain that pace, they never have to win again.
By sitting Junior Griffey after he went 4-for-4 with two homers Saturday night, Bob Boone is on pace to be second-guessed more than weathermen. "I wasn't going to throw him in the lineup the next 100 games," Boone said after Sunday's dismal 6-2 loss, the third in a row to the Florida Marlins.
If Boone did start Junior 100 in a row, Griffey'd be on pace to be scraped from the grass at Pretty Good American Ball Park. Griffey, who has missed 140 games while on the disabled list the last three years, is on pace to be hurt again July 22.
"I wasn't crazy about (Griffey) facing a kooky sidewinder guy," said Boone. Dontrelle Willis, aka Kooky Sidewinder, threw eight shutout innings at the Reds, with a delivery reminiscent of Fernando Valenzuela. Or, according to Boone, "more like Mac Scarce."
Oh, yeah. Him.
No Sandy Koufax
But really. You've lost three in a row and six of nine coming into the game. You're facing three in Atlanta beginning Monday. The season isn't on pace to begin teetering - seasons don't teeter in May; they don't even wobble - but things could be better. So you don't play your best player coming off his best game, because of Kooky Sidewinder?
Opponents were hitting .351 against Willis before Sunday. In three big-league starts, he had a 7.07 ERA. The Kookster was on pace for a flight back to Double A. The Reds could have used Griffey against him. Yet Griffey "is in a spring training mode," Boone explained.
Boone also allowed that Saturday night was "the first time (Griffey) has really put it together." Maybe he needed time to celebrate that. These are the sorts of moves that put Reds fans on pace to slam bricks through their big screens.
In losing for the seventh time in 10 games, the Reds left the momentum of the last month in the rearview mirror. Baseball isn't a momentum game, but players do benefit from confidence. Where this team's confidence is now is anybody's guess.
"I don't think we have to re-establish something," Danny Graves said. "We're a pretty good ballclub."
They're pretty good when they're hitting homeruns. They're on pace to go deep more than Jacques Cousteau. When they're not hitting homers, they're on pace to have little to offer. If you're looking for a metaphor for this team, Adam Dunn will do. Dunn leads the world in Big Flys. But for now, he's the Dave Kingman of his era.
It's silly to take a baseball team's pulse more than a few times a summer. Yesterday's momentum is today's blown save. In the six-month scheme of things, a four-game losing streak is an asterisk. The best thing about baseball is, after 162 games, you usually have gotten what you deserved. At 24-26, the Reds are on pace for that, too.
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E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com
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