By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Danny Graves tried to pitch through it. But Don Gullett took one look at Graves' finger after the third inning and said: "That's enough."

Graves, the Reds' most consistent starter, consistently struggled Thursday with a blister on his little finger.

Graves was hit hard, sending the Reds on their way to a 10-2 loss to the New York Yankees before 42,282 at Great American Ball Park.

"It's really frustrating," Graves said. "We've played really well the last two nights. We had a chance to sweep a great ballclub."

Graves gave up five runs in the third inning.

"He wasn't able to finish his pitches," Reds manager Bob Boone said. "When he doesn't, he doesn't have any tilt on the ball. Everything flattens out."

Graves has dealt with blisters throughout his career, but Thursday's was exceptionally bad. The Reds might have to juggle the rotation to allow Graves to get well.

"This is something we have to clear up," Boone said. "We'll put him at the back of the rotation. We can do that with the off day (Monday)."

Graves was more hopeful.

"I hope we don't have to adjust anything," he said. "We've got a good thing going. I don't want anyone to have to alter their schedule."

The Reds hadn't lost to the Yankees since the fifth game of the 1961 World Series. The teams had met only six times since, but the Reds had won all six.

This one took three hours and 18 minutes to play, but it was effectively over for the Reds when they loaded the bases with no outs in the first and came away with zero runs.

"We had a couple of chances," Boone said. "We couldn't get the big hit."

The Yankees avoided being swept thanks to seven strong innings from starter Jose Contreras and a whole lot of line drives. They tied a team record with 10 doubles.

Contreras, a Cuban defector, allowed two runs on five hits.

The Yankees' other import, Hideki Matsui, was the hitting star. He homered, doubled three times and drove in three runs.

Graves' troubles began in the first. Alfonso Soriano stung the first pitch of the game for a double. Derek Jeter followed with a 13-pitch at-bat that ended with a comebacker to Graves.

Jason Giambi then singled to center. Austin Kearns charged, fielded and threw a seed to Jason LaRue to nail Soriano. After Jorge Posada walked, Robin Ventura singled to right. Jose Guillen played it just like Kearns. But Sean Casey cut off his throw, letting Giambi score, though he might have been out if Casey had let the throw go.

The Reds' first was a big inning gone bad. Walks to Adam Dunn and Casey sandwiched around a single by Guillen loaded the bases with no outs.

But Kearns grounded into a fielder's choice, Aaron Boone hit into a double play. LaRue tied the game in the second with his second home run in as many nights.

The third was nothing but more trouble for Graves, and he left the game having allowed six runs on eight hits. "I'm not blaming the blister," Graves said. "I just didn't get the ball down."

New York	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
ASoriano 2b	6	1	3	2	0	0	.307
Jeter ss	5	1	1	0	1	1	.286
JaGiambi 1b	3	2	1	0	2	2	.232
Posada c	3	1	1	1	2	1	.264
Ventura 3b	5	1	2	3	0	2	.287
Mondesi rf	5	1	1	0	0	1	.290
Matsui cf	5	2	4	3	0	0	.261
JRivera lf	5	1	2	1	0	1	.204
Contreras p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Trammell ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.222
Osuna p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Zeile ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.218
MRivera p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	42	10	16	10	5	10

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Dunn lf	4	0	0	0	1	3	.205
JGuillen rf	3	0	2	0	1	1	.340
Casey 1b	3	1	0	0	1	1	.296
Kearns cf	4	0	1	1	0	0	.288
ABoone ss	4	0	1	0	0	1	.255
Branyan 3b	3	0	0	0	0	1	.111
LaRue c	2	1	1	1	1	1	.270
Olmedo 2b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.176
Graves p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.107
Heredia p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Taylor ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.227
Hamilton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
JCastro ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.263
Totals	31	2	6	2	4	10

New York	105	010	003	-10	16	1
Cincinnati	011	000	000	-2	6	0

E-Matsui (3). LOB-New York 10, Cincinnati 8. 2B-ASoriano (10), Jeter (6), Posada (10), Ventura (8), Matsui 3 (20), JRivera 2 (4), Trammell (5). HR-ASoriano (18), off Hamilton; Matsui (4), off Graves; LaRue (7), off Contreras. RBIs-ASoriano 2 (42), Posada (39), Ventura 3 (29), Matsui 3 (36), JRivera (2), Kearns (51), LaRue (18). SB-ASoriano 2 (17), Jeter (2), Casey (2), LaRue (3). GIDP-Casey, ABoone.

Runners left in scoring position-New York 8; Cincinnati 4.

New York	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Contreras W, 3-1	7	5	2	2	3	6	108	4.62
Osuna	1	0	0	0	0	2	14	1.93
MRivera	1	1	0	0	1	2	25	2.70

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Graves L, 3-5	3	8	6	6	2	2	69	5.31
Heredia	3	3	1	1	1	5	48	3.00
Mercker	1	1	0	0	0	1	16	2.45
Hamilton	2	4	3	3	2	2	51	14.09

HBP-by Contreras (LaRue), by Contreras (Branyan).

T-3:18. A-42,282 (42,263).