By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cubs catcher Damian Miller (right) joins the scuffle as Wilson and Farnsworth tangle. (Ernest Coleman photos) | ZOOM |

When the smoke cleared and the Reds and Cubs headed off in different directions late Thursday afternoon, what remained were a lot of hard feelings and one very pointed message from the Reds to the rest of the National League Central.

"We went out there fighting and we won it fighting, figuratively and literally," said Barry Larkin, the Reds' captain. "We'll do what we have to do in order to be competitive and win."

For the second time in a week, the Reds were involved in a bench-clearing brawl after an opposing pitcher threw at one of them. Friday it was against the Phillies. This time, before a sellout crowd of 41,692 at Great American Ball Park - while they were still waiting to hear about suspensions from the previous incident - the Reds were involved in another melee.

After order was restored and Scott Williamson struck out Troy O'Leary to preserve the Reds' 3-1 victory, both clubs were verbally strutting and puffing out their chests. You want trouble, they seemed to be saying, then you've come to the right place.

"I've got a pretty tough bunch," said Reds manager Bob Boone. "We're not going to stand for any shenanigans."

Farnsworth throws one of two punches at Wilson. | ZOOM |

Cubs' manager Dusty Baker was even more combative.

"Didn't they just get into a fight a few days ago?" Baker said. "It looks like they've got bad blood flowing with a lot of people. We're not a club to have bad blood with because we've got people that can hurt you with the ball."

Getting hurt with the ball is what precipitated this latest scuffle, which left Reds' right-hander Paul Wilson with a bloody gash on his nose and blood splattered over his uniform.

Wilson squared to bunt with Rainer Olmedo at first and nobody out, and the Reds clinging to a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning. The first pitch from Cubs' reliever Kyle Farnsworth tailed in toward Wilson just above his midsection.

Wilson and Farnsworth exchanged words, then charged each other. Both benches and bullpens emptied. Farnsworth appeared to throw two punches at Wilson, neither of which seemed to land. The blood, the Reds' Russell Branyan said, was the result of someone scraping Wilson's nose while he was on the ground, possibly with a spike.

Farnsworth and Wilson both were ejected.

After the game, Wilson, who had a bandage across the bridge of his nose, declined to talk about the fight. But plenty of other participants were more than willing to comment on it.

The trigger, Larkin said, was a pitch by Cubs starter Mark Prior that was thrown behind catcher Jason LaRue in the sixth inning. Wilson responded in the top of the seventh by hitting the Cubs' Moises Alou on the left leg. Larkin thought that was the end of it, but the commotion was only beginning.

"We've got to go out there and do what we have to do," Larkin said. "Pitchers protecting players is more appreciated than anything else. I know Paul Wilson's appreciation rating has gone up the ladder because of what went down today."

Said Boone: "Prior hit (Austin) Kearns, which they didn't call, and they hit him again the last time up. With (Prior's) control, that's not a slip. Why? I have no idea. When a major-league pitcher does that, you've got to think something's up."

LaRue, who has been hit nine times this year - more than any other Red - concedes that he stands close to the plate, but he thought Prior's pitch was intended to send a message. He just didn't know what the message was.

"The ball was thrown completely behind me, up around my head," LaRue said. "You can take it for however you see it."

After Farnsworth's delivery sailed past Wilson for a wild pitch, Farnsworth said Wilson yelled at him, "What the (heck) is your problem?" Farnsworth said something back, and then they charged each another.

"All I know is that when somebody comes out to you talking stuff, you've got to do what you've got to do," Baker said. "He was coming at Farnsworth. He probably won't come at him anymore."

Branyan almost ignited a second round of pushing and shoving after order had been restored when he had to be restrained from going after Cubs' first baseman Eric Karros, mistakenly believing that Karros had sucker-punched Wilson. Reds bench coach Ray Knight and Baker also exchanged words, with Baker shoving Knight.

Baker apparently also was upset when the Reds did their hopping celebration after winning Tuesday's game on Sean Casey's RBI single in the 10th inning. Baker referred to it derisively as the "Tigger bounce."

"I heard it was said that Dusty didn't like our postgame celebration," Larkin said. "We're not going to stop doing it. It's not to show anybody up. It's kind of a rallying of the troops."

The Reds and Cubs don't play each other again until Sept. 12 in Chicago. A lot of baseball will have transpired by then, but what happened Thursday won't likely be forgotten by either team.

"It's baseball," Prior said. "People will remember things. It's a tight race and it's going to be intense to begin with, and this will probably carry over the next time we play."

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Grudzielanek 2b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.282
ASGonzalez ss	4	0	0	0	0	1	.251
CPatterson cf	4	1	1	0	0	1	.313
SSosa rf	4	0	2	0	0	0	.300
Alou lf	3	0	2	1	0	0	.307
Karros 1b	3	0	0	0	1	1	.282
Hill pr	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
REMartinez 3b	3	0	0	0	0	0	.269
LHarris ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.169
DMiller c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.224
O'Leary ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.214
Prior p	1	0	0	0	1	0	.278
Farnsworth p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Wellemeyer p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Goodwin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.217
Alfonseca p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	32	1	5	1	2	6

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Larkin ss	4	1	3	1	0	0	.266
JGuillen rf	2	0	1	0	1	1	.333
Casey 1b	4	0	1	1	0	0	.287
Kearns cf	3	0	0	0	0	1	.288
ABoone 3b	3	0	1	0	0	0	.280
Dunn lf	2	1	1	0	2	1	.202
LaRue c	4	0	1	0	0	1	.249
Olmedo 2b	4	1	1	1	0	0	.270
PWilson p	2	0	0	0	0	2	.040
Griffey Jr. ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.269
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	29	3	9	3	3	6

Chicago	000	100	000	-1	5	1
Cincinnati	001	100	10x	-3	9	0

E-REMartinez (5). LOB-Chicago 7, Cincinnati 8. 2B-Larkin (5), LaRue (14). RBIs-Alou (42), Larkin (7), Casey (33), Olmedo (1). SB-Kearns (5), Dunn (6). CS-LaRue (2). S-JGuillen, ABoone. GIDP-Casey, LaRue.

Runners left in scoring position-Chicago 3 (Karros, O'Leary 2); Cincinnati 5 (Kearns, ABoone, Olmedo 3).

Runners moved up-Olmedo.

DP-Chicago 2 (REMartinez and Karros), (Karros, ASGonzalez and Karros).

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Prior L, 8-3	6	7	2	1	1	5	106	2.64
Farnsworth	0	1	1	1	0	0	4	2.81
Wellemeyer	1	1	0	0	1	0	17	1.29
Alfonseca	1	0	0	0	1	1	22	3.09

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson W, 5-4	7	3	1	1	1	4	90	4.22
Reitsma H, 2	1	0	0	0	0	0	13	5.26
Williamson S, 17	1	2	0	0	1	2	22	2.70

Farnsworth pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored-Wellemeyer 1-1.

IBB-off Alfonseca (Dunn) 1. HBP-by Alfonseca (Kearns), by PWilson (Alou). WP-Farnsworth.

Umpires-Home, Lance Barksdale; First, Paul Emmel; Second, Joe West; Third, Jeff Kellogg.

T-2:50. A-41,692 (42,263).