By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

With key players landing on the disabled list at a adizzing rate, Reds manager Bob Boone sat in the dugout late Friday afternoon trying to keep a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

"What's the alternative?" he asked. "We still have a lot of talent. We're still capable. It's still going to come down to how well you pitch."

Unfortunately for Boone and the Reds, when pitching is the bottom line, they usually find themselves on the short end of the score.

Right-hander Ryan Dempster, as so many of his colleagues on this pitching staff seem to do, made just enough bad pitches to put the Reds in a hole they were unable to climb out of and they lost for the eighth straight time to the Houston Astros 5-3 before 33,745 fans Friday night at Great American Ball Park.

The Reds are 7-17 since June 20 and have fallen a season-high 81/2 games out of first place in the National League Central.

They've lost their last five games at home and haven't won at Great American Ball Park since they beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 on June 19.

It was Jeff Bagwell's three-run homer in the third inning that provided the margin of victory for the Astros, but it wouldn't have been possible if Dempster had thrown strikes to the previous hitter, Geoff Blum, with two out and a runner on first.

"I walked him on four straight pitches," Dempster said. "If you can give up solo home runs, a lot of times you're not going to get hurt."

Astros starter Roy Oswalt, who entered the game with a 7-0 career record and a 1.56 ERA against the Reds, allowed three home runs, the same amount that Dempster surrendered. But all of Oswalt's mistakes resulted in solo numbers because he took care of business against the other hitters.

"If you look at our games, they're pretty similar in a lot of ways," Dempster said, "other than the fact that one of my home runs had two guys on and that was the difference in the ballgame."

So it goes with the crippled Reds these days. Every injury seems to lead to the DL. Every mistake is devastating. And every day they inch closer to being buried beyond the point of no return in the NL Central, if indeed they're not already.

Even when they seem to catch a break, as they did when Reggie Taylor squirted a single into right field to lead off the third inning, they find a way to negate it. When Taylor tried to stretch that single into a double, right fielder Richard Hidalgo threw him out by 10 feet.

"I was probably a little too overaggressive," Taylor said. "I just saw him lollygagging and I decided to try it. Sometimes you get too overaggressive and get burned. It won't happen again."

Hidalgo hit two home runs for the first-place Astros.

Aaron Boone, Taylor and Ruben Mateo homered for the Reds.

Mateo's shot came in a pinch-hitting role in his first at-bat since being recalled from Class AAA Louisville. That pleased the Reds manager as he continued to look for something bright amid the gloom that has characterized the Reds' as play has resumed after the All-Star break.

"I was watching him in batting practice today," Boone said. "He was a lot different hitter than when he left here. That was a pretty tough pitch he hit out. That was exciting to see."

It would have been more exciting - and more productive - if it had come with a couple of teammates on base. But Oswalt, unlike Dempster, made sure that didn't happen.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

Houston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Biggio cf	4	1	1	0	1	1	.273
Blum 3b	4	1	0	0	1	0	.274
Bagwell 1b	5	1	3	3	0	0	.275
JKent 2b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.308
Berkman lf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.278
Hidalgo rf	4	2	4	2	0	0	.332
Ausmus c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.201
AEverett ss	2	0	0	0	0	1	.251
Bruntlett pr-ss	1	0	0	0	0	0	.292
Oswalt p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.200
Lidge p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Wagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	36	5	10	5	2	6

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.344
Larkin ss	4	0	0	0	0	1	.280
JGuillen rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.333
Casey 1b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.296
ABoone 3b	4	1	2	1	0	1	.263
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	1	1	.201
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.237
Taylor cf	3	1	2	1	0	0	.226
Dempster p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.034
RMateo ph	1	1	1	1	0	0	.216
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Branyan ph	0	0	0	0	1	0	.229
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	31	3	6	3	2	7

Houston	003	101	000	-5	10	1
Cincinnati	010	002	000	-3	6	0

E-Ausmus (2). LOB-Houston 7, Cincinnati 3. HR-RMateo (2), off Oswalt; Taylor (3), off Oswalt; Hidalgo 2 (16), off Dempster 2; Bagwell (18), off Dempster; ABoone (17), off Oswalt. RBIs-Bagwell 3 (50), Hidalgo 2 (53), ABoone (58), Taylor (11), RMateo (5). CS-DJimenez (1). GIDP-Ausmus, Larkin.

Runners left in scoring position-Houston 2 (Berkman, Oswalt); Cincinnati 2 (Dunn, Taylor).

Runners moved up-LaRue.

DP-Houston 2 (JKent, AEverett and Bagwell), (Ausmus and Bruntlett); Cincinnati 1 (Larkin, DJimenez and Casey).

Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Oswalt W, 6-5	6 2/3	6	3	3	1	4	87	3.22
Lidge H, 15	1 1/3	0	0	0	1	1	23	2.41
Wagner S, 27	1	0	0	0	0	2	16	2.18

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Dempster L, 3-7	6	8	5	5	1	4	103	6.60
Heredia	1	1	0	0	1	1	15	2.95
Reith	1	1	0	0	0	1	17	3.45
Williamson	1	0	0	0	0	0	9	3.29

Inherited runners-scored-Lidge 2-0.

HBP-by Dempster (AEverett). WP-Wagner.

Umpires-Home, Brian O'Nora; First, Larry Poncino; Second, Phil Cuzzi; Third, Jerry Crawford.

T-2:38. A-33,745 (42,263).

How the runs scored in Friday's game between the Astros and the Reds

Reds second. Casey grounded out, second baseman Kent to first baseman Bagwell. Boone homered to center on a 2-0 count. Dunn struck out. LaRue grounded out, third baseman Blum to first baseman Bagwell. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Reds 1, Astros 0.

Astros third. Everett flied out to left fielder Dunn. Oswalt struck out. Biggio singled to left. Blum walked on four pitches, Biggio to second. Bagwell homered to right on a 2-1 count, Biggio scored, Blum scored. Kent singled to center. Berkman popped out to shortstop Larkin. 3 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Astros 3, Reds 1.

Astros fourth. Hidalgo homered to left on a 1-0 count. Ausmus popped out to second baseman Jimenez. Everett struck out. Oswalt grounded out, second baseman Jimenez to first baseman Casey. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Astros 4, Reds 1.

Astros sixth. Kent flied out to left fielder Dunn. Berkman popped out to third baseman Boone. Hidalgo homered to left on a 1-2 count. Ausmus singled to right. Everett was hit by a pitch, Ausmus to second. Bruntlett pinch-running for Everett. Oswalt struck out. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Astros 5, Reds 1.

Reds sixth. Bruntlett in as shortstop. Taylor homered to right on a 1-1 count. Mateo pinch-hitting for Dempster. Mateo homered to left on a 2-1 count. Jimenez grounded out, second baseman Kent to first baseman Bagwell. Larkin lined out to third baseman Blum. Guillen struck out. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on. Astros 5, Reds 3.