By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Thursday's game

They limped into the All-Star break with 15 losses in 22 games, but 19 of those games were on the road and they still were a manageable 6 1/2 games out of first place.

And with 14 of their first 17 games after the break scheduled at home, the Reds still could profess at least a modicum of optimism.

Not anymore. Not after dropping seven of their first eight games - all at home - since the All-Star break.

Following their 7-5, 11-inning loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday afternoon at Great American Ball Park, the Reds were 11 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central. First-place Houston lost at Milwaukee Thursday night.

Cincinnati committed three errors - two by Aaron Boone, who took over at shortstop in the ninth inning after pinch-hitting for Juan Castro. His second error - on a bad throw following an Abraham Nunez bunt to lead off the 11th - opened the gates for the winning runs.

"We've got a lot of issues as a team," Boone said. "We give up too many runs. As much as people blame the pitching, we don't catch the ball, either. That's apparent. That's not the glamorous side, but you always hear that defense wins championships. It's true. Good teams make plays. They run down balls and close up holes. We don't."

The Reds lead the major leagues with 97 errors. They are last in the National League in pitching, but you can't stop there when analyzing their shortcomings. They don't run the bases very well, either.

"Everything has hurt," said shortstop Barry Larkin. "One day it's defense. One day it's pitching, and another day we don't score any runs."

Boone's errors weren't even the most egregious part of this loss. Witness Jose Guillen getting picked off second as part of a rare 3-6 double play off a Jason LaRue foul popup in the fifth inning: First baseman Randall Simon caught the ball near the Reds' dugout and turned to double off Guillen, who was lollygagging off second.

The Reds wiped out a 3-0 disadvantage and had just tied the game at 4 on a Russell Branyan home run, and were poised to assume the lead when Guillen got caught.

Even the Pirates were stunned.

"Very odd," said Pirates pitcher Jeff D'Amico. "I don't know what was going on with him."

The Reds staged another late comeback, sending the game into extra innings with Boone's pinch-hit triple.

But the same team that earlier this season was hailed as a gallant squad overcoming long odds with remarkable comebacks now more closely resembles a team with myriad weaknesses that have finally taken their toll.

As Boone said, "Our Achilles heel showed up."

But regardless of how bleak things are, manager Bob Boone says this is not a club beginning to look toward next season.

"It's disappointing," he said, "but it doesn't change anything. Tomorrow, we'll put it on the line again. We play each game to win. That doesn't change."

As for the Reds failing to capitalize on their stretch of home games, Boone said he never gave the scheduling any thought.

"I've said it ad nauseam," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're on the road or if you're at home. That has nothing to do with it. We were on the road and we had a bunch of people hurt. Then we came home and Junior (Griffey) got hurt. That's pretty key. It's happened to us a lot in the last three years."

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Kendall c	4	1	0	0	2	0	.307
JWilson ss	3	1	2	0	0	1	.244
ANunez ss	3	1	1	0	0	1	.223
BGiles cf-lf	4	2	1	2	1	0	.302
Stairs rf	4	0	2	2	2	1	.299
Hyzdu cf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.189
RSanders lf-rf	6	0	0	0	0	1	.251
Simon 1b	3	0	1	0	1	0	.277
Rivera pr-1b	1	0	0	0	1	1	.188
JHernandez 3b	4	0	1	1	1	2	.228
Reboulet 2b	5	2	1	0	0	0	.261
D'Amico p	2	0	1	1	0	0	.156
Beimel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
CWilson ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.248
Boehringer p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Meadows p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Cota ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Lincoln p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	41	7	10	6	8	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	6	0	1	0	0	2	.339
Branyan 3b	6	1	1	1	0	1	.228
JGuillen rf	5	1	2	0	0	0	.342
Casey 1b	5	1	1	0	0	0	.304
Dunn lf	2	1	0	0	3	1	.204
LaRue c	4	0	0	1	0	0	.233
Taylor cf	3	1	1	0	2	0	.226
Wagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JCastro ss	1	0	1	1	0	0	.242
ABoone ph-ss	2	0	1	1	0	0	.271
JHaynes p	1	0	1	1	0	0	.286
Larson ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.074
Heredia p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Williamson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Larkin ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.272
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
RMateo cf	1	0	0	0	0	0	.229
Totals	38	5	9	5	5	4

Pittsburgh	101	111	000	02	-7	10	1
Cincinnati	000	310	010	00	-5	9	3

E-JHernandez (7), Dunn (9), ABoone 2 (16). LOB-Pittsburgh 13, Cincinnati

9. 2B-BGiles (21), Stairs 2 (12), Reboulet (6), D'Amico (1), JGuillen (21). 3B-ABoone (3). HR-Branyan (4), off D'Amico. RBIs-BGiles 2 (52), Stairs 2 (28), JHernandez (38), D'Amico (1), Branyan (11), LaRue (35), JCastro (16), ABoone (63), JHaynes (3). S-Reboulet, D'Amico, JCastro, JHaynes. SF-BGiles, JHernandez, LaRue, JCastro. DP-Pittsburgh 1.

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
D'Amico	6	7	4	1	3	2	99	3.68
Beimel H, 7	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	3.32
Boehringer BS, 2	1	1	1	1	1	1	24	5.88
Meadows	1	0	0	0	0	1	9	6.21
Lincoln W, 1-0	2	1	0	0	1	0	34	1.26

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JHaynes	6	6	5	4	4	4	105	5.87
Heredia	1	1	0	0	0	0	15	2.79
Williamson	1	1	0	0	1	2	20	3.35
Mercker	1 2/3	0	0	0	1	2	24	2.81
Reitsma L, 7-3	2/3	2	2	2	2	0	18	4.53
Wagner	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	10	0.00

Heredia pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. Inherited runners-scored-Wagner 3-1, Williamson 1-0, Reitsma 1-0. IBB-off Reitsma (Rivera) 1, off Reitsma (BGiles) 1, off Williamson (Kendall) 1. WP-JHaynes. Umpires-Home, Gerry Davis; First, Dan Iassogna; Second, Darren Spagnardi; Third, Mark Carlson. T-3:42. A-35,504 (42,263).