By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Aaron Boone certainly didn't want to see his father, Reds manager Bob Boone, fired, but when it happened Monday morning, he felt a measure of relief for a man he believes shouldered too much blame for the Reds' shortcomings.

"I don't think he's been treated the best," Boone said. "Now he gets to go home and see his grandkids and do normal, hopefully less stressful things."

Boone stopped short of ripping the organization, but made it clear that he felt his father had been placed in an untenable position during his 2 1/2 years as manager.

"Everything has always been his fault," he said, "which goes with the territory, no question about it. But the problems run a lot deeper the last couple of years. A lot of times in this game the manager is the front man and bears a lot of the brunt."

Boone would not specify what he thinks the problems are.

"I have a lot of opinions on a lot of things," he said, "but I'm not going to get into it. It's obvious that we've got to improve a lot as a team. We have some holes, but we have some talented players. I think there are some pieces here that have the makings of a really good team. But there certainly need to be some things done."

The Reds' All-Star third baseman didn't know when he left for work Monday that his dad's final game was Sunday's 8-5 win over the New York Mets. He arrived at Great American Ball Park at about 10:15 a.m. and was fixing himself breakfast when third base coach Tim Foli, who was also fired, told him his dad wanted to see him in his office.

"I thought he was getting fired or I was getting traded," Aaron Boone said. "I just put my toast in and Foli told me, 'Don't worry about your toast. Go back there.' "

Boone said his dad wasn't overly emotional when he delivered the news, that he sensed that he, too, was relieved because, if nothing else, it clarified his status for the rest of the season.

After they talked, Aaron Boone said, "He scooted out. He talked to a couple of players. I think he just needed to get away today."

For Aaron, there was still the business of having a game to play. He responded by going 1-for-3 and scoring two runs, including the game-winner in the 10th.

"I was really concerned about Aaron," said Ray Knight, who functioned as the Reds' manager Monday. "But he went out and played a great game. He said he was OK and he played his tail off."

Boone said he'll miss having his mom and dad so close during the baseball season. And although playing for his dad in the major leagues didn't work out as well as he might have hoped, it did increase his admiration for him.

"The amazing thing about him is that he doesn't change through the good or the bad," Boone said. "I had a lot of respect for my dad when he took this job, and I can say that's grown quite a bit in the last three years."

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com