By Kevin Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

It isn't the roster fans spent the past few years dreaming about. But inside the Reds clubhouse, a place unquestionably affected by the multiple trades and firings earlier this week, are players who have ignored the temptation to let up.

PHOTO GALLERY

Friday's Game

"It's a time to go out there and show the coaches, the front office and the fans that you're up here for a reason," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "It's a time to go out there and play the game like you've always played it. There are some guys getting a chance to go out there and do that now."

Cincinnati infielder Juan Castro got his opportunity in a 5-3 win against the Giants on Friday at Great American Ball Park.

Plucked off the bench because of an ankle injury to third baseman Russell Branyan earlier in the game, Castro broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning before 39,291 fans.

Castro fouled off two, two-strike pitches from Giants reliever Felix Rodriguez - one of them a 98 mph fastball - before hitting the home run.

"He threw me some nasty pitches," Castro said. "All I did was just foul them off. Then he threw me the pitch right in the middle. I'm so glad I hit it."

The victory, against a Giants club that holds a double-digit lead in the National League West standings, was the fourth for the Reds since the organization's shakeup began with the firing of general manager Jim Bowden, manager Bob Boone and two coaches Monday.

Relief pitchers Scott Williamson and Gabe White, along with outfielder Jose Guillen and third baseman Aaron Boone, also were traded for eight minor-league pitchers and $2.25 million in cash before Thursday's trade deadline.

"It hurts when you lose some guys that you love," Friday's starting pitcher, Paul Wilson, said. "But we owe it to ourselves to be professional and to pull together as a team like we always have and go out and do our job."

Wilson did his.

The right-hander, who earlier in the season allowed eight runs against the Giants at Pac Bell Park, held San Francisco to two runs in seven innings.

He left the game with a 3-2 lead.

"I try not to live start to start, especially 15 starts ago," said Wilson, who struck out four and walked two. "I looked at some tape of (the Giants) for the past 10 days and just tried to figure out what's been going on, what have they been doing. (Catcher Jason) LaRue called a good game and we both had a good game plan."

Giants starter Jerome Williams retired the first eight Reds batters before Wilson hit a broken-bat single to center with two outs in the third.

The Reds then bunched together enough offense, including shortstop Barry Larkin's first homer since he came off the disabled list May 6, for three runs in the fourth inning to give Wilson the lead.

San Francisco tied the game in the eighth inning on a single to left by catcher Benito Santiago off Reds reliever Chris Reitsma.

Scoring from third on the play was Giants center fielder Marquis Grissom.

Grissom reached base on an infield single. He advanced to third on a single by Barry Bonds and an error on the same play by Reds right fielder Ruben Mateo.

Before that, Miley had argued that Grissom should've been called out on strikes during his at-bat.

Home plate umpire Greg Gibson ruled that Grissom fouled off a pitch to keep his at-bat going.

"I just differed with him," Miley said. "I thought the pitch was farther out in front of the plate. Evidently, he (Gibson) heard something."

Reitsma then pitched a perfect ninth inning for his ninth win of the season and sixth in his past 23 appearances.

"This is a game and this is a business," Castro said. "That's the way it is. For us, as professionals, we need to come out here and just do our job, keep it going.

"We've still got two months left and a lot of things can happen. You never know."

San Francisco	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Durham 2b	4	0	1	0	1	0	.281
Aurilia ss	4	0	2	0	0	0	.271
Grissom cf	4	1	2	0	0	1	.312
Bonds lf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.326
Galarraga 1b	4	0	0	0	0	2	.315
BSantiago c	4	0	1	1	0	1	.280
Alfonzo 3b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.244
FRodriguez p	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
JoCruz rf	3	1	1	0	1	1	.250
JeWilliams p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.111
Feliz ph	1	1	1	2	0	0	.234
Nathan p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Christiansen p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Nperez 3b	1	0	0	0	0	0	.271
Totals	34	3	10	3	2	5

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.322
Larkin ss	4	1	1	1	0	2	.267
Casey 1b	4	0	0	0	0	1	.297
Dunn lf	4	1	1	0	0	1	.221
LaRue c	2	2	1	0	1	1	.243
Branyan 3b	1	0	0	0	0	1	.239
Jcastro 3b	3	1	2	2	0	1	.254
Wpena cf	4	0	2	1	0	1	.140
RMateo rf	3	0	0	0	0	0	.234
PWilson p	2	0	1	0	0	1	.103
Freel ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.262
Reith p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Reitsma p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Totals	32	5	8	4	1	10

San Francisco	000	000	210	-3	10	2
Cincinnati	000	300	02x	-5	8	1

E-BSantiago (4), FRodriguez (1), RMateo (2). LOB-San Francisco 7, Cincinnati 5. HR-JCastro (8), off FRodriguez; Feliz (12), off PWilson; Larkin (2), off JeWilliams. RBIs-BSantiago (42), Feliz 2 (36), Larkin (17), JCastro 2 (22), WPena (3). CS-LaRue (3). S-JeWilliams. GIDP-Galarraga.

San Francisco	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
JeWilliams	6	7	3	2	0	9	93	2.82
Nathan	1	0	0	0	0	1	15	3.36
Christiansen	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.24
FRodriguez L, 6-1	1/3	1	2	2	1	0	14	3.42

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson	7	7	2	2	2	4	90	5.22
Reith H, 4	1/3	1	1	1	0	0	9	4.05
Mercker	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	2.67
Reitsma W, 9-3 BS, 4	1 2/3	1	0	0	0	1	25	4.27

Mercker pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. HBP-by JeWilliams (LaRue).

T-2:39. A-39,291 (42,263).

How the runs scored:

Reds fourth. Larkin homered to left on a 0-1 count. Casey ruck out. Dunn singled to left. LaRue was hit by a pitch, Dunn to second. Castro singled to left, Dunn to third, LaRue to second. Pena singled to left, Dunn scored, LaRue to third, Castro to second. Mateo safe on fielder's choice and Santiago's error, LaRue scored, Castro to third, Pena to second. Wilson struck out. Jimenez grounded out, first baseman Galarraga unassisted.

3 runs, 4 hits, 1 error, 3 left on. Reds 3, Giants 0.

Giants seventh. Santiago struck out. Alfonzo flied out to center fielder Pena. Cruz walked. Feliz pinch-hitting for Williams. Feliz homered to right on a 1-0 count, Cruz scored. Durham flied out to left fielder Dunn.

2 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Reds 3, Giants 2.

Giants eighth. Reith pitching. Aurilia grounded out, pitcher Reith to first baseman Casey. Grissom infield single to short. Mercker pitching. Bonds singled to right, Grissom to second. On Mateo's error, Grissom to third. Reitsma pitching. Galarraga struck out. Santiago singled to left, Grissom scored, Bonds to second. Alfonzo grounded into fielder's choice, shortstop Larkin to second baseman Jimenez, Santiago out.

1 run, 3 hits, 1 error, 2 left on. Reds 3, Giants 3.

Reds eighth. Christiansen pitching. Casey grounded out, first baseman Galarraga to pitcher Christiansen. Dunn grounded out, pitcher Christiansen to first baseman Galarraga. Rodriguez pitching. Perez in as third baseman. LaRue walked on a full count. On Rodriguez's error on a pickoff attempt, LaRue to third. Castro homered to left on a 2-2 count, LaRue scored. Pena grounded out, shortstop Aurilia to first baseman Galarraga.

2 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 0 left on. Reds 5, Giants 3.