By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LOS ANGELES - When Reds honchos Carl Lindner and John Allen pointed out in their open letter that the fans had "one of the strongest batting orders in the National League," they weren't talking about the lineup the Reds have been running out recently.

They weren't talking about the one that produced a total of nine runs over the last four games.

PHOTO GALLERY

Thursday's Game

Not coincidently, all four of those games have been losses. The Dodgers handed the Reds the fourth of four 4-3 before a crowd of 30,625 at Dodger Stadium Thursday night. It completed the Dodgers' first three-game sweep of the Reds since September of 1996.

The Dodgers do have the best pitching in the National League.

"We faced three good (starters)," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "Their setup guys did a good job to get to the big horse, (Eric) Gagne. It's pretty much over when he comes in."

Gagne struck out the side in the ninth to close it for his 38th save in 38 opportunities this year. He pitched three 1-2-3 ninth innings in the series and struck out six.

"If I can't sleep tonight," Miley said, "I won't be counting sheep. I'll be seeing Gagnes."

The key against the Dodgers is scoring before Gagne comes in. With Ken Griffey Jr. and Austin Kearns injured, and Aaron Boone and Jose Guillen traded away, the Reds don't have a lot of punch these days.

Barry Larkin was out of the lineup as well Thursday. That gave the Reds a lineup with only four of Opening Day eight starters.

"If we had the other guys, it might have been different," Miley said. "But we had opportunities, and when he had opportunities we had the guys you want up there up."

A good effort by Paul Wilson - 6 1/3 innings, two earned runs - was wasted. Wilson allowed four runs, but two were the result of an error by shortstop Ray Olmedo.

"He did a hell of a job," Miley said, "even in the innings when they scored the runs without errors. What, they hit three balls hard all night?"

Wilson allowed a run in the first inning for the 12th time in 23 starts. Dave Roberts walked, stole second and scored on Shawn Green's double.

The Reds tied it in the second. Brandon Larson, coming off a four-strikeout night, hit the first pitch he saw from Hideo Nomo out to left. The 433-foot shot was Larson's first home run of the year.

Wilson pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second.

The Reds took the lead in the third. Wilson and D'Angelo Jimenez started the inning with singles. Olmedo bunted them over. But Sean Casey hit into a fielder's choice (Wilson was out trying to score).

Nomo then had a bout with wildness. He walked Adam Dunn and then walked Larson to force in a run. But that was all the Reds would get. Jason LaRue struck out to end it.

The Dodgers took the lead in the third, thanks to shoddy defense by the Reds. Jeromy Burnitz walked with one out. Paul Lo Duca hit a grounder that Jimenez just got to. He flipped directly from his glove to shortstop Olmedo. Olmedo got too fancy and tried to bare-hand the ball but dropped it for an error.

"The first part of the play was outstanding," Miley said. "It was a pretty true flip. I don't think we were going to get there. He tried to do too much. You turn back the baseball clock, and you'd like to see him use the glove."

Olmedo was thinking double play.

"I tried to bare-hand for a quick double play," he said. "I didn't have time for my glove. Next time, I make that play."

Wilson struck out the next hitter, Robin Ventura, for the second out, so had Olmedo taken the sure out, the Reds would have been out of the inning.

Instead, Adrian Beltre doubled to right, and Burnitz scored easily. Right fielder Ruben Mateo's throw beat Lo Duca, but LaRue dropped the ball trying to make a sweep tag. The two unearned runs made it 3-2.

Wilson wouldn't blame the error.

"You try to not let it affect you," he said. "Those things happen."

Burnitz's RBI single in the fourth made it 4-2.

The Reds left the bases loaded again in the fifth.

Jimenez made it a one-run game with a home run - his second of the year - leading off the seventh.

The Reds went 1-2-3 in the eighth. That meant a third straight dose of Gagne. Gagne pitched the ninth to extend his streak of successfully converted saves to 46, dating back to last season.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Totals	32	3	6	3	4	9
DJimenez 2b	5	2	2	1	0	1	.318
Olmedo ss	3	0	0	0	0	1	.294
Casey 1b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.294
Dunn lf	2	0	0	0	2	1	.214
Larson 3b	2	1	1	2	2	0	.109
LaRue c	4	0	0	0	0	2	.240
RMateo rf	4	0	1	0	0	0	.250
Budzinski cf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000
PWilson p	3	0	1	0	0	1	.119
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
b-Branyan ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.246

Los Angeles	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Totals	33	4	9	4	6	4
DRoberts cf	3	1	0	0	2	0	.244
Izturis ss	4	1	1	0	1	0	.244
ShGreen rf	5	0	2	1	0	0	.267
Burnitz lf	3	1	1	1	1	1	.257
Lo Duca c	4	1	1	0	0	0	.294
Ventura 1b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.278
Beltre 3b	3	0	2	2	1	1	.228
Cora 2b	3	0	1	0	1	0	.232
Nomo p	3	0	0	0	0	1	.154
TMartin p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Quantrill p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Henderson ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.214
Gagne p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---

Cincinnati	011	000	100	-3	6	1
Los Angeles	102	100	00x	-4	9	0

a-grounded out for Quantrill in the 8th. b-struck out for Mercker in the 9th.

E-Olmedo (8). LOB-Cincinnati 7, Los Angeles 11. 2B-ShGreen (40), Lo Duca (27), Beltre (24). HR-DJimenez (2), off Nomo; Larson (1), off Nomo. RBIs-DJimenez (8), Larson 2 (7), ShGreen (55), Burnitz (55), Beltre 2 (47). SB-DRoberts (28). S-Olmedo. GIDP-Nomo.

Runners left in scoring position-Cincinnati 4 (LaRue 4); Los Angeles 7 (Izturis 2, Lo Duca, Ventura 2, Cora, Nomo).

Runners moved up-Lo Duca, Ventura.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (Larson, LaRue and Casey).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson L, 6-9	6 1/3	8	4	2	5	4	113	5.11
Mercker	1 2/3	1	0	0	1	0	16	2.45

Los Angeles	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Nomo W, 13-9	6 1/3	6	3	3	4	4	94	2.73
TMartin H, 19	2/3	0	0	0	0	1	7	3.32
Quantrill H, 17	1	0	0	0	0	1	9	1.58
Gagne S, 38	1	0	0	0	0	3	13	1.61

Inherited runners-scored-Mercker 1-0.

IBB-off Mercker (Beltre) 1, off PWilson (Cora) 1.

Umpires-Home, John Hirschbeck; First, Paul Emmel; Second, Matt Hollowell; Third, Wally Bell.

T-2:26. A-30,625 (56,000).

How the runs scored:

Dodgers first. Roberts walked. Roberts stole second. Izturis was out bunting, catcher LaRue to first baseman Casey. Green doubled to right, Roberts scored. Burnitz struck out. Lo Duca flied out to center fielder Budzinski.

1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 left on. Dodgers 1, Reds 0.

Reds second. Dunn flied out to right fielder Green. Larson homered to left on the first pitch. LaRue grounded out, third baseman Beltre to first baseman Ventura. Mateo singled to center. Budzinski grounded out, second baseman Cora to first baseman Ventura.

1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on. Dodgers 1, Reds 1.

Reds third. Wilson singled to center. Jimenez singled to center, Wilson to second. Olmedo sacrificed, pitcher Nomo to first baseman Ventura, Wilson to third, Jimenez to second. Casey grounded into fielder's choice, second baseman Cora to catcher Lo Duca, Wilson out, Jimenez to third. Dunn walked on four pitches, Casey to second. Larson walked on four pitches, Jimenez scored, Casey to third, Dunn to second. LaRue struck out.

1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 3 left on. Reds 2, Dodgers 1.

Dodgers third. Green grounded out, pitcher Wilson to first baseman Casey. Burnitz walked on four pitches. Lo Duca safe on fielder's choice and Olmedo's error, Burnitz to second. Ventura struck out. Beltre doubled to right, Burnitz scored, Lo Duca scored. Cora was intentionally walked. Nomo grounded into fielder's choice, third baseman Larson unassisted, Beltre out, Cora to second.

2 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 left on. Dodgers 3, Reds 2.

Dodgers fourth. Roberts grounded out, shortstop Olmedo to first baseman Casey. Izturis walked. Green singled to right, Izturis to second. Burnitz singled to right, Izturis scored, Green to second. Lo Duca grounded out, third baseman Larson to first baseman Casey, Green to third, Burnitz to second. Ventura flied out to right fielder Mateo.

1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Dodgers 4, Reds 2.

Reds seventh. Jimenez homered to right on a 3-1 count. Olmedo was out bunting, catcher Lo Duca to first baseman Ventura. Martin pitching. Casey grounded out, second baseman Cora to first baseman Ventura. Dunn struck out.

1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Dodgers 4, Reds 3.