By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CHICAGO - If the Reds' season has turned into on-the-job training for young players, then Friday's lesson was "Dealing with the Pressure of the Pennant Race."

The Reds got a pretty good indication of what September baseball is like for contenders in their 7-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

It's a lesson worth learning.

"That's what it's about," said Sean Casey. "Big at-bats. Big pitches. It takes your adrenaline to a different level. It's something you have to learn to deal with."

The Reds did a pretty good job of it, despite the loss.

"We battled our butts off," Reds manager Dave Miley said.

The game had the look of a rout early. Cincinnati starter Seth Etherton did not retire a batter in the third inning.

"I saw a lot of pitches up," Miley said. "I didn't think it was going to be Seth's day."

Said Etherton: "Everything I threw, they hit."

Etherton allowed the Cubs to take a 4-0 lead. It was 5-1 when their starter, Kerry Wood, left after six innings.

But the Reds came back with five runs in the seventh. The big blows were three run-scoring doubles, from Russell Branyan, Ruben Mateo and Dernell Stenson.

Scott Randall retired Sammy Sosa in the bottom of the seventh. But with Moises Alou at the plate, a steady rain became torrential.

After a 49-minute delay, Randall struck out Alou. Then the trouble started.

Randall walked Randall Simon, and Aramis Ramirez hit a ball up the middle that shortstop Ray Olmedo got to with a dive. Olmedo tried to flip it to second from the prone position, but the ball slipped out of his hand.

"He had it for second," Miley said. "He might have got him with Simon running."

Alex Gonzalez singled to left, and Miley brought in John Riedling. The Cubs pinch-hit Tom Goodwin for Paul Bako, and Riedling got ahead of him 0-2 before he hit a liner that second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez knocked down. Jimenez scrambled to get the ball but slipped and fell before he could throw home to try to get Ramirez.

"Every day's a learning process with this team," Miley said. "A high percentage of these guys (14) never played at Wrigley. But they battled to the last out, the last strike."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
JCastro ss	2	1	1	0	1	0	.264
Valent ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.250
Cerros p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Stenson ph	1	0	1	2	0	0	.275
Randall p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.235
Smitherman ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.154
Hummel 3b	4	0	0	0	1	1	.185
DJimenez 2b	5	1	2	0	0	1	.303
Casey 1b	4	1	2	0	0	0	.290
Branyan lf	4	1	2	2	1	1	.233
RMateo rf	4	1	1	2	1	2	.254
LaRue c	1	0	0	0	0	1	.230
CMiller c	2	1	1	0	1	1	.267
Serafini pr	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
WPena cf	4	0	1	0	0	2	.212
Etherton p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.143
Reith p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Olmedo ph-ss	3	0	1	0	0	1	.256
Totals	38	6	12	6	5	13

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Lofton cf	4	2	2	1	1	1	.290
Grudzielanek 2b	5	0	3	1	0	0	.306
SSosa rf	5	0	0	0	0	3	.289
Alou lf	2	1	0	1	1	2	.288
Simon 1b	3	1	2	0	1	0	.279
ARamirez 3b	4	1	2	1	0	0	.268
ASGonzalez ss	4	0	1	0	0	1	.223
Bako c	3	1	1	0	0	1	.227
Goodwin ph	1	0	1	2	0	0	.298
DMiller c	0	0	0	0	0	0	.237
Wood p	1	1	1	0	0	0	.143
Womack ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.234
Guthrie p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Alfonseca p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Karros ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.287
Remlinger p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Borowski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	34	7	13	6	3	8

Cincinnati	000	010	500	-6	12	0
Chicago	121	100	20x	-7	13	1

E-Bako (6). LOB-Cincinnati 13, Chicago 8. 2B-JCastro (14), Stenson (4), Branyan (10), RMateo (9), Lofton 2 (30), Wood (1). RBIs-Stenson 2 (9), Branyan 2 (22), RMateo 2 (17), Lofton (40), Grudzielanek (27), Alou (88), ARamirez (94), Goodwin 2 (11). SB-JCastro (2). CS-Lofton (9). S-WPena, Wood. SF-Alou.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Etherton	2	7	4	4	1	1	48	6.52
Reith	3	3	1	1	0	5	49	4.76
Cerros	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	10.13
Randall L, 2-2 H, 1	2/3	2	2	2	1	1	18	5.68
Riedling BS, 3	1 1/3	1	0	0	1	1	21	4.95

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Wood	6	5	1	1	4	9	114	3.46
Guthrie	0	3	3	3	0	0	8	2.63
Alfonseca W, 2-1 BS, 4	1	2	2	2	1	1	24	5.43
Remlinger H, 14	1	0	0	0	0	1	14	3.76
Borowski S, 27	1	2	0	0	0	2	20	2.86

Etherton pitched to 2 batters in the 3rd, Guthrie pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored-Riedling 3-2, Reith 2-1, Alfonseca 2-2.

HBP-by Wood (Casey), by Wood (CMiller). WP-Reith.

Umpires-Home, Jerry Meals; First, Chris Guccione; Second, Steve Rippley; Third, Larry Vanover.

T-3:14. A-38,219 (39,241).