By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sean Casey walks off the field as the Houston Astros celebrate their 6-5 win. Casey hit a fly ball to the outfield to end the game, stranding two men on base. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

HOUSTON - Barry Larkin called the obligatory players-only meeting. His message:

Stay positive.

That's hard to do when you're on a streak like the Reds are on. They lost their fifth straight game Sunday, falling to the Houston Astros 6-5 before a crowd of 38,313 at Minute Maid Park.

The Reds have led in all five losses. Sunday, they were beaten on a suicide squeeze for the second time in four games.

"It happens," Larkin said. "That's the point. Don't get into cliques and blame this person or that person. There's no glaring reason why. Everyone needs to worry about doing his job. It's not rocket science."

One person who did his job Sunday - starting pitcher Cory Lidle - agreed with Larkin's point.

"Things aren't going our way," Lidle said. "We, as a team, need to find a way to get back on track."

The loss left the Reds at .500 - 12-12, which equates to fifth place in the National League Central, a half-game ahead of Milwaukee.

"It's a long season," Lidle said. "We proved to ourselves and everyone else that we're a good ballclub. We need to focus on doing our jobs and getting back to that."

The loss Sunday was again the result of a blown save.

Lidle went seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits and left with a 5-3 lead.

Manager Dave Miley brought in Todd Jones to pitch the eighth. Lidle had thrown 105 pitches.

"He did his job," Miley said. "105 is a good number of pitches."

The first three batters Jones faced - Jeff Bagwell, Jeff Kent and Lance Berkman - singled. None of the three were laser shots.

"They were good pitches," Miley said. "He jammed them, but they were strong enough that they fought them off."

Jones struck out Richard Hidalgo.

That brought up pinch-hitter Mike Lamb. He hit a broken-bat single through the middle. Jones might have had a play on the ball. "I really think the bat distracted him," Lamb said.

And the game was tied 5-5.

"The damnedest thing I've ever seen," Miley said.

The nosedive reaches five

April 27 - At Milwaukee, lose 9-8; Larson's error would have ended the game. April 28 - At Milwaukee, lose 10-9; blow a 9-0 lead, lose on suicide squeeze. Friday - At Houston, lose 6-1; Clemens beats Reds in first meeting. Saturday - At Houston, lose 10-4; another bullpen blowup. Sunday - At Houston, lose 6-5; blown save No. 8, suicide squeeze victims again.

The inning, of course, wasn't over. Brad Ausmus got the game-winner home with a perfect suicide squeeze. The pitch was high and off the plate.

"Ausmus did a hell of a job getting it down," Miley said.

It was the Reds' eighth blown save in 18 chances. They lead the majors in blown saves.

"It's frustrating, real frustrating," Jones said. "We've lost what, four or five in a row. Cory Lidle pitched great today. That's what hurts."

In the five losses, the bullpen has a 13.83 ERA and has three blown saves.

"We've got to try to get some consistency," Jones said. "The lineup is hitting good enough to win. The starting pitching is good enough. We should be four or five games over .500."

The Reds took a 2-0 lead Sunday in the second on Brandon Larson's RBI double and Javier Valentin's sacrifice fly. After they added an unearned run in the third, Valentin doubled in a run to make it 4-0.

Lidle gave up three runs in the fourth - two on Jeff Kent's home run - but he cruised through the fifth, sixth and seventh.

When Adam Dunn made it 5-3 with his ninth home run - a high shot to right - it looked like it might be the Reds' day.

Then came the eighth.

The Reds didn't go quietly in the ninth against Octavio Dotel. Larkin and D'Angelo Jimenez both lined hard to center. Juan Castro walked and Ken Griffey Jr. singled.

But Sean Casey flied out to right.

"The tough things about blown saves is they take a couple days to get over," Jones said.

The Reds don't have that luxury. They face Roy Oswalt today in the wrapup of the series. Oswalt is 8-0 against the Reds.

"Part of staying positive is to have a short memory," Larkin said. "You can't dwell on losses. Don't go out there thinking you're going to fail."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 2b	2	1	0	0	0	1	.236
DJimenez 2b	2	0	0	0	0	0	.220
JCastro ss-3b	3	0	0	0	2	0	.238
Griffey Jr. cf	5	0	2	0	0	2	.233
Casey 1b	5	1	2	0	0	0	.400
Dunn lf	3	2	1	1	1	1	.314
Larson 3b	4	1	2	1	0	0	.389
Romano rf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.111
Valentin c	3	0	1	2	0	1	.100
WPena rf	4	0	0	0	0	3	.250
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Lidle p	2	0	0	0	1	2	.143
Larkin ss	1	0	0	0	0	0	.277
Totals	34	5	8	4	4	10

Houston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Biggio cf	3	0	1	0	0	0	.348
AEverett ss	4	1	1	0	0	1	.298
Bagwell 1b	3	2	2	1	1	1	.345
JKent 2b	4	2	2	2	0	0	.284
Berkman lf	3	1	1	0	1	1	.293
Hidalgo rf	4	0	1	0	0	2	.356
Ensberg 3b	2	0	0	0	0	1	.190
DMiceli p	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Lamb ph	1	0	1	2	0	0	.371
Dotel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Ausmus c	3	0	0	1	0	0	.256
Redding p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.200
Backe p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
OPalmeiro ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.227
Gallo p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Harville p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JVizcaino 3b	2	0	0	0	0	0	.133
Totals	31	6	9	6	2	7

Cincinnati	021	100	010	-5	8	1
Houston	000	300	03x	-6	9	2

E-JCastro (1), Hidalgo (1), JVizcaino (2). LOB-Cincinnati 8, Houston 6. 2B-Larson (1), Valentin (1), Bagwell (7). HR-Dunn (9), off DMiceli; JKent (3), off Lidle. RBIs-Dunn (19), Larson (4), Valentin 2 (2), Bagwell (19), JKent 2 (18), Lamb 2 (13), Ausmus (6). SB-Freel (5). CS-Biggio (1). S-Ensberg, Ausmus. SF-Valentin.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Lidle	7	5	3	3	2	6	105	4.75
TJones L, 1-1; BS, 2	1	4	3	3	0	1	20	6.28

Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Redding	3	5	4	4	2	5	67	10.57
Backe	1	0	0	0	1	1	15	2.25
Gallo	1 1/3	1	0	0	0	0	17	0.00
Harville	2/3	0	0	0	0	1	4	4.76
DMiceli W, 1-1	2	1	1	1	0	3	29	1.10
Dotel S, 4	1	1	0	0	1	0	14	2.38

Redding pitched to 2 batters in the 4th.

Inherited runners-scored-Backe 1-0.

HBP-by Lidle (Biggio), by Redding (Freel).

T-2:51. A-38,313 (40,950).