By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photo gallery from game.

When you looked at the Florida Marlins' pitchers for their series with the Reds, you had to like Cincinnati's chances Wednesday night.

You had Josh Beckett Tuesday, Tommy Phelps Wednesday and Brad Penny today.

Yeah, Phelps is one you'd take your chances against.

But the Reds had no chance against the 30-year-old left-hander. Phelps allowed only one hit over seven innings as the Marlins won 3-0 at Great American Ball Park, snapping the Reds' winning streak at seven games.

"You've got to give Phelps credit," Reds first baseman Sean Casey said. "He mixed his pitches. He was cutting his pitches. He was the typical crafty left-hander."

Casey's fourth-inning double was the Reds' only hit of the night. Cincinnati averaged 5.9 runs and 9.3 hits per game during its winning streak.

Todd Van Poppel made his fourth start since replacing Jimmy Haynes in the Reds' rotation. He went seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out six.

"Todd pitched well," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "We couldn't muster any offense."

Van Poppel has been a nice addition to the rotation. He's 1-1 with 3.18 ERA in his four starts.

"Bottom line, we lost," Van Poppel said. "I don't care if I give up 10 runs or one run. It doesn't feel good right now."

With a win today in the series finale, the Reds would finish the homestand 8-2. They haven't had a winning percentage of .800 in a homestand of 10 games or more since July of 1966.

Phelps was making his first start of the season, but the Reds have some history with him and first starts. Phelps made a spot start in Cincinnati on May 23 of last year - his first start of that season. He didn't know he was going to pitch until Brad Penny got sick 45 minutes before the game.

Phelps ended going 5 1/3 innings in that one, allowing only one run on five hits.

"I remember that," Casey said. "We're like, 'Who's Tommy Phelps?' He ended up shutting us down."

The Marlins won that game 8-4. They were 10 games under .500 going into the game, and the victory ended a six-game losing streak and is credited with starting Marlins' drive toward the postseason and World Series title.

Phelps was much better Wednesday night.

Given he's left-handed, the Reds were likely to have some trouble with him. They came into the game hitting .211 against lefties and were 6-6 against left-handed starters.

"Our big three, if you will, (Ken Griffey Jr., Casey and Adam Dunn) are left-handed," Miley said. "We've got to find a way to battle and crack the safe against lefties."

Phelps has been good for the Marlins in relief. He came in 0-0 with 3.00 ERA. He had allowed 16 hits and struck out 16 in 15 innings. His longest stint was two innings.

"He'd get his sign and he was ready to roll," Casey said of Phelps' performance Wednesday. "He worked fast."

The Marlins gave him an early 1-0 lead. Miguel Cabrera led off the second with a single. Jeff Conine got him home with a double over the head of center fielder Griffey.

Van Poppel rolled after that. He retired 16 of the next 18 batters he faced and did not allow a runner to get past second.

The streak ended with Hee Seop Choi's home run with one out in the seventh.

A 2-0 lead looked pretty big, especially when the Marlins were looking to get closer Armando Benitez in to work. Benitez got the last four outs for his 17th save, lowering his ERA to 0.34.

Florida	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
LCastillo 2b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.259
Pierre cf	4	0	0	0	0	0	.330
Lowell 3b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.333
Cabrera rf	4	2	2	0	0	2	.293
Nunez rf	0	0	0	0	0	0	.235
Conine lf	4	0	1	1	0	0	.263
Choi 1b	3	1	1	1	1	1	.244
Redmond c	4	0	2	1	0	0	.296
AGonzalez ss	4	0	0	0	0	2	.208
Phelps p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Perisho p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Benitez p	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Totals	35	3	8	3	1	8

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 3b	3	0	0	0	1	0	.248
Larkin ss	4	0	0	0	0	0	.290
Casey 1b	4	0	1	0	0	0	.376
Griffey Jr. cf	3	0	0	0	0	0	.247
Kearns rf	2	0	0	0	1	0	.192
Dunn lf	3	0	0	0	0	2	.266
DJimenez 2b	1	0	0	0	2	0	.222
LaRue c	3	0	0	0	0	0	.198
Van Poppel p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.111
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
RWagner p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
WPena ph	0	0	0	0	0	0	.229
JaCruz ph	1	0	0	0	0	0	.265
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	26	0	1	0	4	3

Florida	010	000	101	-3	8	0
Cincinnati	000	000	000	-0	1	0

LOB-Florida 6, Cincinnati 3. 2B-LCastillo (6), Lowell (15), Cabrera (10), Conine (8), Casey (17). HR-Choi (11), off Van Poppel. RBIs-Conine (14), Choi (25), Redmond (15). SB-Redmond (1). CS-Kearns (1). GIDP-Larkin. DP-Florida 2.

Florida	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Phelps W, 1-0	7	1	0	0	2	2	93	2.05
Perisho H, 3	2/3	0	0	0	1	1	11	1.80
Benitez S, 17	1 1/3	0	0	0	1	0	19	0.34

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Van Poppel L, 2-2	7	6	2	2	0	6	103	3.63
PNorton	2/3	0	0	0	0	0	5	5.02
RWagner	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	3	7.24
TJones	1	2	1	1	1	2	25	4.78

IBB-off TJones (Choi) 1.

Umpires-Home, Joe West; First, Paul Emmel; Second, Terry Craft; Third, Mike DiMuro.

T-2:20. A-22,049 (42,271).