By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MONTREAL - Sean Casey signed an autograph for a Reds fan before batting practice Friday. By doing so, Casey accommodated one-fifth of the crowd at Olympic Stadium.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

That's right: 20 minutes after the gates opened and 90 minutes before the game, there were five fans in the stands. Final attendance for Friday's game on Orlando Cabrera Babooshka doll night: 7,058.

The San Juan/Montreal Expos aren't exactly packing them in. The Braves just left town having drawn 13,454 - for the three-game series.

"It's just so dreary," Casey said of the Expos environment. "There are no fans. It kind of feels like the last day of spring training."

That's a good analogy. The Expos have been preparing to break camp and go somewhere else for 10 years.

The impending move or contraction has eroded the fan base.

Chris Welsh, the television analyst on Reds broadcasts, pitched for the Expos in 1983.

"We drew pretty well," Welsh said. "They won in 1981, and it was essentially the same club. We'd get 35,000 on weekends."

The Expos drew 2,320,651 - a club record - in 1983. By 2001, the club drew only 642,748.

"Sometimes fans get you pumped up," Casey said. "That's not going to happen here."

The word is the Expos situation will be resolved around the All-Star break. A move to Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia is the most likely solution.

Casey doesn't think the club will be missed.

"I was walking around with Todd Jones today. I said, 'If you were taking a survey, how many people do you think could name an Expo?' " he said. "Maybe three out of 100 would know who Jose Vidro is."

LaRUE RESTS: Catcher Jason LaRue was out of the lineup again Friday night.

"I wanted to give him a couple of days to clear his head," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "We have to get him untracked."

LaRue went into Friday hitting just .198 with one home run.

But Miley has been reluctant to sit him. The Reds are 19-7 when he starts, and pitchers have a 3.92 ERA when he's catching.

"He's done a terrific job behind the plate," Miley said.

DUNN DAY? Miley plans to give outfielder Adam Dunn a day or two off. Dunn came into Friday's game 0-for-his-last-18 and 4-for-his-last-36. He hadn't hit a home run since May 11.

The break probably will come Monday or Wednesday in Florida when the Reds face left-handers.

LEFT OUT: Miley is a little concerned with the Reds' continuing struggles against left-handers. The Reds entered Friday hitting .202 against lefties. They were hitting .259 against right-handers.

"We've got to find a way to get better run production against lefties," Miley said.

Miley is more concerned with the bottom line - wins and losses - than with statistics. But the Reds aren't good in that regard either.

They are 6-7 against left-handed starters. They entered Friday 21-13 against right-handed starters.

A big part of that is the Reds' power comes predominantly from the left side with Casey, Ken Griffey Jr. and Dunn.

Casey is hitting .357 off lefties. Wily Mo Pena is hitting .444. LaRue is at .253. Everyone else is at .233 or below.

FARM REPORT: Richie Gardner pitched five innings of two-hit, shutout ball for Single-A Potomac in its 7-4 win over Salem.

Gardner, a sixth-round pick in 2003, is 5-2 with a 2.28 ERA.

Seth Etherton won his first game at Triple-A Louisville this year. He pitched all five innings in a rain-shortened 8-1 victory. Felipe Lopez went 3-for-3 with a grand slam, his seventh homer of the year.

UP NEXT: The Reds play the Expos in the second game of the three-game series at 7:05 p.m. today. Right-hander Jose Acevedo (2-3, 4.53 ERA) faces right-hander Zach Day (3-5, 3.53).

Day, a graduate of La Salle High, has limited the other club to three or fewer runs in seven of his nine starts. He has pitched twice against the Reds, going a total of 8 1/3 innings, allowing three runs.

REDS FACT: Jason LaRue has been hit by a pitch seven times this season - four times in his last six games.

Reds statistics

(Through Friday's game)

BATTERS	AVG	OBA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E
Casey	.390	.423	182	36	71	19	1	7	35	13	17	1	0	1
Larkin	.292	.339	171	30	50	8	2	2	18	13	23	2	0	1
Castro	.286	.329	77	10	22	5	1	1	9	5	16	0	0	4
Larson	.278	.350	36	4	10	3	0	1	5	4	6	0	0	5
Cruz	.257	.350	35	6	9	3	0	0	6	5	13	0	0	0
Freel	.255	.348	141	19	36	3	5	1	8	12	26	7	3	5
Dunn	.253	.440	150	31	38	8	0	11	27	47	61	2	0	2
Griffey	.247	.347	170	256	42	12	0	12	39	24	39	1	0	0
Pena	.229	.302	48	5	11	1	1	2	6	4	23	0	0	0
Jimenez	.222	.337	176	24	39	8	1	3	18	30	30	2	3	4
Hummel	.214	.258	28	1	6	1	0	0	4	2	5	0	0	0
LaRue	.198	.327	86	11	17	5	0	1	11	10	23	0	1	3
Kearns	.198	.330	86	10	17	2	1	3	13	16	29	1	1	1
Valentin	.164	.213	73	7	12	3	0	3	8	5	9	0	0	3
Team Totals	.247	.342	1581	225	391	84	12	47	211	207	387	16	8	30

PITCHERS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Matthews	0	0	3.86	6	0	0	2.1	3	2	1	1	2	4
Riedling	3	0	1.38	23	0	0	26	14	6	4	1	6	18
Graves	1	3	2.89	28	0	22	28.0	28	14	9	7	4	19
Wilson	7	0	3.34	10	10	0	64.2	68	26	24	8	15	35
Van Poppel	2	2	3.63	10	4	0	34.2	33	14	14	3	7	23
Lidle	4	4	4.73	11	11	0	73.1	72	39	38	9	14	37
Acevedo	2	3	4.53	9	9	0	53.2	53	28	27	9	12	49
Jones	3	1	4.78	24	0	1	26.1	22	14	14	2	12	19
Norton	0	0	4.91	20	0	0	14.2	16	9	8	2	5	8
Harang	4	2	5.27	10	10	0	54.2	69	32	32	7	22	41
Wagner	2	1	6.75	18	0	0	14.2	26	13	11	3	11	9
Reith	0	1	6.88	15	0	0	17.0	21	13	13	3	13	17
Team Totals	28	20	4.48	48	48	23	424	450	227	211	58	129	285