By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CLEVELAND - Maybe it's the dreaded Sports Illustrated jinx. Maybe it's jet lag. Whatever it is, the Reds are sliding fast.

They lost their season-high sixth game in a row Sunday, 10-8 to the Cleveland Indians. It was the Indians' first sweep of the Reds in Cleveland. The Oakland A's swept three games in the previous series.

Sunday's loss came on a day when Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 499th home run and narrowly missed No. 500 with a flyout to the warning track.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos: Junior hits No. 499

A week ago, the Reds had won five of six to move a season-high 12 games over .500. They had the best record in the National League at 34-22. Griffey was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

It all turned quickly.

"It's hard to believe," Reds relief pitcher John Riedling said. "A week ago, it seemed like we couldn't do anything wrong. Now, it seems like we can't do anything right."

The Reds will play a makeup game against the Phillies in Philadelphia tonight at 7:05, then come home for a three-game series against the Texas Rangers starting on Tuesday.

The Reds were humiliated in the sweep in Oakland. The A's outscored them 40-16, bashing the starting pitching.

Against the Indians, it was the bullpen that faltered. The Reds led in all three before losing 6-5, 8-7 and 10-8.

Sunday's was the worst. The Reds led 7-1 going into the bottom of the fourth.

At that point, it looked like manager Dave Miley's team meeting Sunday morning had done the trick.

"I thought we came out strong," said Miley, who was ejected in the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

But the Reds gave up five runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh.

The loss pushed the Reds (34-28) to 11/2 games behind NL Central leader St. Louis.

That's the good news.

"As bad as we've played," Reds third baseman Brandon Larson said, "we're still only 11/2 games out."