By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

Reds' pitcher Cory Lidle (15) and Jermaine Clark (right) greet Sean Casey (21) and Juan Castro (7) after they scored in the seventh inning against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium on Thursday. The Reds won 6-2 thanks in part to a strong outing from Lidle. The Associated Press

Ken Griffey Jr. hit a high fly ball to center, which was lost in the sun. The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Rarely has a team ever been happier with a 3-3 record on a road trip than the Reds are with the one they've just completed.

That's how well it ended.

The Reds beat the New York Mets and Tom Glavine 6-2 Thursday afternoon at Shea Stadium.

With the victory, the Reds closed the road trip by winning three of four after losing the first two in St. Louis.

"That's a pretty good way to end it against two tough teams," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "You shoot for the split on the road, and we got it."

About 18 hours before wrapping things up Thursday, getting swept by the Mets and a 1-5 road trip looked like a real possibility. The Mets had runners at second and third with one out in the ninth Wednesday. A hit or a sacrifice fly would have won it. That would have left them facing Glavine and his 2.07 ERA and 25-6 record vs. the Reds. Things looked semi-bleak for the Reds.

But John Riedling wiggled out of Wednesday's jam and the Reds won 6-4 in 12 innings. They pulled out another one Thursday, thanks to a good start by Cory Lidle and one very bad play by Mike Cameron.

"To win two like we did is huge for us," Sean Casey said.

The Reds got the early lead on Glavine (7-4). Ryan Freel led off the game with an infield single. He stole second and scored on the first of Juan Castro's three hits.

It stayed that way until Lidle made his one mistake, grooving a 2-2 pitch to Jose Reyes, who hit it out to right for his first home run.

Lidle (5-5) ended up going eight innings, allowing two runs on nine hits. He did not walk a batter and he struck out eight.

"I was throwing strikes," he said. "Everything was working. I kept the ball down and pounded the zone. They got their share of hits, but when you keep the ball down, you're going to be successful."

The Reds broke the game open in the seventh, thanks to a big break.

Tim Hummel, the starting third baseman of the moment, led off the seventh with his second . Javier Valentin followed with a single. Glavine was done after Lidle sacrificed the runners to second and third.

Freel tied the game at 2 with an RBI groundout.

Then the real trouble started for the Mets. Ricky Bottalico walked Castro. The Mets brought in left-hander Mike Stanton, who walked Casey to load the bases.

Stanton appeared to escape when Ken Griffey Jr. hit a high fly ball to center. Cameron, the two-time Gold Glove winner, got to the ball. He was wearing sunglasses, but shielding his eyes with his glove as the ball dropped.

"It's a really tough sky out there," Griffey said.

Cameron picked it up as it got close to him. But it fell for a two-base, three-run error. The Reds had a 5-2 lead.

"Finally something went our way," Lidle said.

The Reds thought the scoring decision was wrong.

"For 100 years when the sun affects a play, it's a hit," Lidle said. "That's not a scorer's discretion."

The scorer asked Cameron about the play. Cameron said he should have caught the ball. The decision stood.

Adam Dunn followed with a single to score Griffey, making it 6-2.

"It seems like every game is 3-2, 2-1, 4-3. We never win 7-2," Casey said. "To get the four-run lead was big."

The Reds will honor Ken Griffey Jr. before tonight's game with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park with a ceremony at 6:50 p.m. The club is giving away posters commemorating Griffey's 500th home run.

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Freel 2b	5	1	1	1	0	1	.248
JCastro ss-3b	4	1	3	1	1	0	.316
Casey 1b	3	1	1	0	1	0	.361
FLopez ss	1	0	0	0	0	1	.152
Griffey Jr. cf	5	1	0	0	0	1	.249
Dunn lf	4	0	2	1	0	0	.261
WPena rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	.261
Hummel 3b-1b	4	1	2	0	0	0	.308
Valentin c	4	1	2	0	0	2	.170
Lidle p	3	0	0	0	0	2	.115
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Totals	37	6	11	3	2	9

New York	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Reyes 2b	4	1	1	2	0	0	.143
Cameron cf	4	0	0	0	0	3	.214
Piazza 1b	4	0	3	0	0	0	.319
Floyd lf	4	0	3	0	0	0	.294
Hidalgo rf	4	0	0	0	0	1	.251
Wigginton 3b	3	0	0	0	0	1	.270
Stanton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Wheeler p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Valent ph	1	0	0	0	0	1	.248
Parra p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JPhillips c	4	0	1	0	0	1	.218
McEwing ss	4	1	1	0	0	1	.213
TGlavine p	1	0	0	0	0	0	.222
Bottalico p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Zeile 3b	2	0	0	0	0	1	.241
Totals	35	2	9	2	0	9

Cincinnati	100	000	500	-6	11	1
New York	000	020	000	-2	9	1

E-JCastro (5), Cameron (3). LOB-Cincinnati 7, New York 7. 2B-JCastro (8), Floyd (11). HR-Reyes (1), off Lidle. RBIs-Freel (12), JCastro (10), Dunn (46), Reyes 2 (4). SB-Freel (13). S-Lidle, TGlavine. GIDP-Casey, Wigginton.

DP-Cincinnati 1 (JCastro, Freel and Casey); New York 1 (Reyes, McEwing and Piazza).

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Lidle W, 5-5	8	9	2	2	0	8	107	5.05
Graves	1	0	0	0	0	1	13	3.27

New York	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
TGlavine L, 7-4	6 1/3	9	3	2	0	5	117	2.11
Bottalico BS, 1	1/3	0	1	0	1	0	11	1.88
Stanton	1/3	1	2	0	1	0	14	3.26
Wheeler	1	1	0	0	0	2	16	4.26
Parra	1	0	0	0	0	2	13	0.00

Inherited runners-scored-Stanton 2-2, Bottalico 2-1.

T-2:54. A-23,827 (57,405).