By John Erardi
Enquirer staff writer

Buoyed by some good at-bats (although no hits) Thursday night, Sean Casey wasted no time cashing in Friday night.

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In his first at-bat, Casey ripped an 0-1 pitch into right field to keep the Reds' rally going and scored on a three-run homer by Wily Mo Pena that gave the Reds a 4-0 lead.

"I hit the ball hard (Thursday) night but didn't have anything to show for it," said Casey, making his second start Friday after 15 days on the disabled list with a strained right calf. "I think it was good that I got to see seven or eight pitches off Matt Morris in that first at-bat (Thursday) just to get the feel back."

Casey entered Friday hitting .346 with 15 home runs and 54 RBI.

Casey is important to the Reds lineup, in the sense that he improves the sometimes all-or-nothing quality the Reds present with their home runs and strikeouts.

"Everybody brings a certain personality to the lineup, brings something to the team," Casey said.

There is just something about having a good hitter in your lineup, who can hit not only for power but also make good contact and hit to all fields. It's a reminder of what major-league hitting used to be like a generation ago before all the strikeouts.

Casey took a lot of batting practice during his sabbatical.

"But there's a big difference between 45 miles an hour down the middle in B.P. and then having a guy bringing it 90 miles an hour, cutting it, sinking it and working fast," Casey said. "Welcome back, right? Go get 'em. That's what it felt like against Matt Morris. He's a big reason they (the Cardinals) are where they are."

On the other hand, Casey isn't getting down about where the Reds are.

"If somebody had told us before the season, 'You'll be 47-42 (going into Friday's game), 2 1/2 games back in the wild-card race playing in the pumped-up Central Division,' we'd have said, 'We'll take it.' And that's right where we are."