By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

DENVER - Neither Barry Larkin nor Ken Griffey Jr. was in the lineup for the opener of the Reds' series with the Colorado Rockies here Friday.

Griffey was still feeling stiffness in his right hamstring. Larkin's left oblique muscle felt better after two days of rest, but Reds manager Dave Miley chose to given him another day.

Griffey was on the disabled list from July 11 to Aug. 3 with a partially torn hamstring. It stiffened up on him in the fourth inning of Wednesdays' game in San Francisco.

"It's a lot better (Friday) than it was (Thursday)," Griffey said. "I was on the treadmill warming it up. I get up to 10 miles an hour. I did 30 seconds and then had to go into my cooldown.

"I can't extend it right at the end."

Larkin has not started a game since July 24. He was expecting to return Friday.

"I'm available," he said. "I'm just not in the lineup."

Larkin basically didn't do anything Wednesday or Thursday.

"It's much better," he said.

Miley's decision probably had as much to do with the way Felipe Lopez is playing as Larkin's health.

Lopez entered Friday hitting .400 with two home runs and four RBI in his last 10 games. He went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored Thursday.

NO WORD: The Reds still have not heard when John Riedling will be returning from Florida, where he attended the funeral of his father, Jack.

Riedling can stay on the bereavement list for up to seven days.

MEMORIES: The cab ride to Coors Field stirred memories for Miley. He played Triple-A ball in Denver in 1985 and '86.

"We went to Union Station to get the team picture taken," he said. "We had Eric Davis, Lloyd McClendon and Paul O'Neill on that team."

NEW AGENT: Adam Dunn needs a new agent - sort of. Dunn's agent, Jeff Moorad, is going to be named CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"It really doesn't affect me," Dunn said. "I dealt with Brian Peters. But Jeff is a great dude. Guess I'll always have a job."

LIVELY BATS: Reds hitters went 27-for-80 (.338) with nine doubles, a triple and four home runs in the 8-7 and 12-3 victories over the San Francisco Giants Wednesday and Thursday.

Prior to the offensive outburst, the Reds had been shut out in two of their last three games.

KEARNS UPDATE: Austin Kearns went 0-for-1 with three walks and a hit-by-pitch for Louisville Thursday.

FARM REPORT: Stephen Smitherman is playing well at Louisville. Smitherman went 3-for-4 with a double and walk in the Bats' 8-2 victory over Durham Thursday. That extended Smitherman's hitting streak to eight games. He was hitting .464 over the streak.

Nick Bierbrodt, a left-hander who signed with Louisville Thursday, had his contract voided Friday after he failed a physical. Bierbrodt was 1-1 with a 5.82 ERA for Texas this year.

UP NEXT: The Reds play the second game of the three-game series against the Rockies.

Right-hander Paul Wilson (9-2, 3.84 ERA) faces right-hander and Hamilton native Aaron Cook (6-4, 4.18).

Cook has been pitching extremely well. He has gone at least six innings in four straight starts.

He is 1-0 with a 2.28 ERA in that span.

Wilson is making his fifth attempt at his 10th win. In two of the previous attempts, he was the victim of a blown save.

REDS FACT: Paul Wilson, today's starter, will make his fifth attempt to win his 10th game. His nine victories are a single-season career high.

Reds statistics

(Not including Friday's game)

BATTERS	AVG	OBA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E
Casey	.339	.395	369	69	125	36	1	16	67	31	23	1	0	5
Larkin	.300	.352	293	53	88	13	3	7	40	25	34	2	0	4
Dunn	.276	.407	373	69	103	20	0	32	68	77	133	4	1	3
Freel	.267	.375	344	42	92	11	5	1	19	50	59	20	7	11
Pena	.262	.323	233	28	61	8	1	16	44	17	76	3	1	5
Jimenez	.259	.361	375	50	97	16	2	7	38	60	64	9	6	6
Griffey	.254	.352	299	49	76	18	0	20	60	44	66	1	0	1
LaRue	.244	.332	271	34	66	14	1	12	37	21	72	0	2	7
Castro	.240	.275	200	23	48	16	1	1	13	10	34	0	0	6
Lopez	.239	.289	71	11	17	7	0	2	9	5	23	0	0	6
Cruz	.234	.311	107	16	25	5	0	3	21	9	31	0	0	0
Hummel	.229	.281	105	10	24	4	0	1	7	7	16	1	0	4
Larson	.212	.304	118	13	25	6	0	3	14	14	35	1	0	5
Valentin	.201	.257	139	14	28	6	1	5	15	10	23	0	0	4
Vander Wal	.200	.231	25	1	5	2	0	1	2	1	8	0	0	0
Kearns	.195	.327	87	10	17	2	1	3	13	16	30	1	1	1
Romano	.154	.214	26	3	4	0	0	1	3	2	10	0	0	0
Team Totals	.251	.335	3669	505	922	189	16	131	479	417	854	44	18	71

PITCHERS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Graves	1	4	3.16	56	0	35	57.0	59	25	20	10	8	32
Wilson	9	2	3.84	21	21	0	136.0	137	61	58	18	46	91
Claussen	1	1	4.02	3	3	0	15.2	15	9	7	2	7	9
Harang	7	3	4.31	18	18	0	102.1	114	50	49	9	37	80
Riedling	4	3	4.37	51	0	0	57.2	61	36	28	5	26	32
Norton	1	3	4.80	48	0	0	45.0	47	28	24	3	24	32
Lidle	6	10	5.35	23	23	0	143.0	161	92	85	23	42	87
Van Poppel	3	5	5.42	27	10	0	84.2	94	51	51	13	15	54
Acevedo	4	10	6.46	22	22	0	118.1	145	87	85	23	38	94
Wagner	2	1	6.51	29	0	0	27.2	42	24	20	4	18	16
White	0	1	6.85	20	0	0	22.1	23	17	17	9	4	16
Hancock	2	1	8.44	6	2	0	10.2	16	10	10	3	5	5
Matthews	2	1	8.84	22	0	0	18.1	23	19	18	6	10	8
Team Totals	53	55	5.15	108	108	36	961.2	1071	595	550	146	354	642