By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

HOUSTON - It was a scene straight out of spring training: Reds pitchers lining up on the mound to field bunts and cover first.

The dreaded PFP (pitchers fielding practice). It's something you rarely see during the regular season. But it's something the Reds did Tuesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park and will continue to do throughout September.

"We're going to be doing a lot of early work," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "We've got to get better at the basic fundamentals."

The players dread the drills in spring training, so doing it at 2:45 p.m. on the day of a 7:05 game is no picnic.

But there were no complaints.

"We're terrible at it," closer Danny Graves said. "Covering first and backing up the bases is something every major leaguer should understand. But some guys aren't playing like major leaguers."

Miley plans to have tutorials in the other basics as well: Bunting, base-running, fielding.

"They're things we did on a daily basis in spring training," he said. "We expressed our unhappiness with the way things have been going. There are other things we're going to work on. They'll carry through spring training."

The session was mandatory for all pitchers, except for Paul Wilson, who started Tuesday's game. But Wilson was there, watching.

BRUISED BATTER: Jason LaRue was hit by a pitch in the first inning of Tuesday's game. It was the 21st time this season he has been hit - a Reds record. LaRue (2003) and Frank Robinson (1956) had shared the record at 20.

CALL-UPS: The Reds brought up two players from Triple-A Louisville - shortstop Anderson Machado and right-hander Aaron Myette.

Myette, 26, was 3-3 with a 2.89 ERA and 19 saves. He has pitched in the big leagues as far back as 1999. In 2001, he made 12 starts with Texas, going 4-5 with a 7.14 ERA.

Machado, 23, was obtained in the Todd Jones trade. His call-up was no shocker because general manager Dan O'Brien said at the time of the trade that Machado would be with the Reds in September. But his numbers - he hit .228 and committed 29 errors in 109 games at Triple-A - would seem to indicate he's not ready.

WHY NOT RAY? Shortstop Ray Olmedo outplayed Machado at Louisville. Olmedo hit .286 and made less than half as many errors.

"In the opinion of our player development people, Ray fits into our future more as a multi-purpose player - at shortstop or second base," O'Brien said. "As far as shortstop skills, Anderson is a little above him."

OH CANADA: Myette pitched for Canada in the Athens Olympics. He pitched in six games and had a 3.00 ERA.

"It was awesome," Myette said. "It was a great baseball experience. It's hard to explain. You're pitching for a whole country."

CHAMBLISS OUT: Hitting coach Chris Chambliss missed his second straight game. He left the team because of an illness to his mother-in-law. He is expected to rejoin the club today.

FARM REPORT: The minor-league season wrapped up Monday. Triple-A Louisville (67-77) and Single-A Dayton (48-92) did not qualify for the playoffs.

Double-A Chattanooga (87-53) won the second half title in the Southern League. The Lookouts open the playoffs tonight against Tennessee. Single-A Potomac (67-72) made the Carolina League playoffs by winning the first half. The Cannons open with Wilmington tonight. Rookie Billings (37-37) made the Pioneer League playoffs by winning the first half. The Mustangs opened the playoffs Tuesday night against Great Falls.

Reds statistics

(Through Monday's game)

BATTERS	AVG	OBA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E
Casey	.338	.395	477	85	161	41	2	21	84	40	28	2	0	6
Larkin	.300	.357	327	54	98	15	3	7	43	30	36	2	0	4
Freel	.274	.373	435	63	119	18	7	3	26	59	77	29	8	13
Dunn	.271	.399	476	91	129	29	0	41	87	96	164	4	1	6
Jimenez	.258	.353	481	59	124	21	2	10	54	70	83	11	7	6
Pena	.256	.312	297	37	76	9	1	22	57	18	97	5	1	7
Griffey	.253	.351	300	49	76	18	0	20	60	44	67	1	0	1
Castro	.252	.286	266	33	67	20	2	4	22	13	44	1	0	8
Lopez	.252	.328	163	21	41	12	0	5	22	18	50	0	1	10
LaRue	.247	.332	336	41	83	19	2	13	43	24	90	0	2	8
Cruz	.232	.329	125	19	29	7	0	3	24	14	36	0	0	0
Kearns	.226	.335	133	17	30	5	1	5	18	21	38	1	1	2
Valentin	.220	.285	168	15	37	9	1	5	16	15	31	0	0	4
Bragg	.211	.274	57	10	12	3	0	2	5	5	18	0	0	1
Romano	.154	.214	26	3	4	0	0	1	3	2	10	0	0	0
Vander Wal	.128	.180	47	2	6	2	0	2	4	3	18	0	0	0
Miller	.000	.242	25	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	9	0	0	0
Team Totals	.252	.334	4627	631	1165	244	21	168	599	511	1086	59	21	90

PITCHERS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Hudson	2	1	2.96	5	5	0	27.1	23	11	9	2	12	17
Padilla	0	0	3.38	2	0	0	2.2	4	1	1	0	1	3
Graves	1	5	4.23	62	0	37	61.2	69	34	29	12	12	38
Wagner	2	1	4.57	42	0	0	45.1	49	27	23	6	27	30
Harang	8	8	4.59	24	24	0	137.1	151	72	70	19	46	110
Wilson	9	5	4.63	24	24	0	147.2	163	80	76	23	53	94
Riedling	4	3	4.70	59	0	0	67.0	72	45	35	7	33	38
Norton	1	5	5.52	62	0	0	60.1	66	41	37	5	31	42
White	1	1	5.61	33	0	0	33.2	34	21	21	11	4	29
Acevedo	5	10	5.94	30	24	0	139.1	161	95	92	24	40	106
Hancock	3	2	6.03	12	7	0	37.1	51	28	25	11	18	25
Van Poppel	4	5	6.28	37	10	0	100.1	119	72	70	19	24	65
Claussen	2	4	6.65	9	9	0	43.1	50	35	32	7	22	23
Matthews	2	1	7.71	24	0	0	21.0	24	19	18	6	11	10
Valentine	1	3	8.10	12	1	1	16.2	18	15	15	3	14	13
Team Totals	63	73	5.29	136	136	39	1208.2	1351	770	710	195	459	819