Shift Puts Ready Out in Left Field : He Survives on Defense, Helps Beat Reds With His Bat

How to profit from weird baseball karma:

When a player goes to a position he has rarely played before, wager that baseballs soon will rain on him. Especially if the sun is beaming in his eyes and the wind is playing tricks on his perception.

“It was kind of like when a guy goes into the game in the eighth or ninth inning--it seemed like the Reds knew I hadn’t been out there in a while,” said the Padres’ Randy Ready of his seven-inning stint in left field Thursday. “They sure found me in a hurry. I was about ready to come in here and get a helmet.”

Ready, who had not started in the outfield since May 7, made two putouts and missed two fly balls in the first four innings.

Two for four was not bad, though. Fly balls seemed to be carrying despite an inward breeze. And the Reds’ middle infielders seemed paralyzed on one sun-drenched popup.

Ready was first tested in the second inning, when Nick Esasky hit a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t liner with none out, no score and Paul O’Neill on first base.

Ready, as is his style, chose to charge. But his sliding backhanded attempt failed, and the ball got by him for a double that produced Cincinnati’s lone run in a 3-1 loss to the Padres.

“Maybe that’s not the best time to gamble,” Ready said. “But play hard. Don’t play scared.”

Two innings later, in a play that made few forget the usual left fielder, Keith Moreland, Ready raced for, but could not catch, Dave Collins’ drive to the gap. Collins, though, was forced to stay at second on the next play when Ready snared Kal Daniels’ drive over his shoulder, a step before he careened into the wall.

Ready’s presence in the lineup for the second consecutive game was the result of a new approach by the new manager, Jack McKeon. McKeon wants to keep his substitute players sharp by giving them back-to-back starts.

On Wednesday, Ready, who also has played third, opened at second for the 15th time this season.

Ready said his 2-for-4 performance at the plate Thursday was partly a result of being in the lineup again.

“(Jose) Rijo got me out with pitches away,” Ready said of his 1-for-4 effort Wednesday. “I figured they’d go outside. The first time up, I was going to try to go to right.”

He did, for a single. In the third, he singled to left. That scored John Kruk and gave Ready his first game-winning hit of the year.

Ready was replaced in left by Marvell Wynne in the eighth. Though Ready hit .308 last year, he has been replaced this year by Roberto Alomar at second base and by Chris Brown at third.

So at 28, Ready is referred to as a utility player. Which, even if you are one of the best in baseball, is like being called a date who is fun to be with.

“I think, for the time being, that’s what it looks like,” said Ready of his utility status. “At this level, everyone comes to the ballpark prepared to play. With Jack, you never know. He is full of surprises.”

Said McKeon: “You can put him anywhere, and he is not going to embarrass you. He’s got a great mental approach. He adjusts well.

“Tomorrow? I’ll decide that in the morning.”