Reds’ Attitude: Dodgers Still Have to Catch Us

Try talking pennant pressure with the Western Division-leading Reds and it’s a one-sided conversation.

The Reds clubhouse is quieter than when the Reds had a double-digit lead, but it remains calm. There were no heads hanging or tantrums thrown after Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Dodgers, which trimmed Cincinnati’s lead to 5 1/2 games.

Nobody was admitting to hearing the Dodgers creeping from behind or to feeling they had let a game slip away. The Reds held the Dodgers to three hits but made two costly errors and walked seven batters.

“I don’t want to talk about the pennant race,” Red Manager Lou Piniella said. Why not? “I just don’t feel like it. What’d (the Dodgers) have, four errors? We just didn’t capitalize. We walked a few hitters early in the game, didn’t cover third. It cost us a ballgame.”

The Dodgers scored all their runs against Jose Rijo, who had won three games in a row. Rijo allowed one earned run but walked six and made a costly mental error. He gave up a run in the first inning when he walked three of the first four batters and gave up a sacrifice fly to Hubie Brooks.

The Dodgers scored another run in the fourth inning when Barry Larkin misplayed a grounder by Mike Sharperson, who eventually scored on two singles.

The Dodgers’ last run came in the sixth when Mike Scioscia led off with a walk and scored when Sharperson singled and right fielder Paul O’Neill threw the ball past third base, into the Dodger dugout. O’Neill drew the error, but Piniella said Rijo gets some of the blame for forgetting to back up third.

“I think he broke to first, then had a mental lapse and forgot to get behind (third),” Piniella said.

A surprisingly upbeat Rijo said: “It’s very frustrating, a lot, especially when I’ve got good stuff--my best stuff all year. I was so strong I just couldn’t control myself. I was trying to throw too hard instead of concentrating on putting the ball in play.”

However, Rijo and teammates said pressure remains on the Dodgers. “We don’t got no pressure,” Rijo said. “We’re in first place--they got to come to us. All we gotta do is play good baseball. (The Dodgers) got a good team, but it’s not going to be easy.”

First baseman Hal Morris, who had two of the Reds’ four hits, said the thought of pennant pressure “hasn’t even entered my mind.”

Tim Layana, the former Loyola Marymount All-American who pitched in the eighth inning, said: “It’s up to us. We’ve just got to go out, play good and win. This game would’ve been nice to win, but we could go out and win the next two. We’re playing good ball.”

Recent results--the Reds have lost four of their last five--would indicate otherwise, but Piniella said he won’t be giving any lectures or pep talks. “What do I need to tell ‘em?” he said. “We’ve played 130-some games. They know what to do, for God’s sake.”