Sweep Puts Reds Closer to the Title

There was no sighting of champagne. No one was divvying up their playoff tickets. And not a soul cared to utter the words Saturday night that could later haunt them.

But the Cincinnati Reds, after shrugging off challenger after challenger these past few months, appear to be on the verge of putting the National League West race on ice.

The Reds were well on their way to sweeping a doubleheader from the San Diego Padres, winning, 6-4, in the first game and 9-5 in the second game.

They now have reduced their magic number to seven, opening a four-game lead over the Dodgers with just 10 games remaining.

It was an excruciating doubleheader to watch for the Dodger fans in the crowd of 27,524 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Padres led 4-1 through five innings in the first game, only to lose.

The Padres led 2-0 through five innings in the second game, only to lose.

They were the kind of victories that are supposed to make managers giddy. You know, the kind that are supposed to make managers joke with reporters, laugh about their own inadequacies and just act silly.

Well, with the way Lou Piniella was acting, you’d have thought the guy was about to be blindfolded and given his last rites.

Piniella, in his first year as manager of the Reds, paced his office floor between games. He puffed harshly on one cigarette, snuffing out another, and began reaching into his pack for another.

His team is in first place, just as they’ve been since the first day of the season. They have a four-game lead over the Dodgers with just 10 games to play, and nine of those games are in Cincinnati.

What gives, big guy?

“It’s just that we’re so close, we’re getting so damn close, I don’t want to lose it now,” Piniella said. “It’s been one tough year, let me tell you.”

The Reds, who appeared that they would spend the month of September lounging around and ordering playoff tickets for all of their relatives, instead have found themselves unable to shaky those pesky Dodgers.

This is a team that led the National League West by 11 games on July 24, but in the two months since, they’ve played eight games under .500. In fact, since June 3 when they led the division by nine games, and the Dodgers by 11, the Reds have gone 52-55.

Hardly the type of performance you’d like to see for a team tuning up for the playoffs.

Yet, each time someone has challenged the Reds, daring to knock them off, the Reds have responded.

The Padres climbed to within five games of the Reds in June, fell apart, and have been eliminated.

The San Francisco Giants climbed to within 3 1/2 games of the Reds in August, fell apart, and have been eliminated.

The Dodgers, after climbing to within 3 1/2 games Thursday, appear awfully wobbly.

“It’s been in our hands,” Piniella said, “but it’s been in our hands for a long time. But I’m confident we can get the job done, just like we did in April. And I’m convinced this will make us a better team.

“We’ve been sniped at all year. We’ve had our detractors. But so far, we’ve proven everybody wrong, haven’t we?”

The Reds certainly have been making it interesting, and their doubleheader Saturday proved to be a microcosm of their pennant stretch.

In the first game, the Reds were facing a pitcher, Bruce Hurst, who had pitched 27 consecutive scoreless innings, only three innings shy of the franchise record.

So what happens?

The Reds snapped Hurst’s scoreless skein in the first inning, then fell behind 4-1 by the fourth inning, crept to within one run in the sixth inning, took the lead in the eighth, and put the game away in the ninth.

“What a great win, what a big come-from-behind win that was,” Piniella said after the first game, the seventh of the season in which the Reds have overcome at least a three-run deficit to win.

In the second game, the Reds were facing a pitcher, Atlee Hammaker, who was released this season by the Giants, and considering his 0-3 record and 5.11 ERA, was pitching even worse for the Padres.

So what happens?

The Reds manage only two baserunners in the first 5 2/3 innings, failing to even touch second base, but all of a sudden, they wake up and realize who they’re facing.

It began with Mariano Duncan, the hero in game one with three hits and two doubles, hitting a two-out single to right field. Barry Larkin followed with a single to right, but Duncan was forced to stop at second, and Hammaker still appeared to be in command.

But then came a wild pitch, allowing the runners to move into scoring position. With first base open, Hammaker had the option of intentionally walking Davis. It seemed like the sane thing to do, considering that Davis owns a career .419 batting average against Hammaker.

Instead, pitching to him carefully, Hammaker watched in anguish as Davis lined a single to left. Duncan and Larkin scored, and the Reds were alive and well.

They strung together five consecutive hits, and scored another run before the inning finally ended, giving the Reds the lead, the game and, perhaps, the division title.

Padre Notes

Jack McKeon, fired Friday as Padre vice president/baseball operations, arrived at the stadium at 10 a.m. Saturday to begin cleaning out his office. “When I got up this morning, my wife asked where I was going,” McKeon said. “I said, ‘I’m going to the office.’ She couldn’t believe it. She goes, ‘You’re fired, and you’re still working every day, so what’s the difference?’ ” McKeon also visited the clubhouse before the game to say his farewells to Padre players.. . . McKeon said he has not been contacted by the Atlanta Braves for their general manager position, and said that he doesn’t plan to call them. “They know I was fired, they know what I can do,” he said. “If they want me, they’ll call.”

Believe-it-or-not-dept: Bip Roberts, who’s batting .308 could become the first player other than Tony Gwynn to win the team batting title since 1983. Gwynn, who’s out with a fractured index finger, finished the season batting .309. Terry Kennedy was the last to perform the feat when he batted .284 in 1983. Actually, Gwynn had the highest batting average (.309) that season too, but didn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for the title. . . . Padre outfielder Joe Carter is only the second player in major league history to drive in 100 runs in back-to-back seasons in different leagues. The first? Frank Robinson, who performed the feat for the Cincinnati Reds in 1965 and the Baltimore Orioles in 1966.

The Padres, who are in search of an outfielder, have their eye on R.J. Reynolds, Pittsburgh’s versatile fourth outfielder, who’ll be eligible for free-agency at the end of the season. . . . Padre chairman Tom Werner has donated 8,500 tickets to military dependents and their friends for today’s final home game at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The donation kicks off the “Operation Desert Shield Support Walk” in support of the military in the Persian Gulf.