How Does Rob Dibble Want to Spell Relief? T-R-A-D-E : Reds: Pitcher is sick, literally, of Cincinnati and wants out because he says club won’t pay him what he’s worth.

Rob Dibble, perspiring and shaking uncontrollably, was leaning over the bathroom sink in the early hours of Friday morning. His wife, Joanne, awakened by the coughing, looked up and began crying in anguish.

Dibble, his eyes glazed, looked down and saw the sink was spattered with blood. It was happening again.

“I haven’t told too many guys about this,” Dibble said Friday, “but I’ve been spitting up blood all season. I know why it’s happening, but it’s like I’m afraid to tell anyone.

“I’m taking so many drugs right now, so many pain-killers, pumping so many inflammatory drugs into my body, that I’ve got an ulcer. It’s disgusting--all of the pills I’m taking.

“I’ve got to stop. I’ve got to get off the drugs. If I don’t . . . “

Dibble stopped abruptly. He closed his eyes, perhaps hoping for the thought to vanish.

“If I don’t,” Dibble said, “I’ll be dead.

“Because what I’m doing right now is killing myself.”

The drugs that he has taken, Dibble said, have become a necessity. He has a bone spur in his left elbow. He has torn cartilage below the rotator cuff. His right knee constantly aches.

“And for what?” Dibble said. “To go out there and ruin my career. I’ve probably taken a few years off it because I throw as hard as I can every time out, and not once have I ever said I’m tired and can’t pitch.”

The Cincinnati clubhouse was virtually empty as Dibble described his ordeal after the Reds’ 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, which tied the National League playoffs at one game apiece.

Dibble was one of the day’s stars. He pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings, setting up the save for Randy Myers, and has faced eight batters in this championship series. Five have struck out, two have failed to hit the ball out of the infield and one has walked.

“If we don’t have Rob this season, we’re not here, it’s that simple,” said Tom Browning, the Reds’ winning pitcher.

Compliments are nice, and the ovation by the crowd of 54,456 was special. But Dibble has news for his teammates and the Reds’ organization:

This is it. When the season ends, he wants out. Oh, he still is 3 1/2 years shy of qualifying for free agency, but if the Reds don’t trade him, he’ll force a trade.

“Last night, when I was throwing up and my wife was crying,” Dibble said, “it finally hit me. It was the last straw. I asked myself, ‘What am I doing this . . . for? What the hell am I doing?’

“I’m punishing myself, destroying my body, for an organization that couldn’t care less about me.

“I don’t care where, they can trade me wherever they wish, but get me out of here.”

Dibble, considered one of the premier setup relievers in the game, realizes that the timing of his remarks might cause considerable trouble. When your team is in the playoffs, the last thing fans want to hear about is salary complaints.

“I don’t give a . . . what people think about me,” he said. “The average fan has no idea what I’ve been through. I helped bring this team a championship, and they can take the rest from here.

“This organization doesn’t have any respect for me, none at all. . . . You just look at the guys that have gone through here, just because they didn’t want to pay them. I sat next to Kal Daniels (now with the Dodgers) for two years, and I knew what he went through. It’s sick that he’s not here; we’re all sick about it.

“It’s the same with all of the others. Why do you think Rob Murphy left? Why do you think Dave Parker left. Why do you think (Nick) Esasky left? Why do you think a lot of us will be leaving.

“The only reason they had to pay Eric Davis ($9.2 million for three years) is because they would have been run out of town if they didn’t.

“But the rest of us, they’re not going to pay, and once this season ends, I guarantee you I won’t abuse my body for them ever again.”

In 1988, after compiling a 1.82 earned-run average in 37 games, Dibble asked for $100,000. He was offered $90,000 and told that if he didn’t take it, he’d be renewed at $85,000.

“I told them to shove it,” he said. “It was an insult.”

Last year, he went 10-5 with a 2.09 ERA, pitching 99 innings, and was offered $200,000. Dibble again was renewed for that salary.

This time, after going 8-3 with a 1.74 ERA, earning an All-Star berth, Dibble plans to ask for close to $1 million. The Reds, his agent has informed him, probably will counter with less than $350,000. He is just short of sufficient major league service to be eligible for salary arbitration.

“And I’ll tell them to go to hell,” Dibble said. “Next time, I’m not playing their game. I just won’t. I’ll just sit out all spring training, and be such a pain for them that they’ll have to trade me.

“I can hear the Reds already, and everyone’s going to be saying here’s another greedy ballplayer. But I’ll tell you what, they’re the greedy ones. They’re the ones making $14 million on TV. We’re just their puppets, and I’m tired of it.

“But I just refuse to throw my career down the tubes for them. I refuse to keep pumping my body full of drugs for them.

“It’s all coming to an end, and hopefully when it’s all over, I’ll be wearing a World Series ring.

“And then I’ll say goodby.”