BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Reds Find Themselves in Trouble

The Cincinnati Reds were defeated in their own park again Wednesday night, 6-2 this time. Suddenly, their players are being booed, Reggie Sanders keeps striking out, Ron Gant is talking about wanting out, Manager Davey Johnson’s job could be gone as soon as Saturday and the chairwoman of the board, Marge Schott, is calling the support of Cincinnati’s fans “disgusting.”

Only last Friday, the grateful Reds were celebrating the destruction of the Dodgers, 10-1, having swept them from the playoffs, and everybody felt as frisky as Marge’s pup. Today, a mere six days later, the Reds not only trail the Atlanta Braves, two games to none, but Friday must face Greg Maddux, which is like being down 2 1/2 games to none.

They got trouble, right here in river city.

Second baseman Bret Boone is unhappy.

“It’s not going to get any easier,” Boone said.

Right fielder Sanders is unhappy.

“You can chalk this up to, I don’t know, whatever,” Sanders said.

Their manager is unhappy.

Johnson, watching an Ohio-only World Series going out the window, said, “I don’t know what’s going on. The only runs we’re getting are from pinch-hitters and double steals.”

Red after Red is doing a burn.

Particularly the head one, Schott, whose principal worry a week ago was that the Reds kept winning with sweeps, costing her a paid admission or two. Now, not only is Schott incensed at two non-sellouts, but in interviews she is trying to pass the buck that Johnson’s imminent removal as manager is General Manager Jim Bowden’s idea, when everyone knows it is hers.

Riverfront Stadium tried to put on a happy face, having a barbershop quartet perform before the first pitch and a banjo-picker strum the national anthem. But here in the “home of professional baseball,” as the locals bill it, nobody envisioned that by night’s end, two extra-inning losses would leave the Reds feeling like lepers.

After Game 1, the owner, Schott, called the fans “spoiled” and the size of the crowd “disgusting.” The general manager, Bowden, said he couldn’t make the fans come. Joe Posnanski from the Cincinnati Post began his column with, “Cincinnati does not deserve a baseball championship,” and picked up steam from there. His bottom line was that Cincinnati was “ready for Class triple-A baseball.”

This was after one National League championship series game, remember. One well-played, 11-inning, one-run loss.

Another story had Gant ready to pack his bags, soon as the free-agent market opens. Injured pitcher Jose Rijo was still seething about Schott being a cheapskate. From reading the morning paper, one would have thought that the Reds were experiencing a complete collapse, on the order of the California Angels.

Then came Game 2, when time after time, Cincinnati failed to deliver a clutch hit. In the eighth inning, Sanders and Santiago struck out with runners in scoring position. In the ninth, Mariano Duncan grounded out with a man on third. All that superior speed on the bases, but the Reds couldn’t make use of it. Nobody’s hitting.

“You know the old axiom,” said Ray Knight, a Red coach. “You can’t steal first base.”

Out of desperation, the Reds finally got one rally going by Santiago and Boone dropping bunts, something each seldom does. In the batting order, they follow Sanders, who keeps killing rallies by striking out 11 times in his last 15 at-bats, not once getting the ball out of the infield.

Sanders couldn’t feel worse.

“This is the time of year when you’re supposed to shine,” he said. “I keep telling myself, ‘Don’t press. Don’t press.’ But I don’t know. This is terrible.”

How does his manager feel?

“Hey,” Johnson said of Sanders’ struggles. “He’s not alone.”

Things look so bleak, the players are looking for hope wherever they can find some. Boone, for instance, actually saw hope in leaving town. Having seen how poorly the Reds did here, and having heard the “Booooone” cries turn to “Booooo,” he ended the evening by saying, “Going to Atlanta, I don’t know, it might be better for us there.”

Dog days, here in the home of professional baseball.