Dusted

By last weekend, the state of the Cincinnati Reds had become so troubled that their owner, Marge Schott, who until a few years ago thought the Kansas City Royals played in the National League West, felt compelled to address her team before Saturday night's game. After her closed-door session with the troops in their Riverfront Stadium bunker, she said, "Someone asked me, 'Why didn't you yell at them?' When I saw them, I wanted to cry. It'd be like yelling at your sons. I just told them, 'You're world champs. We kept you together.'...The yelling will come later."

After the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Reds 5-2 that night and then blasted them 10-6 on Sunday to complete a four-game sweep and run Cincinnati's losing streak to six games, it appeared the yelling would come sooner—from manager Lou Piniella, who seemed about to explode. Three days earlier he had angrily called Reds reliever Randy Myers "a——baby" and hurled his spikes across his office. What would the postgame Piniella have in store on Sunday? Maybe an overturned desk or a minicam tossed into the hall? As the press filed warily into his office 30 minutes after the game, Cincy outfielder Herm Winningham smiled and said, "Don't send any interns in there today."

Piniella, however, was surprisingly calm. He acknowledged that "it's pretty bleak now" but seemed to know that another tirade would be senseless when, realistically, his team wasn't much better than its 44-40 record indicated and probably won't be until pitchers Norm Charlton, Jose Rijo and Scott Scudder come off the disabled list later this month. Piniella knew the National League West-leading L.A. Dodgers were also in the process of losing four straight games last weekend in Montreal, which would leave the Reds still only five games out of first. And he knew that repeating as world champions is no easy task.

So did his players. "We've had a tough time realizing that everyone would be coming after us," said pitcher Tom Browning. "We haven't had the killer instinct we need."

Maybe last season came too easily for Cincinnati. It won its first nine games and 33 of its first 45, and led its division wire to wire. After May 3, the Reds' lead was never less than three games. They beat a good Pittsburgh team in the National League Championship Series before sweeping the Oakland A's in the World Series. "Last year we had no quarrels," says reliever Rob Dibble. "We went shopping together. We ate together. We had parties, barbecues."

Says shortstop Barry Larkin, "Everything went our way last year. It's not happening this year."

No, it's not. Last week Pittsburgh out-scored Cincinnati 32-16. (The Pirates have now won eight in a row from the Reds by a combined score of 55-25.) In the second game of the series Cincy pitcher Jack Armstrong (6-8, 5.06 ERA through Sunday) was rocked for six runs in five innings, continuing his year-long slump. Third baseman Chris Sabo was twice thrown out in the series trying to take an extra base. And in two brutal outings, Myers allowed nine hits and eight runs in 3? innings.

Myers's subpar season (3.66 ERA, six saves) underscores the breakup of last season's nearly unbeatable Nasty Boys bullpen. Charlton, the game's premier middle reliever in 1990, has been a starter in '91, when healthy. Myers, a top closer last season with 31 saves, lost that job in May after blowing a few save opportunities. He was replaced by Dibble—who has been brilliant, with 23 saves in 23 tries as of Sunday—and Myers has not handled his demotion with grace.

Jealous of Dibble's success, he has pouted and failed to adjust to his role as set-up man. Myers even spread false rumors that had him being traded back to the New York Mets. After being torched for five runs in 1? innings of the 10-6 loss that opened the series against Pittsburgh, Myers hinted that his bad outing was partly due to Piniella's strategy of intentionally walking Jay Bell to load the bases for Andy Van Slyke, thereby giving Myers no margin for error. When Piniella heard that, he seethed, not only calling Myers a bleeping baby but also saying, "If he keeps pitching like that, I'll have to call my agent, because he's going to get me fired."

The denastification of the bullpen has also altered the Reds' image. "Last year the bullpen had an effect on the way managers managed against us," says Charlton. "From a psychological aspect, it was like, Oh no, here they come again. When we were ahead in the fifth, the game was basically over even though it wasn't."