Pete Rose has this vision–a vision of the Reds overtaking the first-place Houston Astros.
”We only have five games left with Houston, and it would take a tremendous effort on our part to catch them. But funnier things have happened. I don`t think it`s in the miracle stage yet,” said Rose, whose Reds are seven games behind the Astros.
What Rose hasn`t factored in yet is the fact that his Reds have only one game left against the Cubs, whom they`ve handled 7 of 11 times this season, including Saturday night`s 5-1 thrashing.
The loss was the Cubs` seventh straight, matching their longest skid since they dropped a club-record 13 straight last season.
Ted Power (6-6) stopped the Cubs over seven innings, allowing one unearned run on five hits. Ron Robinson finished with two scoreless innings.
Dennis Eckersley (6-9) suffered the loss. Scott Sanderson, who has been moved out of the starting rotation, made his first relief appearance with the Cubs, retiring the four men he faced.
The Reds have won seven of their last eight games going into Sunday`s series finale.
”The Astros are playing the Cardinals tough this weekend, so it`s up to us to play the Cubs tough as well,” said Rose.
”If you`re a competitor, as I am, you have to figure a way to run off some victories while they are losing. If we can do that real quick, then we`ll have our destiny in our own hands.”
The Astros rallied to beat the Cardinals 6-5 Saturday afternoon on Jose Cruz`s two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
”Scoreboard watching at this time of the season is all part of the experience,” said Rose. ”It`s kind of fun. Even though we`re seven games behind, the Astros must have been thinking about us because when they were in Chicago last weekend, I read somewhere that they had a team meeting. When you`re seven games in front and have a team meeting, you must be concerned with who`s chasing you.
”I`d really like to get down to the area of four games or five games, just to see how Houston would respond. They`ve got some good old pros down there, but a lot of them haven`t been through a pennant race. Glenn Davis and Bill Doran and Craig Reynolds and Kevin Bass . . . those guys are good players, real good players, but they haven`t been through a divisional race or anything.”
”I`d be interested to see how they would attack that. I wouldn`t be surprised if they attacked it in a very positive way, but there`s a chance that they might not, too. Plus, they`ve got a rookie manager (Hal Lanier), too.”
Saturday, the Reds got two hits and two more runs batted in from veteran Dave Parker, who leads the league with 104 RBIs.
”I don`t ever look at it as a situation where there are roles for veterans on my club,” said Rose. ”I`ve got 27 guys on this club, and all I want the 27 guys to do is play their best on a consistent basis. If you`re supposed to knock in runs, knock in runs. If you`re supposed to pitch good, pitch good.”
The Reds led 1-0 in the first inning after Buddy Bell singled and moved to third on Parker`s hit to right. Eric Davis sent a sacrifice fly to center to score Bell.
Parker drove in his 103d run in the third on a peculiar fielder`s choice. Barry Larkin opened with a double and moved to third on Bell`s ground out. Parker hit a ground ball to first baseman Leon Durham, and Larkin started for the plate, stopped, then started again. Durham hesitated, then threw off balance to the plate. The throw was low and bounced away from catcher Jody Davis. There was no error called on the play.
The Cubs scored an unearned run in the seventh to pull to within 2-1. Davis led off with a single up the middle. Chris Speier hit what appeared to be a one-hop double-play ball to Ron Oester, but the ball scooted under his glove for a two-base error, allowing Davis to score.
