Sports

ST. LOUIS — If one is not a Cincinnati Reds fan who felt the dagger plunged into the heart, what Rick Ankiel did Friday night is the continuing

saga of the feel-good story of the year.

It is the St. Louis version of Josh Hamilton's Cincinnati feel-good epic.

First, the horrid details, from Cincinnati's perspective.

Ankiel crushed a grand slam home run off Eddie Guardado in the sixth inning, turning a one-run St. Louis deficit into an 8-5 victory in Busch

Stadium.

Ankiel is the guy who was a promising pitcher for the Cardinals until he suddenly couldn't find the strike zone, throwing the ball over the back stop more often than over the plate.

So he resurrected his career as an outfielder, went back to the minors and started over. And there he was Friday night slicing open the veins in

the Reds' hopes of getting back into the race.

The Chicago Cubs lost, so the Reds remain seven games out of first place. But the third-place Cardinals are within two games of the Cubs and are five games ahead of the fourth-place Reds.

And here is an ugly dose of reality: If the Cubs play one game UNDER .500 ball in their last 29 games (14-15) to win 82 games, the Reds would have to go 20-7 in their final 27 to win 82 games and tie the Cubs.

Ankiel has a bases-loaded history, even if it was for Memphis in the Pacific Coast League, where he was 5-for-10 with 10 RBIs in that situation.

As could be expected of a manager still in shock over a one pitch that cost his team four runs, Pete Mackanin did not come to praise Ankiel when a

St. Louis writer asked him about.

"I don't really care about him," he said softly. "He hit a grand slam. Good for him. I'm not worried about Rick Ankiel right now."

What he cared about was the Reds jumping to an early lead then fading slowly into the sunset against the St. Louis bullpen as the Reds hit into

three double plays.

"We scored early and got to their starter early, but their bullpen shut us down the rest of the way," said Mackanin. "We didn't do the same."

Of Guardado's pitch, Mackanin said, "It was a breaking ball and he got it over the plate too much. That's the way it goes. You don't make a pitch, you get burned."

Or torched.

Said Guardado, who stared into his locker long after games' end, "That's been my story right now. I threw a good breaking ball that he swung and

missed. I tried to come back with a sidearm breaking ball that I do pretty good with against lefties ... but that's the story of my career right now. I

make a good pitch, then I make a bad pitch and I pay for it.

"I just have to make a better pitch because it was a situation where, going through what I'm going through, it was a great opportunity to get something done. It just isn't happening."

The Reds came out swinging against 13-game loser (two wins) Anthony Reyes. Hamilton opened the game with his 18th homer. After Alex Gonzalez was hit by a pitch, he scored on a triple by Brandon Phillips and Phillips scored on Adam Dunn's double.

That gave Reds starter Tom Shearn a 3-0 lead before he had to throw a pitch. But then he threw a lot of pitches, bad pitches.

St. Louis scored one in the bottom of the first on a Jim Edmonds' two-out run-scoring double.

The Reds made it 4-1 in the second when Edwin Encarnacion hit an inside the park home run that kicked off the wall in the left field corner and

rolled toward center field.

Felipe Lopez hit an inside the park home run for the Reds on May 6 of last year in Arizona, and Encarnacion's was the first against the Cardinals

since Ken Griffey Jr. beat Andy Benes in old Cinergy Field with an 11th-inning inside-the-park homer.

When Reyes walked pitcher Shearn after Encarnacion's home run, his day was done. And it was like the offensive spigot was turned to 'off.'

The Reds scored one run in the ninth, but had only three hits off four St. Louis bullpenners over the last 7 2/3 innings.

Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer in the second, cutting Cincinnati's lead to 4-3. And that's where it stood until Ankiel's grand slam.

Mackanin removed Shearn with one out in the fifth, after he had thrown 85 pitches already, even though he had a 4-3 lead.

"You hate to take a guy out with a lead, but he is a rookie, he is unproven, and this is a pennant race," Mackanin said.

Or was.

Gary Majewski faced three hitters in the sixth and all three reached to loaded the bases. Guardado came on to make Ankiel the hero.

"We gave it up late in the game and couldn't get anything going offensively," said Mackanin. "Todd Wellemeyer (the Cardinals' first relief

pitcher) came in and got three of 'em in three innings and that took us out of potential rallies. They did a good job of shutting us down and we didn't

do a good job of shutting them down."

Ankiel, though, turned out the arcs.

"With the bases loaded and one out, I'm just looking for a pitch to drive, something I could get out to the outfield," he said. "Luckily, I got

a pitch, one I could handle, one I could drive."

And he drove it like a Lamborghini.