Reds Manager Ready To Reach For Panic Button

It’s only April, but rookie manager Ray Knight thinks it’s must-win time for his troubled Cincinnati Reds.

A rainout Sunday left the Reds stuck in a seven-game losing streak - their longest in three years - and their worst start since Tony Perez’s brief tenure as manager in 1993.

Before a scheduled game against Philadelphia, Knight shuffled his lineup again - producing his 25th different combination in what would have been the 25th game.

Lenny Harris, the No. 1 pinch hitter, was in the lineup. Chad Mottola, a rookie who was supposed to start in right field, was benched in favor of Eric Anthony. Willie Greene was in left field instead of Vince Coleman.

“Today I’ve got what I think is our best chance to do something offensively,” Knight said. “I feel this is a must-win deal for us. And I haven’t felt that way. Feelings kind of build.”

After watching the Reds lose 10 of 11 to fall to 9-15, Knight is getting a sense that it’s time for the second-biggest payroll in the National League to start producing.

The players share Knight’s concern, if not quite the urgency.

“We’ve got to start winning,” shortstop Barry Larkin said. “I don’t know if I’d say it was today or tomorrow or whatever, but we definitely have to start winning.”

Labor talks resume

Baseball labor negotiations are to resume today in New York after a one-month break with the union due to make a new counter-offer.

During a March 22 meeting in Phoenix, owners made a significant move for the first time in a year, abandoning their attempt to link a luxury tax to revenue, dropping their luxury tax rate from 50 percent to 40 percent and increasing the threshold where the tax would start from $44 million to $46 million.

The luxury tax on high-payroll teams would be in effect from 1998-2001, with the threshold rising 7 percent a year until it was at $56.3 million in 2001, the final season of the proposed six-year deal.

Union officials have spent the past month studying the proposal and preparing their counteroffer.

Under a federal court order, players and owners are operating under the collective bargaining agreement that expired in December 1993.

Dodgers have the right stuff

Preacher Roe. Johnny Podres. Sandy Koufax. Tommy John. Fernando Valenzuela.

The Dodgers have had their share of talented left-handed starting pitchers over the years. Yet when Tom Candiotti took the mound Saturday night at Los Angeles against the Chicago Cubs, it was the 454th consecutive start by a righthander for the Dodgers. They established a major league record, breaking the previous mark their Brooklyn forebears set Oct. 2, 1902 to April 14, 1906.

Candiotti is one of 10 right-handers who have started for the Dodgers during this stretch, along with Pedro Astacio, Kevin Gross, Kip Gross, Orel Hershiser, Pedro Martinez, Ramon Martinez, Hideo Nomo, Chan Ho Park and Ismael Valdes.

The longest month

No knock on Florida’s Gary Sheffield or Baltimore’s Brady Anderson, but tying the record for home runs in April with 11 is somewhat bogus, considering the season began so early this year.

The season used to start in the second week of April, and until about 15 years ago, it began in the middle of April, when the record was previously established by the Pirates’ Willie Stargell in 1971, the Yankees’ Graig Nettles in ‘74 and the Phillies’ Mike Schmidt in ‘76.

Belle’s future uncertain

Are the Indians finally getting fed up with Albert Belle? Word is the front office is questioning whether to re-sign the slugger after he rejected a five-year contract worth $43 million.

Belle can be a free agent after this season, but he may not draw as many suitors, despite his impressive statistics. Combining his first 18 games this season with his 1995 totals, and Belle is hitting .317 with 57 home runs and 143 RBI. He has 195 hits, including 56 doubles, and 138 runs scored.