Reds

Game 1: Phillies 4, Reds 0 Game 2: Friday at Phillies, 6:07 Game 3: Sunday at Cincinnati, 7:07 Game 4: Monday at Cincinnati, 5:07 Game 5: Wednesday at Phillies, 6:07

7:10 p.m., Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati. TV: Comcast SportsNet. Radio: WPHT (1210-AM), WUBA (1480) Spanish. Pitching matchup: LHP Cliff Lee (14-7, 2.71) vs. LHP Dontrelle Willis (0-3, 4.10) LEE vs. REDS: Lee has allowed a run in only one of his last four starts, a stretch in which he has logged 31 innings while allowing just two runs on 17 hits and seven walks, with 32 strikeouts. He faced the Reds back on May 26, allowing four runs and striking out eight in eight innings of a 10-4 win. PHILLIES vs. WILLIS: Willis, who attended the same high school as Jimmy Rollins, is looking to get his once-promising career back on track.

The Cincinnati Reds and officials in Hamilton County, Ohio, have agreed to build a riverfront ballpark downtown, one that could open in 2003. The cost of the stadium, with an agreed-upon 30-year lease, has been capped at $235 million. Cinergy Field, which opened as Riverfront Stadium in 1970, will be demolished to make way for the new park. Cubs catcher Sandy Martinez dropped his appeal of a two-game suspension from the National League for his part in a brawl with the Braves on May 25. Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro and Indians righthander Bartolo Colon were named the American League's player and pitcher of the month for June.

Cincinnati's Barry Larkin met with general manager Jim Bowden for about two hours yesterday to consider the shortstop's request for a trade. Afterward, Larkin reiterated his desire to play for a contender, but Bowden said any trade was a "dead issue" right now. Larkin asked for a trade about two weeks ago because the Reds are rebuilding, according to Bowden. The Reds talked to four clubs but could not make a deal, he said. Montreal placed pitcher Mike Maddux on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained tendon in his right elbow.

Eric Anthony called Eddie Taubensee the hero. Taubensee said it was just his turn. Both hit pinch homers in Cincinnati's five-run eighth inning yesterday as the Reds out-homered the visiting Atlanta Braves to win, 9-8. Jerome Walton and Reggie Sanders also homered for Cincinnati, while David Justice, Charlie O'Brien and Chipper Jones connected for the Braves. "I've never been in a game where there were two pinch-hit home runs in an inning," Anthony said. "That's almost unheard of. "To me, Eddie's was the big blow.

Snow flurries, a touch of the flu and the red-hot Colorado Rockies - not exactly a pitcher's ideal elixir for success. It was a recipe for disaster yesterday for Cincinnati starter Ricky Bones as Ellis Burks homered twice and Andres Galarraga added four hits to help the Rockies extend their winning streak to six with a 13-4 rout of the Reds. On an afternoon with light snow and a wind-chill near 6, every Colorado starter had at least one hit, and the Rockies finished with 19 for the second straight game.

There was at least one place in this town where people seemed reluctant to talk about Pete Rose's legal victory, where smiles were scarce and answers were terse. That would be the Reds' clubhouse after yesterday's 7-0 loss to Orel Hershiser and the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I'm not talking," Reds leftfielder Ken Griffey said, turning his back on reporters who had hoped to ask him about his manager and former teammate. "I don't want to talk about Pete," rightfielder Paul O'Neill said.

The Cincinnati Reds are a lot like the Phillies. Both teams will attempt to play with the big boys next season despite low payrolls and diminished expectations. Both have signature players - righthander Curt Schilling for the Phils and shortstop Barry Larkin for the Reds - who have suggested to management that they should be traded. As baseball's winter meetings got under way yesterday at the sprawling Opryland complex, however, it was the Reds who seized the spotlight with the first announcement.

Today on PhillyDailyNews.com: Check out David Maialetti's photo slideshow from yesterday's come-from-behind win. THE MADNESS unfolded as Jonathan Pettibone sat in a chair in the Phillies' clubhouse, his right arm wrapped in ice after another impressive outing. The rookie who pitched the first seven innings against the Reds had just watched Freddy Galvis foul off a 1-0 pitch in the ninth when he felt the crowd roar. "There was a delay" on the television in the clubhouse, Pettibone said, "so you could hear the screaming.

The Phillies' prospects didn't look so bright. Having been in a serious offensive drought, they entered the ninth inning of Sunday's series finale with the Cincinnati Reds trailing by 2-1. And they had to face reliever Aroldis Chapman, a pitcher they were 3 for 21 against with zero runs scored, all-time. Manager Charlie Manuel contemplated pinch-hitting for Freddy Galvis, the man who hit a home run to win it. None of it made much sense. A team that had scored one run in its previous 17 innings blasted consecutive home runs by Erik Kratz and Galvis off the flame-throwing Chapman in the ninth to stun the Reds, 3-2, at Citizens Bank Park.

A rare shorebird that has defied all the odds was spotted yet again last week on Delaware Bay. He's a small thing - no bigger than a robin, weighing only as much as a stick of butter. But he has one of the longest migrations on the planet. And a lot of renown. Scientists refer to him as B95, after the number on his leg band. But his fans, which apparently are legion, call him the Moonbird because in his lifetime, researchers figure, he has flown the equivalent of the distance to the moon and at least halfway back.

You could say that Kyle Kendrick kept the Phillies in the game on a cloudy, drizzly afternoon in which he did not have stellar command. Then the beleaguered bullpen put a match to it. That would be only half the truth. Full disclosure: The Phillies' offense was never in this game against Bronson Arroyo and the Cincinnati Reds, and so this momentum-deprived season continued Saturday at Citizens Bank Park with a 10-0 loss. It was the sixth time the Phillies have been blanked, matching the team's total number of scoreless games for the entire 2012 season, which, if you recall, wasn't exactly a celebrated one. Only the woeful Miami Marlins have been shut out more often.

Cliff Lee pitched and hit well enough to earn a win. He had to settle for being picked up by his teammates. Eighth-inning RBIs by Domonic Brown and Carlos Ruiz broke the tie and led the Phillies to a 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday at Citizens Bank Park. "A comeback win like this means a lot and shows the character of this team," Brown said. With the score tied at 3-3, Michael Young drew a one-out walk in the Phillies eighth. Ryan Howard, of all players, then reached base on a check-swinging bunt that reliever Sean Marshall couldn't handle.

ON THE VERGE of a second successive series sweep, the Reds encountered a ninth-inning blip. First Mat Latos gave up a triple, ending his bid for a complete game. Then closer Aroldis Chapman gave up another triple, sending the game into extra innings. But the visiting Reds bounced back in the 10th, scoring three times to complete their second three-game sweep in a row by beating the Miami Marlins, 5-3, last night. NL RBI leader Brandon Phillips homered in the sixth inning and drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the 10th.

At Citizens Bank Park. Friday at 7:05 p.m. Cincinnati LHP Tony Cingrani (2-0, 2.89 ERA) vs. LHP Cliff Lee (2-0, 3.63).   Saturday at 4:05 p.m. Cincinnati RHP Bronson Arroyo (3-4, 3.76) vs. RHP Kyle Kendrick (4-1, 2.47).   Sunday at 1:35 p.m. Cincinnati RHP Homer Bailey (1-3, 3.83) vs. RHP Jonathan Pettibone (3-0, 3.41).

IF THE Chicago Blackhawks-Detroit Red Wings rivalry is about to undergo a transformation, the Blackhawks want to have the final say. They got the first word. Johnny Oduya and Marcus Kruger scored in the third period, Corey Crawford made 20 saves and the Blackhawks beat the visiting Wings, 4-1, in the opener of their second-round Western Conference playoff series last night. Detroit moves to the Eastern Conference next season. "As happy as we are about going to the Eastern Conference, we are going to be giving up something that's pretty special," Wings forward Justin Abdelkader said.