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.

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.

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.

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.

Q. Some time ago, you had a letter regarding parking in the center lane of South Broad Street. The city lost revenue because there were no tickets. Well, I have a related problem with cars running the red lights at Bustleton Avenue and Hartel Street. This happens many times an hour. I live nearby and I have never seen a police car staking out that light. I often see police cars parked at the nearby Dunkin' Donuts just a stone's throw away with the cops just talking. A little more patrolling would net the city plenty of extra revenue from the tickets that would be issued.

When Mike Aviles smacked the third pitch Cliff Lee threw Sunday, he had done something no Red Sox hitter had accomplished in 99 years. Aviles had bashed leadoff home runs on two consecutive days to ignite Boston's offensive explosions. In 1913, a man named Harry Hooper did the same thing. Upon his retirement from baseball, he campaigned for Franklin D. Roosevelt and was named postmaster of Capitola, Calif. No, it has not been that long since Lee has won a game, but it's beginning to feel like it. After a 5-1 drubbing by the Red Sox, Lee is winless through his first six starts of a season for the first time in his career.

Cole Hamels has pitched at such a high level that on a night when he allowed three earned runs, it appeared to be a subpar effort. Only by the lefthander's exceedingly high standards. Despite allowing two home runs after surrendering just three in his previous seven starts, Hamels had more than enough to keep both his and the Phillies' winning ways intact. He struck out nine and walked one as the Phillies defeated the Boston Red Sox, 6-4, Friday night at Citizens Bank Park in the beginning of interleague play.

The Phillies had squandered so many chances Saturday night until a 90-foot sprint by Jimmy Rollins. When the shortstop's right foot touched first base, he spread his arms to signal safe. First-base umpire Paul Emmel agreed. Rollins clapped his hands and pumped his fist. They had pushed Boston to the brink of snapping. Then Shane Victorino swung at a first-pitch fastball from Alfredo Aceves and a wave of good vibes plopped into Red Sox shortstop Mike Aviles' glove. "I would swing at that every single time," Victorino said.

At Citizens Bank Park   Friday at 7:05 p.m. Boston RHP Daniel Bard (3-4, 4.30 ERA) vs. LHP Cole Hamels (5-1, 2.28)   Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Boston LHP Jon Lester (2-3, 3.71) vs. RHP Joe Blanton (4-3, 2.96)   Sunday at 1:35 p.m. Boston RHP Josh Beckett (3-4, 4.97) vs. LHP Cliff Lee (0-1, 1.95)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Boston Red Sox will be back at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night for another interleague series that the Phillies always deem special enough to sell as a separate ticket package. Late last June when the Red Sox came to town, the games were billed by many as a World Series preview: Boston's high-powered offense against the Phillies' star-studded starting rotation. At the time, the Phillies had the best record in baseball, and the Red Sox had recovered from a 2-10 start to move within a half-game of the New York Yankees in the American League East.

IT WAS literally Lionard Pajoy's day in the sun. Against its most bitter rival, Red Bull New York, the Union finally got the memo that taking advantage of chances is the only way to stay in a match. No player took that to heart more than Pajoy, who scored two goals to lead the Union, but his day did not result in the shorthanded team acquiring three points for a victory. Instead, RBNY scored a pair of second-half goals - with the Union playing a man down - to take a 3-2 win Sunday at PPL Park.

AFTER EIGHT seasons in the minor leagues with three organizations and a stint in the Atlantic League, Mike Costanzo has finally made it to the major leagues. Costanzo, an Archbishop Carroll product from Glen Mills and former Phillies second-round pick, was called up by the Cincinnati Reds from Triple A Louisville on Saturday and added to the active roster when Scott Rolen was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Costanzo, 28, had never played in a big-league game before Sunday.

The inclination is strong to view Friday's Red Hot Chili Peppers show at the Wells Fargo Center through a sports-minded prism. After all, the concert was at the home of Philadelphia's beloved pro basketball and hockey teams. And the Southern California band's first greeting to an estimated 20,000 was a hearty "Congratulations on the Sixers!" from bassist (and known knowledgeable hoops fan) Michael "Flea" Balzary (a Lakers loyalist, of course). The final goodbye came from drummer Chad Smith, last to leave after a satisfying, encore-set-closing instrumental jam: "Sorry about your hockey team — but ‘Go Sixers!

By Bill Gault The recent deaths of our brothers Robert Neary and Daniel Sweeney in the Kensington warehouse inferno have resulted in raw, emotional turmoil among the city's firefighters. These tragic deaths have galvanized our union membership like never before and we're now taking the fight directly to the Nutter administration and the current leadership of the Philadelphia Fire Department. We're angry about the city's insistence on continuing its dangerous brownout policy, while willfully ignoring the facts.