Kirby Is Aging Like Fine Wayne in Dodger Win

CINCINNATI —  Wayne Kirby ought to print up business cards that read: Have bat, will travel. And travel. And travel.

He has been in more towns than a truck driver, made more stops than a mailman and seen more uniforms than a career soldier.

But you’d never know it watching him stroke three hits at Cinergy Field on Friday night, part of a 15-hit Dodger attack as they overwhelmed the Cincinnati Reds, 10-5, in front of a crowd of 26,837 to remain 1 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants.

At 33, Kirby has been with eight minor league clubs, some on several occasions, and two big league teams, the Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians. This year alone, he has bounced back and forth between the Dodgers and their Albuquerque farm team.

“I’ve taken some bad turns on the highway and wound up at some dead ends,” Kirby said.

But suddenly, he finds himself cruising along in the fast lane.

Despite a .259 career average heading into this season and a current .217 average, Kirby, who was called up Aug. 2 for the injured Todd Hollandsworth, has found himself in the starting lineup the last two days because Manager Bill Russell likes the way he has been swinging the bat.

And these days, every button Russell pushes seems to light up. In the just-concluded series in Montreal, catcher Mike Piazza went 9 for 14. Friday night, Piazza was 0 for 5.

No problem.

Russell got the three hits and an RBI from Kirby, three hits from outfielder Brett Butler, three hits and an RBI from second baseman Wilton Guerrero, two hits and two RBIs from first baseman Eric Karros, two hits and two RBIs from third baseman Todd Zeile and a hit and two RBIs from outfielder Raul Mondesi.

It was hard to tell where batting practice left off and the game began.

“That’s how teams win world championships,” Butler said, marveling at the weapons the Dodgers have at their disposal.

Their firepower was not only potent, but timely. For the second game in a row, the Dodger offense made up for a lack of starting pitching. They beat the Montreal Expos, 9-4, Thursday night although Hideo Nomo struggled.

And Friday, it was starter Tom Candiotti’s turn to labor. This was one night when his knuckleball didn’t knuckle.

Although he got the victory, Candiotti (8-4) gave up five runs and 10 hits in five innings.

“The biggest problem was just throwing it for strikes,” Candiotti said. “When the knuckleball is going good, people ask, why are there not more knuckleball pitchers? When it’s not, like tonight, people understand why there are not more.”

Among the hits Candiotti surrendered were a home runs to catcher Joe Oliver (his 11th) and first baseman Eduardo Perez (his 10th).

Fortunately for Candiotti, he had more than adequate relief from Darren Dreifort, who gave up only one hit over four innings to pick up his second save.

“Too bad they can’t give him the win,” Candiotti said.

“It’s not my job to get wins,” Dreifort said.

There haven’t been too many wins for the Reds these days, the club falling to 48-65.

Two players, Lenny Harris and Deion Sanders, were thrown out of the game for arguing with the umpires.

They were the lucky ones. The rest of the team had to suffer through another miserable game in what has been a miserable week.

On Thursday, Cincinnati outfielder Curtis Goodwin stormed out of a meeting with Manager Jack McKeon after accusing the manager of treating him “like I was a slave.”

Goodwin later agreed to accept a demotion to the minors.

Kirby can relate to the anger and frustration involved in leaving the major leagues for a minor league assignment.

When the Dodgers sent him down earlier this season, he had to answer the questions of his minor league teammates, who kept asking him why he was there, why he wasn’t in the big leagues.

“I just had something to prove again,” he said. “When I went down, it was just business for me.”

A profitable business, as he finally made the trip back to the big club. Kirby hopes it’s his last stop on his long and winding road.