Brett Tomko

The Cincinnati Reds acquired baseball's best all-around player Thursday without having to break up a team that won 96 games or break their small-market bank. With the Reds and Seattle Mariners having already agreed on the players to be traded, Ken Griffey Jr. made it happen by making good on his pledge to accept an under-valued contract if the Mariners accommodated his desire to join his hometown Reds. Griffey, a member of baseball's All-Century team at 30, agreed to a nine-year, $116.

The Dodgers completed their 19-game, season-opening stretch against National League West opponents Sunday with a 5-0 loss to the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Coming out on the short end of a shutout for the fourth time, however, did not dissuade the Dodgers from believing they will contend for their first division title since 1995.

PHILADELPHIA -- Grady Little says it so often it has become something of a mantra. "Every game," the Dodgers manager insists, "is important for us right now." Except, apparently, every fifth game, which is when he hands the ball to Brett Tomko. It has been a month since Tomko won a game. Three months since he pitched beyond the sixth inning. And the Dodgers aren't going to gain much ground in the pennant race if they basically concede a game a week.

Brett Tomko said he knows that he probably will return to the bullpen after making a spot start Sunday, but he made clear he doesn't want to be a middle reliever for long. He wants to start, so much so that he seems open to playing elsewhere. Of starting, Tomko said, "That's what I want to do. That's what I want to do next year. I don't see myself wanting to do what I'm doing right now next year on any team."

Dodgers Manager Grady Little said he wants his starting pitchers to begin working on their hitting as opening day draws near. So perhaps there was some significance to the fact right-hander Brett Tomko had a new two-tone bat stuffed in his locker after Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Florida Marlins. Relievers, after all, have no need for a bat.

They're an eclectic group, the Dodgers substitutes, including two Dominicans, a Panamanian and a Puerto Rican born in Philadelphia. But because they're quiet and some of them play only slightly more often than the coaching staff, they haven't earned a catchy nickname like the second-stringers on other teams. "They don't really have a name," third base coach Rich Donnelly said. "They're just bench guys."

Brett Tomko uses a breathing technique to calm himself when he's in trouble on the mound, sucking air from deep in his diaphragm. Maybe that explained the swirling winds at Coors Field in the early innings Saturday night. Tomko might have created an abnormal weather condition trying to extricate himself from two jams that contributed to the Dodgers' demise in a 12-9 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Brett Tomko pitched scoreless ball into the seventh inning and Scott Rolen had a big game with three hits and three key plays at third base, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0, Sunday at St. Louis. The Cardinals, tied with Houston for the National League Central Division lead, won two of three in the series. The Phillies have lost five of six since sweeping the Cardinals last week at Philadelphia. They lead Florida by half a game in the wild-card race.

It's a longstanding Taiwanese custom: Successfully stand an egg on its end at exactly noon on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, and luck will come your way. The throng of Taiwanese Americans who descended upon Shea Stadium for Taiwanese Heritage Night watched Dodgers pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo, their countryman, successfully stand six eggs end to end on the scoreboard in his first major league start for his first victory. And luck certainly came the Dodgers' way Friday.