Larkin is still heart of Reds

Barry Larkin had hoped this season would be one big party. He and his friend Ken Griffey Jr. would have a rollicking good time kidding each other in the clubhouse while the Reds tore through the National League on the way to the World Series.

So far, it hasn't been quite that festive. Junior hasn't hit, the Reds have faltered and Larkin has been forced to pull back a little.

''The last few weeks haven't been fun,'' Larkin said. ''I can't talk about him like I really want to talk about him.''

Until Thursday. Junior hit two home runs. Larkin hit one of his own. And the Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-1, to climb over .500 for the first time this year. This is the way the 2000 season was supposed to go from the start.

But the first three weeks of the Griffey era have been such a struggle for Junior that Larkin has been forced to pull back and save some of his best clubhouse riposte for later in the season. Instead of showering Griffey with good-natured insults, he's found himself functioning as a sounding board for a frustrated star.

''I've said some things to him, but mostly just listening to what he has to say,'' Larkin said. ''And he's had quite a few things to say. He hits 50 home runs a year. What am I going to say, ''Hang with 'em?' I don't think so.''

There's no question that Junior is the star of the show now. There were 27,000 fans at Cinergy Field on Thursday on an afternoon threatened by rain. They weren't there to see Larkin. They were there to watch Griffey hit home runs.

But if Junior is the Reds' main attraction, Larkin remains their heart and soul. He's still the guy other players look up to. And so far this year, he has been one of the few constants on a team that has yet to hit its stride.

For Larkin, this is an unusual development. During the past few years, April has been the cruelest of months for the Reds' captain. Last year he was hitting .182 on May 2. The year before that he was plodding along at .169 on May 6.

But here he is smack dab in the middle of April hitting a robust .344 with 13 RBI. He's done it rather quietly while so much attention has been focused on Junior, but his teammates know how important his bat has been with so many of them struggling out of the gate.

''It just looks like he's focused on every at-bat,'' said first baseman Sean Casey.

A cynic would say this unusual April production is a simple matter of Larkin playing in the final year of his contract, attempting to make a statement that will land him more money. A more plausible explanation lies in the presence of Junior in the lineup, hitting directly behind Larkin.

It could be that even a relatively punch-less Griffey has been a boost for Larkin.

''Before, he was the man,'' Byron Larkin said of his brother. ''Now he's an afterthought. He's taking advantage of that. He doesn't miss that at all. It's taken the pressure off him. Everybody's gearing for Griffey.''

That's as good an explanation as any for Larkin's outstanding start because nothing else has changed. It's not as if Larkin undertook a demanding new off-season program to prepare him for the start of the season. Not that the suggestion wasn't made.

''I was talking to him during the offseason,'' Byron said. ''I said, ''You may be at that age where you might want to start working with a personal trainer in the off-season.'''

Considering that Barry will turn 36 next week and considering his horrendous starts of the past few years, it seemed like sound reasoning. But Barry did what any big brother would when his little brother tried to tell him what to do. He ignored him.

If Larkin has made any concession to approaching middle age, it was his conscious decision to do less conditioning over the winter than he has in the past.

''I didn't do as much physically,'' Larkin said, ''like all the karate and kick boxing. And I played less basketball. But I feel good. I'm in great shape.''

Now if he can just get Griffey untracked. Perhaps those two homers will do the trick. If so, Larkin is ready. He's got a trunkload of insults saved up and a .344 average that gives him plenty of ammunition.

Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.