DaytonDailyNews.com

The Cincinnati Reds may have reduced their payroll a smidgen by unloading Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn, but the product they're putting on the field these days sure isn't helping their bottom line.

The announced crowd for the game against the last-place Pirates on Tuesday, Sept. 2, was 18,024, but that's tickets sold, not a turnstile count. There were no more than 2,000 butts in the 42,319 seats at Great American Ball Park for the first pitch.

The huge swaths of open spaces reminded me of the nearly empty stadium in the classic baseball movie, "The Natural," before Roy Hobbs showed up and began bashing home runs with his Wonder Boy bat. The concessionaires at GABP may have had a rough night, but practically everybody went home with a foul ball.

Even Reds employees are resorting to gallows humor. As the game started, a sports writer sarcastically asked, "Are you counting walk-up ticket sales?" The staffer replied, "No, we're counting walk-out sales."

Who can blame fans for not showing up? The Reds' lineup included three rookies, a .197-hitting center fielder and a starting pitcher with a dismal 4-14 record. Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips, Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto look like keepers, but the Reds need much more than that if they're ever going to contend in the National League Central.

They need a Roy Hobbs.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.