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ATLANTA — Dusty Baker locked the clubhouse doors before Sunday's game against the Atlanta Braves, a private session during which he asked his Cincinnati Reds not to give up — no hands-up surrenders, no tossing in of any towels (wet or dry), no unconditional surrenders, no scribbled messages of, "We give up."

He asked them to play hard, forget about the abysmal recent past, focus on what's ahead.

Maybe he should have kept the doors locked and his players inside because the Braves stomped all over the Reds, 14-7, behind an atrocious start by Bronson Arroyo.

While Baker was distraught afterward and said to the media, "I'm tired of meeting like this," he later said that despite the score his team did exactly what he asked.

The Reds were down 8-1 in the third but scored five runs off Tom Glavine and closed to within 8-6.

"They did just what I asked," said Baker. "They didn't quit. They battled back and kept trying to the end and I'm damned proud of 'em for that."

Actually, the Reds had a chance to regain the lead after falling behind 7-0 and 8-1. When it was 8-6, they had the bases loaded with two outs against Glavine in the fifth before manager Bobby Cox brought in lefthander Royce Ring to face Adam Dunn.

Dunn swung at the first pitch and flied weakly to left.

"Damn, that would have been one of the greatest comebacks ever," said Baker. "Glavine didn't have much and I was hoping they would let him face one more batter (Dunn). Just one more hit. One big hit. But that's been our story all year."

After Dunn failed, the Braves scored four in their fifth off Josh Fogg and Bill Bray and that was it — the Reds' fifth straight loss.

Arroyo is 1-4 with an 8.63 ERA and Baker is concerned, so concerned that he suspects some physically amiss.

"We didn't have much of a chance after they jumped us 7-0," he said. "You have to go through your bullpen and they're dragging. With Bronson, I'm kind of lost right now. We're going to get him checked out because maybe something is wrong with him.

"His pitches aren't sharp and his breaking ball is not crisp — just rolling up there," Baker said. "And he is predictable throwing a 3-and-2 breaking ball. I'm just at a loss so we'll get him examined. You don't want to find anything, but you hope you come up with something to explain this."

"We need some kind of solution to this and I know he is going crazy, too," said Baker. "I mean, he just came off a decent outing (in St. Louis) and we were hoping that would get him rolling."

Fogg was pressed into service and gave up one run over parts of three innings before it exploded in the fifth.

"Fogg did a good job, but the gates opened up when he was late covering first base," said Baker. Martin Prado squibbed one to first baseman Joey Votto to lead the fifth and Fogg didn't make it in time for the throw.

"That did us in," said Baker. "Usually he is fundamentally sound. But there was that moment's hesitation, then it was bam, bam, bam, bam and off to the races again."

Six straight Braves reached base and four scored to push it from 8-6 to 12-6 and that was it.

Chipper Jones, batting .425 this season, was in the middle of both big Atlanta rallies.

He was the last batter Arroyo faced, with one out in the seven-run second. Jones turned on a 3-and-2 pitch and crash-landed it into the right field bleachers, a three-run homer.

In the fifth, Baker brought in lefthander Bill Bray to turn the switch-hitting Jones to the right side, supposedly his weaker side. Baker did the same thing Saturday night and Jones slapped a run-scoring single. This time he punched a two-run single during a four-run inning.

"Chipper Jones is always a good hitter," said Baker. "Right now he looks like the greatest hitter on earth.

"Chipper just killed us the whole series," Baker added. "He hits home runs on the left side (twice) and he gets singles to drive in runs on the right side (twice). He has been a thorn in the side of every team I've managed, forever. That's a sweet stroke he has going."

One could almost read it in Baker's face — if only one, just one, of his players could start swinging like Jones, everything would be chipper for the Reds, who occupy last place in the NL Central and own the worst record in the majors (12-20), to say nothing of a five-game losing streak.

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