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NEW YORK — The title of this quiz is: How do you do it?

How do you get 15 hits in a game and lose by six runs?

"That's rare right there," said Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker after the 12-6 wax job by the New York Mets in Game 1 of a Shea Stadium doubleheader. "That's real rare."

How do you get 10 hits off Johan Santana, tying the most he has ever given up, and he is the winning pitcher?

A lot of it can be traced to and pinned on starting pitcher Matt Belisle, now 1-3 with a 7.45 ERA in his four starts since coming off the disabled list.

Reds pitching coach Dick Pole has made some minor adjustments in Belisle's mechanics, and Belisle insists they are helping him.

"I believe in the adjustments I've made, and I'm not going to let it get me too far down," he said. "I believe in those mechanical adjustments, and I'm going to stick with them. Just a couple of small adjustments, and I believe in them, so I go all-in with them."

As Baker said, "Matt didn't help himself with a couple of mistakes and a leadoff walk to Luis Castillo that led to three runs (in the third inning)."

The game's first run scored on Belisle's wild pitch to opposing pitcher Santana.

In the fifth inning, Castillo bunted, and Belisle threw wildly to first, leading to two more runs.

"I looked up the line, and Castillo was farther along than I expected, and I just heaved it from the side," said Belisle. That's a throwing error I could do without and totally unacceptable. I didn't give (catcher) David Ross much of a chance on the wild pitch for the run. It was supposed to be a back-door slider."

Call it Hattie's Comet

Baker already had his lineup made out, so it wasn't a reward for Scott Hatteberg that he started Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader at first base.

Hatteberg, 0-for-9 as a pinch hitter before Saturday's game, batted for Belisle in the sixth inning and cracked a run-scoring single.

"Don't hold your breath for the next one," he said with a smile. "It's like Hattie's Comet. It only comes around every several years."

Javier Valentin, allegedly the team's best pinch hitter, is 1-for-10, while Ryan Freel is 1-for-8 and Corey Patterson is 1-for-7.

As a team, Reds pinch hitters are (non-)hitting .140 (7-for-50).

Safe but out

Freel laid down a perfect bunt leading off the fifth inning of Game 1 and was across first base when the throw from third baseman David Wright arrived.

But umpire Damien Beal yelled, "Out."

Said Freel, "It wasn't even bang-bang. It was bang (long pause) bang. I asked him, 'How could you miss that?' and he said, 'You're out.' I said, 'I know I'm out, but how could you miss that call?' Then one of the other umpires said, 'Get on into the dugout.'"

Griffey plays two

Even though Ken Griffey Jr. pleaded his case to play both ends of the doubleheader, Baker didn't plan to acquiesce — until he saw Griffey bang a first-inning single, then nearly hit career home run No. 598, a double that banged off the right-field fence.

"At first I wasn't going to play him in both games," said Baker. "But he is swinging the bat pretty good, the best I've seen him swing in quite awhile."

Asked if Griffey's body language has changed since his best friend, Frank King, died last week, Baker said, "He's a little more quiet, but he has a consistent quiet personality."

Quote(s) of the day

Former Mets superstar Darryl Strawberry, visiting Shea Stadium, spotted Reds broadcaster/former major-league pitcher Jeff Brantley and said, "The best thing about me retiring was that I didn't have to see your fastball tucked under my chin."

Baker talked before Game 1 Saturday about winning the opener and making it easier mentally for Game 2, but after losing Game 1, Baker said, "As so often happens, you don't always get what you want."

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