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CLEVELAND — With the season half over, is the fuel tank half full or half empty on The Little Red Wagon? It's pretty much running on empty.

Offensively, the Cincinnati Reds are Stinkfest '08, next to last in the National League with a .244 team average.

Only Washington (.238) is worse.

And Reds manager Dusty Baker knows it and agrees getting hits and scoring runs wasn't a concern coming out of spring training.

Suddenly, with no prompting, Baker became the first member of the Reds to bring up a name lurking in the shadows: Josh Hamilton.

"We lost a big bat to Texas, but we obtained Edinson Volquez," he said, without anybody asking about Hamilton. "Hamilton was a big bat in the lineup that we miss, and we certainly have to start hitting."

And why aren't they? Whiff, whiff, whiff.

"We're striking out too much, man, far too much," said Baker, referring to the team's 564 strikeouts at the halfway mark.

That's not the most in the NL, but those striking out the most are those expected to drive in runs.

After 81 games, the season's halfway mark, not one Reds' player is on pace to drive in 100 runs, but six are on pace for more than 100 strikeouts (Adam Dunn, Paul Bako, Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto, Edwin Encarnacion and Ken Griffey Jr.).

Caught holding bag

Rookie pitcher Daryl Thompson was walking down the street, dipping into a McDonald's bag Friday afternoon, June 27, before he pitched when he heard a voice: "Hey, come over, son."

It was his manager, Baker.

"What kind of car do you drive?" Baker asked Thompson, who told him he drove a Lincoln Navigator. "Do you put no-lead in your car or do you put supreme? You put no-lead in that Navigator and step on it, and it's going to sputter. What you put in your body is the same thing as your car. I told him, 'About the sixth or seventh inning, you're going to run out of gas.' We're in a fast-food society in a game that needs high-octane fuel."

Dunn wants bat back

Dunn discovered Friday that Cleveland pitcher C.C. Sabathia used one of his bats to hit a 440-foot home run in Dodger Stadium.

When the Indians were in Cincinnati in May, Sabathia asked Dunn for some bats, "And I gave him two," said Dunn. "Obviously, I gave him the wrong ones. I'm going over there and get it back."

Dunn, who is 6-foot-6 and 275 pounds, said Sabathia, at 6-7 and 290, is a good athlete, "And I've seen him play basketball and I've thrown some passes to him in football."

A rest for Bruce

Jay Bruce, 6 for 47 (.128) for 12 games before Saturday's game, is likely to get a day off today against Cleveland left-hander Aaron Laffey.

Bruce has started 29 of the 30 games since his call-up from Class AAA Louisville, "And they've found a way to pitch him. He has to make the adjustment to what they're doing to him. The easiest time to hit is when you get to the majors before anybody learns you. Pitchers talk and watch video to find a way to attack you."

Dodging the pain

Shortstop Jerry Hairston Jr., still recovering from a fractured left thumb, caught a line drive in the eighth inning Friday and spent the next couple of minutes dancing and squirming in pain.

"Hit my thumb perfectly," he said. "A couple of balls were hit hard at me in Toronto Thursday (his first game back), but I was able to avoid them hitting the thumb. It hit me just right. It only hurts for a minute or two. But it didn't feel good. I'm fine, no biggie. But the tears were real."

Quote(s) of the day

Homespun humor: "I don't know, but they're gathering animals in pairs." — David Weathers when asked if it was raining before batting practice.

Philosophical thinking: "Tomorrow is a tough sell when you're young." — Baker on trying to give advice to a rookie about the future.