NOTHING SPECIAL MADDUX'S SIX NO-HIT INNINGS SPARK WIN DODGERS 3, CINCINNATI 0.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

CINCINNATI -- For all the accolades, adoration and applause Greg Maddux has received in his two celebrated decades as a major-league pitcher, the one feather still missing from his Hall of Fame cap was the elusive no-hitter.

But on Thursday night, two days after he was traded to Los Angeles in a deadline deal, the legendary right-hander came tantalizingly close in his Dodgers debut, to the point that he needed just nine more outs to etch his name in the last remaining book of baseball history where it can't already be found.

And then, Mother Nature did what the flailing Cincinnati Reds couldn't, effectively driving a Maddux pitch back through the middle and into center field.

As Maddux took the mound for the bottom of the seventh inning of what for the Dodgers would become a 3-0 victory over the Reds before 26,053 at Great American Ball Park, the skies opened up for the second time. The game already had been delayed for more than an hour at the start, and now, the umpires were signaling for the tarp again.

Sometime during the next 46 minutes, manager Grady Little consulted with Maddux. And while both have a keen appreciation for the rich history of the game, each also had a keen awareness of the task at hand, and the decision was made to pull Maddux from the game after six scoreless, hitless and undeniably flawless innings.

Besides, it wasn't like Maddux had never pitched a no-hitter before.

``He said he had pitched one in Little League,'' Little said, ``and that that was good enough for the rest of his life.''

For the Dodgers, it also was good enough for the rest of the evening. Relievers Joe Beimel, Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito weren't able to preserve the no-no after the 46-minute delay, but they were able to preserve the win, the two-hitter, the three-game series sweep. The surging Dodgers' sixth consecutive victory came on a night when the latest and possibly final chapter of Maddux's splendid career officially began.

Maddux walked three, but he also got a pair of doubleplay grounders, recorded 11 groundballs outs, struck out three, faced one batter over the minimum and didn't allow a ball to be hit out of the infield until the fifth inning, when Edwin Encarnacion flied to left. Maddux also got plenty of help from infielders Julio Lugo, Rafael Furcal and Wilson Betemit.

``We had three shortstops playing on the infield,'' Maddux said. ``As a pitcher, that's something you appreciate.''

At the time of the second delay, the Dodgers had a 2-0 lead, which they had nursed since the first inning. Furcal had led off the game with a single. Then, with two outs, Olmedo Saenz had hit the 20th home run allowed this season by longball-prone Reds lefty Eric Milton.

From there, Milton (7-7) settled in and delivered what surely would have been one of his best performances of the season had it not come against the inimitable Maddux (10-11).

The Dodgers' inability to pad that lead made Little's decision easier.

``If we had some more runs, I would have loved to try to go for (the no-hitter),'' Maddux said. ``But in a two-run game, we have to do what we can to win. We have two months to win as many games as we can, and we had to do what was best for the team. In a two-run game, it's difficult, especially in this park where it's not that hard to hit a home run.

``One walk, one bloop and then a blast, that's something (the Reds) can do.''

The Dodgers added an insurance run in the seventh when Furcal doubled and Lugo tripled him home. Then, after hitting Ryan Freel and walking Scott Hatteberg to bring up Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn with one out in the ninth, Saito struck out both of them to nail down his 11th save in 11 opportunities this season.

But the night belonged to the stoic Maddux.

``This guys was outstanding out there,'' Little said. ``We're glad he is with us.''

The Dodgers (53-55) moved ahead of idle Colorado into sole possession of third place in the National League West and remained three games behind division-leading San Diego. The Dodgers also pulled within two games of the wild card-leading Reds by running the table against them.

The Dodgers outscored the power-laden Reds 15-7 in the series and limited them to a total of six hits in the final two games.

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) New Dodgers starter Greg Maddux faced 19 batters in six innings, none of whom got a hit, before he came out.

(2) Dodgers' Rafael Furcal, right, congratulates Olmedo Saenz on his two-run home run.

Al Behrman/Associated Press

Box:

DODGERS at FLORIDA

- Tony Jackson