There were runs, hits and errors Monday night at AT&T Field as the Chattanooga Lookouts dropped a 5-4 decision to the Jacksonville Suns in 10 innings.

More of the same can be guaranteed in upcoming days, which is why Jamie Dismuke is referring to this stretch as baseball and not an audition for 2009 should the Lookouts remain Class AA affiliates of the Cincinnati Reds. Dismuke, a Chattanooga resident for more than a decade, was promoted from hitting coach to interim manager this past weekend when first-year manager Mike Goff left the team for personal reasons.

“It’s hard when you’re making a transition during the season, but I’m just going to take this, run with it and see what happens,” Dismuke said. “Do I want to manage? Yeah. But I don’t think anybody wants to get a job the way I got it.”

Monday’s outcome made the 38-year-old Dismuke 1-1 in his new role with 14 games remaining in the Southern League regular season. His managerial debut was Saturday night, when the Lookouts won 8-7 at Huntsville.

Reds farm director Terry Reynolds also doesn’t view these next two weeks as a tryout for Dismuke.

“We’ve put him into a tough spot, and I’m sure he’ll handle it very, very well,” Reynolds said, “but we’ll do our evaluations at the end of the season on everybody like we always do.”

Dismuke was a coach under Phillip Wellman in 1999 and the hitting coach under Mike Rojas in 2000 when the Lookouts played at Engel Stadium. He returned as hitting coach in 2004, working four seasons under Jayhawk Owens and a fifth this year with Goff.

His popularity is evident among Lookouts officials, who played the “Movin’ on Up” theme song from “The Jeffersons” when Dismuke and Jacksonville manager John Shoemaker exchanged lineup cards at home plate before the game.

“Whatever is going to happen is going to happen,” Dismuke said. “I consider myself very fortunate to have been with some very good managers when you consider Wellman, Jayhawk and also Goff, and I think I’ve learned a little bit from each of them, but just because I want it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.

“If they want me to do it, then I’ll do it. If they don’t I won’t, but I’m not going to view this as there being pressure on me.”

Jacksonville loaded the bases off Lookouts reliever Sean Watson with one out in the 10th inning and took its 5-4 lead on Lucas May’s sacrifice fly to left field.

Russell Mitchell launched a three-run home run to left in the first inning to give Jacksonville a 3-0 lead, but the Lookouts (23-33) fought back to tie the game at 4 in the sixth inning on B.J. Szymanski’s two-run single to left. Eric Eymann accounted for Chattanooga’s other two runs with a fourth-inning single to left.

“It’s tough that Goff had to leave us, but Jamie is definitely capable of doing the job,” Eymann said. “Jamie wants us to keep it loose and have fun, and that’s when we’ve been at our best. We really like Jamie and respect him. We liked Goff, too, but he had to leave us, and that’s what happens.”

Said Dismuke: “Knowing (Lookouts owner) Frank Burke, I figured after he did ‘The Jeffersons’ that he would do something after every inning, but when the game started, I was locked in.”

Dismuke grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., and played for the Lookouts in 1993, ’95 and a portion of the ’97 season before getting hurt. In ’97, he married Central High graduate Tammy Thomas and has lived in Chattanooga ever since.

“I love it here,” Dismuke said. “The winters here are much better than they were in Syracuse, and my wife is from here. Moving here was a no-brainer.”