CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

The Reds had there big showdown series with the Cards this week. It started poorly with a 5-0 shutout at the hands of St. Louis ace Chris Carpenter. On Tuesday, the Reds traded for another left handed relief pitcher with an ERA above 5. We now have a strangle hold on the left handed relief pitcher market. Our boys popped back with an impressive 7-2 win that night that included five home runs but lost a heartbreaker 2-1 to close the series and wasted a good start by Kyle Lohse. They fell back to 2-1/2 games down.

On the weekend, our boys hosted the lowly Pirates who had swept the Cards last week. The Reds looked bad in the opener and lost 7-3 but came back with a vengance on Saturday evening to post a 7 run win despite weak pitching. On the down side, "Every day" Eddie Guardado left in the ninth with a bad arm that forbodes badly on the teams future. The weekend finale featured a slick pitching performance by Aaron Harang and home runs by Scott Hatteberg and Adam Dunn. The 5-1 win kept pace with the Cards who won 2 of 3 from the Cubs this weekend. The Reds now have 38 games to go including 13 with Pittsburgh and Chicago.

I still feel the Cards are very vulnerable. There's six weeks left in the season and either the Cards, Astros or Reds will have a winning streak that will vault them into the division championship. It might as well be the Reds. We've got the Astros to start this week and follow with a tough 3-team west coast trip. Hang in there boys.

The Bengals played at Buffalo on Friday night in their second preseason game. The talk all week was whether Carson Palmer would play or not and who said what about whether he would play or not and who it was up to whether he played or not and what it meant if he played or not. Enough already!

The Bengals put 44 on the board and won easily but it didn't mean much. They looked sloppy. Of course, Carson didn't play. Two touchdowns were scored by the defense. The same defense that gave up two huge plays for touchdowns by the Bills. It was obvious we had more talent but it takes more than that. Its really hard for me to stay interested in preseason games.

On Thursday and Friday, Sam Arnold participated in the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club near Chicago. Sam is the assistant pro at the Vineyard Golf Course owned by the Hamilton County Park District. It was Sam's first PGA tour event. He got in by playing in a qualifier and becoming an alternate. He's 34 and, I'm sure, it was the thrill of his life. He didn't scare Tiger or even make the cut. No matter, I wish it was me.