CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

On Monday, the Reds opened a 3-game series with the Astros in Houston. Roy Oswalt, who always beats Cincinnati, did it again; this time 5-3.

Bengals news on Monday was morbid. David Pollack is out for the season with a neck injury. Richie Braham and Dexter Jackson are both out for next Sunday's game against the Steelers with leg injuries. Chad Johnson is still recovering from a concussion he received on the vicious hit he took on the chin right before the end of the Brown's game. Tab Perry is nursing a hip joint injury and probably will not be available for several weeks. TJ and Levi are still questionable. The Bengals seem to be so much deeper than they have been in the past and this week will test that supposition.

On Tuesday, the Reds outlasted the Astros 5-4 behind the pitching of Aaron Harang. Chris Denorfia hit his first home run as a Red. Wednesday afternoon's series finale saw Roger Clemens throw six shutout innings on the way to a 7-2 setback for the reeling Reds. On Friday, the Reds opened their final home series of the season with a 4-2 rain-shortened win over the Chicago Cubs. Torrential rains came through town and ended the game after the fifth inning. The Reds' runs came on Norris Hopper's first big league homer, Edwin Encarnacion's two-run shot (15), and Brendan Harris' first homer as a Red. The Reds had only 4 hits. On Saturday night, the Reds set a season high mark of six errors in a game and lost to the Cubs 11-4. Brandon Phillips hit his 17th home run of the season and is getting his tryout as a shortstop for next year. Sunday, they eked out a 3-2 win with a 2 runs in the 9th to give Aaron Harang a complete game victory -- his 15th win of the year. The Reds finished the week six games out of the wild card behind Philadelphia and 4-1/2 games behind the Cards in third place in the division. The last week of the season is coming up.

In the big high school football games of the week Purcell defeated Fenwick 19-10, Mariemont beat Wyoming 28-0, Edgewood edged Winton Woods, 28-21 and Middletown beat Hamilton by the same score. Many of these games were suspended because of the rain Friday night and completed on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon, the UC Bearcats traveled to Blacksburg, VA to take on the 10th ranked Hokies of Virginia Tech. The Cats scored the first touchdown of the season against the VT first defense; the Cats were the first opponent to score at all in Blacksburg this year; the Cats were the first opponent to have a lead on the Hokies this year as they led 10-5 at the half. The Hokies jumped ahead 12-10 in the third quarter but the Cats came back with a field goal and led 13-12 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Virginia Tech showed its depth in the 4th quarter and took advantage of some desperation moves by the Cats to pull away 29-13. The Bearcats still have two more top ten teams to face this year. They will be the only team in the country to play a schedule with 4 top ten teams on it.

Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh the Bengals prevailed 28-20 although the Steelers ran at will (170 yds), sacked Palmer six times and intercepted him twice, held Chad Johnson to one catch for 11 yards, and had the time of possession advantage by 8 minutes. Scoreboard!!! In a week, no one will ask HOW you did it.