CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

The Reds opened a 9-game central division road trip in St. Louis on Tuesday night and found their hitting shoes. Cincinnati blasted the Red Birds 10-3 behind the fine pitching of Aaron Harang (3-0) and the home run hitting of Alex Gonzalez (who had two) and Ken Griffey Jr. On Wednesday, they got another good pitching performance from Bronson Arroyo (7 innings, 1 run) but again give him no support. The bull pen imploded and the Reds lost 5-2. Josh Hamilton hit another home run in the loss. On Thursday afternoon, Kyle Lohse was rolling along in a pitchers battle when he lost it for an inning and so did the Reds, 7-5. Brandon Phillips and David Ross each went 'long ball' to no avail.

Friday the Reds opened a weekend series with the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Eric Milton was on the mound a gave up three runs in a shaky first inning. He settle down but all the hitters could muster was a ninth inning Adam Dunn home run in a 3-1 loss.

Saturday, the Bengals were on the clock at the annual draft a college prospects and took Leon Hall, a cornerback from Michigan, in the first round. In the second round, they mystified the locals by taking Kenny Irons, a running back from Auburn. Our boys had no third round pick because of taking Ahmad Brooks in the supplemental draft last year.

Saturday evening, the Reds got a complete game pitching performance from Matt Bilisle and won easily in Pittsburgh 8-1. They also made a trade to the Oakland A's in which they sent Chris Denorfia packing in exchange for two players to be named later and some cash. One of the two players turned out to be Marcus McBeth, a right handed closer. He's going to Louisville for now.

In the Sunday rounds of the draft, the Bengals took the following: Marvin White, a safety from TCU; Jeff Rowe, a quarterback from Nevada; Matt Toeaina, a defensive lineman from Oregon; Dan Santucci, a guard from Notre Dame; Chinedum Ndukwe, a safety from Notre Dame. This last guy, if he makes the team, will surely be in one of T.J. Houshmandzadeh's commercials.

The Reds took the rubber game in their series with the Pirates behind so-so pitching from Aaron Harang by a 9-5 score. Several of the right handed bats (namely, Ross and Encarnacion) are heating up but it looks like Josh Hamilton is cooling off.

These local players/products got drafted by NFL teams: UC cornerback, John Bowie, was taken by the Raiders in the 4th round; UC tight end, Brent Celek, went to the Eagles in the 5th round; Reading High School and Florida running back, DeShawn Wynn, was picked by the Packers in the 7th round.