CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

Monday was a wild day in Cincinnati. A.J. Nicholson went to court on his battery charge. His girlfriend rescinded her charge that he hit her and claimed she hit herself. The judge ignored her and continued the trial for the Bengals linebacker. The Bengals immediately cut him and he's gone for good.

Channel 12 then scooped everyone with a story that Chris Henry of the Bengals had failed a court ordered drug test. If it were true, he would have to go to jail in Northern Kentucky for 88 days and probably in Florida where he has a suspended sentence also. It turned out that the final results for the test were not in yet. Wait and see.


The Reds played a wild one with the Washington Nationals at GABP. Bronson Arroyo couldn't get the ball over the plate and gave up six runs in the first two innings. Home runs by Scott Hatteburg, Ken Griffey Jr and Javier Valentin brought the locals all the way back to an 8-7 win. Brandon Phillips failed to get a hit for the first time in 22 games.

In the second of the four game series on Tuesday, the Reds sent Kirk Saarloos to the mound for his first start here. He did ok but the relievers gave up four runs in the eighth (sound familiar?) and the Reds lost 8-4. Griffey hit another homer.

On Wednesday night, The Reds pitched Kyle Lohse in this night's batting practice for the Washington Nationals. He did a good job of letting them hit the ball in the Reds 12-7 loss. It was Bronson Arroyo Bobblehead Night and the fans were yelling for some heads to roll - namely manager Jerry Narron's.

Kenton County Kentucky retracted their claim that Chris Henry had failed a drug test. His lawyers are now asking for a formal apology. The Kenton County DA refused to give the apology, calling Henry a "low life".


On Thursday night the Reds played the last of the four game series against the Nationals. The Nationals went up 4-1 on some shaky fielding by Adam Dunn. Dunn hit his 12th homer of the year. Alex Gonzalez also homered but it wasn't enough as they lost 4-3. Matt Belisle pitched seven innings and deserved better than the loss he incurred.


On Friday, the Reds came to the park against the Pittsburgh Pirates with the worst record in Baseball. Aaron Harang was the starter and he gave up two home runs in the second and then settled down to pitch eight strong innings. Ken Griffey Jr and Brandon Phillips hit back-to-back homers to tie the game in the sixth. Cincinnati passed up opportunities to score late in the game and it went into extra innings at 2-2. David Weathers pitched batting practice in the 10th and the Reds lost 10-4. Can it get any worse?

On Saturday, the Reds kept up their streak of unbelievably bad play. Bronson Arroyo started and gave up four in the first and two more in the fourth when he was knocked out. Alex Gonzalez, Edwin Encarnacion and Scott Hatteberg all homered to no avail as the Reds went down 9-5.

On Sunday, the fun continued. The Reds have now given up more runs in the first inning than they have in the eighth, if you can believe that. Kirk Saarloos got the start today and didn't get anyone out before he was replaced while giving up five runs in the first. Again, the Reds hit a lot of home runs (two by Dunn and one each by Gonzalez, Chad Moeller and Encarnacion) but it wasn't enough in a 14-10 slugfest. The Reds finish the week at 18-33 and mired in last place in their division.