CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

After a day off on Monday, the Reds hosted the Dodgers at GABP with Branson Arroyo trying to do better than his debacle last Saturday. He was in good form this steamy night and he combined with Mike Stanton, Jared Burton and "Stormy" Weathers to spin a nifty shutout. Adam Dunn and Edwin Encarnacion got RBIs in the first and Brandon Phillips knocked a solo homer (21) in the third for the 4-0 win.

On Wednesday, Aaron Harang pitched a good 'ol good one. He threw eight innings of shutout ball, Weathers closed out the ninth with the help of a great play by Phillips to end the game and the Reds shut-out the impotent Dodgers for the second night in a row, 1-0. The locals pushed across their only run in the third on a Ken Griffey Jr single.

On Thursday afternoon with the thermometer touching triple digits, the Reds blew two late one- run leads and lost to the Dodgers in 11 innings, 5-4. It was another matter of the bull pen not being able to do the job. Young Phil Dumatrait went six innings and allowed only two runs. Alex Gonzalez hit his 16th home run.

That evening, the Bengals met the Detroit Lions in their first preseason game. The game was meaningful in only one sense. Cincinnati lost Kenny Irons for the season with a knee injury. This is a catastrophe greater than most realize. The Bengals offense has never been as good as when, two years ago, they had Chris Perry coming out of the backfield. That puts a level of pressure on the defense that is difficult to duplicate. Perry will probably never come back from his injury. Irons will take at least a year. Too, too bad.

On Friday night, the Reds Matt Belisle tried to get the Reds back on the right track against the San Diego Padres. He wasn't up to the job. The Reds fought a good fight and tied the game several times and eventually took it into extra innings for the second day in a row. Again, the deficiencies in the bull pen came to the fore and the Reds lost 12-7 in 11 innings. Griffey hit the 590th home run of his career.

On Saturday afternoon, the Reds and the Padres got locked up in a tight one at GABP. Rookie Bobby Livingston pitched the best game of his short career and went into the ninth inning with a two hitter and an 8-1 lead. He served up the second homer of the day to light hitting Brian Giles who only has four all year. He gave way to the bull pen to get the last two outs and gain the 8-3 win. Jeff Keppinger had the big hits to lead the offense.

Later on Saturday, the Hamilton Little League all-stars beat an Indiana team to win their region and gain a berth in next weeks World Series. What a great opportunity for the local kids.

On Sunday afternoon, the Reds went up against Jake Peavy of the Padres, one of the best pitchers in the league. Bronson Arroyo got the start and gave up five runs in six innings. He served up a home run to Brian Giles; his forth in three games and only his seventh of the season (I'd say he likes the Reds). The releif crew didn't do any better as the Reds lost 10-4.
The week ended with the Reds at 50-66; in fifth place, 11-1/2 games behind the Brewers.