CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

On Monday, the Braves came to town. The Reds swept them in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. They were mad. Phil Dematrait pitched for Cincinnati and gave up eight runs in two innings. They should have invoked the 10-run rule in this one. It ended 14-4.


The Hamilton West Side All-stars lost in the Little League World Series Tourney. The season is over.



On Tuesday, with Bobby Livingston on the mound, the Reds and Braves got into a real back-and-forth seesaw battle. First the Braves are up 3-0, then the Reds went ahead 5-3, then the Braves came back and went ahead 7-5, then the Reds came back tied it 7-7. Finally, the Reds went up 8-7 and held on for the win. Brandon Phillips homered and knocked in the game winner with a double. Bill Bray got his third win and David Weathers another save.


On Wednesday night, Bronson Arroyo threw five good innings and the bull pen did a great job as the Reds won 4-2. Cincinnati got back-to-back homers from Josh Hamilton and Jeff Keppinger but it was Arroyo who knocked in the game winners with a fifth inning single.


On Thursday night, the Reds had to go to pitcher Elizardo Ramirez again. He was given a 5-1 lead on a Josh Hamilton 3-run homer but couldn't hold it. Bill Stanton gave up couple of runs in the seventh but the rest of the relievers shut out the Braves all the way through the 12th inning when Adam Dunn hit a 2-run walk-off home run for the 9-7 win. Mike Gosling (2-0) got the win.




On Friday morning, the Reds had to put Bobby Livingston on the 15-day DL with a torn labrum in his shoulder. That leaves the starting rotation with only three bodies - five are required in this stretch. One or two of the long relievers are going to have to start.




On Friday night, the high school football season got going in earnest. Highlights: Moeller knocked off Mason, Fenwick edged Mariemont, Hamilton lost to Springfield South and Wilmington smashed West Carrollton.



Also on Friday night, the Reds opened a weekend series with the Florida Marlins at GABP. Both teams sent their aces to the mound. Harang went toe-to-toe with Dontrelle Willis in the repressive heat and the Reds came out on top, 5-3. Brandon Phillips hit his 24th home run and followed that with a triple. Jeff Keppinger hit his 4th homer and played flawlessly in the field again. Javier Valentin, playing regularly since David Ross went on the DL, has his average up to .297 and knocked in two in this game to provide the margin of victory. The Reds have won four in a row and moved into fourth place in the division.




On Saturday night, the Reds retired the jersey of Davey Concepcion and proclaimed that no Red will ever again wear the number 13. Surrounded by his teammates on the Big Red Machine teams of the seventies, Sparky Anderson and his family, Dave accepted through tears with broken English. When the game got going, the Reds jumped to a 7-0 lead behind Matt Belisle and the bat of Ken Griffey Jr. Griff hit his 591st home run and knocked in four runs in front of his dad who was in for the ceremony and is fighting prostate cancer. Adam Dunn hit a 3-run bomb, his 37th of the year, to extend the score to 10-1. The relief corp almost got the best of us in the eighth when the Marlins closed to the final score of 11-7.

OK, Nobody say anything. Lets pretend that this isn't happening. On Sunday afternoon, the Reds brought up Tom Shearns to start a game. It was the first appearance of his career and he is two days from his thirtieth birthday. He had a losing record in the minor leagues. You guessed it. He pitched a GREAT game. He went seven innings and allowed just four hits and three runs. His catcher was also a guy who just left the minors because of David Ross' concussion. Jorgensen had two hits in his major league career; the first was a home run. In his first at bat today, he hit a grand slam. Unbelievable! Brandon Phillips (25) and Edwin Encarnacion (10) also homered in the rout which ended at 9-3. The Reds ended the week 6.5 games behind in their division at 60-70. Could it be?