Game One happened.  I wrote a blog about it. 

Then Game Two happened.  I wrote a blog about it.

But wait, there's more.

Including today's radio show.  We're putting off #MoHawkMonday this week to talk baseball.  We'll squeeze in Marvin Lewis press confrence.  That will happen at 4:04. And we'll get the thoughts of Dave Lapham at 5:52.

The rest of the time, we're talking baseball.

A few more thoughts on games one and two.....

-Now is not the time to shake things up.  I don't expect the Reds to run out the same exact lineup every night between now and the final game of the World Series.  But this lineup they're using is working.  It may just be two games and they could turn into pumpkins tomorrow night, but the eight guys Dusty started in San Francisco are getting it done at the plate and in the field.

Drew Stubbs is as maddening a player as I've ever rooted for, but so far in the NLDS he's picked up hits in each game and he set the table for the biggest hit of the series to date - his single on Saturday night preceded BP's bomb - and he's played flawlessly in center.  There might not as much room for him to cover at GABP, but given that no other option is a massive upgrade offensively, I'd rather have the best glove possible in center.

Same thing at third base.  Look, there's no bigger Todd Frazier fan than this guy, and I'm betting that if the Reds end up winning the World Series, Todd will have a big moment along the way.  And yes, Scott Rolen is just 1 for 7 in the NLDS, but his one hit was key, and despite being charged with an error on a tough play Saturday, I'll take his glove at third right now. 

This lineup is working. Dusty should stay with it.

-Lance made this point on Twitter yesterday, but I think it bears repeating.....the Reds scouts are doing their jobs.  More important, their reports are being paid attention to.  The Reds have made some highlight segment-caliber plays...Ludwick's diving catch, Cozart's leaping grab, etc....but it seems like a dozen or so hard hit balls went right to a Reds defender.  Guys always seem to be in the right position. 

-Do you think Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey got off the plane from San Francisco and went to watch last night's game somewhere?  Part of me wants to imagine the plane landing and Homer looking at Johnny and awkwardly asking he wanted to go somewhere to watch the game.

-We're not getting the good TBS crew, the Yankees/Orioles series is.  The Anderson/Darling/Simpson trio is not getting it done, but the Johnson/Ripken/Smoltz booth is outstanding....both analysts outwardly thinking along with the managers, first-guessing instead of second guessing, and each taking us inside key hitter/pitcher battles. The entire game sounds like a conversation about baseball between two people who were really good at it, with one of sports broadcasting's perfect setup men guiding the viewer through what he/she needs to know. Smoltz and Ripken don't talk down to viewers, but they don't talk above their heads either.  I wish they'd been assigned to the NLDS instead.

-I'm not sure what Giants fans do or where they go after games, but since they started wearing these in honor of Pablo Sandoval....

....had any guy wearing these ever walked into a bar near AT&T for a few postgame cold ones and gone home with a girl?

-I guess I've put it off long enough, I've gotta talk about the Bengals.

To put it very plainly, they really sucked yesterday.

The crowd felt a little hungover, and given the late conclusion of Game One out west, I'm sure that was the case for many in attendance at PBS.  That's excusable.

The team itself also looking like it had stayed up too late isn't.

The offense was not good yesterday. Andy Dalton was inaccurate and often under pressure, the running game was stagnant again, the big play was almost completely absent, and they were awful on third down.

The defense played adequately enough.  But that was overshadowed by how bad Marvin Lewis was yesterday.

Down 17-12, Marvin elected to kick and extra point rather than going for two.  His reasoning....

We kind of got our legs back under us on defense and we were stopping them and we had found our way on offense I thought for a little bit there. I didn't expect that would be our last score of the day."

Uh, this is exactly WHY you go for two.  If you're clicking offensively you feel confident that they'll get the ball back and find a way to overcome a five-point deficit if a two-point conversion fails.  And if it's successful, you've shrunk their margin for error.

And then the decision to kick a ultimately unsuccessful field goal down 17-13 with just over three minutes to go?

"I thought we'd stop them and get the ball back again and kick a field goal to win the game."

OK, frankly I did too, but still....you're betting on a lot of things happening here: the kick being good, the defense doing its job, the clock being managed in your favor, a successful offensive drive, and another successful field goal attempt. If you're that damn confident that you'll get the ball back and that your offense will come through, let the offense try to convert on fourth down and show some confidence that the defense will indeed get your team the ball back.

(Yes, it would've helped if Nugent had made the stupid kick)

Just as bad was the play call right before the failed kick.  A third and five from the Miami 23 and Gruden dials up a wide receiver screen to Brandon Tate, with AJ Green, Andrew Hawkins, and Jermaine Gresham all on the field.

I don't get it.

The loss isn't totally debilitating, though they've lost ground on Baltimore, and they enabled Pittsburgh to close the gap, but given they've turned the game at Cleveland next Sunday into critical one.  A 4-2 record through the first six games would be acceptable. 3-3, with what they have in front of them after the Browns, would not.

Neither was what we saw from both the Bengals offense or their coach yesterday.

-Our big weekend of Cincinnati sports also included a UC win over Miami.  For the sake of being a little short on time today, I'll limit my thoughts to essentially this....beating the RedHawks and keeping the Victory Bell in Clifton is nice, but Munchie Legaux has to throw the ball better than he did against Miami.  He, and they, have two more weeks before the games take on an added importance.    I do still love what the Bearcats are doing defensively.

-I also like this....

....this.....

...and this....

.....The fun starts at 3:04 today on ESPN1530.  Wanna win some slick-looking Reds headphones BiGR Audio?  Go here.