Sonstiges » slide. Chavez ended the rally when he retired

CINCINNATI -- Any other NFL team would be starting the season with a new head coach.A playoff meltdown against Pittsburgh left Cincinnatis Marvin Lewis 0-7 in the postseason, a mark that would get anybody else fired.Owner Mike Brown doesnt even think of it that way.Asked on Tuesday why hes so patient with a coach who has such a horrible record in the playoffs, Brown turned the question around. He mentioned the five straight playoff appearances, something only three other teams have accomplished in the same span.I like Marvin, the 80-year-old owner said. I think hes a good coach. We work well together. Weve had our form of success. The teams in a good position. And I would reverse the question: Why would you want to fire Marvin Lewis after all hes done? I think hes earned his spot.Lewis has done a lot to help Brown resuscitate his team during their 13-year allegiance. The Bengals were historically bad before Lewis was hired in 2003. Two years later, he got them to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.Hes gotten the Bengals to the playoffs seven times overall and lost all seven games, the most consecutive playoff losses by a head coach in NFL history. Cincinnati has lost a first-round game each of the past five seasons, another NFL record -- no other team has dropped more than three straight.The loss last season was the most stinging. The Bengals self-destructed in the final minute at home against the Steelers, with personal foul penalties on Vontaze Burfict and Adam Pacman Jones moving Pittsburgh into range for a field goal and an 18-16 victory.Instead of getting fired, Lewis got an extra year added to his contract, which now runs through the 2017 season.Why? Because we trust in him, we believe in him, we think hes a good coach, Brown said before the teams preseason luncheon.Weve had a good run. And yes, at the end it conspired against us, but those games were very close. They were decided by a play or two and maybe the next time if we get there -- its hard to get there -- but if we get there, maybe the ball will bounce our way finally. I like to think it will.Lewis acknowledges that hed likely be fired anywhere else. For now, his job is as safe as any in the league. Brown wants to keep him, and Lewis wants to keep trying to win a playoff game.Ive not been interested in moving any place, Lewis said. Its that simple. Its a two-way street.Although Lewis and quarterback Andy Dalton are the faces most closely associated with the franchise, Brown is the one with whom its most closely identified. He took over when his father, Paul, died shortly before the start of the 1991 season. The Bengals were coming off a playoff appearance that included a first-round win over the Houston Oilers.They havent won a playoff game since then, giving them the sixth-longest streak of postseason futility in NFL history. During Cincinnatis lost decade of the 1990s, fans brought anti-Brown banners to games and put anti-Brown bumper stickers on their cars.Brown joked on Tuesday about a Bengals employee that recently saw one of those bumper stickers around town.(He) was telling me he got behind a pretty beat-up truck that had a bumper sticker along the lines that he was for Trump, and then there was a worn-out sticker on the bumper down below that said `Mike Brown Still Stinks, Brown said.So Ive never gotten free and clear of how people see me, but the team has made real progress. The team is seen in the community in a good way, I think.Asked if he thinks hell ever be considered beloved in the community, Brown laughed.What the heck, he said. Im in a business where theres gonna be someone to kick around, as Nixon once said. `You dont have me to kick around anymore -- you remember his speech? Im happy to be kicked around. Im still here. 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The Croatian served 21 aces and hit 42 winners against Sijsling, who double-faulted to give Cilic a 4-3 lead in the deciding set. "All the players, they know me and they were really happy to see me and they were really happy that this is over for me," Cilic said. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Josh Reddick homered and drove in four runs for the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Jed Lowrie had three hits, including a homer of his own. So when Eric Sogard went deep, who really cared? "There was no home run tunnel or anything," the light-hitting Sogard joked of a rather muted home run celebration that awaited him after rounding the bases during a 10-4 win over the Kansas City Royals. "They were probably surprised I hit one." Sogard went without a homer in 260 at-bats, since April 27, 2012. It was that kind of day for the Oakland offence, though. The As pounded out 15 hits, and everybody in the starting lineup except Chris Young had one against the Royals haphazard pitching. "We got some runs early," said Josh Donaldson, who had a pair of hits. "Then it seemed like every time they got a run our offence would answer right back." A.J. Griffin (7-6) rebounded from a miserable start against the Cubs to go five innings for the As. The only damage he allowed came on solo homers by George Kottaras and Alex Gordon. Jesse Chavez earned his first career save with four scoreless innings of relief. "Saved the bullpen, thats all I was trying to do," Chavez said. Luis Mendoza (2-5) allowed five runs in the second inning for the Royals, and was yanked to a round of boos after retiring just four batters. It was the right-handers shortest start in exactly five years -- since an outing on July 7, 2008, when he was still with Texas. "He fell behind early, which puts you in a defensive mode," Kottaras said. "Once he falls behind, hitters can look for a pitch in a certain zone and took advantage of it. It happens." Its happened twice in a row now: Mendoza gave up four runs on six hits and four walks in just four innings his last time out against Cleveland. He hasnt won since June 14 at Tampa Bay. "A rough outing really for our pitching staff today," Royals manager Ned Yost said. Mendozas struggles began with a single in the second by Yoenis Cespedes. John Jaso added a one-out walk and Reddicks line drive to left gave Oakland a 2-0 lead. Mendoza struck out Chris Young before another double by Sogard and back-to-back singles by Coco Crisp and Lowrie knocked him from the game. Chen came in from the buullpen and gave up another base hit to Josh Donaldson before finally getting out of the inning.dddddddddddd Kottaras got the home crowd energized with his homer in the second, but the As refused to let the Royals engineer another five-run comeback like they did Thursday against Cleveland. Jasos one-out single set the table for Reddick, who launched his fourth homer of the year. After a breakthrough year in which he hit 32 homers, Reddick had been scuffling until he got to Kansas City. He was hitting just .210 with three homers and 25 RBIs in his first 57 games, but found the expansive outfield off Kauffman Stadium to be to his liking. "Reddicks been swinging the bat really well here recently," As manager Bob Melvin said, "and thats the next step, to start driving the ball." Gordon, who missed the first game of the series after a scary collision with the outfield wall earlier in the week, validated his first All-Star nod a day earlier with his homer. His ninth of the season came with two outs in the fifth inning. Lowrie answered it with a solo shot of his own in the sixth. The Royals tried to rally again in the bottom half off As reliever Jerry Blevins. Mike Moustakas hit an RBI double and Miguel Tejada an RBI single in which he beat a throw to first with a head-first slide. Chavez ended the rally when he retired Eric Hosmer with the bases loaded. Sogards two-run homer in the seventh ended any thoughts of another Royals comeback. "Were in the middle of a tough stretch," Yost said. "It started here. Were 3-3 in this tough stretch. The Yankees are tough, a four-game series. And its going to be a tough three-game series in Cleveland. Weve got to continue to play good baseball if were going to be successful this next week. Were going to have to grind it out and try to find a way to win some ball games." NOTES: All-Star C Salvador Perez was held out of the Royals starting lineup. Yost said Perez has been playing through a soft tissue and bone bruise on his leg from a foul ball. ... Melvin said All-Star RHP Bartolo Colon will pitch next Sunday against Boston. That will make available another spot on Detroit manager Jim Leylands AL roster. ... Lowrie was back in the As starting lineup at SS after experience stiffness in his left calf. ' ' '