Congratulations to Ryan Parker, who will be performing everyone's favorite song “This One Belongs to the Reds” at the Hall of Fame Induction Banquet on July 16.

You may remember this song from my third podcast where it played at the very end. You can find the song, along with his new one “Cincinnati is a Baseball Town,” at http://www.ryanparkersongs.com.

Again with the old news, but I'm getting closer to up-to-date all the time. Per Marc, Cody Ross was activated from the disabled list yesterday. To make room, the Reds optioned Mike Burns back to Louisville.

Cody Ross' eternal rehab assignment is over. He was activated from the DL today and Mike Burns was optioned back to Louisville.

Guess it is a bit intriguing that they're going down to 11 pitchers, but that might only last a couple of days, pending Mercker's expected return Friday.

Yep, there's not much more to say than that. Except that I'm looking forward to Mercker's return.

You'll be relieved to know that Tiny Casey has been found. That dastardly Blade took him.

Should we censure Blade somehow, or is being eternally trapped in 1976 punishment enough?