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?

By now I'm sure you've seen the Reds'-related On the DL entry.

I'm not prepared to judge the veracity of the accusation, and I don't really have anything to add to the discussion. I'm just taking this opportunity to post this photo of Graves' wife and kids.

When I saw this back on Mother's Day last year, I thought she was too pretty for him.

CINCINNATI, OH -- Last night the Reds pulled a hoax on starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo to help him gain confidence in his own abilities.

The Reds have carried three catchers this year, at least in part because of Arroyo's preference for David Ross. With the hot start that Ross has had, the Reds have had many sweet offers for him, but have been reticent to deal him lest Arroyo implode.

“We needed to make him understand that it was him providing the quality starts,” explained manager Jerry Narron. “It didn't matter who he was pitching to.”

So, at Great American Ball Park he secretly replaced catcher David Ross with Jason LaRue to see if Arroyo could tell the difference. The result: seven innings of one-run baseball.

“I guess I had it in me all the time,” said Arroyo. “No matter who my catcher is.”

Are there plans to cut off that insipid hair while he sleeps?

“Not saying,” said Narron, hiding a blond wig behind his back.