Notes: Arroyo, Belisle, Claussen, Guardado, etc.

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REDS NOTES

Arroyo still chasing No. 10
By Hal McCoy

Staff Writer

CINCINNATI | When Bronson Arroyo faces the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, seeking his 10th victory for the 10th time, expect his long blond hair to be in corn rows and the Bo Derek look will be no accident.

Why?

'10,' as in Bo Derek. He is trying for the 10th time for his 10th victory so he is going back to his days in Boston.

"Our trainer (Chris Correnti) had a name for each victory," said Arroyo.

"Number 10 was Bo Derek because of the movie 10. I was stuck on nine there, too, so Chris said, 'You can't find Bo unless you look like Bo,' so I put my hair in corn rows and I won. I've gotta do it again, got to. I have to find somebody good to do it, though."

See you in September

Pitcher Matt Belisle walked past and catcher Javier Valentin said, "When are you going to pitch again, Sept. 1?"

Belisle smiled and said, "It looks that way, and I'm not kidding."

Valentin said as an aside, "Hey, we're winning. You have to have fun."

For Belisle it isn't fun. He starts his second rehab stint today for Class AAA Louisville, and the Reds can keep him there 30 days. That would mean the Reds could wait until Sept. 1 for his recall, when the team can expand its roster to as many as 40 players without removing somebody to make room for Belisle.

Speaking of rehabs, Brandon Claussen's rehab expires today, and the team must do something with him by Tuesday. On Saturday, Claussen pitched for Louisville in Toledo and gave up six runs and nine hits in five and two thirds innings, throwing 100 pitches.

Now what?

"We'll see what his health is (today) and go from there," said manager Jerry Narron. Asked if Claussen could pitch in long relief, Narron said, "I know he's never made a relief appearance in his professional life."

Freel is reeling

Ryan Freel was given a second straight day off to rest his list of aches, pains and injuries that would fill a medical chart: sore nose with a cut on it, sore knee, sore shoulder, sore hamstring tendon.

"I feel like I ran into a wall — wait, I did run into a wall, twice," said Freel. He injured his nose sliding into L.A. shortstop Rafael Furcal's knee Thursday, said he did no damage sliding across the dirt to make a catch in foul territory Friday, sliding into the wall, and ran full-flush into the right field wall later in the game.

"After four years, there still is no give in that wall," he said. "I didn't hurt myself on the sliding catch. Running into the wall? Now that hurt."

Freel is confident he'll be in the lineup tonight against St. Louis, if he stayed away from clubhouse and dugout walks Sunday.

Remember, he's kidding

Atlanta's Marcus Giles was asked how he was able to constantly beat up on the Reds and he said with a smile, "Corked bat, steroids and I bet on games. I'm kidding, I'm kidding and I'm kidding."

Eddie is unsteady

The first time Eddie Guardado was unable to pitch due to a stiff forearm, he took a cortisone shot and was quickly back in action as the team's closer. But on Saturday, the forearm acted up again and he was unable to perform in a closing situation.

Both Guardado and manager Jerry Narron said the forearm is something that will be closely monitored the rest of the season.

"I can deal with pain and tightness because I've done it my whole career," he said. "But this isn't pain. It hurts. It was OK coming out of the bullpen (Friday), but on the first four pitches I said to myself, 'Oh, oh, here it is again.' I was very, very lucky to get out of that (bases loaded and no outs) situation.

"Whatever there is to do to make it better, you name it, I've done it the last two days and right now it feels great (Sunday)," he added. "I want to be out there as much as anybody. We're fighting for something. You want to be out there. That's my job. I've gone out there and pitched in pain, but these guys have something on the line and I don't want to mess it up."

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[redsmetz]

Bronson can dress like Tallulah Bankhead for all I care as long as he gets over the 10th win hump (and more!).