Reds reliever Scott Sullivan is again available for duty, after a couple of games off following a cortisone shot Sunday in the rotator cuff of his throwing shoulder. He had some tendinitis.

        “I could tell the shot hit the spot,” Sullivan said. “It soothed the pain and alleviated the weakness. They pushed on my arm and I had to resist (the application of isometric pressure), and I was able to. Before the shot, I couldn't.”

        TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Reds players pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book Wednesday in the pregame clubhouse, but they jazzed it up a bit.

        Instead of asking a young clubhouse visitor to “go find the keys to the batter's box,” they changed “batter's box” to “batting cage.” They also asked him to find the “bullets for the radar gun” and the “bucket of curveballs.” The kid swallowed the bait whole.

        The players ran him ragged, and everybody got in on it. At the heart of the goading were shortstop Barry Larkin and outfielder Ken Griffey Jr.

        THAT SMARTS: Griffey also made sure outfielders Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns knew what Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman had said about them and first baseman Sean Casey during the ninth inning of Tuesday's 6-1 loss to the D'backs, in which a series of base-running gaffes short-circuited a rally.

        “(Brennaman) said, "There ain't no Phi Beta Kappas on the bases tonight,”' Griffey told the youngsters. “Now that's funny.”

        Dunn, it turns out, had been given the green light to steal second base, because all indications were the D'backs were conceding the base. But a casual throw-over caught him leaning toward second, and he was picked off.

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