By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

The Reds needed to make a roster move before Sunday's game to open a spot for starting pitcher Luke Hudson.

They had until 1:15 p.m. They used almost every minute of it.

The Reds announced at 12:40 that Tim Hummel had been optioned to Triple-A Louisville.

That might have been the third option.

The Reds considered putting Barry Larkin (strained oblique muscle) or John Vander Wal (sore knee) on the disabled list.

Larkin, in fact, went out and took a dozen groundballs to show he could play in the field.

Larkin clearly wasn't happy about what looked like a tryout.

"It felt all right," he said. "I'm not 100 percent, but I can definitely do what I have to do."

Did he think it was enough to please the brass?

"I don't know what they're thinking," he said. "I guess pinch hitting isn't enough. I'm not going there."

Larkin's injury hampers him most in the field. He originally suffered the injury July 24. Over the next 13 games, he did not play in the field. He was used as a pinch hitter three times in that span. He returned to the lineup Tuesday against Los Angeles. He started Wednesday but has been out of the lineup after tweaking the injury.

Vander Wal had offseason knee surgery and did not join the Reds until July 11. He aggravated the knee Tuesday and has pinch hit twice since.

Hummel has been on the bubble since he was promoted May 9 to take Brandon Larson's spot on the roster. Hummel has struggled at the plate, going 0-for-his-last-11 and 3-for-his-last-42.

KEARNS REHAB: Austin Kearns had to wait for the roster decision to be made to get clearance from the front office to resume his rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville.

Kearns drove to Toledo, where the Bats had a 6:15 p.m. game against the Mud Hens.

Kearns is coming back after thumb surgery. He had to shut down his rehab last week when he developed a blood blister under the scar. Kearns took batting practice Sunday morning.

"It feels good when I hit it good," Kearns said. "If I get jammed or hit it off the end, it rattles it a little bit. That's something I'm going to have to deal with all year."

The original plan was for Kearns to get 50 at-bats at Louisville. The Collective Bargaining Agreement limits rehab assignments for position players to 20 days. So Kearns must come off rehab by Aug. 22.

FEELING LOW: Paul Wilson does not like life on the disabled list.

"I've been depressed all day," Wilson said.

Wilson was placed on the DL Saturday with a sore back. He'll get a cortisone shot today.

Wilson expects to be ready Aug. 29 - the day he's eligible to come off the DL. Wilson first began having problems in his Aug. 7 start in Colorado.

"I felt like I had to try to go out there and pitch through it," Wilson said.

It obviously affected his pitching. He allowed 14 runs in 6 2/3 innings over his last two starts.

DOUBLE DEBUTS: Two of the pitchers acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in the Cory Lidle trade made their Reds debuts Saturday.

Right-hander Elizardo Ramirez allowed four runs on eight hits over five innings in Double-A Chattanooga's 7-4 win over Greenville.

Left-hander Joe Wilson allowed three runs on four hits in five innings in Single-A Dayton's 3-1 loss to West Michigan.

REDS FACT: Luke Hudson became the 12th different pitcher to start a game this season. In 2003, the team used a club-record 17 starters.

Reds statistics

(Through Sunday's game)

BATTERS	AVG	OBA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	E
Casey	.341	.396	405	77	138	38	2	18	73	34	24	1	0	6
Larkin	.308	.358	302	54	93	15	3	7	41	25	34	2	0	4
Freel	.281	.382	366	47	103	13	5	1	21	51	63	22	8	12
Dunn	.279	.406	408	80	114	22	0	36	75	82	138	4	1	5
Lopez	.267	.333	101	16	27	9	0	4	13	10	28	0	0	8
Pena	.263	.316	270	35	71	8	1	21	56	17	86	3	1	6
Jimenez	.263	.359	411	52	108	18	2	7	44	61	70	9	6	6
Griffey	.253	.351	300	49	76	18	0	20	60	44	67	1	0	1
LaRue	.245	.328	294	37	72	15	1	13	41	21	80	0	2	8
Castro	.243	.274	226	25	55	17	1	2	16	10	37	0	0	6
Cruz	.235	.313	115	18	27	5	0	3	22	10	33	0	0	0
Valentin	.219	.268	151	15	33	7	1	5	16	10	26	0	0	4
Hummel	.218	.281	110	10	24	4	0	1	7	8	17	1	0	4
Larson	.212	.304	118	13	25	6	0	3	14	14	35	1	0	5
Bragg	.211	.250	19	4	4	1	0	1	1	3	5	0	0	0
Vander Wal	.162	.184	37	2	6	2	0	2	4	1	14	0	0	0
Romano	.154	.214	26	3	4	0	0	1	3	2	10	0	0	0
Team Totals	.255	.336	3989	556	1019	206	17	148	529	435	921	46	19	80

PITCHERS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Graves	1	4	3.15	59	0	36	60.0	61	26	21	11	8	36
Norton	1	3	4.35	52	0	0	51.2	52	29	25	4	25	35
Riedling	4	3	4.37	53	0	0	59.2	63	37	29	5	32	32
Harang	7	4	4.49	19	19	0	108.1	120	55	54	11	39	87
Wilson	9	4	4.54	23	23	0	142.2	157	76	72	22	51	92
Wagner	2	1	5.67	33	0	0	33.1	44	25	21	4	20	21
Van Poppel	3	5	5.92	30	10	0	92.2	106	61	61	16	18	60
Acevedo	5	10	6.36	25	23	0	127.1	154	92	90	24	40	98
Claussen	1	3	6.93	5	5	0	24.2	26	22	19	5	15	13
White	1	1	7.00	25	0	0	27.0	28	21	21	11	4	22
Hancock	2	1	8.04	8	3	0	15.2	23	16	14	6	7	10
Hudson	0	1	8.44	1	1	0	5.1	8	6	5	0	1	3
Matthews	2	1	8.84	22	0	0	18.1	23	19	18	6	10	8
Valentine	0	1	9.95	3	1	0	6.1	7	7	7	2	7	4
Team Totals	56	61	5.33	117	117	37	1040.2	1169	666	616	167	388	696