Press release from FOX Sports Ohio:

The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame & Museum has an exciting weekend planned in celebration of the Reds Hall of Fame Class of 2012: Sean Casey, Dan Driessen and the late John Reilly.

The official induction of Casey, Driessen, and Reilly into the Reds Hall of Fame will take place at Great American Ball Park before the 4pm Cincinnati Reds – Minnesota Twins game this Saturday, June 23rd.

FOX Sports Ohio will feature a special hour-long Reds Live pregame show starting at 3pm to cover the pregame celebration and on-field ceremonies. Marty Brennaman will be the master of ceremonies on field, and Casey and Driessen will address the ballpark crowd.

Click here for an entire schedule of the Reds Hall of Fame weekend.

Boxscore

Before Cleveland, the Reds were on a 6-game winning streak. After Cleveland, they own a 3-game losing streak. The latest in the string of putrescence was last night’s 1-8 loss.

Bronson Arroyo started for the Reds and managed to get himself out of trouble every inning until the 4th, when his start ended. In 4.0 innings, Arroyo allowed 5 runs (earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks.

Alfredo Simon’s line doesn’t look too much better. In the next 2.2 innings, he allowed 3 runs (0 earned) on 3 hits and 2 walks. That’s not really fair, though, since the Indians benefited from having a runner called safe at second who was out by 5 feet. It would have been the third out, so I like to think the reason Simon’s runs are unearned are because of an error on the umpire.

J.J. Hoover and Logan Ondrusek put in 0.1 and 1.0 innings of hitless pitching apiece, but it wasn’t really relevant at that point.

It was a dreary day one the offensive side as well. No one had more than one hit and not a single guy walked. The lone RBI for the Reds belongs to Willy Harris, filling in the traditional role of DH: every AL team uses their worst hitter for that position, right?

The loss brings the Reds’ record to 38-30. They are now leading the NLC by only 2.5 games. The Reds have yet another day off today before playing host to the Minnesota Twins on Friday. Nick Blackburn (3-4, 7.48 ERA) leads the charge for the Twins against Homer Bailey (5-4, 4.03 ERA) for the Reds.

MLB columnist Anthony Castrovince has an article today on Scott Rolen. It reads almost like a eulogy to a career that isn’t actually dead yet, but it highlights a lot of what makes Rolen so awesome:

• He’s down-to-earth – “I have a job, you know,” he said. “That’s the short answer, I guess. Having four surgeries and rehab, I don’t like any of that. But I wasn’t given a choice, necessarily. That’s kind of where I am and what I’m doing. We’re free to feel sorry for ourselves, and I do. But I have a job. I play baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, and I take it very seriously. I have a responsibility, an accountability to get myself in physical and mental shape and go to work.”
• He’s in touch with reality – “I’m 100 percent of whatever I’ve got,” Rolen said with a laugh. “That’s about it. I don’t know what that equates to [relative to] the rest of the league.”
• He knows there’s more to life than baseball – “I feel like I’m more valuable,” he said, “than just where my locker space is.”

In my opinion, Scott Rolen has been a rare example of a “veteran presence” actually making a difference on a ball team. Especially when he first came around, the Reds were fielding a lot of young guys with more talent on the field than sense about how to comport themselves. I suspect he played a big part in shaping the grown-up team you see today. I think the Reds can’t really give Joey Votto the captain’s C while Rolen is still on the roster.

I don’t want to add to the eulogy of Rolen’s career, but I do think his best contributions have already been made. And they’ve been really important ones. I hope that the rest of his last contract year with the team is kind to the guy, and lets him go out on top like the class act that he is.