Baker and Phillips

We’ll never know exactly what Dusty Baker told Brandon Phillips about not taking on a 3-0 count when ordered. But we know it’s been handled.

“It’s the first time it’s happened to me since I’ve been managing and it’s the last time it’s going to happen,” Baker said on Sunday morning. “Simple. End of subject.”

Baker wouldn’t say but it’s likely Phillips was fined for the incident. He liked the desire, just not the execution.

“You wish everybody thought like that,” Baker said. “The thought process wasn’t wrong. You want everybody to think like that. I thought like that. If you’ve ever been in the military, you still have to follow orders. That’s what it boils down to. You don’t want to take that thought and desire away.”

Reds lineup:

Dickerson 8
Gonzalez 6
Phillips 4
Nix 7
Gomes DH
Bruce 9
Hernandez 3
Hanigan 2
Hairston 5
Cueto 1

Willy Taveras and his 0-for-32 skid were given the day off.

“I’m just going to work with him today, personally. When they’re on the field, I’ll be with him going over a few things,” Baker said. “It’s just a little different voice, probably saying the same thing.

“When we got Willy, everybody knew we got an unrefined product. Willy has a lot there. Just let us do our job to help refine him and make him better. If he wasn’t unrefined, then he wouldn’t have been in a lot of places in a short period of time.”