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By Hal McCoy, Staff Writer 12:27 AM Friday, June 5, 2009

General Manager Walt Jocketty said the Reds needed to wait to make the official announcement on who would pitch Saturday, June 6, “until the player was told.” But Matt Maloney would have to be dysfunctional and illiterate to not know he is the choice.

Anyway, the Reds made if official Thursday — the 25-year-old left-handed Maloney is starting Saturday against the Chicago Cubs in place of disabled Edinson Volquez.

Maloney, 4-3 with a 2.00 ERA at Class AAA Louisville, is the first left-hander to start for the Reds since Andy Pettyjohn started the last game of last season and only the second in the last 236 games.

The 6-4, 220-pounder was born in Sandusky, resides in Columbus, attended the University of Mississippi and was Philadelphia’s No. 3 draft pick in 2005, coming to the Reds on July 30, 2007 in a trade for pitcher Kyle Lohse.

His specialty is a wide-sweeping curveball that buckles the knees on left-handed hitters, and manager Dusty Baker said, “He not only has good breaking stuff, he has deception and late movement on his fastball. He has control and he is not afraid to throw the ball inside on right-handers, which is one of the toughest things to teach a left-handed pitcher. A lot of them don't like to try that because the ball tends to creep back over the heart of the plate.

“Most of the left-handers I didn't like facing were guys who could throw their fastballs inside,” Baker added.

Baker didn't put Maloney into the same category as Jerry Koosman and Frank Tanana, “left-handers who were nasty on everybody,” but he said Maloney appears to be trying to do what they did.

Maloney was International League player of the week the first week of May when he was 1-1 with a 0.64 ERA and in his last start Monday he pitched a complete-game three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the top affiliate of the New York Yankees.

Rehab for Edwin

Edwin Encarnacion is expected to start a minor-league rehab assignment this weekend when the Reds play a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs.

Encarnacion has taken three straight days of hitting against batting practice pitchers with no pain in his once-cracked left wrist that has kept him on the DL since April 28.

Encarnacion can rehab for 20 days, but his return depends upon his work with the bat and Baker continues to say there is no rush to bring back the third baseman.

“It’ll be close this weekend (to start rehab),” said Baker. “He has been doing a lot of work, fielding and throwing and running. Next is live action and live pitching with hopefully no setbacks.”

Of a timetable, Baker said, “Depends on how he does and I told him I’d rather have him over-ready than under-ready. We can’t afford it and his average was low when he left (.127). I’d like to see him come in hot and give us a jolt.”

Philosophical Phillips

Brandon Phillips hit .353 with seven homers and 29 RBIs in May and was on the ballot for NL player of the month. He lost to Arizona’s Justin Upton, who hit .373 with seven homers and 21 RBIs.

Phillips shrugged it off and said, “I didn’t even know I was up for it, but thanks for telling me. I don’t get concerned over things I can’t control and I can’t control the voting.”

Phillips, by the way, accomplished a rarity Wednesday when he had three hits, a home run, three RBIs, three runs scored and two stolen bases. Only two Reds players in history reached those five statistical plateaus in one game — George Foster in 1976 and Gary Redus in 1983.

Quote of the day

“When Kirk Rueter shut out my Giants in his major-league debut in 1993 I told writers, ‘Anybody can come up and pitch one good game. Let’s see where he is in five years.’ You know where he was in five years? Pitching for me on the Giants.” — Baker, talking about Kirk Rueter, an office visitor before Thursday’s game.

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Dickerson is the best center fielder on this roster: Best arm/best speed/best range.In fact, he is the best outfielder, period. Hitting will only improve. It's official: Last night his diving catch was voted #1 for ESPN's greatest plays of the day! Ignorant people-go away

wizard
10:26 AM, 6/6/2009

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This fifty-something fan likes the idea of a guy named Maloney in the Reds rotation. If he is half the pitcher of righty Jim Maloney, the team has improved.

JRed
9:15 PM, 6/5/2009

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