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Reds' Phillips says Tribe tried to change his game

Cincinnati Reds' Brandon Phillips dives into third with a triple in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Tuesday, May 19, 2009, in Cincinnati. Phillips will play against his former team, the Indians, starting tonight, May 22.

AP Photo/Al Behrman Cincinnati Reds' Brandon Phillips dives into third with a triple in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Tuesday, May 19, 2009, in Cincinnati. Phillips will play against his former team, the Indians, starting tonight, May 22.

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By Hal McCoy, Staff Writer Updated 2:27 AM Friday, May 22, 2009

CINCINNATI — Brandon Phillips doesn't think Cleveland Rocks and figures his time there was his own Mistake By the Lake.

"I have no beef no more with the Cleveland Indians. I'm done with that. As long as we beat their butts, that's all I care about." he said.

No beef, but lots of words about his old team that opens a three-game interleague series against the Cincinnati Reds tonight in Great American Ball Park.

Phillips basically said he wasted more than two years of his professional life in the Indians organization because they wouldn't let him be himself. They told him to wipe that smile off his face and get serious.

Phillips was traded by the Indians to the Reds for what amount to a couple of bags of donuts on April 7, 2006 and he considered it Liberation Day.

"It was an honor and a blessing for me when the general manager (Wayne Krivsky) and the manager (Jerry Narron) brought me into the office and told me, 'You come here and play the game the best way you know how and if it doesn't work your way, then we'll sit you down and talk about how we want you to play,'" said Phillips. "They were telling me, 'Just be yourself.'"

Phillips said that didn't happen in Cleveland and it led to him hitting .208 in 2003 and burial in the minors.

"I'll take the blame," he said. "Those are my numbers, I did it. But the way they wanted me to hit was not my way."

So in the spring of 2006, Phillips rebelled and went back to his way and it got him what he wanted — a trade to Cincinnati.

"I feel like I'm home," he said. "The fans are beautiful, how they opened their arms to me.

"Cleveland wouldn't let me be myself, wouldn't let me be me," he said. "When somebody takes the joy away from the game by wanting you to be a certain way and play a certain way, that's kind of hard for a player to perform. When I was with Montreal (before his trade to Cleveland), nobody said anything to me and I got the job as a No. 1 prospect. That's why the Indians wanted me."

He said Cleveland manager Joel Skinner told him to be himself and play the way he always played, "But they got a new manager in 2003 (Eric Wedge) and I was put on standby. I had to be a totally different person. I couldn't do that."

Then the trade happened.

"I'm glad all that happened and I've matured a lot," he said. "All it did was make me stronger. What they did to me was like the New York Mets going up to Jose Reyes and saying, 'Hey, you can't smile and you can't play the way you play.' There's no chance Reyes could do that.

"And it's like Hanley Ramirez," Phillips added. "How do you take the fun of the game away from him. He is one of the best players in the game and you see him laughing and playing around."

The Reds never said a word about change and Phillips appreciates that.

"I can do it my way as a Red and I can go out of this game and just say, 'I did it my way,' instead of going out and saying, 'I did it somebody else's way and not my way.' So, I'm just here being me."

Frank Sinatra couldn't have said it better.

Contact this reporter at hmccoy@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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BP is an exceptional player. No one can take that away from him but ANY conversation about his time in Cleveland is always from BP. There are only two players that have left the Indians organization and speak about it like BP does, Brandon Phillips and Milton Bradley. Enough said.

chuck
11:35 AM, 5/22/2009

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Brandon Phillips is a Joe Morgan type player
and Morgan hit third. With two outs he gets on
and Votto and Bruce get fastballs. I think those
two can hit left handers as well as right handers. The Phillies have four leftys in a row.

Steve F
11:05 AM, 5/22/2009

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Phillips is now fourth in the league, that's right the league in RBI. He is just six behind Ibanez, the league leader. He has more RBI in May than anyone in the league.....Where are all the Dusty haters that questioned batting Brandon in the four hole? Paul Daugherty, anyone? Let this be a lesson to the couch potato managers. A slow start does not mean a decision is wrong. Dusty knows his personel better than the bloggsters here.

Colgar
10:15 AM, 5/22/2009

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Come on....BP is one of the best team player guys in the league. All he cares about is his team winning. Try tuning into Fox Sports Ohio and actually watching a game, having never seen the guy play is the only explanation for comparing him to Chad Johnson. The article was about what he, PERSONALLY thought about his old team. He said the word "me" when directly asked a question, shocking!

max venable
9:09 AM, 5/22/2009

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BP is my favorite player, however he might want to turn some of the "me" into "we". I know this article/blog/story is about him so we're going to get a lot of "me", however if you look at what the O-Dog is doing in LA he could possibly overshadow BP again.

Scott
7:53 AM, 5/22/2009

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