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By Hal McCoy, Staff Writer Updated 1:33 AM Thursday, May 28, 2009

CINCINNATI — The white protective tarpaulin is getting more time on the field than the Cincinnati Reds these days, especially when they want to practice. And in the case of Brandon Phillips and Edwin Encarnacion Wednesday, the presence of the tarp was irksome.

Phillips was going to take batting practice and field ground balls to see if he is able to play Friday while recovering from a hairline fracture of the right thumb. Encarnacion was supposed to field ground balls for the first time to test the recovery of his cracked right wrist.

Phillips was able to take some private ground balls from coach Billy Hatcher around 2:30 and fielded flawlessly and didn't appear to wince on any plays.

Encarnacion was all smiles early Wednesday, before the rain, as he stood in the clubhouse with a black baseball glove on his hand and said, "This is only the second time I've had a glove on my hand since I hurt my wrist (April 27)," he said.

The other time was Tuesday when he and Phillips played catch in front of the Reds dugout and were a bit rambunctious, playing burnout. After each throw, they took a step closer to each other and threw harder and harder, trying to make each other quit. Encarnacion is hitting soft toss in a cage and is going to take live batting practice Friday in Milwaukee.

Of Phillips, manager Dusty Baker said, "Brandon threw good (Tuesday) and has been running a lot. We'll analyze him and hopefully he can play Friday. We'll see."

Hernandez sits

Catcher Ramon Hernandez was not in Wednesday's lineup, a scheduled day off.

"I think he needs it," said Baker. "He's beat up pretty good. He has played more than we wanted, but he has been so hot it's hard to take him out." As Baker pointed out, today is an off day and Friday is a night game, "So it is almost like giving him three days off."

Hernandez is hitting .294 and in his last 11 games is hitting .326. He started 30 of the first 45 games and eight more at first base during Joey Votto's absences.

Volquez: 78 or 87?

Depending upon who you believe, pitcher Edinson Volquez threw either 78 or 87 pitches in a bjullpen session Wednesday, preparatory to coming off the DL to pitch Monday in St. Louis.

Said Volquez, "I threw 78 pitches with no pain. I feel good and I'm ready to pitch right now. It was like a full game for me today, except I didn't stop like it was between innings. I just threw like crazy."

Baker said pitching coach Dick Pole monitored the workout and counted pitches, "And he threw 87, with good velocity and control. He'll pitch Monday in St. Louis."

When told that Volquez said he threw 78 pitches, Baker said, "He must have been counting in Spanish."

Volquez has been on the DL with back spasms since May 22 and said, "I'm not only tired of the DL, the DL is making me tired — swimming for 30 minutes every day and doing lots of weight work. I'm tired of that, man."

A Nix Night

Laynce Nix is justifiably proud that he and his brother, Jayson Nix, hit home runs on the same day — Laynce one for the Reds and Jayson two for the Chicago White Sox Tuesday. It has only been done about a dozen times in baseball history.

"He outdid me," said Laynce. "He hit two. I don't get excited about too much," he said. "I always text my mom and dad back in California every night and ask them how Jayson did. When they texted me back and told me he homered twice, that was pretty exciting. I called him, but he was eating dinner with friends, so I didn't get to talk to him much."

Quote of the day

"I've seen more tarps on the field lately than I've seen ballplayers." — Former Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky, now scouting for the Baltimore Orioles and watching from the Great American Ball Park pressbox as it rained.

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