It was the first of a few times he would again make his presence felt with his old ball club.

Some 90 minutes before Wednesday’s game with the Philadelphia Phillies, Joey Votto – who had been sitting in his designated corner of what up to then had been a quiet Cincinnati Reds clubhouse – got up, walked to the ipod boombox near the middle of the room and turned on some music – loud.

“Is there a Votto sighting?” needled left fielder Ryan Ludwick as he looked up from his dressing quarters. “Joey, are you back?”

Votto answered that question quite emphatically as soon as the game began.

Playing his first contest with the Reds in 51 days (an exile that included two arthroscopic surgeries to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee that he initially suffered in late June and continued to play on for seven more games), Votto had wondered aloud how he would be received by Reds fans when he finally took the field again.

The star of the team, the 2010 National League MVP who signed a 10-year, $225 million contract extension at the start of this season, Votto watched as the Reds went 33-12 in his absence and padded a one-game lead in the National League Central to as many as 9 1/2.

Although the Reds have emerged as one of the best teams in baseball, everyone was waiting for Votto’s return, a point that was obvious Wednesday when the crowd of 19,267 gave him a rousing ovation as he took the field and an even bigger embrace – many people standing and applauding – when he came to bat in the bottom of the first inning.

“I was very humbled by it, just very appreciative,” Votto said. “The day exceeded my expectations.”

And the salutes were well earned. In that first at bat, he slapped the third pitch from Phillies ace Roy Halladay into left field for a single. After walking in the fourth, he got another hit off Halladay in the sixth.

“Joey just picked up where he left off,” Reds right fielder Jay Bruce said. “He did what you’re accustomed to him doing. He looked great to me.”

Bruce looked pretty good himself, hitting his 32nd home run – and fourth in four games – to go along with two doubles.

Unfortunately for the Reds the highlights ended there. For the second time in just over two weeks the Phillies shellacked starter Mike Leake, who lasted 2 1/3 innings and gave up all six runs in a 6-2 loss.

Although Leake has become a question mark as the Reds position themselves for the postseason, that’s just part of the typical ebb and flow of a season. The flip side is the return of Votto, who a week ago was playing rehab games in Dayton.

“He looked pretty good to me,” said manager Dusty Baker. “I was gonna take him out in the seventh but he said he was feeling OK — he even slid. I didn’t anticipate him sliding on that double play, but he’s a ballplayer and he’s gonna play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

As for facing Halladay in his first game back, Votto shook his head and said with a tongue- in-cheek look to the heavens: “Thank you baseball gods.”

But he had to admit he fared “better than expected” against the two-time Cy Young winner.

Votto said he’s still holding back on his swing a little. He said he was a little apprehensive on his slide toward second base to break up a double play but said his knee “held up pretty well” until “(Antonio) Bastardo buckled it in my last at-bat.”

He was referring to a nasty curveball on a 3-2 count that froze him for a called third strike.

That was the only glitch for him in a performance that stirred his teammates just as it did the fans.

“When he got that (first) hit I went to tell someone how unbelievable it was,” Bruce said. “But actually, it’s not unbelievable at all. It’s what he does. It was just Joey being Joey – again.”