DaytonDailyNews.com

CHICAGO — Reds manager Jerry Narron promises to find ways to get/keep Josh Hamilton in the Cincinnati lineup. Let him count another way, other than alternating the four outfielders.

Ryan Freel was spotted Friday taking ground balls at third base.

"Orders from headquarters," he said.

On Saturday, Narron confirmed that Freel could play some third base, leaving center field open for Hamilton.

"How about that for your notes?" Narron said. "Freel might go to third base some times. It's a good possibility because if something happens to Eddie (third baseman Encarnacion) or Brandon (second baseman Phillips), Freel would go to one of those two spots and Josh would play a lot in center field. I hope nothing happens, but at some point something is going to happen somewhere and Hamilton will play every day. That's just the way it is."

Of Hamilton's startling start, Narron said, "It isn't going to be as easy as it looks so far. The thing I see is a player just scratching the surface of what he can be. Just like the home run he hit to left field in Arizona. He didn't even use the bottom half of his body and hit the ball out of the park the opposite way. When he gets a lot of game time and a lot of at-bats, he has a chance to really be something.

"If he makes the adjustments and makes any improvement at all, he has a chance to be one of the best players in the game because the ability is there," Narron added. I'm not blowing smoke here, it's there."

Shaking it off

Reds pitcher Jon Coutlangus laughed off his beer shower Friday when teammates thought he won his first major-league game. The official scorer awarded the win to Todd Coffey, and Coutlangus agreed.

"Coffey deserved it," he said. "I only pitched one inning while he pitched two good innings."

Coutlangus pitched a perfect fifth inning, with a strikeout, after the Cubs whacked starter Aaron Harang for five runs and nine hits in four innings.

It is quite the metamorphosis for Coutlangus, who signed with the San Francisco Giants in 2003 as an outfielder out of the University of South Carolina.

"They saw my arm strength, and I was left-handed, so it was an easy decision to change to pitching," he said. "They thought I'd struggle with the bat my first year and I'd make the switch. But I hit .300 (.301 at Class A Salem-Keizer), so they kept me in the outfield. Then I did struggle the next year (.194) and I went to a coach and said, 'I'd like to take the other course of action (pitching),' and that's what we did."

Narron was impressed.

"He threw strikes," he said. "Pretty impressive. He is deceptive, and guys don't pick up the ball on him. It looks quicker than the radar gun says because of movement and deception."

Gonzalez back Monday?

Reds shortstop Alex Gonzalez remains in Miami with his hospitalized infant son, Johan, and Narron said, "I haven't heard anything specifically, but he is hoping to come back Monday. It is going to be day-to-day, and he's hoping and we're hoping."

Teammates Juan Castro, Javier Valentin and Ken Griffey Jr. have tried to contact Gonzalez without success.

Lou's mini-explosion

The Chicago media made a major issue of manager Lou Piniella raising his voice in a postgame interview session, when he said loudly in answer to a question, "What the hell do you think isn't working for us? You saws the damn game."

When Piniella managed in Cincinnati (1990-92), that wouldn't have merited a paragraph, not after the media saw him throw bases, kick dirt on home plate and wrestle his closer, Rob Dibble.

Even Griffey, who played for Piniella in Seattle, thought his mini-explosion was a misdemeanor.

"I was sitting in the clubhouse when I heard him yell on the TV and I thought, 'Hey, that's Lou,'" said Griffey. "But that was minor. They haven't seen The Best of Lou. It's going to be interesting here in Chicago."

Quote of the day

Are NASCAR drivers athletes? Reds first baseman Scott Hatteberg would like drivers to be more, uh, active.

"I'd like to see the drivers jump out of their cars and change their tires right where they go flat and pump their own gas into the tank. Now that would be exciting," he said.