CINCINNATI — Ryan Freel came to the ball park Tuesday expecting to see Josh Hamilton's name on the lineup card — and he was correct. What Freel didn't expect was to see his name on the card, too, playing third base.

"I get to play, that's the thing, even though it's been little less than a year since I played the infield," said Freel. "But I've taken ground balls the last four or five days. I was reading between the lines on what is going on, having to have Hamilton in the lineup. Nobody told me I was going to the infield, I just wanted to be ready.

"It might be nerve-wracking because I haven't played there in so long, but I felt good taking ground balls during batting practice," he added.

Freel read his manager perfectly.

"This gives us a chance to keep Freel in the lineup, move him around, and gets Hamilton in the lineup with two other left-handed-hitting outfielders (Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn)," said manager Jerry Narron. "We can play Freel at third and second to give Edward Encarnacion and Brandon Phillips some rest and keep Freel on the field and keep guys rested."

Narron isn't Josh-ing

Narron's latest take on Hamilton: "Anybody who saw Josh walk into the clubhouse from Day One knows that he has a chance to be a very good baseball player. Josh has a chance to be a difference-maker here. He is a guy with all the tools and there are very few like him in the game, ability-wise.

"A good thing is he can play all three outfield spots," Narron added. "At the plate, the power is there and he is just scratching the surface of what he can do because he doesn't use his bottom-half as much as most power-hitters. He is still learning and has a long way to go at this level, believe it or not — he has hardly played and he has three home runs and he is right behind Adam Dunn in RBIs (8-7)."

Just a rest

Eddie Encarnacion's Night Off was in no way related to poor play, despite his 1-for-23 slide, nor for defensive deficiencies (one error this year).

"Eddie is going to hit," said Narron. "This is a day for him to sit and watch and it gives us a threat off the bench. I've been pleased the way he has played defense. He has made tremendous strides this year defensively."

Gonzalez returns

Shortstop Alex Gonzalez, on leave the last four games to attend to his ailing infant son, returned and was in Tuesday's lineup. His son requires surgery, but Narron said the surgeon/specialist is from Cincinnati and the procedure may be done here this week.

"It's nice for him to get back on the field," said Narron. "They have some surgery plans and it is going to be difficult. We're going to support him with whatever decisions he makes for his family (about missing more time)."

The new Dunn

Security guard Bill Doran Sr. stands in front of the Reds dugout watching batting practice and if the name is familiar it is because Doran is the father to former Reds infielder Bill Doran.

"I've watched Adam Dunn take batting practice for four years and the last three all I saw was him playing Home Run Derby, trying to hit every ball into the Ohio River," said Doran. "This year I see a different swing and I see line drive after line drive. And he seems to be enjoying doing it."

Some friend, huh?

Chad Moeller played his previous three seasons with Milwaukee and he thought outfielder Bill Hall was his friend — until the eighth inning Monday when he lined a ball to center field.

"'C'mon, Billy, don't catch that, don't catch that," he said. Billy caught it. "Man, there were already up a bunch of runs and he didn't need to make a diving catch. But I guess we all have jobs to do."

Coffey got creamed

A day after hitting two batters in one inning and giving up a grand slam home run to Hall, pitcher Todd Coffey said, "I've never hit two batters in one inning in my life and the pitch I hit Prince Fielder with might have been a strike. He leans over the plate. Yes, that inning was a funk, the worst. On the bright side, though, I threw three excellent splitters."

Quote of the day

"I'd like to be the first to go on record as saying Todd Coffey is the worst card player and worst Dominos player in the world, the whole world."

Who said that? Ask Coffey and his first reply was Ken Griffey Jr. Wrong. But he got it on the second try when he said, "Had to be Kyle Lohse."