DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — Catcher Ryan Hanigan is one of those feel good stories that

surface in September when teams expand their rosters, one of those players for whom manager Pete Mackanin unabashedly says, "I like to hear this type of thing."

Hanigan's thing is that he wasn't drafted. He was signed out of the Cape Cod League, a summer college league because he wasn't playing his natural position at Rollins College.

"I was a year behind a pretty good catcher, Kevin Davidson, who was drafted by the Houston Astros," said Hanigan. "I only got to catch in summer leagues."

And that's where Reds scout Leland Maddox spotted him in August, 2002, and signed him as a free agent. He played six games that year for the Class A Dayton Dragons, then returned in 2003 to play 92 games.

In 2004, the 26-year-old Washington, D.C. native hit .321 for Class AA Chattanooga and has since split time between Chattanooga and Class AAA Louisville.

Finally, he is getting a big-league opportunity, although he knows he is No. 3 on the depth chart.

Asked if Hanigan will play any, Mackanin said, "I'll say yeah. Everybody deserve to get a chance to play."

Said Hanigan, "I had a good season at Chattanooga (.299 in 60 games) and was promoted to Louisville, but I was surprised by this. This will be great to get experience and a feel for the game up here. I can't wait to play, whenever the opportunity arises. My role now is to help the pitchers get

ready for games."

Cunningham apologizes

WLW radio personality Bill Cunningham was in the Reds clubhouse Wednesday morning to apologize to Adam Dunn for saying on the air that Dunn was drunk at a .15 level when he missed third base during a game in Pittsburgh.

Dunn was lukewarm over the apology.

"I don't really care what anybody says about me, I really don't," said Dunn. "You can say I suck and I stink and I don't care. But when my mom calls crying and says to me, 'Tell the truth, were you drunk?' I mean, where is the line? Where do they cross the line?

"I asked him (Cunningham) if he ever said anything else on the air for which he needed to apologize and he said, 'Yes, but I've never come to a clubhouse to apologize in 24 years on the air.' So I asked him, 'Why now?' He didn't have an answer. My year wouldn't be complete without something like this happening."

Dumatrait to start

Left-hander Phil Dumatrait, 0-3 with a 13.00 ERA in his four major-league starts, gets another crack at his first victory Sunday when he is plugged in to face Milwaukee and Ben Sheets (11-4, 3.36).

Matt Belisle (7-8, 5.44) originally was Sunday's starter, but he was pushed back to Tuesday to face St. Louis.

Reds sign German outfielder

The Reds have signed outfielder David Lutz, a native of Germany out of the European Baseball Academy. Lutz is the seventh player signed by major-league teams out the Academy since its inception last year — two from Germany, plus one each from France, the Netherlands, Italy.

Phillips passes Morgan

Brandon Phillips, one game after he was told he tied the club record for most home runs by a second baseman, broke it on Wednesday. His two-run homer in the first inning was his 28th, breaking the record of 27 set in 1976 by Hall of Famer Joe Morgan.

"Just hit it where they're not," said Phillips. "I never saw him play, but what I heard is that Joe Morgan was a great player, a Hall of Famer, a Gold Glover, so it's an honor to pass a guy like that when it cames to stats. We've had similar stats, at least for one season, so it's big to be in the same cagetory as a guy like that."

Quote of the day

"Anybody want this Hershey's bar that I left in my car and got melted and then got hard again? That wouldn't hurt it, would it?" — Manager Pete Mackanin's pregame bribe offer to the beat writers in his office. There were no takers.