I missed this last week, but the day after Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips won his third Gold Glove, Phillips received his first Silver Slugger.

Phillips definitely deserved the award, as he was by far the most valuable offensive second basemen in the National League in 2011. He wracked up a Wins Above Replacement value of 6. The next closest was Philadelphia Phillies’ second basemen Chase Utley at 3.9. That’s 6 games the Reds won because of Phillips’ presence. (When you add in first baseman Joey Votto’s WAR of almost 7, you can tell the right side of the infield was certainly pulling its weight.)

It was the best offensive season from Phillips in his career. Most of the major stats were above his career averages.

• Batting Average: .300 (.272 career)
• On-Base Percentage: .353 (.322 career)
• Slugging: .457 (.434 career)

His home runs did not reach their peak of 30, which he got in 2007 when I think he hit cleanup for much of the year. He was never very suited for that position, and I hope that his new-found on-base percentage is more than just an aberration in a contract year. I’d love to see Phillips keep that up for the Reds. Getting on base 35% of the time is a better number than any Reds lead-off hitter I can remember for the last ever.

That it did happen for a year in which Phillips was seeking either a new contract or an extension does give me pause; however, that’s something to worry about next year. For now, we should enjoy Phillips getting his well-deserved recognition.

Now that the World Series is over, Major League Baseball will start announcing its regular season awards. Last night, the Gold Gloves were announced.

And the Cincinnati Reds had two recipients: Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips.

Phillips has won the award for his defense at second base three of the last four years.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” Phillips said. “The manager and the coaches respect my work.”

Phillips realizes the importance of defense.

“Defense wins games,” Phillips said. “I go out and catch the ball the best way I know how. . . The baseball field is my coliseum. I go out and entertain the fans.”

The award was Votto’s first, and was the first ever for a Reds first baseman.

“I’d like to thank the managers and coaches who selected me,” Votto said. “It always means a tremendous amount to be selected by your superiors for any award, especially for one of this magnitude. I’d also like to thank the Reds’ coaching staff for their help, with a special mention to bench coach Chris Speier.”

Both Votto and Phillips had clauses in their contracts that award them bonuses for the awards. Phillips will be $250,000 richer, while Votto gets $50,000.

Last year, the Reds had three Gold Glove winners: Brandon Phillips, Scott Rolen, and Bronson Arroyo. It could’ve been three again this year, but Jay Bruce was robbed by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Andre Ethier. I guess there’s always next year.

According to this story about smiles on Shine, a study of old baseball player photos showed a correlation between a big grin and longevity:

People with big grins live longer. In a study published last year, researchers pored over an old issue of the Baseball Register, analyzing photos of 230 players. They found that on average, the guys with bright, bigmouthed beams lived 4.9 years longer than the players with partial smiles, and 7 years longer than the players who showed no grin at all. We can’t credit wide smiles for long life spans, of course, but smiles reveal positive feelings, and positive feelings are linked to well-being.

It’s funny how just reading “players who showed no grin at all” brings to mind so many team photos of guys who are simply too tough to smile. I wonder if the lesson here isn’t really, “taking yourself too damn seriously shortens your life.” It would certainly lead to more aggressive driving, bar brawls, and other macho nonsense.

But, of course, there’s one dude on the current team who is always sporting a big smile, and is therefore on the fast track to longevity. Don’t give away *everything* in your Twitter contests, B-Phil; you may need to support yourself for a long time yet.

When I start up my work computer in the morning, Yahoo! instant messenger starts up too, and presents to me a list of top news stories. It’s just like scanning the morning paper, if your morning paper contains exclusively tips for becoming a millionaire by age 40 and gossip about who wore the same dress on the red carpet.

It’s like a big, fat jelly doughnut for your brain: no nutrients, but enough sugar to provide a nice little jump start.

The occasional sports blog is referenced in this list, and I was surprised yesterday to see Brandon Phillips’ smiling mug accompanying one of the stories. It was a post on Big League Stew: a Y! sports blog, which I think I’ve already linked to once before, and probably will again. It’s only fair to share the brain candy, since there’s plenty to go around.

This particular blog was all about Phillip’s between-the-legs dish on Tuesday night. I didn’t get to see it myself, being in class that night, but I could picture it in my mind:

On a slow roller hit by Houston’s Jason Bourgeois(notes) in the third inning Tuesday night, Phillips had neither the time nor the proper angle to make a conventional defensive play to retire the speedy baserunner at first base.

So, running toward home at full speed from his position at second, Phillips bent down, barehanded Bourgeois’ grounder and quickly flipped the ball between his legs — near his ankles — for the out at first base.

This is getting to be a habit. BP referenced a “better” play in San Diego in a tweet, and the Reds were posting today’s behind-the-back-while-lying-on-his-belly toss on Facebook before the game was even over.

I think I missed all three of these plays, between school and work and the stupidness of day games. Hopefully he’ll keep it up, though, so I can catch some of this awesomeness in the near future.

Here are all–well, the best–of the photos I took last weekend when we visited the Cincinnati Reds’ Spring Training home, Goodyear Ballpark. (I posted a panorama of the park earlier.)

Each thumbnail links to a larger image.

So, last night, Brandon Phillips went to the press to let them know his opinion of the St. Louis Cardinals:

We have to beat these guys. I hate the Cardinals. All they do is bitch and moan about everything, all of them, they’re little bitches, all of ‘em. I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear – I hate the Cardinals.

Exquisite. I mean, it’s exactly what I’ve been saying since the opening series, but just beautifully put. The eloquence brings a tear to my eye.

And ain’t it the truth? Here’s an excerpt from a post here on RHM back in May:

The Cardinals don’t seem to realize what a serious problem they have. Carp getting huffy when someone shows frustration, Card bloggers saying Gomes shouldn’t flip his bat, Card commentators saying the umps should show respect to Pujols. It’s one thing to go onto the field expecting to win; it’s another thing to go onto the field expecting people to let you win. This sense of entitlement screams sick culture. If the Cards were a Fortune 500 company, they’d be on their way to hostile takeover.

See? Phillips said it a lot better.

And it hasn’t changed a bit since then. Carpenter was bitching at Brendan Ryan just yesterday for being a minute late getting on the field because he was back in the batting cage. How dare he make the great one wait for the likes of practicing?

And now today, as Phillips approached the plate to take his AB, Yadier Molina did the totally-non-bitchy thing and kicked his bat. Before you know it, the benches and the bullpens are cleared. In the words of a person who actually saw it:

But it erupted when Rolen went after Chris Carpenter. Several wrestling matches broke out. Johnny Cueto, the starting pitcher, could be seen kicking at someone.

Dusty Baker was in the middle of it, shouting at someone. A couple of players were in a pile on the ground. Jonny Gomes came out of it with a torn shirt.

It all ended with the manager ejected and the fans itching for more. There may be some street fights in the streets after the game. Tomorrow, we’ll think about suspensions, but tonight, we enjoy the glee that comes from smacking down a little bitch.

For the first time since Joey Votto was 12 years old–6th grade (or whatever they call it in Canada)–the National League has won the All-Star game.

Scott Rolen went 1-for-2 with a run scored. Brandon Phillips got a key out. Votto saved some for the sequel. Arthur Rhodes rested. All-in-all, I give Reds almost all of the credit for this win. Hopefully they’ll get all the benefit from it.

Go NL, and Go Reds!

The final All-Star vote tally before the one that decides the line-up is now available. Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Orlando Cabrera, and Jonny Gomes hang in there in their races, but Scott Rolen is actually within striking distance.

Ken Griffey, Jr. was on the All-Star line-up in 2007, and before that the last Red to appear was Barry Larkin in 2000. Two voted in the last 10 years? Don’t you think we ought to do something about that? Hell, Rolen himself has appeared in the line-up that many times in that many years. Let’s send him again.

Remember, you get 25 votes per email address. Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Gmail are your partners in making your voice heard.

It also appears you can vote 25 times per email address per day. At least I’ve been able to cast votes on different days with the same email address. Why not try it out for yourself?

Today’s Human League “What I Love About” honoree is the NLC’s Hottest Baller of 2008, Brandon Phillips.

What I love about Brandon Phillips is his smile. Easy and infectious, his smile says, “hey, everything’s cool here.”

What I love about Brandon Phillips is his glove and his back-handed flip to second. It’s a beginning to a double-play so beautiful that it makes his move to 2B all worthwhile.

What I love about Brandon Phillips is his attitude. Kinda sassy, a little arrogant, but still willing to slow down enough to explain what “crunked” means to a Reds beat writer. I love that he’s not perfect and needs to have a kick to the seat of the pants sometimes. I love that he’s up and down with the team, feeling the energy of the city.

What I love about Brandon Phillips is that horrible commercial that he and Joey Votto were in at the beginning of the season–I think it was for Subway–where the director had to position the camera man ever-so-carefully so you couldn’t tell that there was no one in the stands as they got the out at first–presumably tagging out the high saturated fat you’d get at a burger joint.

What I love about Brandon Phillips is watching him turn it on when the Indians come to town. That’ll show ‘em.

What I would really love about Brandon Phillips would be seeing him starting in the All-Star Game, but he needs your help to make that happen. Vote, vote, vote!!