Flash of Reds" Phillips Loses Spotlight Again CINCINNATI - This is for sure: Brandon Phillips has swagger. This is also for sure: fans around the country will not see it on display for the remainder of October because his Cincinnati Reds were ambushed by the San Francisco Giants last week after taking a two-games-to-none lead in a first-round best-of-five playoff series. So a player who routinely makes highlight reel plays at second base, irks opponents" with his in-your-face style, and plays with an ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face will basically be out of sight until spring training. In the series against San Francisco, Phillips was 9 for 24 at the plate for a .375 average, with 3 doubles, a home run and 7 runs batted in. It was all in keeping with a 31-year-old player who is a sparkplug at the top of the lineup and has three Gold Gloves, two All-Star Game selections, a Silver Slugger award and a 30-30 season to his credit. Off the field - well after Game 3 of the division series against the Giants - he stood in the Reds" locker room in a colorful striped sweater with Ray-Ban sunglasses resting on his head and gingham-print high-tops on his feet. Then there is the custom-made, purple Audi R8 sports car he drives and the nearly 600,000 Twitter followers he entertains as @DatDudeBP. He is, in other words, the kind of player made for a national spotlight he just hasn't been in all that much. Indeed, the only other time he was in the postseason came in 2010, when the Reds were swept in three games in the first round by the Philadelphia Phillies. Phillips batted .333 in that series. "It's hard to find that energy with talent," Reds Manager Dusty Baker said. He sparks us on the field, off the field, on defense, on offense, and he can do many things to beat you. Other than Barry Bonds, he's the only player I've had that can bat anywhere in the lineup and feel comfortable. Tucked away in Cincinnati, a second-round pick out of Stone Mountain, Ga., in the 1999 draft, Phillips said last week that he "probably has more fun playing the game than anyone." Or as his teammate Bronson Arroyo put it: "Brandon loves the show. He also loves feeling the fans. Like, hey, this is what I just did for you guys and you know it. Guys on other teams probably don't like it too much because it probably comes off as showboating, but on some level it makes him who he is and it makes him good. Phillips was at the center of a bench-clearing brawl between St. Louis and the Reds in 2010, a conflict he initiated with inflammatory comments ahead of that series and then touched off during an at-bat when he got into a heated exchange with Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina. "The "B" is the "B," " Baker said of Phillips. When I first got here I was having to spank him once a month. Now it's probably once every three months. The Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman is fond of saying Phillips does something memorable every day, and he is usually right. In Game 1 of the division series against the Giants, he hit a two-run home run to open the scoring; made a key diving stop of an overthrown ball behind first base, backing up the play from second; and then acrobatically avoided a tag running from first to second on a grounder. In June, Phillips made one of the more remarkable plays of the year, against the Mets, when he ranged up the middle, backhanded a ground ball and then flipped it through his legs to start a double play. Phillips credits his flair to his parents, and a childhood he spent in Stone Mountain, a small city on the fringe of the Atlanta suburbs with a population of fewer than 6,000. His father was a sales representative for the R. J. Reynolds tobacco company and his mother a homemaker, or as Phillips called her with a chuckle, a "domestic engineer." "If it wasn't for my parents, I wouldn't be the man and the athlete I am today.," he said. They just did a good job raising me to be true to myself. The athletic streak is strong in the Phillips clan. Phillips's sister, Porsha, plays in the W.N.B.A. for San Antonio, and his two brothers have also played professional baseball; P. J. suited up for the Reds" Class AAA affiliate in Louisville this season, and Jamil spent time in the Texas Rangers" organization. Growing up, Phillips idolized Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this past summer. Phillips said he was drawn to the way Larkin carried himself. "I just saw him in batting practice, clowning around and playing shortstop, and I wanted to be just like him," Phillips said. He was smiling and having a good time with his teammates and the fans, and that's how I wanted to be. Larkin created a connection to the Reds for Phillips, but he would be traded twice before arriving here. After being drafted by the Montreal Expos, he spent three seasons with them before being dealt with Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore to Cleveland for Bartolo Colon. After an unimpressive stint in Cleveland, he was traded to Cincinnati at the beginning of the 2006 season with little fanfare, swapped for a player to be named. Here, Phillips has flourished. The evidence is in his numbers and his trophy case, but also the contract extension he signed: a six-year, $72.5 million deal that runs through 2017. Phillips calls Cincinnati "my city." He is its second baseman. "You see a lot of flash on the field, but he's got a good heart, too," General Manager Walt Jocketty said. And maybe next year, Phillips will finally get to go further in the postseason. And more fans will get to appreciate all the flash and finesse in his game.