"Brandon Phillips is off to the hottest start of the Reds not named Joey Votto. Phillips went into Monday's late game hitting .389 with a home run and five RBI. He was tied with Votto for the team lead with 12 runs.

Phillips hit .236 last April.

He says one of the big differences this year is he went into spring knowing he was going to hit at the top of order.

"Spring was different for me from the year before," he said. "I had a different role. I came into spring knowing I was going to hit leadoff or I was going to be second. I knew I had to have a different approach. I had to become a different player for the team, instead of for myself.

"In the past, when I was hitting fourth, it was all about RBI and trying to be the big dude for the team. I came to spring training this year to try to be the trendsetter and get things started for Joey Votto, Jonny Gomes and Scott Rolen."

Phillips has done that. His on-base percentage going into Monday was .425.

He's done so well hitting second that Reds manager Dusty Baker decided against putting Phillips in the leadoff role Monday night – even with Drew Stubbs out of the lineup.

"Instead of having two or three guys move around, you just have one," Baker said. "Brandon is doing pretty good hitting in front of Joey. Plus, (Chris) Heisey's led off a lot before in the minor leagues."

Phillips points out that his best year came when he was hitting second. Phillips hit .288 with 30 home runs, 94 RBI and 33 steals in 2007.

"A lot of people forgot about that," he said. "I like hitting second. It's cool. It's a lot of fun. Hitting second is where you get things started.""