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Phillips sits out, expected to play Tuesday

CINCINNATI -- Even though Sunday's final regular-season game had no consequence for playoff seeding, Reds manager Dusty Baker still had seven of his eight regular starters in the lineup against the Pirates.

The only regular player missing was second baseman Brandon Phillips, who fouled a ball off of his left shin Saturday. Phillips still wore a large bandage on his shin, but appeared to be improving. Cesar Izturis got the start at second base Sunday.

"I'm all right," said Phillips, who is expected to play in Tuesday's National League Wild Card game at Pittsburgh.

As for the other seven, they weren't slated to play the full nine innings.

"I didn't want them off a full two days," Baker said. "They won't play long. I thought about not playing them at all, but I don't think that's fair to them or fair to the fans that are coming out to the game today to not see these guys play at least a while. I'm not going to leave them out there too long. I'll get the other guys out there that need some at-bats to get ready to help us in the playoffs."

Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon.
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