It was last Sunday that Owings took a pitch off the left ear flap of his batting helmet, perforating his left ear drum and opening a wound that required five stitches to close.
Asked if he had watched the videotape of the incident, Owings said, "Not yet. If and when I do, I won't be able to hear anything unless I listen out of my right ear."
Owings remains unable to hear out of his left ear and of his stitches, he said, "Just another reason to let the beard grow."
Owings flew to Chicago with no problems, "Everything went smooth and now I just want to work out, see how it feels, and I'm anxious to get back as soon as I can."
Owings, who loves to hit almost as much as he does pitch, has no qualms about getting back into the batter's box.
"I was thinking how many times in my life I've been in the box without that every happening and how many guys have played the game and how rare it is. So, no, no trepidations."
Hiding a hurt digit
Wladimir Balentien struck out three times Thursday in Colorado, with the bases loaded in the first and with runners on the corners in third.
He wasn't in Friday's lineup, but it wasn't lack-of-production punishment. Turns out he has a sore ring finger on his right hand and has had it since he came to the Reds from Seattle July 29.
"He's been trying to be a hero," said Baker. "He has a bad finger. He can barely swing the bat. I knew something was wrong when they were throwing fastballs by him. I couldn't understand that and said, 'What's going on here?'
'He's had it since last year in Seattle, but you get your first opportunity to really play, like he is now, and you aren't going to say anything. I can't blame him. This is the best opportunity he ever had. So we haven't seen the real Balentien (.261, two homers, eight RBIs).
Cooking a cap
To commemorate 9/11, the Reds wore special red hats with a red, white and blue wishbone 'C.'
As soon as pitcher Nick Masset received his cap, he doused it in cold water and popped it into the clubhouse microwave oven.
Asked what he was doing, Masset said, "Shrinking it so it will fit perfectly. First you get it all wet, then you put it into the microwave to draw it and put it on your head and tug it down and it fits perfectly. Right now I'd call it medium-well."
Noteworthy meeting
There was some signifcance when Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips batted against Chicago's Jeff Stevens in the fifth inning Friday.
Phillips singled in their first encounter ever. The significance. Stevens is the pitcher the Reds traded to the Cleveland Indians on April 7, 2006 to obtain Phillips.
"I didn't know that when I faced him," said Phillips. "Mark Berry (third base coach) told me when I got to third base. I said, 'Well, I'm glad I got a hit off him.'"
Quote of the day
Manager Dusty Baker said when he was a kid he had a dog that chased garbage trucks and although the dog didn't answer, Baker said he always asked, "What are you going to do with that garbage truck when you catch it?"
"That's one tough guy when you walk into a shower and see the guy drinking a beer in the shower." — Bronson Arroyo, talking about catcher Corky Miller.
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