Brandon Phillips made his last swing of the year count for the Reds Tuesday night.  The All-Star second baseman hit the go-ahead single with two outs in the 11^th to help Cincinnati beat the Brewers 5-4.  That at-bat came at a huge price however as on the pitch before, Phillips broke a finger on an attempted bunt and will miss the rest of the season.

The injury doesn’t matter in the long-run for the Reds; they are 13 games under .500 and trail the Cubs by 20.5 games in the Central.  Phillips should be back in the middle of the order next season.  His injury does play a significant role in fantasy however as owners are in the middle of the stretch run and head-to-head playoffs.  The potential replacements in fantasy are thin.  Jerry Hairston Jr. will likely absorb the majority of the playing time at second now with Danny Richar or Jolbert Cabrera starting here or there.  Corey Patterson turns centerfield back into a statistical wasteland.  Hairston is an interesting add as he was very good earlier in the year, but has struggled recently with injuries.

This last swing for Brandon Phillips could cost fantasy owners big-time.

Second base is very shallow so this is a big problem for Phillips owners.  Kelly Johnson is the definition of average, but he’s gone 11/23 with 6 RBI in the last week.  If anything he won’t hurt you.  Akinori Iwamura, Ty Wigginton (out himself until the weekend at least), Ian Stewart, Alexi Casilla, Willie Harris, and Jed Lowrie are other uninspiring widely available players.  Stewart has the most power potential but has scuffling in recent days as has Lowrie who plays in the best lineup.  Blake DeWitt is another possible name shifting over from third in place of Jeff Kent.

One interesting add could be Felipe Lopez now with the Cardinals.  He has been playing all over the field for Tony La Russa including the outfield.  With Troy Glaus out for a few days, Lopez will probably be playing regularly at third base as well.  He’s hitting .500 in September with 2 homers and 5 runs.  Ok, he’s not any good anymore and doesn’t run like he used to, but this late in the season there aren’t very many options and he’s hot right now.  For the record, I lost Brandon Phillips as well in one league and picked up DeWitt (batting .316 since taking over for Kent in late August).

• Billy Wagner is gone for the year and likely all of 2009 as well.  Luis Ayala is clearly the guy here, and in the tradition of Joe Borowski and Todd Jones, is getting the job done.  The Mets will more than likely be in the market for a big name in free agency (K-Rod?).

• Glaus hurt his shoulder Tuesday and will undergo an MRI Wednesday.  He will miss a few games for sure, and the way he left the field it did not look good.  The current timetable is unknown, but plan on him being out through the weekend at minimum.

• Evan Longoria finally starting swinging a bat, and could be in the starting lineup for Tampa Bay as early as Friday according to the team.  That seems a bit optimistic.  Hold off on putting him back into your lineups until you actually seem his name in a box score.

• Geoff Jenkins was activated for the Phillies, but he likely won’t be taking at-bats away from Jayson Werth.  He’ll be in a pinch-hitter role the rest of the year.

• B.J. Upton is out until Friday at the earliest with a quad injury.

• Paul Konerko sprained a knee Tuesday, but luckily avoided a serious injury.  He will be out until Friday at the earliest and probably through the weekend.  Chicago really needs his bat in the lineup with the loss of Carlos Quentin.  Jerry Owens figures to pick up some playing time with Nick Swisher shifting to first.  Look here if you’re absolutely desperate for speed.  Owens is a terrible baseball player, but he is certainly fast.