Homer Bailey to the Rescue

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Johnny Cueto can take solace in the fact that he set a postseason record.

The shortest outing in the history of postseason baseball, eclipsed the previous record set by Curly Odgen of the Washington Senators in the seventh game of the 1924 World Series.  Odgen faced just two New York Giants batters that day.  The NY Giants are of course the ancestors of the current San Francisco Giants.

The ripple effect of the short outing puts young Homer Bailey in the spotlight.  Bailey, the precocious 26-year old who had a breakout season culminating in a no-hitter on September 28,  was asked to get ready for game three in the middle of game one. 

The Reds' first pick in the 2004 draft comes into the playoffs with plenty of momentum, much like the team as a whole that grabbed the first two games of the series on the road in spite of losing its ace one batter into the postseason.  Bailey comes in having logged 13 straight scoreless innings, including the no-hitter. Bailey set career highs in wins (13), starts (33), and quality starts (21), innings pitched (208) and strikeouts (168).


Immediately, Bailey made plans to improve his focus.

"I asked if I could fly home early so I wasn't quite as jet lagged," Bailey said.  "Actually it worked out good.  I threw a regular bullpen that day (Saturday) and stayed on my regular rest anyway.  So no excuses, right?"

Bailey, who has matured since he was annoited a star as the seventh pick in the nation in that 2004 draft, has had to learn to control his personality as much as harness his fastball.

"Number one, I think he has blossomed this year because he has remained healthy for the first time in his career," said Dusty Baker of Bailey, who gained 25 pounds of muscle over the winner to stay healthy.  "You hope a person blossoms and matures just through natural living and learning from mistakes."

But it wasn't just physical maturity that put Bailey over the top.

"Our guys are different.  I urge them to be different," Baker said.  "You don't want everybody to be the same on your team.  That's not what life is all about.  We have guys from different walks of life, different countries, different states, different - one guy drives a truck, one guy drives a BMW and another guy drives whatever.  I urge them to be themselves and I've said many times, Bailey's strength is also his weakness.  Sometimes, he's a bit stubborn but that's a good trait if you can direct in the right direction."

Bailey's mound couterpart for Tuesday's game three, Ryan Vogelsong, would not fly in a day early even if offered to do so.

"We were pretty much all hands on deck until yesterday afternoon, and it's probably something I wouldn't have done anyway.  I had the opportunity to fly early a couple times during the season this year and I turned it down.  It's not something I like to do.  If the guys have to stay and play and take the flights, then the pitchers should, too.  That's how I feel about it."

Both pitchers agree that the playoffs add a bit to the game, given that it is a clinching/elimination situation.

"In a way there is added excitement," Bailey said.  "But if we were tied, up or down two, I think it would be as important as any other game. In these situations, every game is important.  We're in a good spot, but every game at this stage of the season is big."

"Obviously, the cliche is to say 'It's just another game," but I feel just another game doesn't count whe you're talking about the postseason to begin with.  Things are magnituded a little bit and if you talk about 0-2, being down in the series you can't really say it's just another game either.  In the same sentence, you still have to throw strikes and get guys out and I think the best way to do that is one pitch at a time, one out at a time, one game at a time.  It's the same but different.

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