Homer Bailey - NL Player of the Week!

[HeatherC1212]

Well, after not having any players of the week up until Joey was named last week, the Reds now get two in a row. Homer was named the NL Player of the Week for this past week for his great end to the season. Congrats Homer!

Link: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/...=.jsp&c_id=cin

10/05/09 4:33 PM ET

CINCINNATI -- After two solid starts to wrap up the 2009 season, Reds starting pitcher Homer Bailey was named as the National League Player of the Week on Monday.

Bailey, 23, was 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA, four walks and 14 strikeouts over 13 innings pitched.

In a 7-2 Reds victory over the Cardinals on Sept. 29, Bailey gave up one earned run on seven hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. During a 6-0 blanking of the Pirates in Sunday's season finale, the right-hander worked six scoreless innings and allowed seven hits, three walks and struck out seven.

"The way the team played the last month and a half made it a lot easier for me to go out there and try to get things done," Bailey said after Sunday's start. "I owe them more credit than I do myself."

After several rough stints in the Majors since his debut in 2007, Bailey has shown signs he has finally put it together. Over his final nine starts this season, he posted a 6-1 record and 1.70 ERA.

In 20 big league starts overall, Bailey was 8-5 this season with a 4.53 ERA. This was the first time in his career that he's been honored as a Player of the Week. He will receive a luxury, engraved timepiece from Tourneau.

[Brutus]

Look at Homer getting all humble lol

[CarolinaRedleg]

Two good things to see there:

1. Homer getting the award.

2. Homer deferring to his teammates upon receipt of said award.

Color me cautiously optimistic for 2010 and beyond.

[nate]

3. A tight Tourneau watch.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Congrats Homer!

Personally I was waiting for him to say "We gotta play 'em one day at a time. I'm just happy to be here. Hope I can help the ballclub. I just want to give it my best shot, and the good Lord willing, things will work out."

Nuke, errr...I mean Homer, took his interview lessons to heart. :O)

[RedLegSuperStar]

Two good things to see there:

1. Homer getting the award.

2. Homer deferring to his teammates upon receipt of said award.

Color me cautiously optimistic for 2010 and beyond.

Very true!

[SirFelixCat]

I wonder if he even knows he won since I'm thinking he's already out hunting


The kid has done nothing but grow, mature, and pitch his butt off. I simply can not wait to watch him prosper next season!

[REDblooded]

w00t! Well-deserved imo...

[OnBaseMachine]

Don’t shake hands with Bailey
By Hal McCoy | Monday, October 5, 2009, 11:10 PM

I’m typing this blog with one hand today because I made the mistake of shaking hands with Homer Bailey when I said good-bye Sunday.

Anybody who has ever slammed a hand in a car door knows what it is like to shake hands with Homer Bailey. His grip is so strong he probably can squeeze a baseball into an oval and make it look like a hard-boiled egg when he throws it plateward.

I swore after the first time I shook hands with him and heard bones shatter that I’d never do it again.

But I had to do it after watching his shutout of the Pirates Sunday and his amazing finish to the 2009 season, culminating in him being named NL Player of the Week.

IN ALL MY years of covering baseball I have never seen a better turnaround in a career that what I saw from Homer Bailey and when I shook his hand I told him, “You’ll win 20 games soon and maybe a Cy Young award.”

I believe that and I have to say it.

The two previous seasons I thought (and wrote) that Bailey was a lost cause, that he would never be a major-league pitcher, re-enforced last year when he was 0-6.

The thing that was worrisome was that he didn’t seem to enjoy the game, didn’t seem to enjoy life. He was sullen and tight-lipped all the time, gave nothing but cryptic and smart-mouthed answers to the media. He walked past you and stared straight ahead. Not a word.

Then the first week of spring training this year I was walking up the sidewalk toward the front door of the complex when a voice behind me said, “Hey, Hal, what’s happening? How ya doing?”

I looked around and the only person I saw was Homer Bailey. Couldn’t have been him. Had to be somebody else. But it wasn’t. It was Homer. Nobody else was around except a sniffing Labrador who I was certain couldn’t talk.

From that day on he was a sheer delight. A complete 180-degree turnaround. He was personable. He smiled. He told raunchy jokes that had bad punch lines. He gave great interviews.

He didn’t make the team out of spring training and the first time he arrived this season he still struggled a bit. But he smiled and persevered. The second time he came up, he was a Major League pitcher and the metamorphosis was complete.

EITHER MATURITY hit him between the eyes or somebody got to him and explained the facts of life and what it takes to succeed in the world. Whichever, I found myself pulling hard for the guy every time he pitched.

For two years I advocated that he should be traded, for anything - broken bats, used resin bags, muddy bases and a cracked batting helmet.

Now the Reds should put him on their Eliot Ness list - an Untouchable.

But if you ever run into him, keep your hands in your pocket. If you shake hands, he’ll crack three fingers.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs...cxtype=feedbot

[VR]

Sounds like Homer and Adrian Peterson need to shake hands.

[Sea Ray]

I've never met Homer but as a ballplayer I've had a similar change of heart. I was never impressed with him until the 2nd half of this year. His pitches now have movement and an extra 5 mph. That's not enough to impress me as a future ace. He also is a guy who wants the ball and seems to be a pitcher that gets stronger as the game goes on. I don't care how good your stuff is, you can't be an ace if you are a 6 inning pitcher. He also has that ace confidence in himself. He thinks his stuff is good enough to retire any hitter yet he knows the guys he's facing are getting paid too so if they win Homer tips his cap to them and moves on.