Dunn and Hamilton homer; Bailey gets rocked

Homer Bailey got his tits lit last night in Philadelphia for the first time in his big league career. This morning I got a nice little call from editor George telling me reasons why the second coming of Cy Young should be cut from my fantasy baseball team. Of course I argued the reasons against it, every young pitcher needs a start like this (or do they) to let them know that it’s the big leagues and that things will not ever come easy at this level. This is the best thing that could have possibly happened to Homer Bailey at this stage of his career (right?).

Not all was lost on this night, afterall Adam Dunn got his 21st homerun of the season and added the ever important sacrifice fly that everyone in Cincinnati seems so worried about him compiling. Josh Hamilton added homerun number 12 of his career as well. Griffey knocked in a run to add to his career totals.

It all started in the first inning when Ryan Howard connected with a Bailey fastball, it was a taylor-made majestic blast, a typical Howard homerun. From there the rout was on for the Phils, who are not as bad as they appeared at season’s beginning. They ended up knocking Bailey around for 6 runs in the ballgame and he was out of the game before he completed 2 innings pitched. The silver lining is that the Reds got him out of the game quickly; not allowing his confidence to be destroyed as you figured the Reds franchise would so inapropriately do.

The ballclub, and I do mean the Reds, is seemingly 112 games out of first place. This season is officially gone, as if it wasn’t a long time ago right? As Dunn quietly appears to be piecing together one of his finest seasons, as well as Griffey, they are dangled in trade talks because of the terrible performance of this ballclub. Hamilton has also been a bright spot with his power and hard nosed play. I hope this team doesn’t have the yearly firesale and decide to once again ‘rebuild’. Wayne Krivsky: if you’re reading this or ever stumble across it before you make the huge decision to trade the Griffeys and Dunns of the world, I hope you think twice about it. Our team needs tweaked, not ripped apart.