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Reds' Bailey player of week in NL

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Staff and Wire Reports 2:32 AM Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Raise your hand if you thought you’d see this in 2009: Reds right-handed pitcher Homer Bailey named the National League Player of the Week.

That’s right, Cincinnati’s once-erratic starter was honored Monday, Oct. 5, for a strong close to the season. In two outings last week, Bailey went 2-0 with a 0.69 earned-run average. He struck out 14 in 13 innings.

“You could tell he didn’t want to give up anything,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said after Bailey threw six scoreless innings Sunday. “He learned to trust his fastball and how to pitch out of the trouble.”

Bailey was 6-1 with a 1.70 ERA over his final nine starts. He finished the season 8-5 with a 4.53 ERA.

The former No. 1 draft pick caught fire along with the Reds, who went a major-league best 27-13 since Aug. 23.

Bailey’s honor came one week after Reds first baseman Joey Votto was named NL Player of the Week. Votto finished the season with a .323 batting average — the first Red to hit better than .300 since Sean Casey and Ken Griffey Jr. in 2005.

Season’s last game

Baseball’s final playoff spot will be decided today when the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers — both 86-76 — break a tie to decide the champion of the American League Central.

The teams meet in Minneapolis at 5 p.m. The game will be televised by TBS.

The winner’s prize: Fly directly to New York to meet the Yankees in an AL playoff series. The Twins and Tigers were a combined 1-13 this season against the Yankees.

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