Homer Helps

Having Homer Bailey pitch the way he pitched Thursday afternoon is a nice little boost to the Reds. His first outing for the Reds was supposed to be his fourth rehab outing in Louisville, but in retrospect it looks like the Reds caught a break when they had to reschedule Monday night's rainout. Bailey looked loose and easy as he allowed just one run and struck out seven in six innings. Dusty Baker looked relieved to have Bailey back, and will be even more relieved if Jonny Cueto can give a similar effort on Sunday. Bailey and Cueto were being counted on as two-fifths of the Reds starting pitching rotation, but both had injury setbacks in spring training. As Dusty likes to say, the Reds are almost whole again. Fred Lewis has made his way back from injury and contributed a home run off the bench Thursday. Now they await the return of third baseman Scott Rolen. He's eligible to come off the disabled list tomorrow, but that has been ruled out. He could return early next week in Houston. Speaking of Houston, that's where Homer will make his first start. He is a native of Texas and grew up about two hours away from Minute Maid Park. It's the sixth time Homer has visited Houston with the Reds, but oddly enough, he has never pitched in Houston. In fact, next Tuesday he will be making his first pitching appearance in the state of Texas since he was in high school. Homer talked about how crazy it is that he has been there a number of times but was never in line to make an appearance there. But if you are part of Bailey's hometown fans in Texas, get to him early. He said he will take care of as many ticket requests as possible while he is in Chicago over the weekend, but once he gets to Texas, it's all business. Homer also said "if you see a bunch of country people sitting in one section, they're from my part of the country."