DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — It is, without question or debate, the worst first name for a major-league pitcher in baseball history.

Homer.

And it becomes worse when a pitcher lives up to that name, as Cincinnati Reds right-hander Homer Bailey is doing.

Homer, homer, homer, homer, homer, homer.

Six home runs in only 12 1/3 innings over Bailey's three starts, all losses, three pounded by the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, June 15, in Great American Ball Park in only 2 1/3 innings during a 9-0 annihilation of the Reds.

As one press-box observer said before the game: "Homer Bailey vs. Josh Beckett? Why are we even here?"

Astute observation.

The Reds put up a feeble fight against Beckett — six hits in seven innings, half Joey Votto, two by utility infielder Jolbert Cabrera and one by pinch-hitter Javier Valentin.

Bailey, though, with his 0-3 record and 8.76 ERA, is more of a concern to Reds manager Dusty Baker than Beckett. Baker even indicated a change could be made.

"There has to be some serious discussions (about Bailey)," Baker said. "If you are not making pitches, and that's your job to do, you have to figure out what's up and why.

"They hit him pretty good," Baker added. Not pretty good. Real good. "He still has work to do, especially on his changeup and breaking ball.

"You have to make pitches, locate your fastball, and hopefully, you can get your secondary pitches over. In the big leagues, if you don't get your secondary pitches over, they'll sit on one pitch (the fastball), and you have to locate perfectly to get the out."

The No. 5 spot in the rotation has been malignant all year.

"It's very frustrating," Baker said. "That particular spot has been difficult, and we've tried a number of different guys there (Josh Fogg, Matt Belisle, Bailey), and it just hasn't worked. That's the frustrating part.

"We'll see. We'll think about it, and you have to have somebody who can get somebody out," Baker added. "This is the big leagues, and we have to do something."

Bailey faced the media with a stiff upper lip but a battered psyche.

"I just didn't throw well, and the other team took advantage of me," he said. "You know what, if I knew what was wrong, we'd figure it out. More than anything, it is just not pitching. Luckily, the sun is going to come up tomorrow, and you just have to put it behind you."

But when the sun comes up on the day of his next scheduled start, Bailey may not be on the mound.

"That's out of my hands, and any decision made by Dusty I definitely would respect it, and we'll see what happens," he said.

Asked if there would be any benefit to going back to Class AAA Louisville to work on things, Bailey said, "We'll just worry about tomorrow."

And watch the sun come up.

The sun comes up over Yankee Stadium in New York next weekend when Bailey's turn comes up. It is doubtful he'll take that turn.

If the Reds want to risk it — and why not at this juncture — 22-year-old Daryl Thompson pitched Saturday night for Louisville and pushed his record with the Bats to 3-0, holding Rochester to one run and five hits over 8 2/3 innings.

Thompson is familiar with the Yankees. He made two appearances during spring training in Florida, both against the Yankees. In the first one, pitching in the hostile environs of Legends Field and 11,000 fans, he pitched one inning and struck out the side.

Then he faced them again in Sarasota and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.

The Red Sox won two of three in this interleague series and did it without starting pitchers Daisuke "Dice-K" Matsuzaka and Curt Schilling, without David "Big Papi" Ortiz, and won the last two in games without Manny Ramirez, out with a sore hamstring.

"They have a bunch of professional hitters over there, even though they don't have Manny and Big Papi," Baker said. "They have guys who can hit and they hit a lot of balls hard and a lot of balls out of the ballpark."

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