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Here we are at the final homestand of the season. Only 6 games remain and the Reds have little left to play for except for personal statistics. They can't even play to be spoilers since the Cardinals have already clinched the division and it's unlikely that they'll catch the Dodgers for home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.
One player who does have something to play for still is Homer Bailey, who I'm sure would like to continue to build off of the stellar performance of his last 7 starts as we head into the off-season. Over those 7 starts, Bailey has gone 4-1 with a 1.99 ERA, holding opponents to a .626 OPS and striking out 39 in 45.1 innings. The only downside of his performance is that he has walked 10.5% of the batters he has faced over those 7 starts, leading him to higher pitch counts than I'm sure he'd like. If control is the only real issue that he has to worry about going into 2010 though, then we couldn't ask for a better outcome for Bailey in 2009 season given the way that it started for him in the big leagues.
Some other things to watch for over the last week of the season:
- Brandon Phillips needs just 5 RBI to reach 100 for the first time in his career. He has already set his career high total for a season with 95. He would be the first non-outfielder to reach 100 RBI for the Reds since Johnny Bench had 109 in 1977.
- Joey Votto needs one more home run to match his career high of 24 that he set last season. He also needs 4 RBI to match his career high of 84. He's already set career highs in runs (79), doubles (36), and walks (66). His .967 OPS would be the highest by a Reds player in the last 14 seasons and the 5th highest in the last 30 years.
- Jonny Gomes needs one homer to match his career high of 21.
- Willy Taveras needs 75 stolen bases to reach 100.
- Bronson Arroyo needs one win to reach 15 for the second straight season.
- Francisco Cordero needs one save to reach 40 for the 3rd time in his career. He'd be the 4th Reds player to reach that plateau, joining Jeff Brantley (44 in 1996), Jeff Shaw (42 in 1997), and Danny Graves (41 in 2004).
- This year's Reds can match the 1975 squad with 4 pitchers who have pitched in 50+ games with an ERA under 3.00 if Cordero (2.19), Nick Massett (2.47), Arthur Rhodes (2.53), and Daniel Ray Herrera (2.97) can all maintain their ERAs.
And you thought there wouldn't be anything worth watching the rest of the way.