Touch 'Em All: Reds' Homer Bailey philosophical about no-hitter

How did Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey celebrate no-hitting the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday?

By answering mail and knocking back a bit of Kentucky bourbon at his Iron City hotel bar with teammates.

The 26-year-old said he answered all the 140-plus messages he got, but he did admit some copying and pasting.

Bailey's was the seventh no-no in the big leagues this year, but he saw the vagaries of the game at play.

"There is a real fine line there in throwing a no-hitter," he said. "A bloop can fall in the outfield or an infielder can be in the wrong position and there goes your hit."

The seven no-hitters match the modern record (since 1900) for one season, tying 1990 and 1991. There were eight no-hitters in 1884.

Here's good news: Reds skipper Dusty Baker told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he plans to return to the dugout on Monday in St. Louis. Baker was hospitalized Sept. 19 in Chicago with an irregular heartbeat, then suffered a mini-stroke.

He had an upbeat take on his hospital stay: "I've never been poked so much in my life. I asked the one nurse if I had any blood left."

From the Plays You Don't See Every Day Dept.: On Friday night, New York Yankees slugger Curtis Granderson slammed a two-out, line-drive rocket right at Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chad Jenkins in the first inning. The righthander stuck his glove up instinctively and the smash lifted his mitt off his hand and about three feet in the air, with the ball in it.

Jenkins did what he could. He caught the glove, showed it to the umpire, and walked off impassively looking like a waiter delivering the Clucky-and-Sweet basket at your local chicken-and-waffle joint.

It's kind of karma for the Yanks: On Sept. 21, Ichiro Suzuki got a hit when his bouncer got stuck in the jersey of Oakland Athletics pitcher Jarrod Parker.

The only thing that can stop Angels phenom Mike Trout, it seems, is rain. Buckets of it. After a four-hour wait, a steady downpour forced the postponement of Saturday's game between the AL West leaders Texas and Los Angeles (still in that wild-card hunt, citizens of Anaheim). The Millville Marvel and teammates will play Texas (needing just one more win to guarantee a postseason berth) on Sunday in a day-night doubleheader, the first ever at Rangers Ballpark.