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A's shine a light on closer Bailey
Club pushes for AL Rookie of the Year honors for righty
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By Rick Eymer / Special to MLB.com
09/20/09 5:28 PM ET
OAKLAND -- It was Andrew Bailey T-shirt day at Oakland Coliseum on Sunday and the Oakland Athletics took the opportunity to promote their All-Star for American League Rookie of the Year.Bailey certainly has the numbers to make a case for the award. He's 6-3 with a 1.95 ERA and an Oakland rookie record 25 saves, including the last 20 in succession entering Sunday's series finale against the Cleveland Indians.
"He needs to keep doing what he's doing and not think about winning the award," A's manager Bob Geren said. "Just stay aggressive, fearless. There's nothing else he needs to be told."
Bailey didn't have much time to comment. He was busy autographing the promotional T-shirts.
The A's currently have a petition, which fans are asked to sign in support of Bailey's effort. It will be sent to the president of the Baseball Writers Association in hopes of raising awareness.
"It's an outlet for the fans to show their appreciation for the season Andrew Bailey is having," said an Oakland Athletics' official (two active voting members for the award were in attendance).
It helps that Bailey is in the midst of a spectacular season. He was the lone rookie named from either league to the All-Star team this season.
Bailey appeared in 14 games before he recorded his first save, a two-inning effort against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 8. By then he was already 3-0 with a pair of holds and a blown save.
He began his consecutive save streak against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 17, a week after giving up three runs in an inning to run his ERA to a season high 2.58.
He's been nearly unhittable since.
"We try to teach everybody to focus on things they can control," Geren said. "Andrew has no control over the voters, so all he can do is control what he does on the mound."
He's already tied with the Orioles' Jorge Julio for the seventh-most saves by a rookie (2002), currently ranks second among AL relievers in strikeouts (85) and opponents' batting average (.176) and was named AL Rookie of the Month for August.
Rick Eymer is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
