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So today at work I found myself listening to some sports talk shows for a while. I am well aware that sports talk shows are full of the biggest idiots since the White Sox announcera, but I did it anyway. I heard some clip with the host and a listener arguing about whether the starter or the closer is more important. The host declared the starter more important, and felt strongly that anyone who disagrees knows nothing about baseball and should go back to watching Full House reruns. Or something.
Well, I'll take my Full House reruns, 'cause you know what? If the closer doesn't have it, it doesn't matter if the starter keeps his team in the game or not.
Exhibit A: Yesterday's Tigers game, in which we went from leading 5-0 to losing 6-5. Our starter, Jason Johnson, only gave up three runs. It was 5-3 when he left in the seventh.
In the eighth, the relief let a couple guys on, and Tram brought on our eighty-seventh closer for the season, Fernando Rodney. And Rodney gave up a three run homer.
And with that shit going on, it wouldn't have mattered if JJ had given up ten runs. If your closer can't enter a save situation and keep it that way, then what your starter did becomes irrelevant.
That's not even close to the only example I can give from any of my teams in just this season, but it's the most recent one.
Yeah, I've slipped again on game posts. Know why? The weekend was a mess of grinding baseball misery and I couldn't bring myself to do it. Still can't, so fuck it and have some MLB recap links instead.
Friday:
Mostly covered, but I never did get around to the 4-0 shutout of the Astros. Oh, Andy.
Saturday:
In which Bondo is good but Jake Westbrook is better; Mike Timlin decides inherited runners are boring and he should find some other way to piss us off; and Roy Oswalt is not studly.
Sunday:
In which see above, Curt Schilling racks up terrifying save #712, and Roger Clemens's ERA is now 1.38, plus the Giants' relief sucks liek wo.
Okay, so yesterday wasn't so bad. But that Tigers game was so awful that I couldn't concentrate on watching the rest of the Sox game, except for when Schill was scaring us. I was convinced there was going to be a grand slam, but that might have been the Tigers hangover talking. Well, mostly. Schill does get the saves (for the most part), but he gives us all ulcers doing it. And the conditioning I received from Foulkie to expect the worst from my closers has held up nicely.
The Astros game had a final score of 8-1. Seven of those runs were scored in the eighth and ninth innings. I feel the Giants' fans pain there. Except that that's awesome. That one run did come from Clemens, but it was unearned, so that ERA just gets more and more disturbing. I repeat for the umpteenth time: SO GLAD HE IS ON MY TEAM. Earlier this season, yeah, I wanted to trade him to the Yankees for Wang and Cano, but that was back when the Astros couldn't give him any run support to save their souls, so I figured at least we could get rid of him and his contract for some very promising rookies. Of course, now the Astros are kicking ass and helping Clemens get every damn start he makes, Wang is injured, and Cano's looking more and more ordinary, so I guess it's a good thing I'm not a General Manager.
I just reread this and realized that all I talked about was pitching. I've really come to enjoy pitching this year. Offense is awesome, yeah, but the intricacies of pitching and catching have kind of been my thing this year. I don't think I'll ever completely understand it (how can I, unless I do some pitching and catching myself?), but I'm coming to appreciate it.
Well, I'll take my Full House reruns, 'cause you know what? If the closer doesn't have it, it doesn't matter if the starter keeps his team in the game or not.
Exhibit A: Yesterday's Tigers game, in which we went from leading 5-0 to losing 6-5. Our starter, Jason Johnson, only gave up three runs. It was 5-3 when he left in the seventh.
In the eighth, the relief let a couple guys on, and Tram brought on our eighty-seventh closer for the season, Fernando Rodney. And Rodney gave up a three run homer.
And with that shit going on, it wouldn't have mattered if JJ had given up ten runs. If your closer can't enter a save situation and keep it that way, then what your starter did becomes irrelevant.
That's not even close to the only example I can give from any of my teams in just this season, but it's the most recent one.
Yeah, I've slipped again on game posts. Know why? The weekend was a mess of grinding baseball misery and I couldn't bring myself to do it. Still can't, so fuck it and have some MLB recap links instead.
Friday:
Mostly covered, but I never did get around to the 4-0 shutout of the Astros. Oh, Andy.
Saturday:
In which Bondo is good but Jake Westbrook is better; Mike Timlin decides inherited runners are boring and he should find some other way to piss us off; and Roy Oswalt is not studly.
Sunday:
In which see above, Curt Schilling racks up terrifying save #712, and Roger Clemens's ERA is now 1.38, plus the Giants' relief sucks liek wo.
Okay, so yesterday wasn't so bad. But that Tigers game was so awful that I couldn't concentrate on watching the rest of the Sox game, except for when Schill was scaring us. I was convinced there was going to be a grand slam, but that might have been the Tigers hangover talking. Well, mostly. Schill does get the saves (for the most part), but he gives us all ulcers doing it. And the conditioning I received from Foulkie to expect the worst from my closers has held up nicely.
The Astros game had a final score of 8-1. Seven of those runs were scored in the eighth and ninth innings. I feel the Giants' fans pain there. Except that that's awesome. That one run did come from Clemens, but it was unearned, so that ERA just gets more and more disturbing. I repeat for the umpteenth time: SO GLAD HE IS ON MY TEAM. Earlier this season, yeah, I wanted to trade him to the Yankees for Wang and Cano, but that was back when the Astros couldn't give him any run support to save their souls, so I figured at least we could get rid of him and his contract for some very promising rookies. Of course, now the Astros are kicking ass and helping Clemens get every damn start he makes, Wang is injured, and Cano's looking more and more ordinary, so I guess it's a good thing I'm not a General Manager.
I just reread this and realized that all I talked about was pitching. I've really come to enjoy pitching this year. Offense is awesome, yeah, but the intricacies of pitching and catching have kind of been my thing this year. I don't think I'll ever completely understand it (how can I, unless I do some pitching and catching myself?), but I'm coming to appreciate it.
