Idiots Write About Sports

Today, David Pinto muses, “Sometimes I think these closers can’t pitch unless they come on in the ninth with the bases empty.”

As a Giants fan, all I have to do is search my memory of several recent Tim Worrell appearances to provide some corroboration. Perhaps it’s because we never remember the one-two-three saves, but it does seem that closers constantly let baserunners on (Robb Nen not only let guys on, but then let them steal willy-nilly) before getting the famed “driving on the sidewalk” save. As if they can’t pitch without the game on the line.

And there may be something to that. But Pinto’s phrasing made me think: perhaps closers can’t pitch unless it’s the ninth with the bases empty. Perhaps there are two different kinds of pitchers (in temperament if not in how they’re used): savers and closers. Savers get you out of jams and are best used outside the 9th inning; they can pitch out of the stretch with the bases drunk and only one out, inducing double-plays, strikeouts, and the destruction of porcelain in the opposing team’s bathroom. Closers get you three outs at the end of the game and increment their Save count.

Maybe, maybe not. But think of your own team: if it’s the seventh inning, your team is up 2-1, and there’s a guy on third back and only one out, who do you want to come into the game? Is it your closer — who you know won’t be brought in because your manager is slavishly devoted to the closer only pitching the ninth? Or is there some other guy on your team — on the 2003 Giants I might say it’s Joe Nathan — who you, in your heart of hearts, think has the best chance to prevent that run from scoring?

There’s your saver.