One of the things that always fascinates me about a young baseball season is all of the strange things that happen. These are things that 99 times out of 100 do not hold their pattern for the rest of the year, but they are fun all the same. For instance, after opening day Dmitri Young of the Detroit Tigers was on pace to hit 486 home runs this season. He touched 'em all three times (I guess it wasn't Lima Time "BELIEVE IT!") during their game with the Royals.
One of the not so fun trends that has started over the first four days of 2005 baseball is the issue of closers you just can't count on! Let's review:
Braden Looper ruined my opening day Mets Magic by blowing a 9th inning lead and giving the game back to the Reds. Since then, Bob Wickman, Shingo Takatsu, Trevor Hoffman, Francisco Cordero & Mariano Rivera have all blown saves! Mo did it twice! That is six closers that have blown save opportunities in the first four days of the season! When you look further into it you will see that it doesn't stop there. Last night Danny Kolb did everything in his power to blow a save for the Braves against the Marlins. He managed to find his way out just in time not to blow the save, but it was not exactly a smooth outing. Kieth Foulke did not blow a save but he came into the 9th inning of a tie game (the first save that Mariano blew) and proceeded to give up walk-off fun to the greatest player in the game today Derek Jeter. (Yes, I HATE the Yankees with a passion but Jeter is really my favorite player. It is a sick & vicious reality to live.) Add to that the fact that John Smoltz (a converted starter to converted closer that starts now) showed up & melted the hell down in his first start since 1824 & you get the idea that things are not going too well for closers & former closers in this young season.
I am not alarmed of course. The baseball world is still aligning itself properly. Soon the game's best players will start to act like it, Brad Wilkerson will stop hitting the hell out of every ball that crosses his path & all will be normal with the world again. Perhaps the most frightening trend for closers in this young season though is one that is less expected than any of the meltdowns: Miguel Batista is two for two in save opportunities & he has done it in dominant fashion. Now THAT is a trend to watch out for!
Dan Kolb sucks. 'Nuff said.
Posted by: Big J | April 13, 2005 at 04:57 PM