Closers

"Coffee is for closers!"
--Blake, Glengarry Glen Ross

Coffee is not for Rocky Biddle. Though he's a fellow Rio Hondo League alum (Temple City, class of '94) and a former basketball opponent (we drilled them twice his senior year), he's also a pitcher on my fantasy baseball team and an embarassment to the entire squad. He's a closer, one of those guys who's supposed to come in for the 9th inning, strike a few guys out and rack up saves. That's what Eric Gagne does. Mariano Rivera's been doing it for ten years. Trevor Hoffman can still do it. There are plenty of guys who take care of save opportunities on a nightly basis, securing much-needed victories for their teams (even Danny Kolb, a waiver-wire acquisition who's fourth in the majors with 21 saves to date--oh yeah, he's also on my team). Then there's Rocky Biddle.
Last night the Rockpile pitched an inning and a third and gave up four runs. Yeah, that's a 27.00 ERA for his brief appearance, letting the White Sox back into the game and almost blowing it for his Expos. It's not just an aberration however, because that little four-spot brings the Rockmeister's season ERA to a robust 7.82. That's atrocious. That's like Shaq's free throw percentage or Drew Brees' completion percentage (sorry Bolts). I looked up the overall big-league statistics and there are only four pitchers in the entire majors that have pitched as many innings and have a worse ERA. One of them plays in Colorado, so that doesn't count. The other three aren't depended on to close the door in late-inning situations, to pick up those all-important saves.
His problems aren't necessarily in walks and strikeouts (15 K's and eight walks in 25.1 innings), but in giving up hits. Base runners kill a relief pitcher and he gets himself into jams all the time. Opponents are hitting .327 off him this season, which means that everyone who faces Rockfish feels like they're a batting champion. Maybe that's what he's out there for--to improve the morale of the rest of baseball.
On a bigger scale, the Montreal franchis right now is just a joke. They let their two best players--Javier Vasquez and Vladimir Guerrero--go during the off-season and now keep a guy like this in the closing role. It's hard to fathom why there are even 5000 fans at some of these games. With a team like that on the field, I think they'd be hard-pressed to draw 3K each night.
Good baseball is not being played in San Diego of late either, though they righted the ship a bit with a 3-2 win over Toronto last night. Dennis Tankersley actually pitches quite well when he gets starts, but he hasn't gotten much run support (he only gave up two in his five innings but didn't figure in the decision last night). Trevor Hoffman, a real closer, picked up his 15th save of the year (his ERA is 2.35, by the way) and continues a remarkable comeback from last season's injury.
Side postulated one time that it's more important to have a good bullpen ERA than a good starting rotation ERA, so my last point on this whole closers post is a look at the top ERA among closers and the corresponding records of those teams. Mariano Rivera 0.96, Yankees 1st place. Armando Benitez 1.18, Marlins 1st place. Kolb 0.98, Brew-dogs not in contention. Though closers are huge and provide a wonderful complement to a good pitching staff, they don't matter unless you get them enough opportunities. Starters (and middle relievers) have to be good enough to keep the team in the game. If they're in it all the way until the ninth inning, then the closers can come in and take care of business. But if the starter gets shelled in the first inning (see Hideo Nomo and Pedro Martinez yesterday), the team is playing from behind all day and can't afford any other mistakes the rest of the way.
Not the most exhilarating subject matter, but interesting (I hope) to baseball fans.
Bel Air this morning (I'm getting to like the more liturgical, hymn-filled 9 a.m. service) and then more hoops at Brentwood, which always makes for good times. Happy Father's Day too, we'll be up in Pasadena for dinner. Out.