Francisco Rodriguez is, as our own Prez noted recently, going to be very rich after this season. That is, of course, assuming his arm doesn't fall off between now and whenever the Angels finish their season. Actually, I kid -- he's on pace for less innings than in previous years, although he's never had a major injury.
Regardless, neither injury nor a new team nor a lack of arm muscles will be able to take away (at least until next year, I suppose) Rodriguez' single season saves record, which he now holds all to his lonesome.
With fans on their feet, Rodriguez struck out Raul Ibanez swinging with two on for the final out. K-Rod immediately lifted his arms and looked skyward in his traditional salute to his late grandfather, then sank to his knees.Truer words have never been spoken -- the very nature of the save statistic depends on getting a ton of help from the rest of your team, much of it lucky. That's not take away from K-Rod's record breaking season, but at least the guy knows it.
The Angels' No. 57 had a new number: 58.
[...]"It's unbelievable," Rodriguez said. "Finally I did it.
"It's been an amazing year," he said, praising his fellow relievers. "Without them I couldn't have done this."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-14-2008 @ 6:28AM
keith said...
a record is a record ! but k-rod and thigpen show that you can't measure a closer by his saves . not all closers have the same opportunity at saves . all starting pitchers get 30 to 34 starts ; they can be compared . starting position players get roughly 600 at bats ; comparing them is easy also . closer's opportunities at saves hinge solely on the performance of his team mates . k-rod is the 4th or 5th best closer in the american league this year behind rivera , papelbon , nathan , and possibly soria . his strikeout to walk ratio is terrible and he has a very pedestrian era for a closer . what he had that the others didn't was a team that played [and won] a lot of close games . the angels also have stellar middle relief that don't blow many leads .
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9-14-2008 @ 11:30AM
James Lynch said...
Saves are a joke. Just because he didn't give up 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth, he is credited with saving the game. The fact that "Angel fans" has to root for the Angels to score no more than one run in the bottom of the 8th is another indication that the save should be done away with or severely redefined.
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