Guest Article - "Finding A Savior"

Rule 10.20 in the MLB official rule book defines a SAVE. Credit a pitcher with a save when he meets 3 of the following conditions. 1) He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his club. 2) He is not the winning pitcher. 3) He qualifies under one of the following conditions: a) He enters the game with a lead of no more than 3 runs & pitches for at least 1 inning; b) He enters the game regardless of the count, with the potential tying runs either already on base or at bat, or on deck (that is the potential tying run is either already on base or is one of the first 2 batsmen that he faces); c) He pitches effectively for at least 3 innings. No more than 1 save can be credited in each game. Kudos to John Farrell for finding a closer after auditioning a number of players. The ones the Sox got this year are Joel Hanrahan who pitched 9 games. He got injured & left with an ERA of 9.82, 4 saves, a record of 0-1 & a winning percentage of .333. Bailey is finding himself sort of like Bard. He is posting a current ERA of 3.77, 30 games, a record of 3-1 with 8 saves. Finally it appears John found a real closer in Koji Uehara!! His stats are awesome with an ERA of 1.70, 44 games, a record of 2-0. Looks like the real deal. As I was reading about saves & closers I thought I would look at some of the best the Sox had over the years. Here's what I found: 1) Jonathan Papelbon, 2005-2011, 219 saves, record of 23-19, ERA of 2.33; 2) Bob Stanley, 1977-1989, 132 saves, record of 115-97, ERA of 3.64; 3) Dick Radatz, 1962-1966, 104 saves, record of 49-34, ERA of 2.65; 4) Jeff Reardon, 1990-1992, 88 saves, record of 8-9, ERA of 3.41; Tom Gordon, 1996-1999, 68 saves, record of 25-25, ERA of 4.45. Other notables include: 6) Lee Smith, 1988-1990, 58 saves, record of 12-7, ERA of 3.04; 7) Bill Campbell, 1977-1981, 51 saves, record of 28-19, ERA of 3.57; 8) Ugueth Urbina, 2001-2002, 49 saves, record of 1-7, ERA of 2.81; 9) Heathcliff Slocumb, 1996-1997, 48 saves, record of 5-10, ERA of 4.02; 10) Mike Fornieles, 1957-1963, 48 saves, record of 39-35, ERA of 4.08. Maybe next time I will write about BLOWN saves? Might be a bit longer article to read. (Author Mike G.)