Izzy blows another one...

LidsvilleNine wrote:
> Jeremy Reaban wrote:
> > In his defense, he did pitch 2 innings yesterday. And he didn't have much of
> > a lead, since Tony stayed with Carpenter a bit too long.
>
> How long is too long with this bullpen waiting?
> Izzy sucked tractor tires tonight. Is he throwing knuckleballs too hard
> or something? My mom ages a year every time they bring him out. "oh
> know, whatshishausen again!"

Of course, over on the Houston Astros newsgroups they are lamenting the
failure of Lidge once again. The problem of having an inconsistent
closer seems to be shared by many teams this season.

Stratbat
 >> Stay informed about: Izzy blows another one... 

stratbat wrote:
> LidsvilleNine wrote:
> > Jeremy Reaban wrote:
> > > In his defense, he did pitch 2 innings yesterday. And he didn't have much of
> > > a lead, since Tony stayed with Carpenter a bit too long.
> >
> > How long is too long with this bullpen waiting?
> > Izzy sucked tractor tires tonight. Is he throwing knuckleballs too hard
> > or something? My mom ages a year every time they bring him out. "oh
> > know, whatshishausen again!"
>
> Of course, over on the Houston Astros newsgroups they are lamenting the
> failure of Lidge once again. The problem of having an inconsistent
> closer seems to be shared by many teams this season.
>

Closers make what, one or two thousand dollars PER PITCH?
 >> Stay informed about: Izzy blows another one... 

"stratbat" <stratbat84.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote in
> Of course, over on the Houston Astros newsgroups they are lamenting the
> failure of Lidge once again. The problem of having an inconsistent
> closer seems to be shared by many teams this season.

Izzy has blown 21% of them (7 out of 33), while Lidge has only blown 16% of
them (4 out of 25). Though Lidge has a much uglier ERA (almost 6!)
 >> Stay informed about: Izzy blows another one... 

The office is much more pleasant this morning than last Monday, and the
Monday before, and the Monday before

Miles' 2-out last-inning hits,
Edmonds hits 3 homers in a week,
Taguchi flashes the ather,
Marquis wins another,
Rolen rolls out the long ball,
Molina picks off another,
Eckstein scores the winning run,
Carpenter goes long,
and Pujols is Pujols,
the world is good.


HankC
 >> Stay informed about: Izzy blows another one... 

"LidsvilleNine" <LidsvilleNine.TakeThisOut@socket.net> wrote in message
news:1152510536.053936.121770@35g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> stratbat wrote:
>> LidsvilleNine wrote:
>> > Jeremy Reaban wrote:
>> > > In his defense, he did pitch 2 innings yesterday. And he didn't have
>> > > much of
>> > > a lead, since Tony stayed with Carpenter a bit too long.
>> >
>> > How long is too long with this bullpen waiting?
>> > Izzy sucked tractor tires tonight. Is he throwing knuckleballs too hard
>> > or something? My mom ages a year every time they bring him out. "oh
>> > know, whatshishausen again!"
>>
>> Of course, over on the Houston Astros newsgroups they are lamenting the
>> failure of Lidge once again. The problem of having an inconsistent
>> closer seems to be shared by many teams this season.
>>
>
> Closers make what, one or two thousand dollars PER PITCH?

You hit the nail on the head!

And this has been my gripe with Isringhausen for a long time ... not that he
is inconsistent and blows a save now and then. I believe many pitchers would
have many of the same difficulties at times. It's the fact that we're paying
him over 7-million dollars!

I have maintained for a long time, that the job of closer is an overpriced
(and overvalued) commodity in baseball. The Cardinals could use that money
and patch up some bigger holes in their lineup and have almost any other
pitcher experience the same type of "success" Isringhausen is having - for a
much lower price tag.

Look at the White Sox ... they found a kid in minor league baseball to do
their closing last season. He did a great job - and still is! Isringhausen's
check is 15 times larger than Bobby Jenks.

I'm telling you, any generally competent pitcher is going to have success as
a closer. Getting through a *single* inning without 3 runs being scored is
not a particularly great skill. Neither is getting through a single inning
without 1 or 2 runs scoring. And, by definition, a "generally competent"
pitcher is going to have plenty of scoreless innings. Sure, he'll blow some
saves, but, as we see, even the "blue chip" closers blew their fair share.
Which all begs the question: Are they worth the high price tag?

David Emerling
Memphis, TN
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