The idiot save

My plan to write about the ridiculous surplus of pitchers on the Dodgers staff was usurped by Grant Brisbee today. If you aren’t reading his blog McCovey Chronicles you are missing out. Grant’s blog is a fun read especially if you hate Matt Latos. Seriously, that guy sucks, although he did get his comeuppance during game 5 of the NLDS. Watch the clip of Posey’s grand-slam with a careful eye on the catcher Ryan Hannigan. As soon as the ball leaves Posey’s bat he stands up and starts shaking his head in disbelief. Even thinking about it gives me that warm tingly glow that you can only get with postseason greatness. Speaking of postseason greatness, lets take a moment and appreciate the stellar performance of Brandon Phillips. I have never had so much respect for a player on another team. He annihilated the Giants in that series. Really all you need to know is this:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25384569&c_id=mlb

Good god. I have no idea why this guy isn’t a bigger star.

That’s enough about people who aren’t a part of the G-men. Onto what is more than likely going to be my biggest issue with the season. What in the world is wrong with MLB managers and their archaic notion of “The Save”? It is seriously the dumbest statistic in a sport that has an abundance of stupid stats and acronyms. Whip, babip, fip, fap, era+, war, re24 and a host of others that you need to have a math major in order to comprehend what the hell is going on. The reason why I’m going to go nuts this year is because from all accounts it seems like Bochy is no longer going to run a closer by comittee. Affeldt, Casilla, Lopez and Romo have proved clutch in pressure situations, so why not use them by the best match-up? The only positive with Bochy going old-school is that we’ll probably get more Romo which is ALWAYS a good thing. But his elbow is “barky” and I will flip the fuck out if he Marmadukes it in June. The other thing I hate about designated closers is that not all saves happen in the 9th inning. Sometimes you have to shut the door in the 7th or 8th inning, so why not use your best relievers in those situations to kill any potential rallies.