Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Just Because You're Paranoid...
In order to determine if I need more insurance, I took the number of perfect and non-perfect outings for Izzy, the other league save leader, Armando Benitez, along with Braden Looper and Eric Gagne (just for perspective) and divided those by number of total appearances. Then I did the same for games in which each pitcher recorded a save, blown save, win, or loss. I'm sure someone's done this before, but not being a math geek, I can't follow those explanations (see THB Closer article, which I saw while I was writing this, and probably says the exact same thing, but I don't get it).
I know, I know, Jason's hip was all screwed up. He's not Lidge or Gagne. You can't expect a ton of perfect innings. But I'd like to not worry about damaging furniture.
Here's the total appearance breakdown:
And those specific situations mentioned above:
Now, Gagne had only two blown saves, while Isringhausen had seven-and the Cards won two of those games. But in the second scenario, Izzy gave up 40 hits and 19 walks, Gagne 45 hits and 16 walks (both gave up four homeruns).
I guess that general unease as the ninth inning approaches may be a hangover from 2003. So, when he gives up that double to lead off the ninth, I'll just tell myself that Izzy just wants to maximize our entertainment dollar. But when he walks someone, or two someones, well, then "Dammit" may not be enough.
__________________
I liked this little jab Walker took at a well-known media-whore:
I know, I know, Jason's hip was all screwed up. He's not Lidge or Gagne. You can't expect a ton of perfect innings. But I'd like to not worry about damaging furniture.
Here's the total appearance breakdown:
| Pitcher | G | Runners | No Runners |
| Izzy | 74 | 46 (62.2%) | 28 (37.8%) |
| Benitez | 64 | 35 (54.7%) | 29 (45.3%) |
| Looper | 71 | 47 (66.2%) | 24 (33.8%) |
| Gagne | 70 | 42 (60%) | 28 (40%) |
And those specific situations mentioned above:
| Pitcher | G | Runners | No Runners |
| Izzy | 56 | 33 (59%) | 23 (41%) |
| Benitez | 54 | 29 (53.7%) | 25 (46.3%) |
| Looper | 40 | 27 (67.5%) | 13 (67.5%) |
| Gagne | 56 | 33 (59%) | 23 (41%) |
Now, Gagne had only two blown saves, while Isringhausen had seven-and the Cards won two of those games. But in the second scenario, Izzy gave up 40 hits and 19 walks, Gagne 45 hits and 16 walks (both gave up four homeruns).
I guess that general unease as the ninth inning approaches may be a hangover from 2003. So, when he gives up that double to lead off the ninth, I'll just tell myself that Izzy just wants to maximize our entertainment dollar. But when he walks someone, or two someones, well, then "Dammit" may not be enough.
__________________
I liked this little jab Walker took at a well-known media-whore:
"One guy was labeled a warrior in the playoffs. I don't have to say his name. Everybody can figure it out," Walker said, making reference to Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Curt Schilling.Heh.
"There were a lot of warriors on this team. We just didn't publicize it."
