August 01, 2007
That's what I Call a Save
Alan Embree comes in to face the Tigers with the bases loaded, one out, and Oakland up 3-2 in the top of the eighth. Embree gets Granderson to fly out and then Monroe struck out to end the inning. And of course, Embree won't get the save, even though he's likely to pitch in the toughest situation in the game.
Posted by David Pinto at
06:15 PM
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Embree did get the save because he pitched the ninth as well
Yeah, Embree is the closer right now that Huston Street is recovering from a pinched ulnar nerve. That was a huge save right there and he still got three more outs in the ninth.
The point, of course, though, is that the statistic used to measure your best reliever, the save, has affected the way that reliever gets used, such that typically he's not necessarily brought in in the most important relief situation in the game. A flawed statistic, and the emphasis on that statistic, has affected the way the game is played for the worse.