For the want of a save

A tale of two baseball games, one year apart:




1) NY Yankees vs. Oakland A's, 04/05/06

With the game tied 3-3 going to the bottom of the 9th, the Yankees bring in Scott Proctor instead of closer Mariano Rivera, saving Rivera for an extra-inning "save situation". Against Proctor, Milton Bradley walks, gets to second on a sacrifice by Jason Kendall, and scores on a single by Marco Scutaro. The A's win 4-3.

2) NY Yankees vs. Oakland A's, 04/13/07

With the game tied 4-4 going into extra innings, the A's bring in Kiko Calero and Huston street to shut down the Yankees in the 10th and 11th. The Yankees again leave Rivera in the pen waiting for that elusive "save situation", pitching Luis Vizcaino in the 10th and Brian Bruney (who?) in the 11th. Against Bruney, Travis Buck triples off the wall and scores on a groundball by Bobby Kielty. The A's win 5-4.

In both of these games, the Yankees left their best reliever sitting in the bullpen with the game tied and brought in lesser pitchers, who lost the lead and the game. They were saving Rivera for a "save situation" after they got the lead, which seems either arrogant (shut down these guys with our fourth and fifth best bullpen guys, and save the ace for when we're ahead) or overly focused on "getting Mariano a save" (deciding who to pitch in a tight game based on a phony statistic that Jerome Holtzman invented in the late-1960s). In either case, this seems like a blueprint for how to lose in extra innings: instead of your best available pitcher, bring in your second or third best available pitcher.

And the Yankees have bad relief pitching this year, even worse than last year. Over the course of a year, good pitching can pick up bad hitting (hello A's!), but bad pitching brings the whole team down. I say this every year, but the Bombers will be lucky to make the playoffs in 2007. Their bullpen isn't going to hold up unless they score ten runs in every game.