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April 27, 2005 saw Jose Mesa record his eighth save of the season. Mesa has saved every game the Pittsburgh Pirates have won, for a season total of 8.
With the anemic Bucs offense, a blowout win is a rarity this year. Every game they've won has been by a margin of 3 runs or less. The Bucs will likely win more than 60 games this year, and thus, Joe Table will record more than 60 saves. The final win tally be probably be around 70-75, so even with factoring in 10 blown saves, Mesa is "ON PACE" to set the single-season saves record with at least 60! Finally, someone can bump Bobby Thigpen out of the record book.
With his eighth save of the season, Mesa also reached the career "milestone" of 300 saves. Fiftern years ago, that seemed like a lofty stat. Around 1992, Jeff Reardon set what was, at the time, the career saves mark--passing Rollie Fingers at 342. Lee Smith passed Reardon and the next year. Dennis Eckersley, Trevor Hoffman and John Franco soon blew by Reardon's mark. .
300 saves seemed like a lofty career accomplishment at the beginning of 1990, but now it's become common. "Save" is a relatively new stat, but at the dawn of the 90's, only a few pitchers were at or near the 300 mark. It was trumpetted as a possible Hall of Fame marker...much like 300 wins or 3,000 hits. But in the past 15 years, we've seen guys like Robb Nen, Jeff Montgomery, Rick Aguilera, Roberto Hernandez, Randy Myers, Mesa, and Doug Jones pass it. I doubt those guys would finish on any media buffoon's Hall of Fame list. It's a questionable
pitching achievement if longtime Mets (Franco) and Royals (Montgomery) are reaching it.
300 saves may be nice, but it's hardly a Hall of Fame benchmark. Another reason why I won't cry when Goose Gossage gets "snubbed" for HOF election for the next 30 years. 300 saves gets you into the Hall of Pretty Good, where your paper mache' bust is displayed next to Dave Kingman, Reggie Smith, George Scott, Boog Powell, Andre Dawson and Orel Hersheiser.
Come Hungry: Other Worthless Bucs news from the first month
...As part of Pittsburgh's season opener, Jason Bay received his Rookie of the year award. He also took part in a pre-game charity ceremony, posing for the cameras and presenting an oversized check. It looked authentic, right down to the routing and account numbers. Which makes me wonder if some loser identity thief was watching the game and copied the numbers.
..Jack Wilson also received his Silver Slugger award. Dang, but that thing's HUGE. I figured guys alwasy threw trophy stuff on their mantles, but you've got to have a friggin' warehouse full of empty palettes to store that sucker.
... Matt Lawton is a new acquisition, but he's already into the (color) scheme of things. To match his new team's uniforms, he has YELLOW teeth. That's a sign of a true team player. Some guys get tattoos, mark their sneakers or customize their license plates... Lawton colored his teeth.
...Y'know, John Wehner made his debut as a, y'know, Pirates color commentator this month. Y'know, I'm not exactly, y'know, saying he's uh.. y'know, bad or anything, But, y'know, he's on pace to the set the single season record for, y'know, saying a certain phrase, y'know.
...Oliver Perez got shelled his first 4 starts, but took the mound on April 26 and pitched a gem, notching a 2-0 decision over the Astros. Since I spent the winter bragging about the guy, it was nice to seem him finally bust out and prove that his 2004 season wasn't a fluke. I also noticed that Humberto Cota was the catcher that day. Cota only caught one of Ollie's previous starts, but it's been noted over the past year that the two seem to have a good rapport. Ollie won't pitch 6 and 2/3 no-hit innings everytime Cota's behind the plate, but there's definitley something between the two.
...You know it's been a quiet start for the Bucs when one of the highlights is David Ross. Dumb note: but I think Ross may be the first Bucs catcher to wear the "hockey helmet" mask. I want to say that Angelo Encarnacion also wore one, when the helmets first hit the market around 1996. It's a cool helmet, simply because it has the awesome secondary Jolly Roger logo-- with the skeleton head. That thing rules. Also a bit surprised that a memorablia dealer has never thought to market one. They sell those mini-football and hockey helmets. It'd be an improvement over those plastic batters' helmets they sell.
..Hitting's been a problem, but Jason Bay seems to be coming around, including a late homer against the Cubs last weekend. Ty Wigginton and Craig Wilson have become gigantic problems at the plate. Currently, Wigginton's been benched in favor of.... Bobby Hill (Peggy and Hank are proud).
Wilson's bounced back between the outfield and first base over the years, which keeps him in manager Lloyd McClendon's constant lineup changes. Not that I hold a degree in Fat Manager Studies or anything, but having 22 different lineups in 22 games seems wacky.
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