Superdude:
Heck, if he said that at the Royals-Reds game, Chapman (arguably) isn’t even the most dominant closer in the building at that time. Greg Holland is more dominant, and Wade Davis, who is not technically the Royals’ closer, but has filled the role when Holland has been injured and would certainly be a closer on any team not employing Holland (or Kimbrel, and OK, maybe Chapman too) is a more dominant single-inning reliever.
A very fair point. Chapman’s has struck out 15.3 batters per 9 innings in his career. If dominant is a function of strikeouts (and the speed of one’s fastball), that may be a fair statement.
Holland, for comparison, has a K/9 of 12.2. Kimbrel is 14.7.
I understand what you mean. When I think “dominant” in terms of a closer, I think it’s more than just speed. Chapman routinely throws over 100mph. But it doesn’t really matter how fast it is if you can’t control it (note: I’m not suggesting that Chapman can’t control his pitches). Hitters will eventually be able to clock it and react.
I’d hold Rivera over Chapman because, even though batters KNEW what pitch was coming, they STILL couldn’t do anything with it. And, while Chapman hasn’t had as many save chances in the postseason, I don’t think, when all is said and done, that he will have nearly the numbers that Rivera put up. I don’t know if anyone will ever get close to those stats. In 96 postseason games, he has a .889 winning percentage. He had a .700 ERA in his postseason career. 42 saves, 86 hits in 141.0 innings. Allowed TWO home runs in the playoffs. Struck out 110, walked 21. 4 intentional walks. A career WHIP of 0.759 (postseason).
To me, part of dominance is “who would you LEAST like to have to face in the bottom of the 9th in game 7 of the World Series, especially if you’re down by one run?”
To me, it’s not even close.
Mariano Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher of all time hands down, I’m not arguing that. I was just saying the Reds announcers’ statement might not be entirely absurd, it just depends what exactly they meant. I am sure if you asked Thom Brenneman who the greatest closer of all time was, he would say it’s Mariano Rivera.
You know how much I also love the Royals, but I’m giving this to Chapman. Ventura is the hardest throwing starting pitcher in the game last year, throwing 545 pitches over 98 last year. Last year Chapman threw twice as many pitches over 100 as the entire rest of the MLB. Combined. Davis and Holland are ninja surgeons - but they’re not dominant in the way that Chapman is.
I was going by WAR, a per Baseball Reference. Admittedly, as said in earlier messages of this thread, “dominant” can mean different things to different people.
I just have to say that I hope the dodgers find their bats again soon. that is all.
Hey, it’s only been about 92 hours or so since they last scored a run. Or, to look at it another way, they’ve scored two runs since the fifth inning of Friday night’s game. That’s not so bad, is it?
<gag>
I’d rather that their bats never make contact with a baseball ever again.
But if I have to, I’ll settle for “not until tomorrow”
We’ll be in 418. $5 Post tickets, with fees $22 for 3.
That was the 10th walk-off homer of Zimmerman’s career. The record is 13 by Jim Thome. What makes it particularly impressive is that Zimm only has 11 career homers. Ok, 189, but Thome had over 600.
Third straight shutout of the Dodgers by the Giants, and Kershaw gave up the first home run of his career to a pitcher, Madison Bumgarner.
Brewers pitcher Will Smith was ejected yesterday for having a foreign substance on his forearm. Specifically, he had a little sunscreen/rosin mix smeared on his glove arm.
Buster Olney was complaining on the radio this morning that all pitchers do this so they can grip the ball because it’s too shiny and smooth right out of the box and so it should just be ignored. I do not agree with Buster. Yes, baseballs are shiny out of the box, but teams are allowed to work them in before they are used in the game. There is a rosin bag behind the mound in every MLB park. You’re allowed to lick your fingers or just rub a little sweat on them if you’re concerned about grip.
I thought the umps rubbed the balls with a special mud to take the shine off. That’s not done anymore?
I think an equipment manager or attendant does the actual mud rubbing, but yes they do that to dozens of baseballs before every game.
And Zim is only 30, so he still has a lot of baseball left to play. RZ is my favorite player, he never whined when the team sucked, he never gloats and he raises a bunch of money for charity, his contract includes that he’s allowed to use the park once a year for a concert to raise money for his charity. Just a good guy.
There’s not a bad seat in that park, it’s a great place to watch a game. Have you noticed over the years how much more informed Nats fans have become, it used to be people where there just to be out, but now the crowd is into the game and watching every pitch.
GYFNG!
So Fangraphs decided to look at what in the world was wrong with the A’s, esp comparing their actual record with what their record should be based on Wins and Losses:
2-13 record in one-run games?! Holy crap. The defensive numbers are also downright stunning - Lawrie and Semien are killing the team with their fielding.
A 2-13 record is *not *best described as “unlucky”.
In 1-run games? How would you describe it? I’d go one further and describe them lucky in the opposite direction - with a bullpen that bad and defense just as worse, how have they gone this far into the season with 15 games decided by just 1 run? How are they not 2-4 in 1-run games, and the other 9 games decided by 4+?