July 16, 2006
SAVELESS:
No saves recorded during full day of baseball (IRA PODELL, July 16, 2006, AP)
There was no saving baseball during a wild Saturday full of blowouts and walkoff wins.Posted by Orrin Judd at July 16, 2006 12:55 AMIt marked the first time in nearly three decades a full day of major league games were played without a save recorded.
There were six blown saves in the 15-game schedule, including two each in Pittsburgh's 7-6 victory over Washington, and Cincinnati's 3-2 win against Colorado. The Nationals and Reds both won with ninth-inning rallies.
The last time baseball went a complete day without a save was Sept. 15, 1978, when all 26 teams were in action during a 14-game schedule -- including a doubleheader, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Elias Sports Bureau people are some of the luckiest people alive. Why would anyone care that July 15, 2006 was the first day without a save in the major leagues since September 15, 1978, let alone pay for that information? Except that all these saps have the ESB to tell them something they all of a sudden becomes important...
Maybe, though, that's the genius of the American economy. Not many jobs to be created in Europe through the Elias Agence d'Sport or the Elias Sports Geschäftszimmer. What are they going to say? "Yesterday was the first day since last Thursday that the team scoring first won all the games in the major football leagues of Europe" or "Real Madrid opponents average 3.2 yellow cards and 0.8 red cards per game, except in international friendlies, when they average 2.6 yellow cards and 1.1 red cards" or "For the first time since September 15, 1978, each team in major league European football play scored at least one goal. Our sources believe FIFA has launched an investigation into this nearly unprecedented outbreak of scoring, and is contemplating solutions including filling the balls with cement and/or adding another goalie."
Obviously, no one would pay for such meaningless information. But luckily we have baseball, and so can add value. Economic growth through trivia!
Posted by: jsmith at July 16, 2006 8:45 AMBecause the numbers represent cultural touchstones that link us to the past, in that distinctively American way:
"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."
We care about that day in 1978 for the same reason we care about a day in 1776. We are the democracy of the dead.
Posted by: oj at July 16, 2006 8:52 AMI found this definition via Google in case anyone finds it useful... I did!
==========
A pitcher can earn a save by completing ALL three of the following items:
1. Finishes the game won by his team.
2. Does not receive the win.
3. Meets one of the following three items:
a: Enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches at least one inning.
b: Enters the game with the tying run either on base, at bat, or on deck.
c: Pitches effectively for at least three innings.
Blown save by Cincinnati, eh? My first reaction was to think "it's good to see Eddie Guardado's back!", but no,someone else got the honor.