Closing Time

The Nationals are undefeated. The Tigers are winless. It's early. But if there's been any theme at all these first few days of '08, it's been late-game meltdowns by "closers." I use quotation marks because there's a decent shot many of these guys will be middle relievers by the All-Star break.

Last night, Trevor Hoffman picked up right where he left off in '07, giving up 3 of his 4 runs on a Lance Berkman homerun, en route to a 9-6 Padres loss. Also last night, Brandon Lyon entered the 9th against the Reds with a 5-3 lead, but didn't retire a batter before giving up a 3-run walk-off to Edwin Encarnacion.

The night before that, Josh Hamilton took J.J. Putz deep for what proved to be a 2-run game winner. The M's promptly placed Putz on the DL with inflamed cartilage near his ribcage.

Monday, we saw a pair of "closers," Kerry Wood and Eric Gagne, give up 3-spots in the top and bottom halves of the 9th. The 0-2 Cubs proved their bullpen is, in fact, worse, when Bob Howry allowed another run in the top of the 10th, and the Brew-crew won 4-3. And perhaps the most Chernobyl-esque meltdown came in Philadelphia, courtesy of the never-reliable Tom Gordon. Flash gave up 5 runs on just 20 pitches to the jugger-not Washington offense as the Phils lost 11-6.

That's six multi-run 9th-inning implosions in just 35 games played, and it's not even counting Huston Street's blown save in Japan, or Jon Rauch's blown-save-turned-win Sunday night after Ryan Zimmerman's walk-off. The only reason Rauch was in the game was because Chad Cordero hurt himself warming up and hasn't pitched yet.

There's no way to know if this trend will continue, or for how long. But I do know this. San Diego, Arizona, Seattle, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia need to have a steady 9th inning man or they'll all miss the playoffs. There's just too much talent in their respective divisions.