(photo courtesy of brewers.com)
Congratulations to Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Francisco Rodriguez, who moments ago picked up his 300th career save! He became only the 25th pitcher in baseball history to reach this milestone, and with his next save will pass former closers Jason Isringhausen and Bruce Sutter to move even further up this list. Rodriguez joins a small fraternity of closers, most notably Trevor Hoffman and Rollie Fingers, who have notched milestone saves with the Brewers.
Anybody who follows the Brewers knows that they tend to go through closers like toilet paper. Some of them have been big name trades or free agents and some of them have been reclamation projects, but the common theme for most has been to string together a great season or two, only to fade into obscurity. It's because of this short window of success that I have never been an advocate of expensive closer contracts. It is so rare to have a guy like K-Rod come along who can remain effective and durable enough to collect even 100 saves, let alone 300. I don't think it can be overlooked how monumental this accomplishment is for K-Rod, and I'm happy he got to achieve it as a Brewer. For a guy who has not been a full time closer in over 2 years and who wasn't even on the team in spring training, it's pretty incredible. I was fortunate to see Trevor Hoffman's 601st save, which ended up being his last. I'm going to the Brewer game tomorrow and hope to see Franky's 301st, and here's hoping there are many more to follow.
STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 06.22:
Brewers 31-42, -15.5 (3 v. Cubs, 3 @ Pirates)
Reds 44-31, -3.5 (2 @ Athletics, 3 @ Rangers)
Twins 33-37, -6.0 (2 @ Marlins, 4 v. Royals)
2013 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 8 (+9 worked)
Peter - 17
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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