Quote:
|
Originally Posted by SWardle
I think that's a bunch of bulls---, personally. It's funny that a site like that which doesn't believe clutch exists and posters around here that don't believe in clutch would believe that somehow, all of a sudden, players hit better all because it's the 9th inning. I mean, the starter faces the same lineup, right? In fact, the starter faces the entire lineup... there's no guarantee the closer will even _face_ the 3-4-5 hitters. He could come in and face the 7-8-9 hitters and that's it.
Look at how many opportunities the starter has to blow the game. Let's say he goes 7 innings. That's 78% of the outs and the game. If he throws a turd on the wall and get blasted in any of those innings then the need for a Papelbon goes down to nil. Papelbon is a total non-factor. Not to mention that winning and losing for 78% of the game rests on the shoulder of your starting pitcher and your offense. The closer comes in and throws 11% of the game.
Now, barring some mythical clutch or "players automatically hit 7x better in the ninth inning" then how is the closers _sole_ ninth inning performance anywhere near as important as the 7 innings the starter put in to make that save even a possibility?
|
Not sure you got the point.
In the first inning you have 27 outs to score runs. So if the team scored 3 runs before you get up to bat, you still have 27 outs to make up for that. IF the team goes up 3 runs in the 9th inning, you only have 3 more outs to make up for it. That is the point of higher leverage.