Lidge is best now by far. A throwback closer that will get more than 3 outs un like those starting off the ninth fresh. Relievers (top reliever on a team) were called fireman in the past because the firdt batter faced woulf be withmen on base and the games balance in hand from the seventh inning on. Also, never mentioned til today, how many of those easy three out saves occurred with the bottom half of lineup coming up? In old days, when the rally was happenning, it was usually sparked by the better hitters and the reliever's first batter would be a top run producer.
Give me Gossage over anybody today. Lidge is the closest to the past greats: Lyle, Perronoski, Hrabosky, Wilhelm, Fingers (best all time --not even close as his post season better than Rivera because he'd consistently get 5-6 outs sometime 7-8)
Give me Gossage over anybody today. Lidge is the closest to the past greats: Lyle, Perronoski, Hrabosky, Wilhelm, Fingers (best all time --not even close as his post season better than Rivera because he'd consistently get 5-6 outs sometime 7-8)
The 'hold" stat came into being by the efforts of Ron Davis' agent or another agent with similar player represented.
the Yankees, in their wisdom, to preserve Gossages's career, decided to use him for the last inning 90% of the time as he became a little older. Thus, they developed a ptcher to get the tough(sometimes more important) outs in innings 6-8. Ron Davis was that man for 3-4 years, yet when it came time for contract negotiations, there were no stats to show his value to the team and pitching the type of innings Davis did, it would be hard to accumaulate a great ERA.
Thus , the agent came up with the hold as one that preserves an exosting lead.
the Yankees, in their wisdom, to preserve Gossages's career, decided to use him for the last inning 90% of the time as he became a little older. Thus, they developed a ptcher to get the tough(sometimes more important) outs in innings 6-8. Ron Davis was that man for 3-4 years, yet when it came time for contract negotiations, there were no stats to show his value to the team and pitching the type of innings Davis did, it would be hard to accumaulate a great ERA.
Thus , the agent came up with the hold as one that preserves an exosting lead.
