The Closer Report: April 16, 2010 5 Saves, 1 Blown Save

SAVES:
Matt Capps (5) - Capps is on fire.  Needed only two outs and seven pitches to record his fifth save of the season.  He even added in a strikeout.

Andrew Bailey (1) - Bailey finally recorded a save and looked great doing it.  He needed only 13 pitches and gave up a harmless hit disposing fo the Orioles.

Ryan Franklin (4) - Franklin pitched to contact tonight and was hammered, but held on for the save.  He gave up two runs on three hits and ballooned his season ERA to 7.20.

Ryan Madson (3) - Looke sharp recording the last two outs of tonight's game sealing a 8-6 win.  He needed only 6 pitches and gave up a hit.

Fernando Rodney (2) - Pitched another quick perfect inning and notched his second save in as many days.

BLOWN SAVES:
Octavio Dotel (1-0, BS 1) - Dotel had a rough night, but ended up with the win.  He gave up a triple to Chris Dickerson and later let him score on a flyball that was sandwiched between two strikeouts.  His season ERA now sits at 5.40 with the lone blown save.

APPEARANCES:

Jonathan Papelbon - Entered a 1-1 game and pitched a near perfect inning in pouring rain.  He did walk one, but also struck out BJ Upton.  The game was called shortly after that, so Papelbon can still win the game when it's continued tomorrow.

Heath Bell (1-0) - Bell notched a win in a game where he was just getting some work.  He entered the game in the ninth inning down 3-2 and the Padres pulled a come back to win 6-3.  Bell pitched a perfect inning, but no strikeouts.

Bobby Jenks - Pitched a inning and gave up a hit and a strikeout.

Carlos Marmol - Pitched a inning in a non-save situation. Looked sharp, striking out two and giving up a hit.  His season ERA is still a flat 0.00 and his WHIP 0.56.

Listen to Todd "The True Guru" Farino breakdown all the closer activity three times a week on Blog Talk Radio. Every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 11pm PST. www.blogtalkradio.com/the-closer-report or download the podcast on ITunes!

Spring Training Updates: Closers

Jon Rauch - Twins
He has won the closing job in Minnesota. He has some closing experience and pitched well as a setup pitcher for the Twins in 2009. he should settle in and be a solid closer.

Jason Frasor - Blue Jays
He has beat out Kevin Gregg for the closing job in Toronto.  He has been involved in trade rumors, so both Gregg and Scott Downs should still be in the race if something happens.

Heath Bell - Padres
No news here except there is a good chance that Bell will be traded at some point and that makes setup pitcher, Mike Adams, a player of fantasy interest.

Ryan Madson - Phillies
Brad Lidge is injured and Madson will get first crack at the closing job.  He wasn't very good in this role in 2009, so proceed with cation.  Danys Baez will get a shot if Madson fails.

Chris Perez - Indians
Kerry Wood is on the DL again. If Perez pitches well he will keep the job.

Huston Street - Rockies
He will start the season on the DL and miss at least a month.  Franklin Morales will get save chances until Street returns. Manuel Corpas could be in the mix if Morales fails.

The Closer Report: May 21, 2009

Saves: 7

Save Opportunities: 8

Franklin, Hoffman and Fuentes join the leaders at 11 saves

By Todd Farino, www.thecloserreport.com

The saves slowed down a bit today, but there was still plenty of action. Ryan Franklin continues to relish his new role as St. Louis's closer. He got his 11th save of the season tonight and has the numbers to back it up. Overall Franklin has a tiny 1.53 ERA and an even smaller WHIP of 0.81. He has clearly surprised everyone and has so far been one of the the top waiver pickup of 2009.

Fernando Rodney started slow this year, but of late has been on fire. He has scored saves in 3 straight games and now has 8 saves on the season. He had a bit of a rocky inning tonight, but held the Rangers scoreless and secured the 4-3 win.

Mariano Rivera recorded his second save of the week, but has had a slow month of May with only 4 saves. He easily dispatched Orioles to get his 9th save of the season.

Joel Hanrahan came back as the closer for Washington and pitched a great inning for his 4th save. He struck out two and gave up a hit in one of his best performances of the year. While Manny Acta hasn't formally announced that Hanrahan is the closer, he made a statement today by not having any faith in Kip Wells to close out the 9th. Wells was rested and hadn't pitched since May 18th. If you held on to Hanrahan as I did, you got your closer back. Hopefully, crazy Manny could change that.

The lone blown save for the day goes to Brian Wilson of the Giants. Heath Bell came into a 1-1 tie in the 9th and gave up his first run of the season and looked to take the loss. Wilson however doubled up Bell and took the loss along with the blown save. In all 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs. Bell was hammered in his first bad outing of the season and was lucky to get away with only giving up one run thanks to a slow Bengie Molina. He gave up 4 hits in the innings. He officially has a ERA, although its a microscopic 0.50.

Other appearances:
Brian Fuentes (11) - Fuentes is hot with 7 saves in May.

Chad Qualls (10) Getting chances with good starting pitching of lately.

Trevor Hoffman (11) - He is on a tear and he started the season on the DL.

Jonathan Papelbon. Francona wanted to sweep Toronto bad and he used Paps to guarantee it.

Brad Ziegler - Took the loss by giving up a run on 2 hits and a walk. He did not record an out.

The Closer Report: May 20, 2009

Saves: 14

Save Opportunities: 14

13 save day for fantasy baseball, Bell and Broxton continue hot streaks

By Todd Farino, www.thecloserreport.com

I thought yesterday was a great day for closers, but today was amazing. 14 of the 17 games were saved and there wasn't one blown save.

To start, Kerry Wood rebounded from his disastrous blown save yesterday, but didn't make it easy on himself. He walked the bases loaded before striking out Teahen and DeJesus to end the game. Watching this game I felt he got lucky. Teahen and Dejesus were over anxious and swung at a OK cutter and some nasty curveballs pitches. This will go down as a bad outing as far as management is concerned.

Matt Lindstrom pitched in both games of a doubleheader and recorded 1 save. He preserved the 8-6 win in game one with a perfect inning and a strikeout. He had the exact same performance in game 2, but came in with a tie score. Lindstrom looked outstanding today. He commanded all his pitches and looked like the closer we expected him to be.

Back in the American League, Brad Ziegler made his first save appearance since his bout with the flu. He looked fine pitching a perfect inning and striking out one batter. Hopefully Ziegler gets his job back after this great performance. Don't go dropping Andrew Bailey so fast. Bailey pitched two innings yesterday, and another inning on May 17th. I figure he was getting rested and Ziegler got the call. Since the A's want Ziegler at closer he should get his job back, but he will be on a short list.

Broxton and Bell continued there race of dominance bothing getting their 11th save. Bell was perfect again with 2 strikeouts, while Broxton gave up an hit and oddly didn't strikeout anyone. Easily one of these guys will be my #1 closer on Sunday.

Matt Capps and Mariano Rivera notched their 8th save of the season. Capps had a clean inning, but Rivera had to go 1.1 innings and gave up a home run to rookie Nolan Reimold.

Another significant save was David Aarsdma. He notched his fifth save of the season with a easy inning. The thing to worry about is Brandon Morrow has yet to pitch since he lost the closer job. The manager said he was going to get Morrow in quickly so he doesn't rust and he even warmed up during the Red Sox series. Hopefully this has to do with tight games and nothing to do with injury.

Chris Sampson recorded his 2nd save of the season securing a 6-4 win. He's been closing games for LaTroy Hawkins who is day-to-day with a sore hip. I wouldn't go cutting Hawkins or even picking up Sampson. He's been solid this year, but Hawkins could be back sooner then later. If you have a free roster spot, pick him up for a few possible saves.

Other Saves -

Fernando Rodney (7) - Two straight days with a save.

Ryan Franklin (10) - get hammered for an ER and a WHIP of 3.00. Still, his ERA is 1.56.

Bobbie Jenks (9) - Great performance, lowered his ERA to 2.57 on the season.

Jon Rausch (1) - Came in to save the 11-8 game in the 13thinng. He gave up a solo home run against Dan Uggla and besides that pitched well. Qualls wasn't avaible after pitching the 11th and 12th innings for the win.