K-Rod ties Bobby Thigpen's single season save record

[OnBaseMachine]

K-Rod ties record as Halos survive rally
Closer finishes off Mariners after Angels led by seven runs late
By Lyle Spencer / MLB.com

ANAHEIM -- Francisco Rodriguez matched Bobby Thigpen's single-season save record on Thursday night in front of 38,205, nailing down his 57th save in a 7-4 victory over the Mariners at Angel Stadium.

Rodriguez induced a double-play grounder from Ichiro Suzuki, but Jeremy Reed singled home a run and Adrian Beltre also singled before K-Rod retired Raul Ibanez for the historic 57th save.

With Jered Weaver, cuts on two fingers of his right hand healed, pitching six scoreless innings in his first outing since Aug. 30, the offense hummed along in front of 38,205 at Angel Stadium. Garret Anderson, playing his 2,000th game for the Angels, drove in three runs with a pair of singles. Jeff Mathis delivered a two-run single to halt an 0-for-25 slide, and Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez each had a double and single, Wood driving in a run. Kendry Morales also had two hits, scoring a run.

Weaver didn't give up a hit until the fourth inning, and he allowed only two runners to reach scoring position, walking three and hitting a batter while striking out three. He cut his right middle and ring fingers in a dugout accident in Detroit on Sept. 2. The victory, moving his record to 11-10, was his first since Aug. 8, when he beat the Yankees. After Jason Bulger's scoreless seventh, Ichiro Suzuki homered, his sixth, leading off the eighth against Justin Speier.

Anderson's RBI single in the third inning and Wood's RBI single in the fourth were all the Angels could manage against Mariners starter Brandon Morrow (2-3) through five innings. The Halos erupted for five runs against the Mariners' bullpen in the sixth, Vladimir Guerrero picking up his 84th RBI with a single. Anderson has 78 RBIs.

With an 89-57 record, the Angels need to go 11-5 the rest of the way for the franchise's first 100-win season. The club record is 99 by the 2002 World Series champions.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080912&content_id=3460504&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[Highlifeman21]

Since he picked his number b/c of the save record, does this mean once he breaks it he'll have a new number for next year?

[*BaseClogger*]

I wouldn't go anywhere near that guy in FA...

[Tony Cloninger]

I may rot in ESPN hell right now....but Skip Bayless just made some great points on FR.

He looked up his saves when team was up by only 1 run and he had about 27 of those....which was about 7 more than the 2nd place person. (Nathan)
He gave him credit for that but said he did not look at him as a Cy Young candidate........who does really if you think about it?

This stat when it came into being was when closers were the middle men/setup men as well....so the stat is no longer than valid to me.....when they come in 2-3 runs up for just 1 inning.

[RedsManRick]

Nothing like a statistic based largely on opportunities given to a player. K-Rod will not just set the save record, but will easily set the save opportunities record. Meanwhile, he's not even top 3 in his own league: Rivera, Nathan, Papelbon, arguably Soria. Then there's the group of comparables including Putz, Ryan, Wood, Hoffman, Lidge, Wager, Fuentes, Street, Saito. And that says nothing of middle relievers like Rauch and Broxton.

He's a very good reliever, no doubt, but it just goes to show how useless the "save" is as a stat measuring how good of a pitcher a guy is.

[OnBaseMachine]

K-Rod's not even the best reliever on his team. Have you ever seen Jose Arredondo pitch? He's filthy. K-Rod is a stud but there's no way I'd give him $75 million when they can insert Arredondo is his spot and probably get similar results.

[westofyou]

Mike Marshall and John Hiller would drink KRods milkshake.

[Patrick Bateman]

K-Rod's not even the best reliever on his team. Have you ever seen Jose Arredondo pitch?


That seems awfully bold for a guy that's pitched all of 50 innings compared to a guy having success for numerous seasons.

However, I think your right about the second part.

[OnBaseMachine]

That seems awfully bold for a guy that's pitched all of 50 innings compared to a guy having success for numerous seasons.

However, I think your right about the second part.

I was only being halfway serious but Arredondo's stuff is filthy, maybe even better than K-Rod's. In the long run I'd take Arredondo over K-Rod.

[blumj]

It's a really easy standard as far as I'm concerned. You have to be, at the absolute minimum, a better pitcher than Mariano Rivera to win an AL Cy Young or MVP as a reliever. And K-Rod's not a better pitcher than Rivera.

[OnBaseMachine]

K-Rod picked up save number 58 tonight to break the record. How fitting that it was a three run save.