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Friday, May 06, 2005Percy My HeartToday's Matchup: Wil Ledezma (1-2, 6.55) vs. Kelvim Escobar (0-1, 2.77)
The big story of this series is the return of Troy Percival to Anaheim. The Angels have some sort of a mid-inning tribute to him, which is very classy and should be appreciated by all the fans. That is also quite a bit better than what Disney would do, which would be to pretend the player never existed. Percy was easily the best closers in franchise history and is arguably one of the top 2 over the last 10 years (the other being Mariano Rivera). Like many others, I do hope that the fans get to see him pitch this weekend, although I hope it is for something other than a save situation. Also, I think he should throw out the first pitch in one of the games this weekend (I don't know if he is scheduled to or what, but it just seems appropriate). UPDATE: Well, the Angels won a close one. Escobar pitched effectively and seems to be about a start away from his true midseason form. The Angels bats were able to provide him some runs, as well. Shields, meanwhile, allowed an inherited runner to score. That marks just the 2nd inherited runner to score on Angel relievers all season (out of about 33). RICHARD: Here's the box. Comments:As good as Gagne has been, he has only been racking up saves for 3 years now. Josh qualified his statement with "over the last 10 years," and I think it would be appropriate to say that 3 good years doesn't make a decade of success. You'd be right, but Gagne has only been a closer for three years now. As far as the past decade is concerned, I'd rank them like-a-so: 1) Rivera 2) Wagner 3) Hoffman 4) Percival 5) Benitez Sorry, I wasn't talkin' about Gagne', I was talkin' about Hoffman. Although I will agree with Richard's ranking. Ok, I screwed up with Hoffman. Percival is one of the top 3. I would put Wagner at number 4 with the chance to move up given enough time. "I think there is a guy down 5 who have a say about being top 2..." "Sorry, I wasn't talkin' about Gagne', I was talkin' about Hoffman." Ah yes - "down 5". So you were. My mistake. When discussing Southern California closers and only one leaps to the mind of most (otherwise intelligent) fans, it just goes to show Gagne's dominance of late. I like Richard's ranking. Personally, I'd flop Hoffman and Wagner, but anyway you dice it, I think Percy is #4. Not that there's anything wrong with that. |
