Angels' Francisco Rodriguez could be saving best for last
BILL DWYRE
With 19 games left in the season, 'Frankie' needs three saves to break baseball's single-season standard of 57. His run at the record has Angel Stadium abuzz.
It is Monday night at the ball yard, a buzzing Angel Stadium.
The kids are back in school, but attendance is still 41,025, meaning only a few empty seats. There is the unmistakable feel of a major league baseball game with something special going on.
The Yankees are in town, and that's part of it. The superstars are there, household names -- Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui. Roger Clemens' locker attendant.
But the Yankees came in 10 games out of first place and 8 1/2 out of a wild-card playoff spot.
The home-team Angels have trashed the American League West. They are 17 games in front of the second-place Texas Rangers going into the game and will clinch the title, probably in this second week of September, with any combination of Angels wins or Texas losses totaling three.
So that's part of the electricity here, but only part. After all, how excited can you get about a story with a foregone conclusion?
The most chatter centers on a wiry little guy, 5 feet 11, 175 pounds, and his pursuit of a record that has acquired increasing traction with fans and the media. It's not Hank Aaron's 755 homers or Joe DiMaggio's 56 consecutive games with a hit. But it is intriguing.
The twitching, fidgeting, herky-jerky exploits of Francisco Rodriguez, the Angels' closing relief pitcher, has the media out in hordes and the fans paying attention. He has saved 55 games for the Angels. The record is 57, held by Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox. Thigpen set it in 1990, and then, as now, part of the story was that Thigpen even got that many opportunities.
A pitcher gets a save if 1) closes out the game with the potential tying run in the on-deck circle; 2) closes out the game by pitching three innings or more and holding a lead; 3) pitches a complete final inning holding a lead of three runs or fewer.
So, just the mere mathematics belie the numbers Rodriguez has put up. And after Monday night, he has 19 more games to make his record-breaking three more saves. Amazing numbers, especially when Manager Mike Scioscia points out that Rodriguez has never pitched more than three days in a row, and has done that only five times.
So just as they have for his team this season, the planets have lined up nicely for the guy everybody knows as Frankie.
The anticipation of the record was a great talking point Monday.
