CLEARLY, A FORE-GAGNE CONCLUSION.Byline: STEVE DILBECK It was the greatest season by a relief pitcher relief pitcher n. Baseball A pitcher who replaces another during a game. Noun 1. relief pitcher - a pitcher who does not start the game fireman, reliever in baseball history. The most dominating performance by a closer ever. Better than anything Dennis Eckersley
In 2003, Eric Gagne gave baseball the closest thing to perfection Adv. 1. to perfection - in every detail; "the new house suited them to a T" just right, to a T, to the letter ever seen by a closer. On Thursday he received his just reward, earning the National League Cy Young Award in a rout. He is the first reliever to win since Eckersley in the American League American League (AL) One of the two associations of professional baseball teams in the U.S. and Canada designated as major leagues; the other is the National League (NL). in 1992, the first in the NL since Mark Davis in 1989, and the most deserving of the eight previous winners. None of his predecessors put together a season quite like this. None failed to blow a single save opportunity. None came close to his record 15 strikeouts per nine innings. Held opposing hitters to a .133 batting average batting average n. Baseball A measure of a batter's performance obtained by dividing the total of base hits by the number of times at bat, not including walks. Noun 1. . Had a 1.22 ERA. Jerome Holtzman Jerome Holtzman (born December 11, 1926 in Chicago, IL U.S.) is an award-winning baseball writer and since 1999 has been the official historian for Major League Baseball. Newspaper career Holtzman wrote for his hometown papers in Chicago for over 50 years. is the man who invented the save statistic and now is official historian of Major League Baseball "MLB" and "Major Leagues" redirect here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation) and Major Leagues (disambiguation). Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. . ``He had the most outstanding relief year I've ever heard of,'' Holtzman said. Over a two-season period, Gagne has saved a record 63 consecutive games. Which begs the question: How do you improve upon perfection? Gagne is just 27, in only his second season as a closer. ``Believe me, this is not a celebration to an end,'' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. ``This is a celebration to a beginning. He's not finished.'' How exactly does someone do this? Take perfection to another level? Really, it was hard to believe he could improve on 2002, when he saved 52 out of 56 opportunities with a 1.97 ERA, but he did. And he did go 2-3 last year, so there's that. ``Personally, I really don't think about that stuff,'' Gagne said. ``I think about the team. If we make the playoffs, it can be a lot better year. I don't care if I have saves or don't have any saves. It's pretty boring to sit on your couch and watch the World Series on TV and not be a part of it.'' He already has a new look ready for the 2004. At his Thursday news conference, wearing a black shirt over a black T-shirt, his famous bushy bush·y adj. bush·i·er, bush·i·est 1. Overgrown with bushes. 2. Thick and shaggy: a bushy head of hair. goatee was trimmed close. His hair was short, having shaved it 2 1/2 weeks ago. He wore rimless glasses. ``I just do stuff I feel like,'' he said. ``I don't really have a plan. That's the way it is on the mound. I go out there and do it by feeling.'' He is feeling on top of the world right now. He is only now eligible for salary arbitration, so look for another record to fall. This has to seem like an entire other life from the one Gagne was living in spring of 2002, when he went to camp uncertain whether he would make the team, be a starter or reliever. Andy Ashby then made his greatest contribution as a Dodger, looking healthy and getting penciled in as a starter. That left Gagne in the bullpen, and with general manager Dan Evans unable to trade for a closer, he became part of the supposed closer-by-committee with Jesse Orosco and Paul Quantrill. It never happened. In the seventh game of the season, the Dodgers were at Pac Bell Park leading 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Giants had a runner on and Barry Bonds up. Left-handed Orosco was warm in the bullpen as Tracy walked to the mound. ``I went out there to make a change,'' Tracy said. Tracy looked Gagne in the eye as he approached, and saw the determination for which he was hoping. ``I said right to him on the mound, 'It's very early in the season. We still have unanswered questions here, and I have an opportunity to find out the answer to one right now.' And I left. ``The only trip to the mound in three years where I didn't take the guy out of the game.'' The runner advanced on a passed ball, Bonds was walked and Gagne struck out Jeff Kent and popped up Reggie Sanders. A closer was born. And what a closer he's been. He's put together the two finest back-to-back seasons ever. No one else ever has had consecutive seasons of 50 saves. No one else ever has saved 50 or more games twice in their entire careers. Can there really be an encore? Can there be something even more? There's the postseason, Thigpen's record 57 saves. ``There's a lot more left out there for this guy,'' Tracy said. ``As far as mechanics, his ability, and know-how to pitch, he's still learning some of those things. That's not a complete, finished product just yet.'' Just the best, getting better. |
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