MLB.com’s Fred Zinkie reflects on his frustration in a certain category as he struggles to stay in the Mixed League race….
The Baltimore Orioles are killing me!
That phrase has rarely been uttered in recent years by anyone other than long-suffering Orioles fans but at the moment the Orioles and their late season hot streak are ruining my chances of picking up a Mixed League Championship.
Entering the final full week of action I had 13 points in saves. I led Dave Feldman by a pair of saves and Tim Heaney by three. I sent John Axford and Jordan Walden out to keep my lead. Tim countered with Craig Kimbrel, Brandon League and newly-acquired Jim Johnson while Dave threw out Mark Melancon and former closers Fernando Salas and Kevin Gregg. I felt pretty safe that I would stay in front of Dave, who really only owns one closer at the moment but I knew that the race with Tim would be close.
Heading into the weekend, I have no saves this week. The Angels managed to fritter away some late-inning leads and extra-inning games (and their playoff hopes for that matter), giving Walden no chances. The Brewers also didn’t get a chance to put their fireman on the mound.
But the Orioles produced saves and plenty of them! In fact, a Baltimore reliever has earned a save all four days so far this week. First, Johnson secured three wins over Boston, pushing Tim past me and then just for good measure, Buck Showalter decided to rest Johnson and put in Gregg on Thursday, moving Feldman ahead of me. Dave has also got a pair of saves from Melancon this week.
Saves are a fickle stat week-to-week but they usually even out over the course of a full season. Well, I don’t have time for them to even out! I need the Orioles and Astros to get back to playing like last place teams and I need the Brewers and Angels to win some close games this weekend.
My plan to catch Nick Minnix heading into the final full week was…..
1. Catch him in BA
2. Catch him in ERA
3. Hold my lead over Tim and Dave in saves
So far, I’m 0-for-3. But, all of these things could happen over the final six days of the season.