Tigers closer Joe Nathan has pretty good stats these days.
So why do we feel such anxiety when he comes in to close a game in the ninth inching, particularly these days when each contest seems so crucial?
Lynn Henning of The Detroit News explains, and writes about Saturday night's 5-4 victory over Cleveland, and how anxiety set in at Comerica Park when Nathan came to the mound.
Hennning writes:
Joe Nathan, their closer, arrived for the ninth and you wondered, statistically, why anyone was sweating on a 48-degree night. He had 30 saves in 2014. He had knocked off six consecutive save opportunities and 15 of 16 since June 25.
Nathan, all 39 years and 10 months of him, had not allowed a run in his last five appearances. He had not tossed a home-run pitch since June 28.
And then he walked leadoff batter Jason Kipnis on three consecutive balls after putting Kipnis in a 1-and-2 bind. His fastball was cruising at a friendly 90 mph. When a sacrifice bunt moved Kipnis to second with one out, betting windows would have been slammed with gamblers wagering that Cleveland was about to tie the game.
But the Indians missed. Nathan, as is his tendency, snapped back to strike out Lonnie Chisenhall on a dirt-boring slider. Then, after David Murphy just missed steering a tying single down the left-field line that drifted foul, Nathan got Murphy on a shallow fly to left. Game over. The Tigers held onto their first-place lead and Nathan pocketed season save No. 31.
A question persists. And to ignore this concern is to pretend Saturday’s ninth inning, or many innings resembling the Indians closeout, aren’t part of the Tigers’ reality or profile two weeks from what they hope will be a playoff-bound team’s final regular-season game.
Can they get by with a closer who is spotting a low-velocity fastball and mixing it with a generally tough slider?
Henning writes that championship teams usually have relievers in the late inning that can strike out folks.
He writes of Nathan:
Essentially, the Tigers are finishing games with a reliever who operates counter to conventions that apply throughout baseball, particularly among playoff teams.
Nathan is not a strikeout pitcher. Not anymore. When he skipped to the mound Saturday, Nathan — the guy who for years torched the Tigers with 1-2-3 innings that seemed to be a blur of whiffs and called strikes — had struck out four batters in his last 11 appearances, stretched across 101⁄3 innings.
Nathan seldom makes it look easy. He's often behind on the count, and if you watch closely, it often looks as if he's just a step away from hyperventilating on the mound.
-- Allan Lengel
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