Game 3 Open Thread: April 6, 2006

marquis lidle
13-14, 4.13 13-11, 4.53

still pimping my guest column at Baseball Analysts today; have a peek if you haven't already.

i think somebody (guess i just nominated myself) needs to classify jason isringhausen's "saves" this season. the last couple of years, it seems as if every outing goes like last night's -- he uses 25 pitches and every last inch of clearance before he finally gets the game parked in the hangar. but really, how common are those close calls?

i propose the following cataloguing method -- subject to comments and suggestions from all of you:

• a "shutdown" save is one in which izzy retires the side in order.
  
• a "solid save" is one in which nobody advances into scoring position.
  
• a "shaky save" is one in which either a) at least one run scores, or b) the tying run advances into scoring position.
  
• a "cliffhanger" is one where the winning run advances into scoring position.

and then of course there's the plain old "blown save." and there's "departs game with injury."

by this method, last night's save was a cliffhanger; sounds about right to me.