Perfect Closers – No Earned Runs in 2008

Stephen Kersey — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:10:34 +0000

Which closers have been perfect so far this season? Let’s take a look at the closer who currently have a 0.00 ERA.

CJ Wilson, Texas Rangers
CJ Wilson has five saves, eight innings pitched and a perfect ERA. While the rest of the bullpen hasn’t been great for the Rangers, Wilson has been lights out.

Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins
The Twins have gotten great pitching out of their closer this year. Joe Nathan has six saves and has pitched seven shutout innings.

Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals
The Royals have gotten great pitching from a number of their starters. Joakim Soria is also providing great pitching. Five saves, seven innings, ten strikeouts and a 0.29 WHIP.

Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
With 6.1 innings pitched and five saves, Mariano Rivera is pitching extremely well. He got off to a slow start last year so this start has to make Yankees fans happy.

Brad Lidge, Philadelphia Phillies
While he only has two saves, Brad Lidge is off to a solid start. He has a 0.00 ERA in six innings.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Twins Extend Nathan

Geoff Young — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:46:48 +0000

The Minnesota Twins have signed closer Joe Nathan to a 4-year, $47 million deal. Since coming to Minnesota in 2004, Nathan has the best ERA in baseball (1.94, min. 280 IP). Given the apparent going rate for closers, this is pretty good value.

That said, can anyone explain to me what the heck the Twins are doing? They let Johan Santana and Torii Hunter go, and play in one of MLB’s toughest divisions. How is long-terming a 33-year-old reliever (even a great one) close to being a priority?

Maybe the idea is that by having him under contract, the Twins now have a more marketable commodity. I really don’t understand this. Enlighten me, o smart people of the Internet…

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Post from: Knuckle Curve

Knuckle Curve » joe nathan

Perfect Closers – No Earned Runs in 2008

Twins Extend Nathan