Little known facts from 2006 achievements:

# Games in which late inning relief pitcher pitched more than 1 inning and/or entered the game with at least 1 man on base and contributed more than .1 in the outing (2006 Regular Season):

• Mariano Rivera: 19 games
• Trevor Hoffman: 0 games

The "closer" is meant to end the game, to get the most difficult outs.

• Mariano Rivera: GF(59)/G(63)=94%
• Trevor Hoffman: GF(50)/G(65)=77%

HR's/IP continue to reflect career averages for the above:

• Mariano Rivera: 1 HR/25 IP (3 HR over 75 IP)
• Trevor Hoffman: 1 HR/10.5 IP (6 HR over 63 IP)

You'll see various studies on "saves" or "how hard did the pitcher have to work for the save." But I've seen no studies on how the "save" has been manipulated to create more entertainment value for the fan and more money for the team and player (although it was mentioned by Sandy Alderson). Rather than the actual amount of work and results achieved by the late inning reliever. I'll have more on this subject.

• P.S. ESPN, Fox, MLB and their financial hangers-on won't tell you any of this. The point is these are both good pitchers, but they are not similar and are used very differently.

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