A Sad Day For Mustaches Everywhere

I, Elsewhere

A Sad Day For Mustaches Everywhere

By Matt Sussman | Jul 28, 2008 | Filed Under Baseball

Pardon me, O Baseball Gods, as I channel the spirit of our beloved Gregg Olson. That’s right, Gregg M.F. Olson.

That’s the first person I thought of, for some cosmic reason, when I heard midway through Sunday’s game that the Tigers closer was no longer Todd Jones. In a very quiet move, Fernando Rodney would assume the position “for the time being.” When the only sure things were death, taxes, and Todd Jones closing games, the torch has finally been passed, but not before the flames destroyed the fans’ wicker-strong confidence in him.

And then I thought, God dammit, this has been Gregg Olson all over again.

Olson was a hell of a reliever for most of the ’90s, but remember, I still had a touch of the bed-wetting when Olson was snagging a Rookie of the Year award in ‘89. Instead, 1998 was the year I realized that there was also a Gregg-with-two-G’s Olson, having grown up acquainted with the Braves catcher. And I was a little puzzled that the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks, a team with it all, had vested its hopes in the playoffs … with this guy? Hey, why not? After bumping around six teams in three years, Olson was actually good in the Diamondbacks’ expansion season when every little else was. (”Presenting: rotation linchpin Willie Blair!”)

But in 1999, Gregg Olson saved 11 games through mid-July. He blew six. I remember watching some of those games, thinking it was a better idea to feed the ball into a wood chipper than to entrust it into Olson’s hand.

Realizing they had a kickass team but no closer from within — unless there were two outs in the ninth and the count was 1-2 on a left-handed batter, then by all means, send in Dan Plesac! — Arizona traded for Matt Mantei, who closed out 22 of 25 games successfully from there on out. Olson became the setup man, and was quite effective.

Using the Wohlers Scale of Closer Effectiveness, grading from 1 to Gregg Olson, the 2008 Todd Jones is probably right between Jose Mesa and Rod Beck. His worst numbers show up on the radar gun. Jermaine Dye’s two-run home run on Friday night that gave the White Sox the win was One-derpants’ first homerun allowed in a save situation this year. It was only his third blown save, and the second BS which led to a Tigers loss.

Prior to his first blown save, he was averaging about 1½ baserunners per inning, and striking out only 12 guys in about 30 innings. Seriously, everybody in the greater Detroit area was waiting for that 9th inning collapse, and sure enough we got what we wished for back on June 28, when Jones gave up four runs to the friggin’ Rockies in the ninth. The Tigers somehow won that game, but the rule of “I don’t care how you save them, just don’t blow it” finally came into effect. Jones’ 89 mph fastball wasn’t doing it anymore.

(Here’s a fun aside, if you want to call it fun. I call it “painful and pointy,” but whatever:

Todd Jones, 6/28/08: 2/3 IP, 4 ER, blown save Gregg Olson, 5/23/99: 2/3 IP, 4 ER, blown save

Both of those blown saves were against Colorado.)

Since and including that blown save, which was 11 appearances and 9-1/3 innings, Jones has an ERA of 8.68, allowing 15 hits, 11 runs (2 unearned), 4 walks, two hit batters, and countless pulled hairs. Not a single one of those hairs, it ought to be said, did not come from his mustache.

So now he’s “temporarily” a middle reliever, and it’s probably for the best. Although Rodney really labored for 1-2/3 innings on Sunday, the White Sox batters were being aggressive all weekend, and that kind of plate discipline against Todd Jones would have probably resulted in more souvenirs for the folks in the left field stands. Instead, Rodney struck out the side in the ninth, throwing 42 pitches in his appearance.

I really like Todd Jones the pitcher. Todd Jones the person seems like an OK dude as well, maybe because he’s also Todd Jones the freelance writer. He doesn’t deserve to get berated by the fans. Not after he’s saved so many games. Not after he threw the final pitch in Tiger Stadium. So he needs to be put in a role in which he won’t get booed so much. Having said that, setup man is probably the way to go.