I guess we’ll all see how stupid it will be in a few short years when they have to find a replacement for Mo…

Yeah, it should be fairly easy to find someone with his lights out stuff who can be a dominant closer for a decade…

What is the evidence that says it’s harder to replace a good closer than a starter? That’s stupid. Your best pitchers, which are starters, almost never go into relief during the prime of their careers. Of course it’s harder if you’re pulling from a group of low stamina, failed starters. If starters moved into relief, you’d see how easy it is. The most recent one, Myers from the Phillies, was very good right away. However, they made moves so he could go back to the rotation. Your point makes no sense.

But if your reliever or setup guys keep giving up runs in the 7th, 8th and 9th, and by your estimation they impact 1/2 of the games in a season-you’re in a bit of trouble no?

1/2 of 162 is 81 games…would you really want to have poor setup men and closers adversly impacting that many games?

A team can suffer a mediocre or even a below average starter-but of course they can’t all be sub par…so I’ll grant you that…but show me the team that can succeed with a gaping void in the 7th, 8th and 9th…

This is not to say that starters are not valuable? Of course they are, but remember…you have 5 starting pitchers but only 1 closer.

It’s hard to replace a good starting pitcher, but almost impossible to replace a good closer.

A reliever impacts, say, 1/2 of the games. But, he has 1/6 or 1/7 the impact of a starter on each game.

Therefore, a starter has more impact on games over the course of a year than a reliever. QED.

In order to win you must record 27 outs-all of them count-it doesn’t really matter whether they are outs in the first inning or the ninth…

The first innings are just as important as the later innings-I mean how many games are won early-or lost for that matter early, i.e. in games where there is a blowout in the 3rd for example. So I see all outs as equal…

The critical thing is influence, that is how much influence do the particular pitchers have over the wins and losses that a team experiences over the course of a year.

A starter only influences only those games he pitches-every fifth one or so…a reliever on the other hand, like Mariano Rivera is in there so often, he’s more likely to impact a greater number of games…

Similarly if you have a 7th and 8th guy who’s in there every other day he’s actually going to impact many more games than if he’s a starter-and so the guys who pitch the 7th, 8th and 9th can’t just be good-they’d better be damn good!

Bottom line: Joba is right where he belongs!

Blue Jays Game: The run in the 1st wouldn’t have happened if Giambi didn’t have that error. He gave up 2 runs on a homer to Wells and then he was 1 out from getting out of the 6th before giving up a single 2 more runs.

Rays Game: I don’t think anyone would complain about getting through 6 innings on 82 pitches with 2 hits and 1 walk. The offense hadn’t produced much until he came out, so it was important for him to pitch well.

Red Sox Game 1: Moose has had to play the best hitting team in the AL twice. In his first game, he had given up 1 run through 5 and 2/3 before Manny, the hottest hitter in baseball, hit that double. A lot of people think that should have been an intentional walk, but it is what it is.

Red Sox Game 2: In his 2nd game against the Red Sox, he couldn’t get past the third inning against the best hitting team in baseball. In my opinion, this is the only bad start with expectations of a #4 or 5 starter.

I don’t expect him to be a lights out pitcher this year, but he is adjusting his approach to pitching after more than 250 major league wins. Fans might as well give him a chance because he if he can be solid for us, it will go a long way with keeping pressure off of the young guys.