As the Red Sox were rained out on Thursday on Chicago's South Side and will make up the game in a double header against the White Sox on Friday (Beckett going for the Red Sox in the first game and Schilling going in the night cap), Your Red Sox Diarist thought it nice on this unscheduled off day to relay this tidbit out of Arlington, Texas yesterday.
Texas Rangers pitcher Wes Littleton was credited with a save in Texas' record breaking 30-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night. Littleton, who pitched the last three innings for the Rangers without giving up a run, earned the save even though he had a 27 run lead. He is the first pitcher ever in Major League Baseball to earn a save with a 27 run league. Littleton came into the game with the Rangers leading at that time 14-3 and gave up two hits and one walk over three innings. He was credited with the save because of a rule (Rule 10.2 in the Official Rule Book) specifying that a pitcher who pitches effectively for three innings---"effectively" being determined at the discretion of the official scorer--can be credited with a save. Evidently, the official scorer almost always credits a pitcher with a save if the pitcher pitches the last 3 innings of a game after coming into the game with a lead and the lead is maintained until the end of the game.
This is yet another good example of certain baseball statistics (i.e. saves, wins, batting average) being, at the least, over emphasized and generally overrated. More on this during the weekend.
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Speaking of the Orioles, how about a little love for old Red Sox fave Kevin Millar, who last night set an Oriole club record by reaching base safely in his 50th straight game?
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