Good luck catching Mo record
THE two active leaders in career saves were on the AL team last night. But perhaps all you need to know about how staggering Mariano Rivera’s 638 saves are is that Texas’ Joe Nathan has had a long, marvelous career and yet has just 328 — a gap of 310 saves between No. 1 and No. 2 … or as many as Goose Gossage had in his entire HallofFame career.
So I asked Nathan if Rivera has taken his save total to a place no one else will reach.
“He has had the longevity to do this for 1718 years and start relatively young,” said Nathan, 38. “I would have to play to 4748 to catch him. Is anybody going to have that opportunity to get to that total? You are going to have to start young, but it is still going to be a long road. You have to stay healthy. People can get to that number, maybe someone who started young like [Atlanta’s] Craig Kimbrel. But whether it can be done or not, I really don’t know.” Nathan said his only way to compete with Rivera would be for the alltime save percentage lead. Among pitchers with at least 100 saves, Eric Gagne (91.7 percent) is first, Nathan (90.1) is second and Rivera (89.5) is third.
By the way, third on the active save leader chart is Francisco Rodriguez (303). KRod has had a strong setup year for the Brewers with a 1.19 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 22 ²/₃ innings in 23 games. One executive said the Tigers and Dodgers are both interested.
One benefit the Angels would get if they feel out of the race, one scout said, is they could get Albert Pujols to go for surgery on the plantar fasciitis in his left foot sooner than later. Pujols has hobbled around all season, primarily been used as a DH and seen his average fall to .249, though he does have 15 homers and 57 RBIs.
Pujols has always been viewed as a prideful player with a high pain threshold, so it would likely take serious noncontention to get him to stop playing. The Angels are 4449, 11 games out in the AL West and nine back in the wild card. Ten of their first 13 games of the second half are against the two teams ahead of them in the West — Oakland and Texas.