Archive for the ‘Impact Index’ Category

It’s crunch time. Or getting close. Two and a half months remain in the 2012 baseball season, and so many teams are still in contention for a spot in the postseason. In the American League, only the Mariners, Royals and Twins are ten or more games out of the second wild card. In the National League, all but the Phillies, Cubs, Astros, Padres and Rockies are still vying for a chance to play deep into October. Sure, each of the 162 games counts the same. Each win a win. Each loss a loss. But with the standings so close, and so much at stake, it just feels like the games now matter more.

And so, as we head down the stretch, we’re tweaking the focus of the Impact Index just a bit. Instead of highlighting just the unheralded bench guys and relief pitchers who had a good week, we’re going to hone in on game-changing pinch-hit at bats and relief-pitcher appearances for the teams making a push for the postseason. The ones where, at the end of the season, fans look back and say: “Ah, if only he’d gotten a hit in that one at bat,” or “That strikeout with the bases loaded saved the game, and the season.” Okay, maybe not all of the confrontations we highlight will be that memorable, but each will be critical to the team’s ultimate success this season.

This week we focus on three pinch hitters: the good, the meh and the ugly.

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By now you know the drill. Here at the Impact Index, we like to highlight the forgotten ones. The middle relievers who bridge the gap from the starter to the Proven Closer. The pinch hitters who keep the rally going. The bench guys. The bullpen guys. The unsung heroes who made the biggest impact on their team in the prior week.

So far this season we’ve brought you the stories of Tom Wilhelmsen, Xavier Nady, Jamey Wright, Mike Baxter, Steve Cishek, Dana Eveland, Jesus Guzman, Josh Lindblom, Brayan Pena, and Adam Ottavino, among others. Some of these players were one-week wonders, like Dana Eveland. Others were so good they moved into a more prominent role, like Tom Wilhelmsen, who is now the Mariners’ closer.

But by looking at these players week-by-week, we miss the ones who haven’t had a spectacular three-game run, but, instead, have been consistently good throughout the first half. Today, we salute the steady guys. One middle reliever and one pinch hitter who’ve gotten the job done for their teams since Opening Day.

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There was a time when I spent many hours watching do-it-yourself design shows on HGTV. We were in the pre-pre-planning, pre-planning, planning, and doing stages of our home renovation. I can’t remember the show titles anymore but my favorite ones featured the couples who got halfway through their renovations, ran out of ideas, energy and money, and then called in the TV experts to clean up their mess. I also liked the shows that taught how to make any room look like it was designed by an expert on a shoestring budget.

As I combed through last week’s boxscores on Sunday night, looking for the unsung heroes, my days as an HGTV addict came rushing back. That’s sounds weird, so let me explain.

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