Thursday, September 27, 2007

You Know Your Closer Sucks When...

... he's taking plays out of the Tom Gordon playbook.
Ayala was on only because, when the Nationals called down to get closer Chad Cordero to warm up, Cordero rose -- and promptly threw up in his glove. Save the jokes about how that's what the Mets were doing all week. This was a serious situation.

"It was kind of weird," Acta said.

Cordero said he hadn't felt bad all day. But when he rose to warm up, he felt something. Some vomit escaped. "I grabbed my glove," he said, "and everything else came out."

That's a hell of a quote.

I'd suggest that the Nats Marketing Dept use that next year, instead of that stupid ass "Pledge Your Allegience" crap. Picture it: Nationals '08: Grab Your Glove And Let It Come Out.

(That whole story is a perfect example of why so many people are going to miss that particular writer /asskissing)

posted by Chris Needham at 8:52 AM

11 Comments:

  • "Some vomit escaped." That's quite the turn of a phrase.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9/27/2007 9:11 AM  

  • Acta's verbatim comments in his postgame news conference were better than anything Svrluga wrote. Going from memory now, he said in an entirely deadpan manner something like "We called down to the bullpen to get Chief warmed up, but he was puking in the bullpen. Chief said he could go, but you don't want to bring a guy in when he's just puked."

    Svrluga conveniently did not use the P word when relaying Acta's comments. Another case of the Post cleaning up a source's comments for public consumption rather than printing the actual words spoken?

    My question, though, is who was the Cordero detractor who slipped the ipecac into the Chief's Gatorade bottle? Obviously, given his performance the night before, it wasn't anyone in the Mets organization. But was it an inside job from someone in the Nats organization, or the work of a disgruntled Nats fan sitting near the bullpen? I suppose it could have been a terrorist action, but that seems way too random...

    By Blogger An Briosca Mor, at 9/27/2007 9:33 AM  

  • And wouldn't this be a better marketing campaign?

    The Washington Nationals: We Puke in the Bullpen, Not on the Field. Keeping Your Field of Dreams Pristine Since 2008.

    By Blogger An Briosca Mor, at 9/27/2007 9:40 AM  

  • Some vomit escaped. WTF? Now I see, Chad has been holding his vomit captive all these weeks.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9/27/2007 9:40 AM  

  • Mistakes were made, Some vomit escaped. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions/puking these days.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9/27/2007 9:42 AM  

  • Gatorade? The chief lives on pepsi and skittles. I'd puke too. It was just a matter of time for Chaos Cordero to puke in the bullpen, he's been choking all year on the field. How many of his "saves" did he give up a double off the wall or a run? He has been getting tattooed since his first outing this year and well really since his last outing in 2005.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9/27/2007 10:55 AM  

  • Cordero sucks big time! It is time to dump him.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9/27/2007 12:14 PM  

  • That's the kind of reasoned and informed debate I've come to expect from my commenters!

    By Blogger Chris Needham, at 9/27/2007 12:17 PM  

  • Maybet our wonderful hitting coach can teach Cordero how to hit, and he can become a late,late inning replacement for Frick?

    By Blogger Ray Firsching, at 9/27/2007 12:44 PM  

  • OK, just for argument's sake... Here's the NL closers I would rather have:
    1. Trevor Hoffman
    2. Billy Wagner
    3. Francisco Cordero (maybe)
    4. Jose Valverde
    5. Takashi Saito

    Chad is 10 in MLB in saves (granted, his 9 blown saves is the highest of anyone in the top 15). His ERA is middle of that pack, and he has fewer losses than most of those top 10. Let's see: one blown save was the Jimmy Rollins error fueled inside-the-park homerun that was a double played into a run. One blown save was the ridiculous Julio Franco single to right with 2 outs, 2 strikes, and he barely got his bat on the ball. So while he isn't "lights out", he isn't terrible and not all of his failures are completely his fault.

    Chad isn't great, but he's better than most. And I'd sure rather have him out there than Ryan Dempster (1st place team, only 3 blown saves, ERA 1 run higher) or Joe Borowski (1st place team, 43 saves, ERA 2 runs higher).

    By Blogger Natsfan74, at 9/27/2007 1:34 PM  

  • Why'd you put the maybe behind Francisco's name? I would definitely rather have that Cordero than ours.
    I'm extremely surprised about Chad puking in the bullpen, though. Personally, it takes me between 10-15 of his pitches before I start yakking.

    By Blogger Rob B, at 9/27/2007 3:59 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home