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09/20/2004: Congratulations are in order....
to Memphis Redbirds (now St. Louis Cardinals) reliever Al Reyes, who won the Rolaids Relief Man Award for the Pacific Coast League this year.
While I'm at it, let me indulge in a mini-rant. MLB has a set of awards pages on their website, and one of these pages is devoted to the Rolaids Relief Man Award. The Rolaids Relief Man Award is unique in professional baseball for two reasons: most obviously, it's the only award which (currently; expect that to change shortly, I'm sure) is commercially sponsored, but secondly (and, IMHO most importantly) it's the only award which is based on a statistical formula (relievers earn Rolaids Relief Man points as follows: they gain 2 points for every win, 3 points for every save and 4 points for every "tough save" (as of the 2000 season; a "tough save" is awarded when a reliever takes the mound with the tying run on base yet still manages to get the save), while losing 2 points for every loss or blown save).
My complaint? Obviously, it's possible to maintain "real-time" stats for the Rolaids Relief Man standings (note to self; that could be my novice "stat-head wannabe" project for next year). But does MLB do that? Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Why the hell not? It'd make for one more interesting "race" to keep track of.
I think I'm going to blame Bud Selig for this deplorable state of affairs. Just because I can.
Len on 09.20.04 @ 07:35 AM CST
