Monday, October 20, 2008
Hannan / Sports Tennessee Boy David Price Saves the Day for the Rays
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Comments (8)
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I didn't know how much I hated the Red Sox til this series began. I scared myself. I watched the 9th inning of last night's game through laced fingers crossed over my eyes, peeking out only after Price released the ball. He was astoundingly cool under pressure, though at times between pitches he looked like he was practicing Lamaze. To think that most of the summer he was with the Montgomery Biscuits. So, onto the World Series, both my favorite and my saddest time of the sports year. My grandfather Alton, who taught me to love baseball, was a diehard Phillies fan (literally, I think they killed him) and the radio broadcasts of those games were the soundtrack of my youth. Ya gotta love that rag tag bunch and their quintessential grizzled manager. On the other hand, how can you not love the scrappy Rays, and their oddly hot manager? I'm sure my heart will reveal itself through the series. My biggest wish is that it go all seven games, because after that, it's a long cold winter of back and forth games.
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Check out the great column on Price---and a shout out to his Vandy coach Tim Corbin---on NY Times website today. One of the best things about the post season is the incredible baseball writing every day in the Times.
The relevant stat to me is not Price's age -- Matt Garza, who dominated in his two starts and was series MVP, is also only 23, and it's hard to find anyone on the Rays who's older than 26 or 27. What really jumps out is his lack of major league experience. I imagine even the most hard-core stat geeks would be challenged to find the last time a pitcher earned a win and a save in a playoff series or World Series before winning or saving a regular season game.
Besides looking like Uncle Junior in a baseball uniform, Joe Maddon is the perfect laid-back manager for this bunch.
You're absolutely right, Randy. The entire Rays rotation (Kazmir, Shields, Garza, Sonnanstine) is still collectively younger than most Yankees' FA signings. And as a self-professed stat geek, I can't say with any certainty that what Price has done hasn't happened before, but it is very reminiscent of Mariano Rivera in the '95 ALDS. If you're a fan of the Rays, or just beautiful baseball in general, that should be music to your ears.
Steve, it looks like K-Rod is the answer. He was 20 years old in 2002, his rookie year with the Angels. He pitched only 5 2/3 innings for them in the regular season, appearing in 5 games after being called up on Sept. 18. But he went 5-1 in the postseason.
By contrast Mariano Rivera was 25 when he joined the Yankees in 199. He came up in May of that year and went 5-3 in the regular season, then won one game in the playoffs against Seattle (a series that the Yankees lost).
Google is an amazing thing.
Before K-Rod, I don't know how far you'd have to go back.
