A Winning Save

The Little League version of the bullpen is that you are kept in the dugout to practice your pitching and talk to the coach while your team plays defense. So I knew that Frank would be the second pitcher of the night. I felt myself getting anxious. And I was just sitting in the stands. :-)

He pitched two innings and finished the game by striking the last batter out. There were a few hits, but only one run scored off his pitches. After striking out the last batter of the game he had a grin that I have never seen before. His teammates pounded his shoulders. His coach ruffled his hat and said, "That's how to do it!" and Frank just grinned and grinned.

He is (recently) no longer comfortable with hugging his mom in front of his friends. On the way back to the car he leaned into me as we walked.

"So is that a "win" or a "save?" I asked.

Frank began the baseball statistics analysis and discussion about what to do when the game is just 5 innings long.

I remembered the one game that he pitched the previous year. He came in at the last game in the last inning with two runs and bases loaded. He pitched high balls, walking three runners and bringing in three runs until the inning mercifully ended because of the Little League rule that if a team scores five runs then the inning is over.

The discussion last year was whether Frank had an ERA of infinity. I like this statistic better.