Women are said to have a biological clock, most sports are ruled by a clock and each and everyday we all have our day divided up into segments according to a clock. As we know baseball is the one sport that resists being a slave to the ever moving hands of a timepiece, but while the game has no clock, the players do. A clock is governing all of their time in uniform. Time is always ticking for a baseball player, but for a closer time can't move quick enough. The less time a closer spends on the mound the better. Managers and fans want their saves quick and without mess. Joe Nathan is the greatest of all closers to wear a Minnesota Twins uniform, but even he would agree we've seen a little too much of him lately. Nathan is like ice cream. Two scoops of it brings a smile to many faces, but eating a gallon in one sitting may leave many of those faces doubled over in agony. I think it's time to go back to two scoops of Joe Nathan. Nathan's September ERA of 4.35 is a problem and the reason for its rise is simple. While his pitches per outing are roughly the same, the amount of batters he faces per inning pitched has risen as the season progressed.
May: 3.88 batters faced per inning
June: 3.57 batters faced per inning
July: 4.0 batter faced per inning
August: 4.5 batters faced per inning
September as of 9/24: 4.4 batter faced per inning
As fans we happily had two scoops of Joe's ice cream through June, but starting in July we began getting more of Nathan flavored ice cream than we'd prefer. As we enter October Nathan has made many of us adjusts our belts in the wrong direction. He typically begins well by getting an easy out or even two, but then he allows a runner through a walk, hit or some other unfathomable event. Nathan has always been full of ticks (insert clock joke here), but they have become too much a part of his routine. He often will get the ball and try to crush it with his hand through a continual heavy massage. Then he slowly gets into place on the rubber, eyes the runner and throws a pitch that nibbles around the strike zone or misses it be a foot or more. Instead of attacking a batter he prolongs the matchup by dancing around the strike zone when ahead in the count. Meanwhile fans at home are left wanting to just leave the room and come back in a few minutes with the now messy save situation hopefully resolved and a Twins win being analyzed by broadcasters. Too often the ninth inning is an extended exercise in how to increase one's heartrate. Why has watching Joe Nathan pitch become so challenging? Because he has faced nearly an additional batter per inning since June, which puts a runner on base and a lead further in doubt. In addition, Nathan's twitchy idiosyncrasies and unhurried manner of pitching creates tension in fans longing for a quick end to another close Twins game. As the season comes to a close Twins enthusiasts are desperate to cut back on their ice cream intake. Bring back the June flavor of the month: Joe Nathan lite.
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