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Baseball History

A well balanced team with one of the best starting pitching staff in the MLB, the San Francisco Giants under veteran manager, Dusty Baker, rolled to a 95-66 regular season record in 2002. MLB management has finally discovered what wins pennants. Numbers from closers are nice, but, strong arms are also needed by starters, middle relievers and set-up men. It isn’t a happy feeling to have an elite closer without many first class starters or relievers to bring a winning effort into the last inning.

Look it Up!

The 2002 NL pennant winning Giants were paced by closer Robb Nen, a 6-2 record, with a 2.20 ERA and 43 saves. His 43 saves were Robb Nen third straight season of 40+ saves. Set-up men Tim Worrell and Felix Rodriguez played major roles in stopping the opposition from getting any runs so San Francisco could take a lead into the final innings for Robb Nen.

AAA review of San Francisco starters shows five starters worked over 170 innings for the 2002 Giants.

Just the facts here man:

Livan Hernandez had a 12-16 record, in 216 innings, completed 5 of 33 starts. Russ Ortiz was 14-10, a stingy 2.41 ERA, 33 starts 214.1 innings. Lefty Kirk Rueter posted a 14-8 record, 3.23 ERA, started 33 games, 203.2 innings and Jason Schmidt had a 13-8 record, 3.45 ERA, 29 starts, 185.1 innings, 2 completed games.

Right-hander Ryan Jensen had 1 13-8 record, 4.51 ERA in 30 starts, 32 games, 171.2 innings. Reliever Chad Zerbe came on board from Fresno minors early in 2002 and was 2-0, 3.04 ERA in 50 appearances. Scott Eyre had a miserly 1.59 ERA in 21 games, 11 innings and Jay Witasick had a 1-0 record, 2.37 ERA, 54 Ks in 44 games, 68.1 innings. Joe Nathan did not yield a run in 4 games, 3.2 innings.

Kurt Ainsworth pitched 20 games for Fresno prior to joining the Giants and in 6 games, 4 starts in MLB he had a 1-2 record, a fine 2.10 ERA in 25.2 innings. Jason Christiansen pitched in 5 innings, spanning 6 games, a 0-1 record. Star closer Robb Nen had a 6-2 mark, 2.20 ERA, 43 saves in 68 games, 73.2 innings. Felix Rodriguez of the Dominican Republic was 8-6, 4.17 ERA, 58 Ks in 69 innings. Tim Worrell had a sterling 8-2 record, a 2.25 ERA in 80 games, 55 Ks in 72 innings.

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