Some crazy baseball ideas, part II
A continuation from yesterday’s post about crazy baseball ideas the Astros should try because they have nothing to lose.
Starting Relief – I got this idea while watching Brett Myers pitch. Myers has a lot of trouble with the first inning. He usually gives up a couple runs then settles down until around the fifth or sixth, when he again gets shaky. Check out his six starts for the month of June:
| Date (IP) | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th |
| Jun 1 (6) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Jun 7 (6) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Jun 12 (7) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – |
| Jun 17 (9) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jun 22 (6) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Jun 29 (7) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
Remarkable. In June, Myers began each of his starts by giving up runs, yet had a clean second inning every time. In those starts that the Astros lost (Jun 7, 12, 29), they never had the lead after his two first-inning runs. So why let Myers pitch the first inning?
And that’s where my crazy idea comes in. The first inning sets the tone for the whole game. In many ways it’s as important as the ninth. So my proposal is to have a “starting reliever” who comes in for the purpose of handling only the first inning. Think of this “opener” as a reverse closer. Rather than hold the lead, he is simply holding the first inning. When the second frame opens, the starter will come in, pitching his customary outing.
In Myers case, that means a pitcher in the first, one in the second through seventh, a setup man, and a closer.
The best part of this is that if the starting reliever does a good job, the starting pitcher starts his game in the middle of the opposing lineup, avoiding the dangerous one-two-three hitters until later in the game.
This is also great for starting pitcher stats: the starting pitcher is as likely to earn a W, but slightly less likely to take the L – if the starting reliever screws up big, the starting pitcher is insulated from this tarnish to his record.
Again, this is a crazy idea, but it’s worth a try, and Brett Myers for one could really benefit from it. What do we have to lose?