Phenomenal Smith wrote:
barzilla,
I'm all for leveraging too - that's why I hate modern closer usage.

More fun on the Phillies

Winning Pct when tied or leading after 8 innings:
2007 - 87.6%
2008 - 89.6%

That's about 2 game improvement for the 2008 squad.
Once again, you're not listing the most important stat...that I listed above in my previous post. Closers usually come in with a lead in the 9th. See my previous post.