Marlins' Pinto Saves the Day

The Florida Marlins doubled up the Washington Nationals tonight, 18-9. That's a blowout by every definition of the term, I would say. Major League Baseball, on the other hand, according to its esteemed rules, needs to reward every Marlin's contribution to this lopsided victory this evening. Renyel Pinto earned his first save of the season.

Now, I'm not one to go bashing on the save as a statistic; in fact, it helps us define what makes good relievers and Eddie Guardados, too. But to award a save in a game like that, it just makes you wonder why a player could get one under the circumstances. Andhere are the rules to qualify:

The relief pitcher is the finishing pitcher for the winning team
The relief pitcher himself is not the winning pitcher
The third condition may be satisfied by any one of the following:
The relief pitcher enters with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at least a complete inning
The relief pitcher enters the game with the potential tying run either on base, or at bat, or on deck
The relief pitcher pitches effectively for at least three innings.

And that's what Pinto did this evening. He pitched "effectively," allowing four runs over his three innings of duty. For that, he gets his name in the box score. His mom is surely proud.

Dan