Jose Valverde was brought into a tie ballgame in the bottom of the 8th to hold the Padres and give his guys a shot in the 9th. But as luck would have it Valverde allowed the go ahead run.
So the Astros would have to bat off the alltime saves leader (526) Trevor Hoffman trailing by a run with three outs to go. Trevor got the first two batters he faced before the next three batters reached base on two hits and a base on balls, then Fat Elvis, Lance Berkman ended Hoffman’s night with a three run big fly. Papa Grande retired the side in order to close it out for a back door win.
Today, after last night’s blown save (#64 of his career), Trevor rebounded against the Stros protecting a Padres one run lead with a one, two, three ninth inning for his 527th save of his career. Most blown saves in the history of MLB are Goose Gossage 112, Rollie Fingers 109, Jeff Reardon 106, Lee Arthur Smith 103, and Bruce Sutter 101. Interesting to note that of the five Hall of Fame relief pitchers, three rank high on the blown saves list, Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, & Bruce Sutter. Only two Hall of Fame relievers didn’t hit the high note in blown saves, Hoyt Wilhelm & Dennis Eckersley. Amazing, with perception being what it is, I’d have thought Hoffman would have blown more saves and Gossage less, go figure.