In Rod We Trusted...

It was the 9th inning of a tight game between the Giants and the Marlins in Florida. The Giants were up by a run and had brought in their closer, Rod Beck, to help preserve the victory. It was 1993 and the Giants were in a dogfight pennant race with the Braves where every game counted down the stretch. Beck had been banged up - had blown a couple of saves in the previous week. There was some concern that he might be too banged up to finish the season.

After striking out the first batter, the next Marlin singled solidly and Giants fans everywhere groaned inwardly. Would this be the start of another blown save? The next Marlin up was a feared power hitter. Beck looked in, let his arm dangle, and then blew a fastball right by the batter. A collective sigh of relief, Beck was doing okay. He'd strike this guy out and...

CRACK!

The next pitch came in a little too fat. The Marlin jumped all over it. It sailed far and deep into the night - easily the farthest hit ball of the night - and as it disappeared into the gloom of the darkness of the stadium only one thing kept the Giants fans from committing mass suicide... it had been foul.

Beck got the next pitch down and the batter drove it into an inning ending double play and the Giants got off the field and Beck had another save.

What sticks in my mind about this particular play on this particular night is not that Rod Beck was pitching, or that he was particularly dominant. We all loved Rod Beck. He was old school. He was tough, intimidating, and he just kept coming after batters like the Terminator. But he wasn't especially gifted as a pitcher. He just exuded attitude. He had the look and the feel of a closer - often an overlooked element in what make a closer so intimidating. Even with his crappy stuff working, 9/10ths of his job as closer was to make the batter feel that it was going to be REALLY hard to get a hit off this guy. That was the feeling Beck gave out. It wasn't the pitching so much as it was the attitude. What sticks out in my mind about this particular night was the attitude Rod Beck displayed about being the Giants closer.

When asked in the post game conference what Rod Beck had thought about the 0-1 pitch that had ended up deep in the bleachers, barely foul, he replied, "Strike Two".

Rod, we will miss you. You died too young at 38 this weekend.

Our prayers for your family and friends as they go through these troubling times.