"This is our job. We have to step up."

Larry Stone at the Seattle Times wrote an excellent piece ("Closers Not Living Up to Their Name", 4/16/05) about the struggles of star closers around the league during the season's first two weeks, and he's included some good quotes from stoppers around the league.

Yeah, there's a little bit of NukeSpeak, ("Playing within ourselves, we gotta play 'em one day at a time, help the club, and the good Lord willing, things will work out"), but there's also some insight into what is clearly a tough assignment. Here's what they had to say:

"I'll bet if you go over the last few years, there's probably been a lot of blown saves in a week; just not at the beginning of the season. Because the games just started, and it's so fresh, it seems like a lot." - Jeremy Affeldt, KC

"There's a little bit of nerves involved. You take six months off, and you wonder if your stuff is still going to be successful." - Trevor Hoffman, SD

"You have to think about what you did, think about what happened, let your frustration out, and once you hit those doors out of this locker, you have to forget it. If you dwell on it, you're in trouble. This is our job. We have to step up for the team. You have to have a real short memory. It's tough to do, but you have to learn how to deal with it." - Eddie Guardado, SEA

We still haven't seen any closers relieved of their duties - not officially, anyway - but it has clearly been a rough couple of weeks for some very highly paid closers in some pretty high-profile situations.

You know, this is a pretty simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. But if the great Trevor Hoffman can admit that pitching is different, more nerve-wracking, in the final frame, it goes a long way towards explaining why certain pitchers are Superman in the 8th inning and kryptonite in the 9th.