Recipe

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G sez,

Gordon Gross:  If his closer was Mariano Rivera, that'd be one thing. Rodney has a "special set of skills" and those skills have proven worthless most of the time he has no pressure on him. He then creates pressure for himself but can't get out of it. Knowing your personnel is a pre-requisite for getting the most out of them. Rodney had already warmed up. He was ready. He doesn't have to come in until the game's on the line - IF IT COMES TO THAT. If it doesn't, then save the bullets. I dunno - I just don't like this tune. I didn't like it last year and that feeling remains even early in this season. Just glad we got the win despite the wrong personnel move.

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I would suggest that the special skill is mostly that amped-up hitters have to swing at pitches outside the strike zone ...

Rodney led all of baseball in 2014 in strikes taken.  If we haven't noticed, the hitters are up there not just hoping for a walk, but extremely cognizant of the fact that their best chance is to take a walk.  

The Mainframe theorizes that when you --- > put Rodney into a situation with relaxed hitters, you are amplifying Rodney's wildness and noise-reducing hitters' jitteriness.

Whatever the case, Lloyd McClendon of course loves Fernando Rodney, and Dr. D's main hope for minimizing the save damage this year is to --- > develop a lockdown 8th inning.  It could happen.