十月的棒球，救援投手比南瓜還要搶手 - 美國職棒

來源: The New York Times
網址: https://tinyurl.com/y7axrau7

It’s October Baseball, When Relievers Are More Popular Than Pumpkins
十月的棒球，救援投手比南瓜還要搶手

BOSTON — Once upon a time, in a big playoff game between the Yankees and the
Boston Red Sox, a starting pitcher hung around too long. This may be shocking
to younger fans, but it’s true. And it wasn’t because the bullpen phone was
broken.
很久很久以前，在一場重要的洋基紅襪季後賽比賽，有個先發投手投的太長了。這對於現
在的年輕粉絲來說似乎不可思議，但是這是真的，而且不換投的原因不是因為要call牛棚
的電話壞掉了。

The fateful decision by Grady Little, who stuck with a fading Pedro Martinez
as the Yankees erupted in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 2003 American
League Championship Series, now seems as quaint as a flannel uniform. No
manager today would risk losing a game — or his job, as Little did —
without at least trying a few relievers.
Grady Little那個改變命運的決定，2003年ALCS第七戰洋基在八局下開始大爆發，他把威
力下滑的Pedro Martinez留在場上；按照現在標準，那決定似乎很古怪。現在的總教練不
會像Little一樣，冒險輸掉一場比賽--或是輸掉他的飯碗--而不至少試試看用幾個救援投
手。

Consider the 2018 postseason. Through the first two games of each of the
division series, and including the two wild-card games, starting pitchers had
averaged fewer than five innings per start. Only three starters — Hyun-Jin
Ryu and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Gerrit Cole of the
Houston Astros — had worked seven innings.
看看今年的季後賽。頭兩場各分區系列賽，包括兩場外卡賽，先發投手都投不過五局。只
有三位投手--兩位躲人投手柳賢振跟Clayton Kershaw，以及太色的Gerrit Cole--有投到
了七局。

Sometimes, of course, starters are yanked for pitching badly. That is why the
Red Sox pulled David Price in the second inning of a 6-2 loss to the Yankees
in Game 2 on Saturday night. But it is also the time of the year when
micromanaging the bullpen takes over the sport.
當然有時候先發因為投的太爛提早下場，就像星期六洋基跟紅襪那場6-2比賽，紅襪在第二
局就把David Price換下來。不過那也就像這一整年一直以來的狀況，微觀管理的牛棚已經
接管了棒球運動。

“It’s the playoffs,” Price said. “You see it happen all the time,
especially over the past couple of years. Managers go into bullpens extremely
early.”
「這是季後賽，」Price說。「一直以來都是這樣，尤其是過去幾年，教練們很早就去牛棚
叫人上來了。」

It is not just the postseason. As Jayson Stark pointed out in The Athletic,
bullpens combined to make 678 more relief appearances in the 2018 regular
season than they did in 2017 — and nearly 2,000 more relief appearances than
they made five years ago.
但是，這不只發生在季後賽。作家Jayson Stark指出，牛棚的出賽次數，在正規賽季，
2018年的出賽次數比2017年多了678次--比起五年前更是多了幾乎近2000次。

The October version of the trend crystallized in Game 3 of the 2016 World
Series, when the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians both pulled their
starters in the fifth inning of a scoreless tie. With analytics favoring a
procession of bullpen strikeout specialists, the strategy is only gaining
momentum as more and more hard-throwing relievers populate the game.
十月份的棒球趨勢可以在2016年世界大賽第三戰看到發揮的極致，雙方僵持到第五局都是
未得分，小熊跟笑臉在第五局換下他們的先發。當分析數字顯示支持用牛棚裡那群的三振
高手時，隨著越來越多隊伍使用一堆火球救援投手，這樣的策略也就越來越風行。

In the 2016 and 2017 postseasons, 49 of 146 starts — nearly 35 percent —
lasted at least 90 pitches. This postseason, the figure had plunged to 20
percent (four of 20) through Saturday’s games. In the Yankees’ two
victories this October, their starters have lasted just nine innings
combined, despite allowing only one run.
2016跟2017年的季後賽，146位先發，有49位(接近35%)可以投至少90球。而本季，至上星
期六為止，20位只有4位(20%)可以辦得到。洋基在10月兩場贏球的比賽，兩位先發加起來
只投了九局，雖然總共也只丟掉了一分。

Luis Severino collected the first 12 outs of the wild-card game against
Oakland last Wednesday, and Masahiro Tanaka got the first 15 outs at Fenway
Park on Saturday. That was all the Yankees wanted.
Luis Severino在外卡戰拿了12個出局數，田中將大在芬威球場拿下15個出局數，那就是洋
基隊想要的。

“One of our overwhelming strengths is our bullpen, and when you get into
these postseason games — especially when you have some off-days sprinkled in
— you don’t worry as much about workload,” Manager Aaron Boone said. “You
know you can protect guys. You just kind of weigh what matchups you like
better, especially as you get to the second, third time through an order. If
you’re lined up in the bullpen with the guys we’re able to run out there, we
’re going to do that on a lot of different nights.”
「我們幾個令人懼怕的強項，其中之一就是我們的牛棚，而當到了季後賽--尤其是賽程中
間有間隔幾個休息日--我們不用擔心會操過頭。」總教練Aaron Boone說。「我們知道要保
護球員，所以我們得要評估一下怎樣的組合會比較好，尤其是打到第二輪或是第三輪時。
如果牛棚裡有人能夠上場的話，我們就會把他們派上場的。」

Boone added the obligatory nod to the old ways, saying he would love to get
seven or eight innings from a starter. It could happen, he said, if the
starter were especially efficient, or the score lopsided.
Boone對於老派的做法還是有給予尊重，說若是可以，他也會讓先發投到七局或是八局。他
說，若是先發投得超有效率，或是分數一面倒的話，那就有可能發生。

“So I wouldn’t rule it out,” he said, “but we’ll be aggressive when we
feel like our guys are lined up and we can roll them out.”
「所以我不會說我不會這樣做，」他說。「但是我們要保持侵略性，當我們覺得我們的球
員準備好了，我們就會派他們上場。」

The reasoning is clear for the Yankees. They have four experienced relievers
averaging at least 11 strikeouts per nine innings — Chad Green, Dellin
Betances, David Robertson and closer Aroldis Chapman. Another reliever, Zach
Britton, has a devastating power sinker when he is at his best.
洋基這樣做的理由很明顯，他們有四位經驗老到的救援投手--Chad Green，Dellin
Betances，David Robertson跟守護神Aroldis Chapman--每九局可以至少三振11個人。另
外一位救援投手，Zach Britton，若是在他狀況好的時候，他的沉球是很有威力的。

Like a talented point guard with multiple All-Star options on the court, the
starters understand the need to share the ball.
就像籃球場上控球後衛才華洋溢，但是場上隊友也是全明星等級的話，這後衛也會了解到
球權還是要分享的。

“That was the plan, go four or five good innings and after that the bullpen
is going to go do their job,” Severino said after the wild-card game. “When
I went into the first inning, that was the mind-set.”
「目前計畫就是這樣，先發上場投個四到五局，然後就換牛棚上來做他們的工作，」
Severino在外卡戰後訪問時說到。「當我一局上場時，我的心裡就是這樣盤算的。」

Like the Yankees, who traded for Britton in July, the Milwaukee Brewers
fortified an already deep bullpen by adding Joakim Soria in a summer deal.
Soria worked a scoreless 10th inning to win Game 1 of the Brewers’ division
series with Colorado, then got two strikeouts in the seventh to hold a
one-run lead in Game 2.
就像洋基在七月的時候換到Britton，酒鬼在夏天的時候在他們已經堅強的牛棚裡再加上了
Joakim Soria。Soria在酒鬼打落磯分區系列賽第一場10局上場無失分，在第二場則是在7
局上場，拿下兩次三振，保住了一分領先。

The Brewers could be the Tampa Bay Rays of this postseason. In the regular
season, the Rays upended the traditional notion of starters and relievers,
and the Brewers seem intent on doing that now. They have three relievers —
Josh Hader, Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel — who each earned anywhere from
12 to 16 saves this season, and their starters rarely last deep in games.
酒鬼可能像是季後賽版的光芒。在正規賽季，光芒顛覆了傳統先發後援投手的認知，而酒
鬼似乎想要在季後賽如法炮製。三位救援投手--Josh Hader，Jeremy Jeffress跟Corey
Knebel--本季約12-16場救援成功，而在先發的時候很少投長局數。

“Largely, we’re trying to get away from what the word ‘starter’ and ‘
reliever’ means,” Brewers Manager Craig Counsell told reporters last week.
“That’s how we’re going to get through the postseason, I think.”
「我們大概會試著不去在意"先發"跟"後援"字面上的意義，」酒鬼總教練Craig Counsell
在上星期跟記者說。「我想，那大概會是我們如何去打這次季後賽的方式。」

That is, indeed, how the Brewers swept the first round. They finished off a
three-game wipeout of the Rockies on Sunday, holding Colorado to two runs in
the series while using relievers for 46 outs and starters for 38.
那也是酒鬼在第一輪橫掃的方式。他們在星期天的時候橫掃落磯，三戰只讓落磯拿下了兩
分，救援投手拿下46個出局數，先發投手則是拿下38個。

The Red Sox, who resisted a summer bullpen trade, would be challenged to
deploy such a strategy. They banked on a comeback from Tyler Thornburg, who
never fully recovered from thoracic outlet syndrome, and were encouraged by
the emergence of the journeyman Ryan Brasier, but he inherited two runners
from Chris Sale in the sixth inning of Game 1 and allowed both to score.
紅襪則是在夏天的時候沒做牛棚的補強，要做這樣的策略會是有困難的。他們賭Tyler
Thornburg可以從胸廓出口症候群(Thoracic Outlet Syndrome)完全恢復回歸，他們也為牛
棚新嶄露的投手Ryan Braiser感到振奮，但是在Game 1的時候接替Chris Sale在六局上
場，壘上有兩名跑者，而且最後都回來得分。

In Game 2 on Saturday, the Red Sox made so many pitching changes that Aaron
Judge faced a different pitcher in each of his five trips to the plate. It
didn’t seem to help much: Judge homered, flied out, reached on an error,
singled and walked.
而在星期六的Game 2，紅襪頻頻換投，Aaron Judge五次上場，五次面對的都是不同的投
手。但是看起來效果不彰，一支全壘打，一次接殺，一次失誤上壘，一次一壘打跟一個保
送。

Now the Red Sox — who used starter Rick Porcello for relief in Game 1 —
will turn to former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi to start Game 3 on Monday. Eovaldi
has fired 16 shutout innings against the Yankees since his trade from Tampa
Bay in July, and he should be strong, having pitched just once in the last 13
days.
現在換紅襪了--在Game 1時用先發Rick Porcello救援上場--在星期一的Game 3會啟用前洋
基投手Nathan Eovaldi先發。Eovaldi在七月從光芒交易來之後對上洋基是16局未失分。所
以，過去13天只上過一次場的他，應該體力充沛。

“Seven innings, two hits, one run,’’ Boston Manager Alex Cora said Sunday
when asked what he expected from Eovaldi.
「投七局，兩支安打，掉一分，」星期天紅襪總教練Alex Cora被問到他希望Eovaldi的表
現會是如何。

A performance like that would be ideal for the Red Sox, and would look
timeless in a box score. The Yankees, meanwhile, will use the postmodern
plan: Severino for a little while, then a battalion of strong arms sure to
follow.
那樣的表現對紅襪來說會是再好不過，在成績板上看起來也會很讚。而在此同時，洋基則
會採用後現代的方式：Severino投一些，然後牛棚那群強壯的肩膀鐵定是要跟著上的。

--
#1RelwrS2 (MLB)
標題 [閒聊] 躲人Puig家裡過去一年半被闖空門四次

--