We joked recently that Skip Schumaker is picking up "fielding saves" by moving to left field late in games when the Cardinals wanted to protect a lead. Little did we know how much he would be used in such a role until we, you know, did some research.

Of course, there’s no such thing as a fielding save, and despite our efforts in this post, do we think one should seriously exist (our hatred for the pitching save being well-known). But in an attempt to amuse ourselves and perhaps a reader or two (yes, we’re looking at you, Bernie), let’s codify the fielding save:

• Player cannot be a starter at the position where he finishes
• Player must be in the field for the team’s final defensive out
• Player must enter the game with a tie or lead
• Player m ust not commit an error at the new position

That should be good enough to begin. Happily, the Cardinals have had several wins already on the young season, and many more games in which they’ve taken leads or ties into the late innings; in 10 of their 13 total games, they’ve led or been tied at the start of the 7th inning. In addition to the relief pitching, the team has relied on a sturdier defense, with Brian Barden and Joe Thurston joining Schumaker as relief fielders.

So who has racked up the most?

The team has had at least one fielding save in all but two games; remember, unlike the pitching save, the team doesn’t have to actually win. It’s a fun way for TLR to keep players fresh — and to help out the struggling relief corps.

This entry was posted by Pip on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 5:41 pm and is filed under by the numbers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.