Well, They Couldn't Have Won In The Tenth Without Him, I Guess

I've written about this before, and probably will again. This is the pitching box score for the Brewers in today's opener with the Cubs:

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
Ben Sheets	6 1/3	2	0	0	2	7	0
Salomon Torres	2/3	0	0	0	1	0	0
Guillermo Mota	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
Eric Gagne	1	3	3	3	1	1	1
David Riske	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

So, which of these pitchers is credited as the winning pitcher? Why, Eric Gagne, of course, the only one of the five who completely failed in his job.

Gagne blew his save opportunity and nearly the game, but is rewarded for his effort with credit as the "winning pitcher." Baseball's scoring rules for determining this are archaic and illogical and really need to be changed. A few years ago I suggested that a better ruling would be that no relief pitcher who allows the tying runs should be credited with a victory, except possibly in unusual circumstances such as an extra inning game which he completes. In the case of today's game, the winning pitcher would have been Mota, who left the game three runs ahead. Riske would still get a save, and Gagne would get nothing except a blown save marked against him.

Eventually, the MLB rules committee gets around to changing the more ridiculous rules in the books. I move that they get around to this one soon.