Ok, ok. Only nine games in, I get it.
But have you seen how crazy our bullpen stats are after tonight's game?
To wit:
Mike Lincoln: 0.64 WHIP, .176 OBA, 1.93 ERA
Jared Burton: 0.43 WHIP, .125 OBA, 1.93 ERA
Kent Mercker: 0.82 WHIP, .231 OBA, 2.45 ERA
Jeremy Affeldt: 1.64 WHIP, .375 OBA, 2.45 ERA
Francisco Cordero: 0.33 WHIP, .100 OBA, 0.00 ERA
Dave Weathers: 1.91 WHIP, .412 OBA, 4.91 ERA
Todd Coffey: 1.20 WHIP, .296 OBA, 4.05 ERA
Granted, it's not all rainbows and sunshine, as opponents are batting .412 (!!!) against Stormy, and Jeremy Affeldt has an affinity for men on base, but those are some incredible numbers for any bullpen, let alone a Cincinnati Reds bullpen.
Mike Lincoln has been a pretty nice surprise so far. The season is way to early to call him an unqualified success, but so far he's looked pretty damn good. If he ends up panning out, Wayne Krivsky would have finally done what he's been trying to do for two years: pull good relief pitching out of thin air. And I'm loving the third coming of Mercker. Looks like he still has a little bit of tread left on him.
I'm still riding the giddy high of the new season starting, so I'm seeing this through Reds-colored glasses, but am I alone in thinking that the 2008 bullpen is vastly superior to the 2007 version?
And how many shaky outings do you suffer from Coffey before he gets demoted?