Closer role is tenuous throughout MLB in 2012

For 84 straight games during the 2003 and 2004 seasons, former major-league reliever Eric Gagne captivated baseball fans with his ninth innings. He is, by all accounts, the owner of one of the most impressive streaks in major league and sports history — in the same breath as DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak or Ripken's 2,632 straight games.

Gagne's 84 straight successful saves came at the height of a closer's era, as the likes of Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Billy Wagner, and — soon to follow — Francisco Rodriguez ruled the end of games. 

But long after that 84-game streak ended, Gagne became a poster boy for the instability of the closer position. After three straight years of finishing in the top seven in Cy Young voting — and winning the award once — an injury derailed Gagne's career. He missed most of the 2005 season, was released, struggled through stints with Texas and Boston in 2007, and found himself searching for work heading into the 2008 season.

That's when Milwaukee came calling. General manager Bob Melvin knew quite well how important closers had become in the game. He knew the risk and possible reward from signing a guy like Gagne, the onetime-owner of the most consistent ninth inning in baseball.

But Gagne's longest streak in Milwaukee reached just five games. He was taken out of the closer spot and demoted. He was offered a minor league contract the next year and was released in spring training. He retired soon after.
 
After the Brewers used the inconsistent Salomon Torres throughout 2008, Melvin went after another closer with a legendary record. And as Trevor Hoffman spent his only full season in Milwaukee saving 37 games, the Brewers knew they would need to find a replacement soon. They needed something more than a short-term fix. But that was easier said than done.
 
All the while John Axford spent his offseasons in the minors bartending at East Side Mario's in Hamilton, Ontario. Three years later, Axford would become everything Gagne used to be and everything Melvin had hoped for.
 
Axford will likely never come close to touching Gagne's historic 84-game record. That much became even more true as soon as his own streak — the fourth-longest in MLB history at 49 saves — ended last week against the Chicago Cubs.
 
But as much as the streak had meant to Axford's identity as one of the best closers in the game, he has become something more in Milwaukee — the closer the Brewers needed, the personality they needed, and one of the only consistent closers in a season desperate for them.
 
Axford has admitted that he hasn't had his best season so far in 2012. And with a
5.56 ERA, there's no doubt that's true. Still, he's striking out opposing batters at a rate of two per inning — better than his 1.17 per inning last season.
 
Even through those struggles, Axford has remained one of the only closers safe in his job in major league baseball this season.
 
Four big-time closers — Kansas City's Joakim Soria, San Francisco's Brian Wilson, Philadelphia's Ryan Madson, and New York's Mariano Rivera — are out for the season already with injuries. Plenty of others -- including Washington's Drew Storen, Toronto's Sergio Santos, Boston's Andrew Bailey and Tampa Bay's Kyle Farnsworth -- are all on the shelf. Other normally effective closers like the Angels' Jordan Walden and Marlins' Heath Bell have been completely ineffective in 2012. It hasn't been pretty for baseball's ninth-inning relief.
 
But the Brewers have put their faith in Axford, who has given Milwaukee fans every reason to hope for the best in the ninth inning. Though Gagne's streak may never be beaten, Axford's is certainly nothing to slouch at. He led the league in saves last season and finished ninth in Cy Young voting. He won the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year award in 2011 — the only other Brewers closer to do that was Rollie Fingers.
 
And in a time when the closer has arguably become more important than it was in Fingers' day, Axford has shown the special ability to remain as close to perfect as possible, a task many closers have failed at in the past year.
 
Axford is in just his second full season as the Brewers' closer. But as 14 teams have already changed their closer this season, Axford has the look of someone who will be around for a while. He is — through signings of Gagne, of Hoffman, and of others — what the Brewers had been searching for all along.
 
His save streak has ended. But as a young closer who arrived when the Brewers needed him most, Axford's time in the ninth inning isn't likely to end any time soon.
 
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