Back in the day, baseball enthusiasts like myself witnessed many a complete game. Pitchers named Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Jim Palmer, Gaylord Perry and Tom Seaver, just to name a few, were either pitching complete games, or going deep into games, before being relieved for a fresher arm. However, relief pitchers in that era were only summoned for an inning or less, when a quality starter, such as the aforementioned, was on the mound. Long relievers and middle inning pitchers were used primarily when a starter faltered, became injured, or during doubleheaders, when another starter was required, in order to keep a team's pitching rotation intact. Today's game bares little resemblance to the game I grew up with, and frankly, I prefer the way it used to be played.

Baseball today is a game composed of pitchers who are regarded as "specialists." Every team incorporates them lefty specialists, called on to specifically get a left-handed batter out, and righty specialists, for right-handed hitters. And, yes, we are referring to pitchers who are required to face just one batter! Additionally, there are eighth inning specialists and extra inning specialists, to compliment the short and long relief specialists present on every team's roster, not to mention "spot starters" and "mop-up" specialists, who are necessary evils for those quirks in a team's schedule and for the occasional poor performance by a starting pitcher.

I was watching the Mets-Padres game the other night, a game in which no fewer than four "specialists" were called upon by the Mets, since starter Tom Glavine was having an ineffective outing. Scott Schoeneweiss, a middle reliever, immediately followed Glavine, but for only one inning, as he was removed for a pinch-hitter. This move made sense, and made manager Willie Randolph resemble a genius, when pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson hit a 3-run home run, cutting a 6-1 deficit to 6-4. The Mets rallied and eventually took the lead in this game, aided by two quality shutout innings from Pedro Feliciano, the team's best reliever this season. His .178 BAA (batting average against) bears this point out. Apparently, he isn't qualified, or hasn't the ability, to pitch just one more inning, because the 9th inning is now upon us, and it's time for the "closer" to enter the game. It has to follow this logical order, doesn't it? The 9th inning is reserved for the hard throwing, lights-out, final inning specialist, the pitcher with the majority of

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