Joakim Soria | Kansas City Royals Fan Blog

Joakim Soria Makes #4 of the Best Closers of 2010

Four out of the top five closers come as no surprise. The shocker is number one, he has always been known as a good relief pitcher, but I don’t think anyone expected him to be the top closer of 2010 so far this year.

4. Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals: It is true, one of the worst teams in baseball has the fourth best closer in the league. The question is how long will the Royals be able to hold on to Soria? Soria has been one of the best closers in the league over the past three seasons, but it sometimes goes unnoticed because the Royals are never in contention. Soria was just chosen to go to the all-star game for the second time in his career. This season Soria is leading the league in saves with 24. The Royals have only won 38 games this season, so soria has closed out 24 of their 38 wins, which is pretty impressive. Soria has never had more than four blown saves in a season. This season he has two, so he is on pace to stay under that mark once again. Out of the top five closers Soria has the highest ERA at 2.41, which really isn’t that bad, but if it was lower he could possibly be number one on this list. Soria is known as a finesse closer, instead of blowing batters away, Soria throws an assortment of pitches that paint the black. Soria has 42 strikeouts so far this season and is on pace to have the most strikeouts in his career at around 80 by the end of the season. It’s too bad that Soria is just wasting his talent away in Kansas City, once he becomes a free agent he will be picked up by a good team. At only 26-years-old Soria still has a long career ahead of him.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

July 7, 2010 Posted by homerunheyer | Kansas City Royals, MLB, Royals News | closers, Joakim Soria, MLB, Royals | No Comments Yet

Soria looks old-school with six-out save

It took Joakim Soria to halt another meltdown by the Royals’ bullpen on Tuesday night. Soria pitched the final two innings for the save as the Royals held on for a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics, their first win in four tries this season at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Kyle Davies pitched six solid innings to get the win.

“It wasn’t easy,” acting manager John Gibbons said. “You tip your hat to Soria. He’s done that for us a few times this year now. That’s why he’s one of the elite closers in the game. He’s got that knack.”

This was Soria’s 21st save and marked the fourth time in his last seven successes that he’d had to pitch two innings to do it.

“Like one of those old-time closers,” Gibbons said.

Click here to read the full article – By Dick Kaegel of MLB.com

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