42 is the Answer.

Here is a list of every Red Sox pitcher who compiled 20 or more saves from 1997 through 2013.
- Jonathan Papelbon (219)
- Derek Lowe (85)
- Tom Gordon (68)
- Ugueth Urbina (49)
- Heathcliff Slocumb (48)
- Keith Foulke (47)
- Mike Timlin (27)
- Alfredo Aceves (27)
- Tim Wakefield (22)
- Koji Uehara (21)

Note that this list excludes several would-be closers who failed to get to 20 saves:
- Joel Hanrahan (4)
- Andrew Bailey (14)
- Mark Melancon (1)
- Daniel Bard (5)
- Curt Schilling (9)
- Rod Beck (6)
- Butch Henry (6)
- John "Way Back" Wasdin (3)
- Rich "El Guapo" Garces (5)

Here is the same list for the Yankees:
- Mariano Rivera (652)
- Rafael Soriano (44, but only because Rivera tore his ACL last year).

Happy trails, you magnificent bastard.

Seriously, spend some time on Rivera's Baseball Reference page. Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair.

The Ballad of Jose Oquendo

Pictured: Jose Oquendo, probably not pitching.
Andrew Koo wrote an article for BP today about position players pitching in extra innings. He noted that 2013 marks the sixth straight year in which this has happened, and chalks it up to increasing reliever specialization: if all your relievers are used to going no more than 2 innings per outing, you're much more likely to run out of pitchers in an 18-inning game. I would add the diminishing run environment -- less offense means that tie games last longer.

But that's not what I'm here to write about. I'm here to write about Jose Oquendo.

On May 14, 1988, Oquendo threw four innings against the Atlanta Braves and picked up the loss in a 7-5, 19-inning affair. Absent any evidence to the contrary, I'm going to claim that Oquendo owns the record for most innings pitched in a single outing by a position player. Let's go through the box score for this and dive into the blissful craziness that was the end of this game.

Super Bowl Hype Drive: Naming Wrongs

I'm only going to write this once: it's the Super Bowl, not the Superbowl. It is a bowl that is super. The name was ripped off from the Super Ball, a popular 60s children's toy (which seems ironic given how touchy the NFL is about Super Bowl-related copyright infringement). You'd expect this to be related to the rise of Twitter hashtags, but the pandemic predates the Fail Whale (which, incidentally, is never called the "Failwhale").

I don't get it. No one talks about the "Rosebowl" or the "Worldseries" or the "USOpen" or "Daytona500". Last year's game didn't feature the "Newengland Patriots" and "Newyork Giants". This year's game isn't in "Neworleans". The winner doesn't get the "Vincelombarditrophy".

So please, guys, it's two words, both capitalized. From now on, let's only use "Superbowl" if we're referring to Clark Kent's dishware (shipped with him from Krypton, of course, and able to serve heavy gravies in a single bound), or maybe a really excellent bird of prey.

...a superb owl? Anyone? No?

All right, fine.

Baseball IIINNN SPAAAAAACE!

Baseball's All-Star break is the slowest time on the sports calendar. In fact, these three days are the only days of the year where none of the four major professional sports have games*.

* - Real games. Sorry, Bud, this one still doesn't count.

If you're really -- and I mean REALLY -- desperate for some action you can watch the Home Run Derby. There are two problems with this strategy: first, you have to deal with Chris "Uma" Berman, and second, it's really not that interesting. You'd think a bunch of professional baseball players trying to hit the ball as far as they can would be fun to watch but, let's face it: it gets old after awhile.

There are ways to spice it up, of course, like this clusterfuck the Reading Phillies came up with for the Eastern League All-Star Game.

Or! Or. You could put it on the moon.

The Pain from a Future Wound: Betting on Mad Men Season 6

In sports, futures bets are a popular way for casual fans to get in on some sweet season-long action and casinos to take advantage of the eternal optimism of Cubs fans. What's more, future odds for next season are up mere minutes after the previous season ends. And while you can't place many entertainment-related bets in Vegas, you can certainly place them online. With all that in mind, The Feats of Strength proudly presents the first lines posted* for the sixth season of Mad Men.

* - God, I HOPE they're the first lines posted. What is wrong with you people?

The Dutch Oven Overheats

Yea, and when the Philistines hath batted around in the inning, Maddux brother of Greg pulleth Holland and summoned yon reliever.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for Rangers starter Derek Holland. Just after Memorial Day, Holland made the anemic Seattle Mariners look like the '27 Yankees, giving up eight runs in less than two innings May 30. Just to prove it was no fluke, Holland labored through a five-inning start against the Oakland A's in the pitcher's haven that is the Oakland Coliseum.

The Rangers put Holland on the disabled list with a "fatigued shoulder" and blamed a stomach virus that saw "The Dutch Oven" drop some 15 pounds. But Grantland's Jonah Keri has the real story: