Scott Olsen gets it.
If pitcher Scott Olsen doesn't finish what he starts Friday, it won't be any skin off his back as long as the Marlins end up winning. But he will put the Marlins in the record book if he does not go the distance against the Colorado Rockies. The Marlins would break the major-league record for consecutive games -- 262 -- without a complete game from one of their pitchers. --- ''They look nice,'' he said. ``It seems like everybody has a good time after the game, usually. But I don't think they're relevant. I really don't. If you go seven, you've probably done your job most likely.'' Olsen said the late innings are what bullpens are for. ''You've got guys in the bullpen who are specialized,'' Olsen said. ``It's not like the '70s and '80s, where you didn't have a lefty specialist. You didn't have a long reliever. ``Now we've got guys that are specifically brought in for certain situations, and as a starting pitcher your job is to keep the team in the game and give the manager the ability to use those guys in the right situations.''
Unless Ollie can put together nine innings with about 100 pitches, the Marlins will break the record. As I have said, many times before, who cares?
The purpose of trotting the guys out on the field is to win, that's it. It is not to overextend a young starting pitcher so that the club doesn't set some misguided record.
Naturally sports writers will harp on the record, they have column inches to fill, but the record just doesn't matter.