Inside Baseball

Monsieur Sauveur  

The Dodgers have found a winning edge in French Canadian closer Eric Gagne

By Stephen Cannella

Before this season Dodgers righthander Eric Gagne was a winning pitcher in name only -- his surname is a form of the French verb gagner, to win. Though he seemed nominally destined for success on the mound, the Montreal native had few W's when he reported to spring training. Gagne spent the last three seasons yo-yoing between the Los Angeles rotation and the minors, putting together an 11-14 record with a 4.61 ERA in 48 big league starts and 10 relief appearances, hardly the kind of stats expected of a young power pitcher coveted by other teams in trade talks with the Dodgers.

In his first season as a reliever Gagne was leading the majors with 21 saves through Sunday. Bob Rosato

Gagne hasn't added any more victories to his record this season -- he was 0-0 through Sunday -- but he has had a hand in a majority of the Dodgers' wins. In a little more than two months the 26-year-old converted starter has become one of the National League's most dominating closers. Gagne led the majors with 21 saves and had a 1.39 ERA. He'd blown just one save opportunity, and opponents were hitting a meager .150 against him.

Forget Gagne -- Eric Sauveur (French for saver) might be more appropriate this season. "When I came to spring training, I didn't have a job, and I didn't know if I'd get traded," says Gagne, whose first language is French and who didn't speak English fluently until after he signed with the Dodgers as an undrafted free agent in 1995. "I just wanted to do something so I could stay on the team."

After closer Jeff Shaw retired, the Dodgers spent the off-season trying to trade for a replacement. They made unsuccessful runs at the Angels' Troy Percival and the Blue Jays' Billy Koch, whom Toronto instead traded to the A's. Faced with a surplus of starters in spring training, manager Jim Tracy shifted Gagne to the bullpen and announced that Gagne and righthanders Giovanni Carrara and Paul Quantrill would form a committee of closers.

It was a logical move, because last season Gagne's fastball was regularly clocked at 94 mph; now he's reaching 97. He credits that jump to eight pounds of muscle he added through winter workouts in Montreal with some friends who are hockey players, and to the new high-octane approach he brings to the bullpen.

He had struck out 44 hitters and walked four in 32 1/3 innings, and it's not only his fastball that makes him effective. His key pitch right now is a changeup that dives toward the dirt as it nears the plate. That sinking action and the speed (87 mph) with which he throws it make the pitch devastating. "Hitters might see a splitter or a slider that hard, but they never see a straight change that hard," says catcher Paul Lo Duca. Adding to Gagne's intimidating presence is his appearance: goggle-thick glasses and a half-goatee that Lo Duca calls a "Chia chin."

It didn't take long for Tracy to disband his committee of closers. On April 11 against the Giants at Pac Bell Park, Gagne entered the game in the ninth inning with the Dodgers leading by a run. He quickly got himself into a jam, putting runners on first and third with one out. Tracy visited the mound and told Gagne, "I should bring in [lefthander Jesse] Orosco, but I'm not. It's your game."

Gagne struck out the next batter and got the final out on a fly to center. The Dodgers had a new closer. "[Tracy] showed a lot of confidence in me," Gagne says. "When he walked off that mound, that was the turning point of my career."

Issue date: June 17, 2002

For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, June 12. Click here to subscribe to SI.

 

Related information

Stories

Scorecard: Suit vs. Suit SI's Rick Reilly: Unlike Mike SI Online: Current Issue and Archives

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video