If you only look at the Yankees-Tigers box score from Saturday night, you'll only see that flamboyant Tigers closer Jose Valverde got the win. I'll save the rant on "win" as a primary stat for judging pitchers for a different day and instead tell you that Valverde melted down in the ninth inning. Again.

After going an astounding 49-for-49 in save chances last season, Valverde has three blown saves in 12 chances this season. And he's lucky his line isn't worse, according to his numbers.

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Valverde's ERA is 4.64, but his FIP (5.04) and xFIP (5.56) say he's pitched worse than that. This is because he's allowing far too many baserunners via the free pass. He's walked 15 guys in just 21 1/3 innings, which is awful, just as is his 1.59 WHIP. The 7.17 K/9 rate is the worst of Valverde's career, too.

If you want to ignore the numbers, that's fine. We can do that. Have you watched Papa Grande pitch this year? I've long thought watching him was torture due to his absurd mannerisms and "look at me" persona out there on the mound, but now he's unwatchable when actually throwing the pitch. He seemingly has no clue where it's going. Even when he throws the occasional strike, he misses his spot. He constantly falls behind hitters, which easily accounts for his low strikeout rate. And, dare I say, he appears to have lost confidence, because his mannerisms -- when he does succeed -- seem even more forced than in the past. It's like he's actually surprised when he's getting good results.

With the Tigers five games back of the White Sox and also trailing the Indians here in June, it's worth wondering how much longer Valverde will/should last as the closer. Even if he's moved temporarily to clear his head, it seems that a move should be in order quite soon. The problem is that manager Jim Leyland may be without his best replacement option. Joaquin Benoit seems a natural fit to step in, but he might be hurt, as he left Saturday night with an injured forearm.

"I'm more worried about Benoit than I am anybody else right now," Leyland said (MLB.com), "because when he threw that pitch that went up against the screen, when [Alex Rodriguez] called time and he threw the pitch, he got some tightness there. It tightened up on him pretty badly. So that's the one that's got me concerned, because we've been pretty much snake-bitten."

If not Benoit, there's Octavio Dotel and his 109 career saves. He's struck out 27 hitters in 18 1/3 innings this season, along with a 1.09 WHIP. The ERA is up in Valverde's range, though, so maybe move on to Duane Below? In 22 1/3 innings this year, Below has 19 strikeouts and only three walks, sporting a sparkling 0.90 WHIP and a good 2.82 ERA.

Yes, Valverde's the "proven closer" of the group, but it's a misnomer that teams need a "proven closer." Just look at some of these names and how they've fared this season: Fernando Rodney, Jim Johnson, Santiago Casilla, Alfredo Aceves and Ernesto Frieri. There are more and stuff like this happens every season.

Again, maybe Leyland only needs to temporarily remove Valverde, like Marlins skipper Ozzie Guillen did Heath Bell. Bell is 8-for-8 on saves with a 2.89 ERA since getting his job back.

Leyland is probably going to have to do something at some point with Valverde, otherwise it's going to get late awfully early for the Tigers this June.

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