Joe Paterson and Gregg Williams

There is indeed an interesting connection between the marginal middle reliever for the Diamondbacks and the disgraced defensive coordinator.

Did that opening 'hook' you?  If not, what about that last pun?  No?

Paterson took over in the ninth inning of a 9-0 game against the Phillies yesterday, then promptly made it 9-5 without recording an out.  This disastrous - although relatively harmless - outing followed on the heels of another outless appearance against the Braves where Paterson gave up 4 H, a walk, and 2 ER.  For those keeping track, that makes ten consecutive batters reaching base safely to go along with 7 ER.  That has to be a record for an NL reliever, right?  Sadly, I don't know because I refuse to pay $32/year to find out (baseball-reference.org play index subscription).

In any event, I am not aware of any NL reliever who gave up more runs without denting the IP column (Paul Wilson did give up 7 ER in 2003 and 8 ER in 2005 as a starter for the Reds).  I do know that it's not an MLB record.  Hank Borowy gave up 9 ER in relief without recording an out for the Detroit Tigers against the St. Louis Browns in 1951, and Bob Kammeyer gave up 8 ER in relief without recording an out for the New York Yankees against the Cleveland Indians in 1979.  Borowy's streak is actually 10 ER, though, since his previous appearance ended when he allowed a walk-off RBI single to Indians catcher Jim Hegan.  For our purposes, however, I want to highlight Kammeyer's (rather meager) effort.

Although 8 ER and no outs is fairly memorable, Bob Kammeyer is probably best known for what happened after he got yanked from the game.  I'll let the Modesto Bee take it from here: "What's it all about?"

The original bounty scandal!  Gregg Williams is old hat - Billy Martin was the innovator.