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All good things must come to an end, and last night Eric Gagne's save streak was among them. Fortunately, the Dodgers still won 6-5 in 10 innings.
So now, we are pressed to measure the greatness of Gagne's 84-save streak. LAist believes that it's not quite as great as Joe DiMaggio's hit streak, but it's up there. Not only did Gagne avoid a blown save for nearly two full seasons - he was completely dominant in most of those saves. During the streak, the tying run only reached third base once, his ERA was 0.83 in save opportunities, with a K's per 9 innings ratio of 14.5! Some criticize Gagne for not coming into the 8th inning more, but that's largely due to the Dodgers stellar middle relief pitching. Basically, this a guy who was flawless and flat-out brilliant from August 2002 to July 2004.
LAist would take him over Mariano Rivera any day.