Brewers-Rockies: Trevor Hoffman Tallies Two Saves as Milwaukee Takes Series

Take a second and look at the picture that accompanies this article.

I'll wait.

Knowing that Trevor Hoffman is the all-time career saves leader in Major League Baseball history, how do you deal with that stare slicing through you in the ninth inning when your team is down?

Gives you chills, doesn't it?

I start this article with the end of the game today (as I start writing at least). Well, to be fair, I'll start just after the game ended.

It was then that a member of the Milwaukee Brewers staff peeled off of a "2" to reveal a "3." The two places preceding the ones column? A "5" and "9." It is the in-stadium visual counter of Hoffman's career saves total as he marches toward 600.

Nestled on the scoreboard's support out past the left-center gap, it tells everyone that enters the stadium just who will be coming out of the bullpen door after the stadium boards go dark...as if the Bells weren't enough notification.

Tuesday night saw the precursor to Wednesday afternoon's revealing. After all, to get to 593, you first have to get to 592.

Hoffman pitched a perfect inning on Wednesday to get the save. He had to as the Brewers only took a one-run lead into the ninth. Tuesday was not quite the same, as Hoffman was touched up for a run before locking down the Colorado Rockies.

Hoffman didn't give up a run until his 19th appearance in 2009. That followed nearly a month on the disabled list with Hoffman finally recording his first save of that season on April 28 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Something tells me he doesn't mind Tuesday's one run so much since the results of his efforts were two wins.

But I suppose that you could ask him yourself if you're within shouting distance of him. I just recommend being somewhere other than 60 feet and six inches away.