By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LOS ANGELES - Reds closer Danny Graves comes to the ballpark every day knowing the outcome of that day's game might rest in his hands.

More often than not, it has.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Saturday's game

Graves now has a major-league-leading 16 saves. He also has a win. So he had been part of 17 of the Reds' 19 wins.

He also had three losses and a major-league-leading three blown saves.

"It's crazy," Graves said.

All those early saves have Graves on the brink of becoming the Reds' all-time saves leader. With one more, Graves will tie John Franco for first on the list with 148.

Graves' explanation for all his chances - he has three more save opportunities than any other pitcher in baseball - is this:

"We're not the kind of team that's going to win 10-0. We don't have those blowouts. We're going to have a lot of close games."

The numbers support Graves' theory. The Reds' biggest margin of victory was four runs, and before Saturday the last time that happened was almost five weeks ago when they beat Pittsburgh 5-1 on April 9.

They had played 12 one-run games (they were 5-7) and nine two-run games (8-1).

Graves has converted six save opportunities in a row and nine of ten. His overall percentage - 84.2 - is slightly higher than his career mark entering this season (82.3).

"My sinker's been working," he said. "I feel good out there."