We were talking about closers: Relief pitchers who finish games their teams win. Closers are some of the strangest men in the game. High-strung and low-key at the same time. Insecure, confident macho men, walking the psychological high wire 50 nights a year. If Mike Tyson played baseball, he'd be a closer.

Danny Graves isn't like that. Rob Dibble wrestled his manager, threw at a batter who dared bunt on him and celebrated a win by jacking a fastball into the stands where it hit a schoolteacher named Meg. Really.

Randy Myers dressed in camo gear and stored Army surplus in his locker. He had a foot-long, battery-powered G.I. Joe he'd send crawling across the clubhouse floor, his alter ego, little machine gun blazing. John Franco, the man whose team record for saves Danny Graves is poised to beat, liked to set teammates' feet on fire.

These are not normal individuals.

Pitcher Danny Graves, a certified "tattoo freak," has a tattoo on his left arm dedicated to his kids Shea, Austin, Trey and Jayden. (Michael E. Keating/file photo)

"I have piercings and tattoos," said Graves. Nice try, Scooter.

Danny Graves has a laptop computer in his locker. The screensaver is a photo of his wife and three daughters. He has an autographed picture of Anna Kournikova. Famous closers can resemble Viking warriors or Charlie Manson: Goose Gossage, Al Hrabosky, Dennis Eckersley.

When Danny Graves wants a clean shave, he hires a cat to lick his whiskers.

His fastball rarely tops 90 miles an hour. He gave up six homers in his first 18 innings this year.

This is a closer?

"I'm not your typical athlete either," Graves said. "Short and fat. Who'd have thought I'm an athlete?"

His first day as a Red, in July 1997, former teammate Lenny Harris thought Graves was a batboy. Harris was ready to ask Graves to make him a sandwich until someone filled him in.

Admit it: You've wanted Graves out of here. Or at least out of the 9th inning. You thought Danny Graves set more fires than matches. What sort of closer calls a sinkerball his best pitch?

The old Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver had a closer like Graves. Don Stanhouse could turn any game into an ulcer. Stanhouse would start the ninth with the Orioles ahead 3-0 and walk the first three hitters. Then he'd strike out the next guy, and get the guy after that to hit into a double play.

Weaver called him Full Pack.

But here's what separates Graves. Here's why, seven seasons into his Reds career, he's the best they've ever had at closing out games:

He has a head level enough to putt on. He has a chronic ability to remember to forget. No jock lives in the moment like a closer. Graves is an all-star at doing that.

Todd Jones, himself a premier closer before becoming Graves' set-up man, said, "A lot guys (who) have hoopla (are) compensating for something. It's usually their lack of confidence. They're more worried about their music or their facial hair than getting somebody out. Danny is mentally tough.'

Said Graves: "Plenty of guys had the ability to be closers, guys that throw 100 mph, but their minds wouldn't let them.

"You have guys who are scared to go out there and fail. I've failed plenty of times. I'll fail plenty more. You have to learn to accept that. You have to have the guts to forget what happened before."

You could argue that the save is a flimsy stat. A pitcher can enter a game with a four-run lead in the 9th and get a save if the potential tying run is on deck. You can say closers are a dime a dozen, as Oakland general manager Billy Beane does in the book Moneyball. You could card Danny Graves at the Kroger checkout, when he tries to buy anything harder than Mountain Dew.

You can't deny this: A planet-leading 17 saves already. A "short, fat" latter-day Full Pack, poised to be the Reds' all-time savior.

"I'd love to be a rock star," Graves said. "You never get booed, you'll always be able to perform and you don't have to be at your best."

Career move, maybe? "It'll never happen," Graves said. "I can't sing."

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E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com

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