Hawkins' Effectiveness

Saw this interesting bit on the Cubs web site in the story on Mark Prior's denial of using steroids in response to the admission by his mentor Tom House to doing so while a player.

"The folks at STATS, Inc., did a little extra research on LaTroy Hawkins and pitchers and their effectiveness in the ninth inning. Since 1995, Hawkins is 17-for-30, or 57 percent, with a one-run lead in the ninth, while STATS, Inc., says all pitchers in baseball have a 75.1 percent success ratio.

With a two-run lead, Hawkins has a 91.3 percent ratio, while the rest of baseball is at 89.4 percent. And, STATS, Inc., says Hawkins has an 89.5 percent success ratio with a three-run lead while other pitchers have a 95.5 percent rate."

So there is some credence to the view that Hawkins is somehow not well-suited to the closer role.