Gagne's Back

It looks like closer Eric Gagne is back in top form after overcoming some serious injury problems the past two years, and on into this year. Gagne was unimpressive in his first two years in the bigs as a starter. Then the Dodgers moved him to closer in 2002. And it was lights out! For the next three years, through 2004, he had 52, 55, and 45 saves in consecutive years (152 total saves in three consecutive seasons is a record that may last a long, long time). His ERA's during those years? 1.97, 1.20, and 2.19. Oh, yeah, and he had, for the 3 years combined, 365 K's in 247 innings! In 2003, way over half (137, or very close to it) of the 247 outs he recorded were by strikeout. I believe he set an unbelievable record for number of consecutive saves in save opportunities (i.e., wihtout blowing any saves) during that time.
Then, as I said, injuries came into play, limiting him to 16 games and 9 saves in 2005-6. This year, he's missed some time in both April and May. Beginning with May 29, however, he's saved 5 games (and won one today!) and allowed no runs in 8 2/3 innings with 10 K's. He'd have considerably more saves were he not with the hapless Texas Rangers. Still, his 0.50 ERA so far has to be encouraging. If he's back all the way, and can sustain it without injury, at age 31 he still can be one of if not THE greatest, most ting closer ever (most folks, I suppose, would rank Eckersley or possibly Rivera, who seems to be back on track, for best ever as of now).