If there were an award for Closer of the Year, San Diego’s Heath Bell would be a top candidate to take home the National League version of the hardware. Through July 24, Bell has been called upon to close out 31 games for the Padres and has been successful 28 times; averaging seven each month throughout the season. In fact, the last time he couldn’t get the job done was on May 26, when St. Louis touched him up for a run in a game the Padres ended up winning in 13 innings.

It’s a peculiar thing with Bell. He has a 4-0 record, whereas if you were going to see a win-loss stat beside a closer’s name, you would generally expect to find him on the losing side of .500. Bell himself has blown three saves this year, but obviously has not taken a loss in any of those games. In fact, the Padres have actually gone on to win two of the three games he’s blown.

Another mystifying stat of Bell’s is his seven-for-nine save converts in May. He threw 13.0 innings and gave up only one earned run for a 0.69 ERA, yet still had those two missed opportunities. His next lowest ERA for a month was 1.80 in April when he converted seven out of eight attempts. In June and July he’s a perfect 14-for-14 with ERAs of 3.72 and 1.86, respectively. Only three times this season has Bell been used for anything other than exactly 1.0 innings.

Bell’s greatest strengths are that he throws strikes and doesn’t give up the long ball. He’s only allowed one home run all season, and only in six of his 42 appearances has he not struck out at least one batter. He has credit for a win in each month this season, but never in a game in which a save opportunity was present. Bell can get the job done, and his near-exclusion from last week’s All-Star Game was almost an insult. People often complain that relievers do not get enough credit, and they’re right. Bell is one of the best going right now, and he deserves to be recognized for it.