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21 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP PLAY BALL theUniversityofArizona,mostly because the Wildcats needed a closer and freshmen do as they're told. H e per for med well in the College World Series. The next year, Arizona coach Andy Lopez planned to move Mel - ancon to his rotation. He recruit- ed a junior college kid to handle the ninth. The kid didn't make his grades. "I had already done it," Melan - con said, "so I kept doing it." He is still doing it, now at an elite level. Over the past four seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Wash - ington Nationals, Melancon has recorded 147 saves in 162 chances. But it's his rate statistics that show why manager Bruce Bochy lobbied so hard to sign him, and why he has become one of the most de - pendable closers in this decade. Over the past four seasons, he has a 1.80 ERA, allowed 0.91 base- runners per inning and 0.3 home runs per nine innings — a combi- nation that no Giants closer in fran- chise history (minimum 25 saves) has matched in a single season. Melancon uses his cutter to keep the ball off the barrel and get efficient contact outs. He'll miss his share of bats, too. But mostly, he sucks the drama out of the ninth inning. Brian Wilson might have embodied "Torture Baseball" for the Giants in 2010. Melancon would rather just throw 10 pitches and shake hands. "I thought it was great when the Giants signed Mark," Nen said. "He's got great stuff, he's got great makeup, he's gone out and proven himself over the last three or four years. "It's going to make Boch's job a