It’s a strange feeling, and it rarely happens: going from extreme happiness to extreme sadness in a matter of seconds.

It happened to me today, while I was watching the end of the Red Sox game (with no sound on the TV) at my cousin’s high school graduation party.  The extreme happiness came when closer Jonathan Papelbon dispatched the gritty San Diego Padres in the 9th inning, clinching the interleague series between the best teams in their respective leagues.  The extreme sadness came when NESN flashed a picture of a very familiar face, an amicable cherubic face of a guy who loved the game of baseball and loved life…with the numbers “1968-2007″ underneath. 

Rod Beck recorded 286 saves during his 13 year career, mostly with the San Francisco Giants.  He is the 2nd on the all-time Giants saves leaderboard (behind Robb Nen), and amassed an ERA+ of 124 for his career.  During his 2+ years with Boston, he was past his prime and no longer featured the bite on his heavy sinker, a pitch once feared in the National League throughout the 90’s.  However, he pitched well enough in Fenway, the toughest of environments: a 3.46 ERA over 135.1 innings.

I’m not sure what the cause of death is, and I won’t speculate.  Whatever happened, it happened way too soon.

There are several good Beck stories floating around, as he was a quotable character.  All I can offer (that you won’t hear on ESPN et al) is this simple tidbit: his liscense plate.  A friend of mine spotted his car leaving the player’s lot one night: a 70’s muscle car (what else), with a license plate reading: “9S MINE”.

Indeed it was, old buddy.  Indeed it was.

He was 38.