Chances are, you need a few pitchers on your fantasy baseball roster that can eat up innings. You know, that silly rule that prevents you from loading up on closers? Well, here is a list you could use, especially if your team if floundering and you need some steady pitchers to deliver quality innings of work. This is the list of active leaders in innings pitched. Some of the names will surprise you, but certainly not all of them:

1. Jamie Moyer, Philadelphia Phillies (3966 innings)—Remember when Jamie Moyer pitched for the Cubs? Yeah, neither does anyone else. He was a rookie in 1986, the year Mookie Wilson hit the ball through Bill Buckner’s legs. I know, most of you don’t remember that, either.

2. Andy Pettitte, New York Yankees (2984)—Though it’s early, Andy Pettitte is having a career year at age 38. And I’m just glad I had the foresight (errr, luck) to draft him for my fantasy team.

3. Tim Wakefield, Boston Red Sox (2980)—Remember when Tim Wakefield pitched for the Pirates? Seriously, he started out there in 1992 and joined the Sox in 1995. And dude is still beloved by the chowder heads.

4. Livan Hernandez, Washington Nationals (2795)—Two things are baffling. One, that Livan’s age is listed as 35. Thirty-freaking-five! Um, no. And two, that this guy is still getting hitters out with that blistering 80 mph fastball of his.

5. Javier Vasquez, New York Yankees (2532)—So this guy has banked $92 million in his career to date for losing as many games as he wins (145-144). That’s proof right there that innings eaters are worth something, but still sounds like highway robbery to me.

6. Jeff Suppan, Milwaukee Brewers (2437)—He’s relegated to the bullpen for the most part, but still racking up innings of work.

7. Kevin Millwood, Baltimore Orioles (2382)—Remember when Kevin Millwood was the fourth starter behind Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine in Atlanta? That was in 1997 but seems like it was 50 years ago.

8. Derek Lowe, Atlanta Braves (2191)—He may have peaked a few years ago, but this guy still has some of the nastiest stuff in the game.

9. Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves (2124)—Through all of the injuries, it’s truly amazing that Tim Hudson has pitched that many innings. And hey, Javier, put this in your pipe and smoke it—a 153-79 career record.

10. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies (2123)—This dude just keeps winning, but even he’s only got 154 wins to date. Does that seem right?

Source: Baseball Reference

5. Loma Prieta Earthquake
Shortly before Game 3 began at Candlestick Park, the 6.9 magnitude Lorna Prieta earthquake struck. It was the first major earthquake in America to be broadcast on live television. At the time the quake struck, Tim McCarver was narrating highlights and Al Michaels cut in to say “I’ll tell you what — we’re having an earth–,” and at that point the feed from San Francisco was lost. Fans in the stadium were heard cheering “Let’s play ball,” shortly afterwards, as the damage at the stadium itself was minimal. A power outage forced the game to be postponed, however, and the damage to the rest of the bay area was far greater than a mere power outage…

4. Clemens Throws bat at Piazza
After two quick Clemens’ strikeouts, Piazza strode to the plate. On a 1-2 count, Clemens hummed a fastball inside, which Piazza fouled-off his hands, shattering his bat into three pieces. The barrel of the bat landed between the mound and first base, where it rested until Clemens ran over and picked it up (later saying that he thought it was the ball), and threw it over the first base line and into foul territory, directly in the path of Piazza. A confused Piazza turns towards Clemens, yelling at him “What’s your problem?” The two would get close to one another, but Clemens refused to acknowledge Piazza, and the situation eventually deescalated. Piazza grounded out on the next pitch, while the Yankees would go on to win the game, 6-5, and the series, 4-1, but the Clemens-Piazza fight remains the most memorable moment from the Subway Series.

1. Bill Buckner’s Error
Entering the bottom of the 10th inning, the Red Sox were leading 5-3, and after two quick outs, the title was seemingly inevitable. Three straight singles from the Mets made it 5-4, but still, all Boston needed was one out for their first World Series win since 1918. But then Bob Stanley uncorked a wild pitch, allowing the Mets to tie the game at five. Mookie Wilson followed, and hit a slow-bouncer down the first-base line, and it looked like, finally, the Sox were out of the inning, and onto the 11th. All Bill Bucker had to do was field the ball and toss it to first…

These are some great moments from the past 20 years. I’ll never forget watching the Giants-A’s ’89 Series as a youngster and not understanding the magnitude of the situation. And I’ll still never get why Clemens decided to chuck a bat at Piazza, then lie about why he did it, and then stick with the lie later. Hey, he kind of did that again later when it was discovered he used stero…

Which is why it’s incredibly sad that yesterday, the last regular season game at Shea clinched nothing more than a ticket home for the players and coaching staff. As I texted my buddy Dave and his kids during the game (they were there in person to experience the heartbreak), I watched the game and had some awful memories come flooding back—the collapse of this year equaling the collapse of last season. I also felt the familiar disappointment that was a little more pronounced in the 2006 NLCS, as Yadier Molina clubbed a two-run homer the inning after Endy Chavez made one of the most spectacular plays you’ll ever see. Chavez did it again yesterday, and then the Marlins hit two home runs in the following inning off of a Mets bullpen that was overmatched pretty much all of 2008, but more so since Billy Wagner went down with a season-ending elbow injury.

But, well, we can’t change fate. And while the Brewers and Phillies play in the 2008 postseason, and Shea Stadium gets ready to be torn down for good, I’d like to share a few memories that stand out in my mind, whether I was there or not….

1. My first game, July 26, 1971…it took me a bit of research for this because I was only 7 years old at the time. I know it was summer night game against the Cardinals, and Bob Gibson not only dominated my Mets but hit a triple off Ray Sadecki. I can still see Gibson flying around the bases. I also remember how green the grass looked and how great peanuts and hot dogs could taste at ballparks. And how cool it was that you could throw your peanut shells under your seat. And names like Bud Harrelson, Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones.

2. My first playoff game, October 11, 1986…this is a day I’ll never forget. There was an October chill in the air and a buzz in Shea that lasted the entire game. Darryl Strawberry hit a 3-run shot off of Houston’s Bob Knepper that tied it, and then little Lenny Dykstra hit a 2-run line drive homer off Dave Smith in the bottom of the 9th that won it. As if in slow motion, I thought the ball was going to reach the wall for a double, but when it cleared the fence my buddies and I man-hugged and high-fived for half an hour. Remember that high fives were both acceptable and cool back then.

3. Watching Game 6 of the ’86 series, October 25, 1986 at Harry-O’s bar in Mineola, NY with my buddies Tom and Dave. Amazingly, as we all sulked in our beer, Tom kept positive with the Mets trailing the Red Sox by two runs with two outs and down to their last strike. Tom said, “Come on, just a base hit.” What followed were three hits, a wild pitch and some divine intervention as Mookie Wilson’s grounder rolled through Bill Buckner’s legs. So low, then so high. And if you experienced it like I did, you’re getting goose bumps as you read this. If you were there, I can’t even imagine what it felt like. My dad handed me the newspaper the following morning, and the headline was something like “Mets win with Miracle in 10th!”

4. The last game I saw at Shea, May 25, 2002—It was also the first time my wife Jen had been to Shea, and it was while we were dating. The Mets lost to the Marlins (sound familiar?) 6-5 with Kevin Olsen beating them. There were guys like Mike Lowell and Cliff Floyd and Luis Castillo in the Marlins’ lineup and guys like Mo Vaughn and Timo Perez and Robbie Alomar in the Mets’ lineup. Man, how times change. That was also the day I bought Jen a rally monkey, Mo Mo (named after Mo Vaughn). She still says it was the best $20 I ever spent on her.

5. That painful Game 7 of the NLCS in 2006, October 19, 2006. Jen and I went to the Smoky Mountains for a three-day weekend, and while the Mets were playing in a critical Game 7, I was not allowed to sulk for too long if they lost, nor did I want to sulk in the great Smoky Mountains! It rained really hard during our four-hour drive, and even harder once we arrived at our log cabin. Then the unthinkable happened. Right after Chavez’ spectacular catch that I thought was a positive omen, the power went out, and we had to sit in our car and listen to the game on the radio. Making my nerves rattle more was the fear of a black bear rapping on the driver’s side window. I remember hearing Shea fall silent as Molina hit that home run. Then the power came back on, and I got to see Carlos Beltran look at a called third strike against (grrrr) Adam Wainwright to end the game.

There’s plenty more…..the beer man who would shout “Hey load ‘em up!”……my buddies and I, all recent college graduates, taunting umpire Joe West one night when he was manning first base…..going to Shea almost every time Dwight Gooden pitched in 1984, and watching him blow hitters away with the nastiest fastball-curve combo I’ve ever seen…..experiencing early heartbreak when the Mets lost Game 7 to Oakland in 1973….and experiencing it again when the Mets lost to the Dodgers in the 1988 NLCS….and again when they lost to the Yankees in 2000…..having my older brothers take me to games when I was a kid…..watching games on TV with my dad on Sundays.

It’s the end of an era, but memories like this, good and bad, make the ushering in of Citi Field in 2009 that much easier. Let’s hope the magic, mystique and memories continue on, and let’s hope the new era of the Mets brings with it a few more championships.