The home team is up by a run, and the ninth inning is about to start. Even before the bullpen door opens, the fans rise to their feet. They know what's coming. The stadium announcer introduces the closer. Cue entrance music.

As is becoming a tradition in baseball, the players who face the daunting task of protecting late-game leads now enter the game to the raging music of their favorite heavy metal band. Though the music usually elicits wild cheering from the crowd, the growing trend also has its flaws. Quite frankly, it's getting on my nerves.

For starters, the lone qualification for having a hard-rocking anthem play during a closer's introduction is that he must wear a pair of cleats and a jockstrap, because everyone seems to have an introduction song.

Entrance music shouldn't just be handed out to closers like sunflower seeds or postgame sandwiches. Only after establishing a track record as one of the game's elite closers should a player be allowed to enter the game with "Thunderstruck" playing over the speakers.

Cleveland Indians closer Joe Borowski, for example, came out to "Wild Thing" last week. A guy who went five years between 30-save seasons doesn't exactly have the elite tag needed to warrant the playing of that song. The only Indian ever to earn "Wild Thing" was Rick Vaughn, and Borowski is definitely not at his level.

Vaughn, in addition to pitching in the California Penal League for some time, once took a guy's head clean off with a fastball. Granted, it was only a cardboard cut-out, but still, that's pretty bad-ass. He earned his keepsake as "Wild Thing." Boworski, in comparison, shouldn't be coming out to anything that rocks harder than "Uptown Girl."

There are some closers, though, — "Major League" trilogy aside — that have actually earned their introduction tunes. Mariano Rivera deserves to enter Yankee Stadium to "Enter Sandman" before he shuts down the opposition. In the NL, Trevor Hoffman, who is baseball's all-time saves leader, has gotten the job done for long enough to warrant the blasting of "Hells Bells." And while there are a few others, the underlying fact remains that too many closers have entrance music despite a less-than-impressive career.

Brian Fuentes, the closer for the Colorado Rockies — a position that generally doesn't get very much work to begin with — was furious after making his grand entrance to "YMCA," of all songs, during a game last season. While the Village People's classic anthem may have been a little soft even for Fuentes, one career 30-save season isn't exactly AC/DC worthy.

Clouding the qualifications necessary to have a song is the exact purpose of the musical introduction to begin with. Whether its goal is to fire up the closer, scare the opposing hitters or just wake the crowd is unclear. Each of the above possesses its own unique flaws.

For the amount of money that closers make per season, shouldn't they be ready to do their job without the help of Metallica or Slipknot? I'd like to think that, for $10 million a season, Billy Wagner could retire the side even if he entered the game to selections from Neil Diamond's greatest hits.

As for opposing hitters, do lyrics like "Welcome to the jungle/ We've got fun and games," the opening lines of one-time Cy Young winner Eric Gagne's theme "Welcome to the Jungle" really affect their ability to get a hit? Probably not, but that didn't stop the Dodgers, and now the Rangers, from playing it upon Gagne's introduction.

Worst of all, though, is the perception that fans aren't smart enough to get excited during the closers' entrance without having a musical cue. You can be sure that for the money I pay to see the game, I'm going to stand and cheer when the game is on the line, regardless of whether "Crazy Train" is playing or not.

I'd like to know what those stereo-operator guys think would happen if Drowning Pools' "Bodies" didn't play when Boston closer Jonathon Papelbon entered the game. Are they picturing a stadium full of fans unable to figure out that it's time to cheer? Will people be wandering around the stadium aimlessly, unsure when they're supposed to stand and clap? And even though not all attendees at baseball games are hardcore fans, I would think that everyone else around them standing and cheering would be a pretty good indication that they should do the same without having to be told to by Ozzy Osbourne or Axel Rose.

All of this just serves as a reminder that closers have become the most pretentious players in baseball. Centerfielders don't require a head-banging tune to make a leaping catch, but without Slipknot's "Duality," Toronto closer B.J. Ryan can't get three outs in the ninth? Although two decades ago, the closer position was just a thought in the forefront of people's minds, those ballplayers are ubiquitous and considered valuable now. And that supposedly equates to introductory music.

There is a way order can be restored, however.

Fans, before each season, should be able to vote on their closer's grand entrance music. Not only would this allow fans to share their opinions on their team's personnel, but it would serve as a way to keep closers in check. This way, closers could know where they stand in the eyes of the fans, and would be able to adjust their game accordingly.

Until the day comes, though, when fans can select something from the Michael Bolton catalogue to introduce their less-than-intimidating closer, we're just going to have accept the choices home team relievers make, even if it means forever associating Biggie's "Big Poppa" with the legendary Armando Benitez.

Mike Ackerstein is a freshman majoring in journalism. If you think Jose Valverde should enter to the sound of "Cry Me a River," contact Mike at [email protected].