Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Hey Fraters... stick to hockey, youbetcha.


An embarrasing post from Atomizer at Fraters Libertas. He has the gall to protest Bartolo Colon's well-deserved Cy Young award and makes his case for Johan Santana:

"Total Strikeouts
Santana 238 (1st in the American League)
Colon 157 (8th in the American League)
Hits Allowed Per 9 Innings
Santana 6.99 (1st)
Colon 8.69 (13th)
Strikeouts Per 9 Innings
Santana 9.25 (1st)
Colon 6.35 (16th)
Opponent Batting Average
Santana .210 (1st)
Colon .254 (13th)
On Base Against Average
Santana .250 (1st)
Colon .291 (2nd)
Slugging Percentage Allowed
Santana .346 (1st)
Colon .407 (15th)
Walks + Hits Per Inning Pitched
Santana .970 (1st)
Colon 1.16 (3rd)
Earned Run Average
Santana 2.87 (2nd)
Colon 3.48 (8th)
Strikeout/Walk Ratio
Santana 5.17 (2nd)
Colon 3.65 (6th)
Wins
Colon 21 (1st)
Santana 16 (5th)

The Elder's now infamous prediction that the 2004 addition of Colon 'might help the Angels' was incredibly prescient at the time, but it is just a bit backwards in this instance. Their phenomenal production of 6.02 runs per game when Colon was on the mound attests to the fact that the Angels probably helped Colon just a bit more than he helped them."


First of all, I had no idea that the Cy Young is sub-titled "Best random statistics for a pitcher in a season award". I can understand how desperate one becomes as a Twins fan and Satana being considered for a Cy Young is pretty much the closest thing to a victory a Twins fan can approach, but let's get real. I can understand Yankee fans griping about Mariano Rivera not winning, but this is pathetic.

Many of the Angels' runs that Atomizer's referring to occurred in the late innings of games in which Colon pitched AFTER he had dominated the opponent and put the game firmly in the win column. Also, there was a stretch in July and August where the Angels were just not scoring ANY runs and Colon, Lackey and Santana held things together and kept them in the race. Colon ended up being the anchor of the rotation and always pitched a huge game when the Halos needed it.

One last thing... only losers claim wins aren't important.

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