Statistical Bullshit

It's a good thing I wasn't watching the game last night.

There are many reasons why the above rings true. Watching the first Grand Slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years hit off of the $20,000,000 ace pitcher actually isn't so high up on that list. There's a lot that can be said about that, however I'll come back to that later.

The larger problem is, once again, the surfacing of the Impotent Offense that has plagued this team on a continuing basis.

In the 4th inning, Jose Reyes led off with a single. Luis Castillo followed by grounding into a Fielders Choice. David Wright followed that by hitting into a Double Play.

In the 5th inning, Carlos Beltran stole 3rd with Trot Nixon batting and 1 out. With Beltran on 3rd, Nixon struck out. Beltran scored on a dumb-luck Wild Pitch.

In the 6th inning, Luis Castillo walked. David Wright then struck out looking.

With the tying runs on base in the 9th inning, Carlos Delgado and Damion Easley struck out to end the ballgame.

When Hernandez's HR sailed over the wall, and it really did sail, it basically nailed the Mets coffin closed right there. There was no way they were going to score 4 runs, against Hernandez or whoever Seattle was throwing at them. After rolling through Colorado and scoring 11 runs in 3 games in a hitter's paradise (7 in one game, mind you), there was little reason for optimism. And, as the results above indicate, the feelings were well-justified.

It once again makes me ask the question: Why, then, when the starting pitching has been doing well, and the offense has been horrible, did it make sense for the Mets to fire the Pitching Coach and not the Hitting Coach?

I'd like someone to give me a good reason, and I mean a good reason, not, "Well, he's the Great Ho-Jo, he's a True Met, an organizational guy!" why this joker still has a job. I'd love to hear anyone's explanation. Please, feel free to comment with this. If someone can present me with an even halfway convincing argument, I will shut up about this. Otherwise, I'll continue to bitch about the offense and how a Good At Bat does not equate to scoring runs in the clutch.

While I'm on the topic of Bullshit, let's re-visit that Grand Slam. With 2 on and 2 out in the 3rd, David Wright, as he does sometimes, made an error, kicking the ball around at his feet and allowing the Mariners to load the bases. The photo on the left, I believe, is pretty self-explanatory. Johan Santana subsequently threw an absolute Meatball to the pitcher, Felix Hernandez, who took a Whac-a-Mole swing and hit the ball over the fence.

That is what it is. What really gets me is that the runs were unearned. So, you could argue, Santana pitched a great game. Only 1 earned run in however many innings he pitched, just a victim of bad luck.

Is it bad luck that he basically set the ball on a TEE for Hernandez to hit it out of the ballpark? Is that the biggest crock of shit you've ever heard? It's the pitching equivalent of a Good At Bat. This drives me nuts. The fact remains that Johan threw a sucker pitch and got burned, and instead of getting an out, he gave up 4 runs. That David Wright made the error was academic. Santana is supposed to be a good enough pitcher to get the opposing pitcher, especially an American League pitcher, out.

My co-worker called me after the game and asked if I was going to wear a bag over my head to the Sunday afternoon Mets/Yankees game. The more I think about it, the less crazy it sounds.