A Theological Lesson

Watching today's Pirates-Cardinals game (cathartic, by the way, is one word to describe the enjoyment derived from thrashing another team 11-0, even though that other team is at .500 and my team is nowhere .500) provided me with a theological lesson. No, seriously.

At the start of the 2007 season (yes, way back in April and May, pre All-Star break) the at-that-moment-sensational Snell had a pristine ERA, WHIP, and K/BB rates. What he didn't have were the number of wins that would have gone alongside those then-terrific statistics, as the Bucco offense had difficulty providing him with run support of 2 or 3 runs a game. (Seriously.)

Today, however, despite whatever Ronny Paulino is smoking , Snell was either doing his impersonation of the good form of Zach Duke in terms of "pitching around" Cardinals and getting incredibly lucky while also doing some serious wrestling with his command. 5 walks in a game? More walks than strikeouts? Throwing nearly as many balls as strikes? Hitting a batter? While of course I hope Rotoworld's "Perhaps" ends up being right, the fact is that none of those statistics are good signs (though one might see it as a sign of "growth" to win with such a line, I consider it a sign of "luck" rather than "maturity" or "growth"). In a game that the Cardinals hadn't already mailed in, such obvious command/control issues would have been problematic. Thus, the sports adage that sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. As for the theology lesson, talk about the wondrous gift of getting what you don't deserve. 7 shut out innings with a poor K to BB rate? Theology lesson=grace and mercy are truly wonderful gifts in baseball as in all of life.

In other news, Freddy Sanchez continues to hit, hit, and hit. I want him to continue to hit like this throughout all of September because watching him hit is pleasurable. Of course, his hitting also helps the Pirates to win the games (though it should be noted that Sanchez was helped today by the fact that he had much company--excluding Jason Bay, but that's a whole other post--in getting hits off former Bucco Kip Wells, and such hitting throughout the lineup is obviously a necessity for my team to win any games).

What does it say about my (utter lack of) belief and confidence in my team that I was nervously watching the final innings of the game even when the score was 11-0? While I grew slightly less nervous after La Russa pulled his starters, Tracy pulling his starters didn't inspire any confidence. I just figure that if there's an (ostensibly) MLB team that can figure out how to lose a game in which they have a 11-0 lead, it's the Pirates.

There's no pennant race this year (sorry, Bucco marketing department), but spoiling, especially against seriously mediocre division rivals, does provide a little amusement. More amusement, and even genuine fun, could be had if only the Pirates had managed to make the jump from "seriously bad" to "close to mediocre." But at I can keep dreaming that a new CEO will turn things around, right?

Better stick to watching Freddy Sanchez hit. At least I know Sanchez hitting can, factually and historically, continue to happen.