Willie’s Double Standard
Are pitchers graded on different scales, based on what’s expected of them?
In the SNY postgame after the Mets win over the Phillies, Adam Rubin asked Willie Randolph if judging a performance is specific to the pitcher, and why Pelfrey’s 100-pitch, 5-inning effort was being celebrated while Oliver Perez’s 6-inning, 91-pitch performance was termed “inefficient”. Willie’s explanation was that “it was a different feel”, and that Perez “struggled” during his game while Pelfrey “never struggled”.
Hmmm ….
Not sure I agree 100%. I think that a pitcher who doesn’t struggle at some point in a game, simply hasn’t been in the game long enough or has been lucky. Averaging 20 pitches per inning, as Pelfrey did, is far from efficient. I think he was lucky that he had an early six-run lead that took the air out of the Phillies’ offense. Had it been a closer game, the Phils might have been more focused and worked Pelfrey a bit harder. But that’s speculation.
Personally, I would have (silently) agreed with Rubin — that you grade Perez on a different scale than you do Pelfrey, because you expect Ollie to give you six good innings at minimum, while you have your fingers crossed that Big Pelf can make it past the fourth. At the same time, if I’m Willie Randolph, I can’t say that publicly, because lowered expectations can mess with a kid’s confidence — plus, every player must be handled individually. Pelfrey is a kid who needs positive reinforcement more than anything else, while Ollie is a guy who responds well to being pushed toward perfection. Willie is doing right by both pitchers — Perez needs a push, Pelfrey needs a pull.
There’s a lot more to this game than the numbers.
And as for Pelfrey, he was victimized by Reyes’ error in the 2nd, which would have otherwise been a DP. That lead to the first run (which Pelfrey shouldn’t have been charged with), and a longer inning for him than he should have had. Also, Pelfrey had some tough Phillie ABs in the 4th inning that ate up his pitch count. But overall, Pelfrey threw strikes, didn’t walk much, and let the Phillies hit themselves out rather than walking them. The result was alot of groundballs to Delgado and Reyes today.
It was also good to see Pelfrey recover from Reyes’ error without imploding (which, btw, is something that Ollie still suffers from). As a #5 starter who hasn’t had much success in the Majors, I’ll take Pelfrey’s 5 inning preformance. Ollie I exepct greater things from than 5 2/3rds innings. I’ll take it, but I know he can do better. We’ve seen Pelfrey do much worse.
2. Kudos to Pel. And extra credit to Brian.