PIÑATAFEST 2002 @ BIRDS IN THE BELFRY

The 2002 Kerry's Piñata Award Recipient
Who will join the aforementioned group of previous Piñata Award winners?  No one.

Yes, you heard me, no one.

Stop whining.

Does this mean that (horrors) there is no 2002 Piñata Award winner?  Say it ain't so, Syd.

Calm down.  Get a hold of yourself.  Blow your nose and retie your shoe laces.

There is a 2002 Piñata Award winner.

But how can that be, you ask?  It's oxymoronic.  Beyond that, it's self-contradictory!  On the one hand I'm saying that no one's joining the group of previous winners and on the other I'm saying that there is an award winner for this season.  It doesn't make sense!

Ah, but it does.  There is a 2002 winner and he can't join the previously mentioned group...because he's already a member of that group!

Yes, that's right...for the first time ever, we have a two-time winner of the Piñata Award!  And the man of the hour on this historic occasion is none other than Scott Erickson!

SCOTT ERICKSON, 2002

Scott must have his acceptance speech down pat at this point; this is the second time in three seasons that he has won this esteemed award, but he had some competition.

Josh Towers had the award all wrapped up, if only he'd met the participation criteria.  How devastating it must be to have an honor like this snatched away from you simply because you didn't have the opportunity to stink it up often enough to qualify.  How sad.  But Josh showed he had Piñata stuff in spades when he was in there, from his 7.90 ERA, to his 13.83 H/9IP, to his spectacular 11 home runs allowed in 27.1 innings pitched (3.62 HR/9IP).

A couple of pitchers who did qualify and superficially looked like good candidates succumbed, for one reason or another, to Erickson's...er...prowess.

John Stephens posted a 6.09 ERA in 65 innings, a full half run higher than Erickson...and he was bombed for 13 home runs (1.8 HR/9IP), but, really, when you get past the Stephens longballs, he didn't pitch badly at all.  He barely allowed a hit an inning (9.42 H/9IP) and scarcely allowed three walks per nine innings pitched (3.05 BB/9IP).  In fact, his baserunners allowed (12.88 BR/9IP), was actually fifth best on the team in terms of qualifiers.  He even struck out 7.75 men per nine innings, second best among qualifiers on the team to B.J. Ryan.  Basically, Stephens' problem was giving up too many home runs, period.  This is not the stuff of a true Piñata.

Sean Douglass was a more compelling case.  Beyond his 6.08 ERA, Douglass allowed ten home runs in his 53.1 innings (1.69 HR/9IP) and a truly bad 5.91 BB/9IP.  But...his usage was limited and he allowed only a few more hits than innings...and he did strike out 7.42 batters per nine innings pitched.  So, while Douglass was bad, he really wasn't worse, in any meaningful sense, than Erickson, and Erickson was bad for a whole lot more time than Douglass.  Unless the guy who pitched much less is much worse, he can't get the nod.

So, Erickson's da man.  His 10.76 H/9 IP was the worst mark on the team among qualifiers and among all AL pitchers with at least 160 innings pitched, Erickson was third worst.  His 15.01 baserunners per nine innings mark was worse than anyone on the club among qualifiers other than Douglass (who was about one worse per nine) and was the second worst in the AL among those with 160+ innings.  His 4.15 SO/9IP--truly pitiful--was the worst on the club among qualifiers and non-qualifiers.  Yes, even Josh Towers struck out more batters per nine innings than Erickson.  Erickson was eighth worst in the league among pitchers with at least 40 innings of work, and the worst among those with at least 160 innings.  To complete the picture, Erickson's Runs Saved Above Average (RSAA--an adaptation of a linear weights measure of pitching success, or lack thereof) mark for the year was -21, tied for tenth worst in the American League and easily the worst mark on the team.

Scotty's second Piñata Award...this has got to help him on that all-important Piñata Hall of Fame ballot...

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