
Amusing, isn't it?  Seems only the SDCNs realize how much baseball is
a *team* game, combining efforts from every player for the win.

Consider the Red Sox game last night.  The Sox won 4-3 in the bottom
of the 13th.  Who won the game?

-Clemens pitched a strong nine (?) innings, allowing only two runs.
-Ryan pitched a couple shutout innings, though he needed some excellent
 defensive plays behind him to do so.
-Quantrill pitched a couple of innings, gave up the go-ahead run, and
 got credited with the win when the Sox scored two in the bottom of
 the inning.

Looks like a team effort to me!  Yet only Quantrill got credit for
the win.

How about the offense?
-Dawson and Vaughn hit (I think) HRs early in the game.  Without either
 one, the Sox would have lost in nine.
-Quintana led off the 13th with a solid single.
-Zupcic pinch-ran for Quintana, providing the speed to go from first
 to third when...
-Cooper ripped a *second* single in the inning.
-Melvin avoided the DP, getting the run home with a sac fly.  Not much of
 a help, but it was something.
-Scrub Richardson then hit a double, scoring the speedy Cooper all the
 way from first!  (Hill's lack of defense helped.)

Cooper and Zupcic were credited with runs, Melvin and Richardson were
credited with RBIs.  But it seems to me that it was Quintana's hit
that set up the whole inning!  And did Melvin really contribute as
much as Richardson?

Furthermore, people seem to consider RBIs to be more significant than
runs.  Did Melvin contribute more than Cooper?  Cooper provided the
game-winning baserunner, and moved the tying run to third base with
only one out!

Assigning credit based on Runs and RBIs is clearly ridiculous.  You
can argue that OBP and SLG don't show you who came through in the
clutch, but R&RBI don't do any better.  At least OBP and SLG don't
*claim* to try to tell you that.

Here's to the Red Sox who contributed to last night's victory.
All 20 of them!