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Posted By: howard

A couple of posters pointed out Moose's 19-11 record despite a 4.81 ERA in 1996 as evidence that he was lucky. His ERA that year, however, was actually below the league ERA of 4.95. While that is not great it is certainly not unusual to have an outstanding record w/an ERA slightly below or even above league average. He was not particularly lucky that season, it was just an extraordinary year for the offense. Christy Mathewson who seems to be the favorite of forum members had two twenty win seasons when his ERA was above the league average. Ed Plank received his only MVP votes in 1915 when his ERA was above league average. It's all about context.

Several have also critcized his post season performance due to his losing record. He actually pitched well in October (3.42 ERA) but received poor run support. Can't really blame him for that.