July 20, 2006
Root, Root, Root For The Home Team (To Fail)
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But there's one story that the beat writers and TV stations will probably ignore over the rest of the season, and it's time to shed some light on it. No, it's not the fact that Randy Wolf will return and the world may explode when the Wolf Pack and Sal's Pals are in the stadium at the same time, although that's an overlooked story, too. It's simply this: Abraham Nuñez is having one of the worst seasons for the local nine in recent memory.
Nuñez is hitting a robust .150 this year, with an OPS -- that's on-base percentage plus slugging -- of .404. To put this in perspective, Ryan Howard's OPS is .949. And Sal Fasano's is .669. And Ryan Madson's is .491. As Beerleaguer put it, usually, when a player hits this badly, he's headed straight for a release or to the minors.
But not Nuñez. He's sticking it out, being sent up to pinch hit and for spot starts, even though he's only getting hits 15 percent of the time he goes to the plate. In fact, he only has eight fewer at bats than David Dellucci, who's hitting .313. While it's usually (and rightfully) starting pitching that gets the blame for the Phillies' struggles this year, the Abraham Nuñez situation proves the Phillies can be equally inept at the plate sometimes, too.
But, hey, why be upset! Let's root for him to fail! I mean, he's hitting .150 right now, and he still has few enough at bats that, if he really worked at it, could fall into "worst season in baseball history" territory. And that'd just be a fitting end to this season. Sure, the team may not be as bad as the ones whose best player had a nickname of "Losing Pitcher" or the 1942 Philadelphia Phillies, but if one player can be historically bad, well, it'd salvage something in terms of hilarity.
Well, until you realize that he's back next year, too.
Nunez sinking deep into abyss of historic lows [Beerleaguer]
The 1942 Philadelphia Phillies [The Hardball Times]
Posted by D-Mac at 09:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)