Hambone's Heartache

Morris and his supporters for the Hall are basically claiming that the reason why Morris’ overall stats are not as strong as they could be is because in many games in which Morris had what he considered a substantial lead, Morris didn’t make the best pitches and give his best performance. If I may quote from the article:

“If I had a three-run lead, I was throwing fastballs down the middle trying to get the inning over,” Morris said. “If I threw a fastball down the middle and they hit it out, they hit it out.”

Regardless of whether this really happened or not, the fact is that throwing batting practice fastballs to the opposing team does not maximize your team’s chances of winning, regardless of the score. It’s simply a way of not making your best effort, and saving your energy for another day. Or, to be blunt (if the nanny allows), half-assing it. And my point from my earlier post (which, I guess I made rather poorly) was that nobody would accept this explanation from a hitter. I can’t believe that anyone would nod their head in assent if a major league hitter, trying to explain away his poor overall OBP and SLG numbers, would say, “Well, I hit to the score. If I saw we were ahead by enough, I felt it was better to just keep the game moving and swing at anything close to the plate. And no need to bust it down the line on a groundball; better to save your energy for tomorrow was my way of thinking.” Yet this is precisely what we are to believe from Morris, except from the pitcher’s rather than the hitter’s perspective: that Morris was better than his numbers and could have posted a better ERA, etc., but didn’t because he didn’t give his best effort once his team had what he felt to be a large enough lead. And that somehow this makes him qualified for the Baseball Hall of Fame.