Foulke still struggling? I don't think so...

I've talked before about how ERA can be misleading for starters, skewed by a couple of bad results. Well, it's even more misleading for relievers. Because they pitch so many fewer innings, it's that much hard for them to get an ERA back under control after a couple of bad innings.

Looking at Keith Foulke, there's definitely some of that going on in people's assessment of his season so far. He struggled early, and after the May 11th debacle, in which Oakland scored 4 runs in the 9th to take a lead, his season looked awful. He'd blown only 2 saves, but he'd taken 3 losses, his ERA was almost 8 (7.94), and he'd allowed over 1.5 baserunners per inning (WHIP of 1.64).

Since that Oakland disaster, however, he's been a different pitcher than he was through that game.

Keith Foulke

	App	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	HBP	ERA	WHIP	W	L	Saves	Blown
through 5/11	16	17	21	15	6	7	10	2	7.94	1.65	2	3	8	2
Since	13	13	12	3	0	3	12	0	2.08	1.15	1	0	5	0
Total	29	30	33	18	6	10	22	2	5.4	1.43	3	3	13	2

His ERA for the season is still unsightly, up there at 5.40, but he's unscored upon in 11 of his last 13 outings. Over that time, he's thrown 13 innings, allowing only 3 runs (2.08 ERA) and 15 baserunners (12 hits, 3 BB, 1.15 WHIP). He's got 1 win, no losses and 5 saves in 5 save opportunities. In other words, while his ERA is still over 5, and people are still talking about him "struggling", he's been very good for the last 5 weeks. It's just that no one realizes it. They look at the ERA, and he's still "struggling", even though he's been basically as good for the last 5 weeks as he was last year...