Props to the Fat Men

It's about time somebody gave some credit to the two Dominican fat guys on our pitching staff: Antonio Alfonseca and Jose Mesa. Both of them have consistently done a creditable (and sometimes superb) job for the Phillies out of the pen this year: 3.86 for Alfonseca in 46 games for Alfonseca, 2.52 (!) for Mesa in 24 games. And yet as recently as a week ago, there were people calling for Mesa to be released outright to make room for Kyle Lohse.

This just goes to show you: past performance, strikeout/walk ratio, career trendlines, and all the rest of it are the best long-term predictors of future performance that we have at our disposal. But sometimes in baseball, in the short term, weird stuff just happens. Sometimes guys -- especially relief pitchers -- find a way to gut out unexplainably good performances for a season or a half a season, even though they can't strike anyone out and their careers have been on the downswing for years.

Does this mean I think we should bring Mesa back for next season? Not a chance. (I'm ambivalent on Alfonseca.) But as long as he's got the hot hand right now, I have no problem with continuing to give him the ball. It's not like we're paying him anything. And both he and El Pulpo should get some applause for bailing us out in a big way this year.