Friday: the Marlins are trailing the Mets 5-4 in the top of the ninth, so they bring in the recently-demoted Heath Bell for an inning of work to keep the game close. Bell does his job, throws a scoreless inning, and lowers his ERA to 9.28. The Marlins score two in the bottom of the ninth. Bell gets his first win of the season.
Sunday: the Marlins are tied with the Mets 2-2 in the top of the ninth, so they bring in Bell again, this time to keep the game tied. He's awful, surrendering two hits, two walks, and two runs on 28 pitches. His ERA rises to 10.03. But because the esteemed Giancarlo Stanton smashes a monster, walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the inning, Bell gets his second win of the season.
There are two possible ways to interpret this two-game sample.
One: the win statistic is ridiculously flawed, because Bell went 2-0 for just two innings of work in which his ERA was 9.00 and his WHIP was 18.00, and both times left the game with his team trailing, and both times emerged victorious only because his offense scored timely runs.
Two: Heath Bell single-handedly defeated the Mets twice in one weekend series, and his 9.00 ERA during that span is cruelly misleading because mere numbers simply can't capture the great extent to which Heath Bell just knows how to win.
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