This "Zito" Kid Looks Like the Real Deal!

Carl Steward of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about Giants pitcher Barry Zito's good start to the 2012 season (he's 1-0 with a 1.67 ERA in four starts):

"Barry Zito has forged two important unions in the past year that have served to change the direction of his life and perhaps his baseball career as well.

One was off the field when he married 25-year-old actress Amber Seyer in December, ending his long run as one of the game's most eligible bachelors.

The other was when the Giants pitcher met Hector Sanchez last summer and initiated a working relationship that has evolved into the 22-year-old catcher becoming Zito's full-time batterymate."

Lovely. But one of the few things that a new mate (life- or battery-) notoriously can't do is pump velocity back into an 84-mph fastball. This is Barry Zito we're talking about. Barry Zito is a known quantity. Barry Zito: 33 years old. Barry Zito: a below-league-average starting pitcher for four of his five seasons in San Francisco. Barry Zito: also got off to a hot start in 2010 (1.49 ERA after six starts), only to be left off the Giants' postseason roster come October. Barry Zito: still Barry Zito.

"Coincidentally or not, Zito is off to one of the best starts of a 13-year career that has been mostly downhill since he came to the Giants in 2007. His first four starts have produced a 1.67 ERA, and opposing hitters have a .186 batting average. He is 1-0, having pitched a shutout against the Rockies in Colorado.

In short, Zito has become an advertisement for marital bliss."

This is how those four sentences should read:

Coincidentally or not, Zito is off to one of the best starts of a 13-year career that has been mostly downhill a train wreck since he came to the Giants in 2007. His first four starts have produced a 1.67 ERA, and opposing hitters have a .186 batting average are meaningless in the grand scale of things, given how microscopic a 27-inning sample size is. He is 1-0, having pitched a shutout against the Rockies in Colorado Wins are meaningless.

In short, Zito has become an advertisement for marital bliss the inherent foolishness in investing $126 million in a pitcher who isn't very good.

Much better.