Thanks, Tyler Kepner for being honest about a pitcher's stats

If a pitcher has logged 87 starts IN A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME, Tyler Kepner wants you to know. For the first time I've noticed an established baseball writer giving a pitcher's stats INCLUDING REGULAR AND POSTSEASON AND IN THE SAME SENTENCE:

• "Pettitte will be 35 in June, and he is graying a bit above the ears. His elbow has been operated on since he signed with his hometown Houston Astros after the 2003 World Series,
• and he has logged 87 starts, including the postseason."

On the few occasions writers have acknowledged a pitcher's postseason numbers, the latter are mentioned separately, usually later in the article. I've been studying this issue on almost a daily basis for a few years, and have many posts about it here and on another blog, BaseballWritersAreUnsupervised.

• Granted, Kepner may be doing it for the reason that other writers LEAVE OUT POSTSEASON PITCHING STATS WHEN GIVING SO-CALLED 'CAREER STATS:' He may want to show the glass half empty, how depleted this guy's arm might be AND THAT HE TOOK THE EXTRA BEATING OF THE POSTSEASON. There is only 1 pitcher who's plenty good enough in the regular season, but accurately including his postseason stats would remind everyone how unique he is. (It's of course Mariano Rivera). And writers desperately don't want to remind anyone of that).

Item from NY Times article by Tyler Kepner, 1/12/07, "Familiar Face is Back"

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