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West creek , NJ

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October 15, 2010, 12:49 AM

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The Philly message board I'm a member of (http://www.phillysportscentral.com/forums/forum.php, join if you feel so inclined) welcomes all sorts of fans to argue sometimes in a civil manner. Sometimes not so much. However one especially absent minded SF fan suggested that Aubrey Huff was a better player this year than Ryan Howard because his AVG, OBP, and SLG were higher. However Ryan played in 14 less games and drove in 22 more runs. His RBI production was .75 RBI/G and HR ratio was .22 HR/G. Huff hit .17 HR/G and .55 RBI/G. Am i crazy for basing my argument on these efficiency numbers?

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October 15, 2010 01:42 AM ET

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I think you shouldn't read into it. Which of the two players would you rather have this or any year?

ChiSoxFan

Chicago , IL

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October 17, 2010 11:10 AM ET

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Statistics should always be taken with a grain of salt. The current infatuation with OBP is misleading because a base on balls may or may not be such a good thing, depending on who the hitter is.

If it's your 8th-place hitter or even your leadoff man, a walk is usually a good thing. But if it's Ryan Howard, then walking him means he didn't pop one into the upper deck and therefore it's not necessarily a positive outcome for the Phils. In fact, it's a negative outcome.

Players like Howard aren't great hitters because they walk, they walk because they're great hitters. The object of the game is to produce runs, not just get on base. Give me a player who produces runs.