In Praise of the Post

We've been critical of the Post's baseball coverage from time to time. But Barry Svrluga of the Post does something that few other baseball beat writers do: he uses statistics that matter.

Here's a quote from Svrluga's story about last night's game:

"When he arrived in his new clubhouse three weeks ago, Preston Wilson was viewed as one of the final pieces, a potential power hitter who could add some juice to the Washington Nationals' suspect lineup and continue a run toward a divisional title. Yet in the next 17 games, Wilson stumbled. He hit .220. He slugged .373, more than 100 points below his career mark."

And here's a quote from Svrluga's Nationals Notebook:

"Since June 1, Castilla is hitting .199 and slugging .298, a struggle that is at least partly due to his injured left knee, but one that is further shutting down the Nationals' offense."

Go try to find another beat writer regularly using either slugging percentage or on base percentage in his stories.