Mark Simon, the head of ESPN's research department, is, as you would imagine, a fairly sharp guy. I also know him to be friendly and open, as he has personally answered more than a couple emails I've sent to him about some arcane statistical matter or the other. I think that's pretty cool, that he hasn't gotten the swelled head from working at Bristol, and all.
And Mr. Simon has even written a pretty good preview of the upcoming road series with Colorado.
You should check it out.
But mark this well. Simon is talking about the Saturday matchup between Jason Jennings and Wandy:
The Rockies get a bonus with Jennings' bat. He's a .276 career hitter at Coors Field, as compared to just .206 on the road. That should offset his struggles pitching against Houston. In four starts, he has a 12.04 ERA.
Sure. That makes a lot of sense. The extra 70 points Jennings brings to the nine slot in batting average will make up for the fact that he typically gives up 8 runs in six innings vs. the Astros.
Simon should also know that given the league hit .262 last year, and that Coors had a 1.12 park factor, Jennings' slightly better performance with the bat thus simply amounts to using a league average hitter as DH. Though an underpowered one. Jennings' three-year OPS at Coors works out to .658, which is actually well below league average despite the high altitude.
I also looked at the Marginal Lineup Values, but I'll spare you that, and simply say that Mark Simon: good guy you may be, but I have no idea what you're talking about, or what you may have meant.