Sit back boys and girls and listen to the story I am about to tell. It is the sad story of a manager and his talented but misunderstood relief pitcher.

A long, long time ago there in a village on the shores of the great bay that a band of misfits called home. They were led by a large headed man called Bruce who had brought them great success beyond their wildest dreams but alas; there was still one member of the tribe who didn’t quite fit in.

His name was Sergio.

Sergio was a "happy go lucky" kind of guy. He was always smiling and when he made the final out of an inning, he would jump for joy as he galloped into the dugout. But behind all of this joy was a deep misunderstanding.

The fans who congregated to watch the misfits didn’t appreciate his talents. They forgot his many excellent exploits and only remembered on a few high profile homeruns that hostile invaders had hit off of him.

The fans had come to expect that the misfits relief pitchers would all be knights who flung balls in the upper 90’s and had never seen a wizard who made the ball dance and bend quite like this and didn’t know what to do.

The fans were distrustful of this man who dealt with magical ball movement and only wanted to see the knights face off against opponents when the village came under siege.

Chief Bruce, who had led the men to many great victories, was a supporter of the wizard Sergio but one day he, too, fell under this spell of doubt and began to not call on his wizard during battle.

This change of action made Sergio sad; he was still vanquishing enemies at an elite rate. His defense independent slayings (FIP) were at levels that most mere mortals couldn’t comprehend (1.49) and was the best among the band of misfits. He did the best at killing opponents before they could put the village’s defense to the test (13.97 k/9), while allowing the fewest free passes across the moat (0.93 bb/9).

Sergio thought that he was doing everything right in helping to defend the village. He was among the best relief pitchers in the realm but alas, in the heat of the most intense battles time and time again, he was not called upon to fight.

Poor Sergio the bending ball throwing wizard was misunderstood.

To be continued…

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