The Phillies, who’ve just recently discovered that you don’t have to be a stuffy old bag on Twitter, tweeted the following about Aaron Nola, who threw six shutout innings against the Marlins last night:

Didn’t see that coming. xFIP – expected fielding independent pitching – is based more or less on what pitcher’s can control– strikeouts, home runs, walks, etc. It removes balls put into play, into the field, because statisticians have found that over time there is largely little variance from one pitcher to another. It’s a useful way to measure a pitcher’s effectiveness without data-tainting variables like seeing-eye singles, shitty fielders, sac flies, and more. Nola’s is very good, as these Tweets from the Phillies, who’ve come a long way from tweeting hi-res photos of the Phanatic and 3,000-word contest rules, show.

Of course, there’s always an asshole in the crowd.

Or several of them.

We talked about this on the podcast last week, but this is what’s wrong with the SABR community:

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I’d wager that 90% of fans couldn’t accurately describe what xFIP is. It’s still a niche stat among the general fan base, and one whose merits are still up for debate among the SABR crowd, which would rather mock the Phillies than applaud their efforts to move the ball forward on this stuff. They beg for their findings and data to enter the mainstream, then when it does, they laugh at it. I can’t wait until that ass-cranker Crasburn Alley weighs in with his pithy musings.