So I was writing more Whicker bait a post about catcher ERA with the presumption that the difference between Napoli's CERA (4.45) and Mathis' (3.66)  would be completely explained by the different pitchers they caught. Mathis was Santana's catcher, Napoli caught most of Garland and all of Adenhart, etc. But what I found actually surprised me.

Yes, Napoli caught by far the lesser half of the Angels' staff. His expected CERA should have been something like 4.50, while Mathis' should have been something like 4.00. But even when lining up their CERA for each individual pitcher, Mathis was better than Napoli for everybody but Saunders, and even that was close.

Now, I assume this is a fluke. The sample sizes are small, CERA is a pretty lame stat to begin with, etc. But I mostly listen to games on the radio, so I wanted to see whether any of you who watched games in person or on TV had any explanation for this besides just calling it a fluke. Is it possible that Mathis actually is much better at calling games? If it is possible, does this matter at all, or is the difference in offense far more important?

Here's the chart:

So with Christmas coming up, a lot of us are probably asking for CDs or MP3s, and a lot of us are probably buying CDs or MP3s for other people, so I thought we could share some recommendations of great music that came out this year, or that came out earlier but that you discovered this year.

Here are mine:

Department of Eagles, "In Ear Park," an offshoot of the band Grizzly Bear. The songs are a bit peculiar and dreamy, but they're also playful and layered and occasionally have a great Phil Spector sorta vibe.

Nick Cave, "Dig!!! Lazurus, Dig!!!" The title track might be my favorite song out this year, but the whole album is just ferocious.

Fleet Foxes, self titled. Sorta 70s, sorta My Morning Jacket, sorta Shins.

Hot Chip, "Made in the Dark." It's electro-pop, but with a lot of instrumentation that gives these songs room to breathe. Super fun, and never monotonous.

and an album I just discovered this year is Michael Hurley's "Long Journey." Hurley was a songwriter whose recordings on the side were mostly overlooked, but this 1977 album is incredible. I learned of it because one of the songs, "Hog of the Forsaken," was used in Deadwood. You hear the song and it's pretty hard not to want to hear more of this guy. 

Anybody else have some picks?