One of the things that I've always found fascinating about baseball is the symetry of its statistics. Wins equal losses, runs scored equals runs allowed, etc. Which brings me, again, to the question of the wisdom of picking offensive players who are going against your own pitching staff.

One of the problems with this ESPN game, I think, is that the staistics are not symetrical. The negative value to a pitching staff of a run scored is not the same as the positive value to the offense. A few examoles:

Bases empty home run:
positive 6 for offense
negative 4 for pitching staff

One run, as a result of three singles:
positive 5 for offense
negative 6 for pitching staff

Basesd loaded home run (assuming bases were loaded as a result of singles or walks):
positive 15 for offense
negative 16 for pitching staff

Why should a run given up because of three singles cost a pitcher more than a run given up by a solo homer?

The reason for this is that for pitchers, a hit counts the same, negative 1, whether it's a single or home run, while for a batter, he gets credit for the number of the hits total bases.

Another reason is that for a pitcher, walks and singles are negated by strikeouts. This really makes no sense, IMO, because to a pitcher, the negative impact of a walk or single is in most cases far greater than the positive value of a strikeout.

A much better way to score the pitching would be to chargew the PS with a negative 2 for every run, earned or not, a negative 1 for every total base, a negartive 1 for every walk, and no positive total for strikeouts.

Then, positive offensive totals would equal negative pitching totals.