I don't need to read the 5,000-whatever comments from Monday night's awesome victory to know that many of you must be calling for Howry's head, especially in light Al's "Bob Howry Must Go" story this past Friday.  I can't blame you all in light of Howry's 5.22 ERA, including 12.27 ERA and numerous leads lost in the last week. 

Regardless, I have been sent here to defend him and to appeal to your gentler, more patient instincts. 

Do you not remember Bob's consistency over the last 3 seasons? --

And do you not remember the playoffs last season, when Howry pitched 3 innings in 2 games, allowing 0 BBs, 1 H and striking out 6?

Finally, note Howry's 1.38 WHIP for the 2008 season and the correlation between WHIP and ERA according to some smart dude at Berkeley:

Howry's been unlucky.  A 1.38 WHIP does not usually translate to a 5.22 ERA.  Let's give him some more time to straighten his S out before we pronounce him D-O-N-E.  At least wait until he gets his Howry Cow! shirt in the mail.

Search your feelings, BCBers.  You will know it to be true.

Addendum: OMG, for those of you who missed it, here's SWL's salute to the W from the last overflow thread:

Al, I call upon you to embrace the hate and put this on the main page for your recap story!!!