Which 90% of Baseball Is the Most Important?

In the Sept. 7 baseball column, Ross Newhan points out that though the Phillies have individual leaders in home runs, RBIs, doubles and triples, they trail by 20 1/2 games. This, according to Newhan, demonstrates that pitching is 90% of the game. I notice that the Phillies have the third-best record in the league as of this writing. I also seem to recall that in 1984 the Pirates had the league’s best ERA and yet finished dead last.

Keeping all this in mind, I wonder if your sages can tell me, is pitching 90% of the game, is hitting 90% of the game, or is flapdoodle 90% of sportswriting?

ROBERT FIORE

Hollywood