In baseball stats and elsewhere, I abhor small samples in isolation. Too often they tempt otherwise reasonable people — myself included — to make rash judgments on insufficient evidence. It’s frustrating, and it makes for some pretty terrible baseball analysis.
One upside to fleeing town for the last week and a half is it allowed the Mets to play more games and accrue a bit more data upon which to base whatever the hell it is I write about here. We’re still dealing with only a fraction of the season, mind you. Livan Hernandez is second among Major League qualifiers with a 1.04 ERA. Smart money says that won’t last.
As a means of helping myself get up to speed with what the Mets have been doing, I’ll be sorting through some of the early returns here the next couple of days to try to determine which are real and which will ultimately go the way of Livan’s ERA.
I caught a few Mets games on my vacation, so I’m not completely out of the loop. I saw parts of the triumphant Rod Barajas win in a New Orleans bar, and heard parts of the triumphant Henry Blanco win while driving between Breaux Bridge, La. and Houston.
I also ate a ton. Perhaps literally. Holy lord; I should probably only eat vegetables for the next month or so. SPOILER ALERT: I probably won’t.
I think the most delicious of many delicious things was this gravy-smothered fried chicken from the Busy Bee Cafe in Atlanta:
Tedquarters 
Gravy-smothered fried chicken? Good lord, man. I’m gonna go run a mile just saying those words. Sounds delicious.
I’m just thinking, yuck. Fried chicken must properly be crisp, not soggy. That picture is horrifying.
No no, they fry it up nice and crisp and then cover it with gravy immediately before serving.
Bringing the post full-circle: Livan Hernandez would like eight orders of that, please.
ATL baby – I should’ve told you to visit the greatest taco bell on earth while you were there: Corner of North Druid Hills and Briarcliff.
The greatest Taco Bell on earth sounds appealing, but I was really filled up on fried chicken and Fat Matt’s Rib Shack for most of my stay in Atlanta.
Busy Bee! One of the 5 Grease Stain rated places from HollyEats. Glad you liked it. Did you use his guide for other stops? Which were best?
Indeed, we also went to The Varsity in Atlanta, Dreamland in ‘Bama and Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans (though I’ve been there before a bunch of times). Of all them, Busy Bee was the best. The Varsity made excellent burgers. Dreamland was pretty good, but by the time we got there we were all still pretty filled up on barbecue from a place called Saw’s in Birmingham that I think might have been better. Cafe Du Monde remains ridiculously awesome.
Man, I ate so much fried food last week.