It depends what you think if the same result is just the hitter or including the possible base runners when that out occurs. Semantics, get thee to a nunnery. You just wrote it like it was an absolute and I corrected you much like you did him. In the sense that a out is achieved, yes, it is an absolute. In response to the general idea that less strikeouts = declining Z, I totally stand by it. I suppose it is semantics but I read this statement "Getting someone to hit into an out has the same result as a strikeout" as something different and I did ask you if you were just talking about the hitters result. What I'd like to see is if Z is missing the plate less when he throws a ball.