I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

The AP's Jay Cohen had this to say about David Wells' Dodger debut:

Wells pitched five effective innings in his Dodgers debut and Los Angeles beat the New York Mets 6-2 on Sunday night to salvage the finale of the three-game series.

Here's Wells' line for the evening:

5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2K

Wells faced 23 men -- and ten reached base. For those of you scoring at home, that's a .435 on-base percentage.

The Mets managed to strand six (!) runners in Wells' five innings. One more (Lastings Milledge) was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on a David Wright double. Wright himself managed to get picked off second by Wells later in the game.

Wells walked Wright and Beltran to load the bases in the fifth before fanning Moises Alou to end the frame.

That's "five effective innings?" Perhaps my standards are a bit high, but to my untrainted eye Wells was more lucky than good.