[Ghoulish Delight]

I know that's the reason. I just think it would make more sense to include runs due to his own errors. I mean, ERA is about assessing your chances of winning if, all other things being equal, it's that guy on the mound vs. someone else. It's supposed to say "we expect the other team to score X # of runs, on average, if he's pitching." It seems logical to me to include otherwise unearned runs that are his fault.

In the end, it's rarely more than a run or two a year for any pitcher, so it's not like it matters. It's just always seemed like including those runs would make ERA a more complete statistic.