In the afterword to Moneyball, Michael Lewis describes a "religious war" inside baseball, for which his book served as a sort of 95 Theses nailed square on the door of the MLB establishment. Like any war-inciting document, the book has been both revered and reviled and it is difficult to discuss it without being assigned a side in this battle.

But Batgirl believes we can move beyond such Manichean simplicity and look at both the book and the approach it describes for both its strengths and flaws. Lewis himself perhaps favors the black-and-white approach when he likens the hubub around the book to "the endless, fruitless dispute between creationists and evolutionary theorists. On one side, parrying half-baked questions and insults, was the community of baseball fans who thought hard about the use and abuse of baseball statistics. On the other side, hurling the half-baked questions and insults, were the Club members who felt a deep inchoate desire to preserve their status."

Well, Batgirl cautions everyone to remember that this is not a religious war, but rather a book discussion. To reverse Lewis's metaphor, to criticize the book is not to be a heathen, and to praise it is not to be a zealot.

Batgirl herself finds both the book fascinating and flawed. But we'll get to that later. What do you think?

Oh, and we will have a special guest joining us for the week: Blez from Athletics Nation. If you're nice, maybe he'll show you pictures of his super-cute baby.