SharePoint 2010 Remove Orphaned Application Pools

I was trying to create a new Managed Metadata Service Application (CA -> Manage Service Applications -> New dropdown (in the ribbon) -> Managed Metadata Service. I filled out the modal window and clicked OK. It all seemingly went through fine and the newly created Manage Service Application showed up in the list. However, it actually went seriously wrong in the backend. There was no database created in SQL Server and no application pool created in IIS. The problem, as logged in the Application Event Log, was because the Managed Metadata Web Service had not been started (CA -> Manage Services on Server).

Anyway, the problem now is that SharePoint thinks there's an application pool with the name but IIS does not have it. So the name is orphaned in SharePoint. It's not a problem if you don't ever select it but I'd like to keep things clean. so here's how to get rid of it:

1. Go to the config db, run a query like "select * from Classes where FullName like '%pool%'". This gives you two records, one for regular web apps and one for service apps.
2. Now run another query "select * from Objects where ClassId IN ('Id1FromAbove', 'Id2FromAbove'). This gives you the list of all application pool defs.
3. Find the one with the orphaned name, and delete it (could have searched for this name directly but checking the IDs made sure the object is indeed the app pool).

Go back to CA and try to create a new Service Application, the orphaned app pool name is no longer in the dropdown. Of course editing the config database directly is often a no-no. hey, what else can I do, Microsoft?