People make fun of statheads, and sometimes it makes sense.  When we hear that this is only the fourth time since 1972 that a guy wearing number 10 got a two out double in the eighth inning off a left handed hitter in a day game in August after striking out twice in the game, we kind of giggle.  Because what difference does it possibly make to anyone?

It might make a big difference, and the difference it makes might be to the players.

We first noticed it while watching the Hall of Fame game–and boy, did we miss football–when the kicker for the Buffalo Bills, Rian Lindell, tried a fieldgoal…relatively routine anyplace but Buffalo, where it is always windy as hell no matter what, that is.  And the TV told me that, in fact, he had a 98% fieldgoal percentage from 40 yards or less.  So for Lindell, that’s less than nothing to hit–even in Buffalo, because he knows he can do it.  The man has the second-highest fieldgoal completion percentage in the NFL.  That makes any kick easier.

Simultaneously, we were watching the Sox and the Yankees on ESPN Sunday night baseball, and thinking about baseball stats.  A lot of the time, pitcher-hitter splits don’t really matter, but when they get to more than ten at-bats between a duo, they begin to do so in two cases.  One is when the batter’s average is over .325 or so versus a pitcher in that many at bats.  The batter starts thinking he has the guy figured out.  For example, Trot Nixon used to have  Roger Clemens figured out.  The solid but non-HOF left fielder for the Sox had a .371 average versus Clemens in THIRTY FIVE at bats.

Another instance is when a pitcher has a batter figured out: when A-Rod walked into Yankee stadium this evening, he was 1-12 in his career versus Jon Lester.  For a sensitive soul like A-Rod–and we say that without irony, because whatever else the man is, he’s clearly pretty worried about expectations, etc. More on this sometime.–that’s a big deal, and you could see it in his first two at-bats: he walked into the box like someone who was already walking out.

A third and final (since we don’t want to talk your ear off) time split-stats matter?  When a pitcher and catcher–like Posada and Pettite–have worked together so often, it’s like they have a mind-meld.   Pettite and Posada have been battery-mates 173 times, counting tonight.   That’s the most of any pitcher and catcher all-time.  At that point, you’ve got a big advantage.

So don’t mock the statheads, OK? Players don’t, and we see a reason.