Typically, when we think of a digital image, be it on flickr.com or on a high-definition television set, we think of the picture itself. That's the way it should be, but rarely do we think about what makes up the image -- hundreds or thousands of "pixels".
Anyone that has at least browsed for a digital camera before knows what a pixel is, Wikipedia defines it as:
A pixel (short for picture element, using the common abbreviation "pix" for "picture") is a single point in a graphic image. Each such information element is not really a dot, nor a square, but an abstract sample.
If you think about it, a hitter's or pitcher's year to year statistical record is not that much different from a digital image. For a full-timer, hundreds of plate appearances make up the numbers we see on the back of a baseball card, his baseball-reference.com page, or the occasional graph. Together, all of these plate appearances might add-up to a .300 average or 3.75 ERA, but on their own, they are individual pitcher-batter struggles.
When watching an entire game, you'll see at the very least 52 of these match-ups, and at times, even a .300 hitter or Cy Young-type pitcher can look absolutely foolish. What causes this (outside of not breathing through the eyelids properly or spending too much time with Memo Paris)?
Typically, it's a pitcher's stuff and his hitting prowess versus a hitter's swing and plate discipline. Mano y mano. As a fan, it's sometimes hard to know who has the upper hand in a plate appearance, or, we might wonder if someone isn't a bit better suited to face a particular batter in the bullpen. To that end, I've created a little cheat sheet for Phillies fans to use to peruse the team's staff, supplementing the experience of watching each individual pixel/plate appearance (as painful as that may be).
It's a work in progress, obviously, and I welcome your input.
