Citing Sample Size = Esoteric

On today's PTI, Wilbon and Le Batard were discussing the White Sox/Twins series and Ozzie's comments about tonight's starting pitcher Javier Vazquez from Chicago Sun-Times:

Guillen's response, two days before he puts the ball in Vazquez's hand for the critical series opener against the Minnesota Twins: ''He hasn't been [a big-game pitcher], that's the bottom line.''

Presumably, Guillen is referring to his less than stellar '04 postseason with the Yankees (3 games, 11.1 IP, 25 baserunners, 4 home runs, 12:9 K:BB ratio, 9.53 ERA).

In light of this, Le Batard wonders whether Ozzie is making too much of a big deal about a small sample size. He also notes how other players with bad postseason reps (Kenny Rogers, the Manning bros.) debunked that with a good postseason. Wilbon dismisses that as being "esoteric".

I never knew that realizing that it's folly to make general statements about a couple of games is secret knowledge that few know.