The neat part is that it really doesn't matter in some games for contending teams and in most games for non-contending teams. Stretching singles into doubles and doubles into triples adds to Total Bases, increasing slugging average and indirectly increasing on base plus slugging, OPS.
I'm guessing that teams keep stats on players getting thrown out on the bases but who else does? Let's say that a batter tries to extend 20 times and is retired in half. That's ten extra Total Bases. Robinson Cano has 600 AB and 311 TB for a slugging average (TB/AB) of .518. Ten more TB would put him only five behind the AL lead of fellow Yankee Mark Teixeira. Plus, Cano's slugging average would increase from .518 to .535. A little more aggression by Cano and he could lead the AL in TB! If Cano really pushed it he could also lead in slugging. All that for merely playing bad baseball.
This shows how at least one aspect of batting stats can easily be manipulated.
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