Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

[DrUrsus]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Now dont get me wrong, I dont want to hit the ball all over the field and just destroy teams but the utter lack of power on my hits is starting to kill it for me. I dont mind having these speed guys, thats why I traded for Figgins, but if they cant get the damn ball out of the in field then how the hell are they ever going to get on base exactly? DrUrsus, what do you have your power slider at for user? pbz06, your at 6 for that slider arent you? I know Psycho and blzer both have theirs at 6 as well and I really think Im going to need to follow suit.

Thanks again for the tip though DrUrsus as it was fun throwing my own game, they scored a total of 10 runs in 22 innings for an ERA of 4.09 so thats reasonable for sure. They went 21/77 hitting wise for an average of 0.273, they walked 7 times and struck out 17 times for a WHIP of 1.27 and a K/9 of 6.96 so Im very happy with those stats considering I was playing at Philly for both games.

Right now I have user power at default (all user hitting is currently at default), but I feel exactly the same way as you about power (and I play with the Cubs and Red Sox), so I am going to up it to 6, and put in the user hitting sliders pbz had posted earlier to even things out. I do think lowering fielder reaction has helped that (what pbz has), but I still think I need power to hit the ball with a little more authority in general.
Yes, that is a very reasonable ERA so far. Glad it's working for you.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Ok, so I played 2 games and while I am enjoying the aspect of calling the game from the pitchers stand point there is one thing thats starting to piss me off to no end, lack of power for me team. In my last game Orlando Hudson hit a ball up the middle but hit it so weakly that the 2b who was cheating in the hole actually outran the ball and fielded it right in the middle of the diamond and still threw out Hudson at first. Now this problem only seems to effect slap hitters, ie. weaker hitters like Figgins, Furcal and Hudson, but since I have all 3 of those guys in my lineup it takes a damn near perfectly placed ball just to actually get a hit. For the record, Figgins is hitting .248, Furcal is hitting .219 and Hudson is hitting .258 and Im about as selective a hitter as there can be and still these three guys barely ever even get the ball out of the in field, no joke. I used to write off the guys who had increased the humans power slider to 6 as the ramblings of mad men but after playing 34 games and only hitting 25 homeruns total (25th) and 40 Doubles (30th) coupled with the problem I mentioned above, I can clearly see why people are raising this slider up as its driving me nuts at this point. Now on to the stats for these last 2 games...

Game 1 (Lost 6-5 in 13 innings to Philly)
I struck them out 11 times and walked them 4 times, they struck me out 8 times and walked me 7 times. I actually hit 2 homeruns this game with Loney and Martin which was a shocker for the reasons mentioned above. This was the first time I ever felt like the CPU was going to win no matter what I did as every time I got a lead they would score right away. I led by 2 heading into the 8th, then led by 1 heading into the 9th, took the lead in the top of the 12th only to lose it and eventually lose the game in the 13th.

Game 2 (Lost 4-1 to Philly)
I struck them out 6 times and walked them 3 times. They struck me out 3 times and walked me 3 times. This was easily the most frustrating game Ive ever played on The Show. I hit ball after ball as hard as I could, stung the **** out of them, and yet everything was either to the biggest part of the park or right at someone. Dont get me started that Adam Eaton pitched 2 innings the game before in relief and somehow had enough gas to last 8 innings the very next day as the starter, ****ing unbelievable. Watched Figgins, Furcal and Hudson hit weak grounder after weak grounder and when Furcal finally got a fastball middle in he banged it off the right field wall finally, that was about all that happened this game.

Now dont get me wrong, I dont want to hit the ball all over the field and just destroy teams but the utter lack of power on my hits is starting to kill it for me. I dont mind having these speed guys, thats why I traded for Figgins, but if they cant get the damn ball out of the in field then how the hell are they ever going to get on base exactly? DrUrsus, what do you have your power slider at for user? pbz06, your at 6 for that slider arent you? I know Psycho and blzer both have theirs at 6 as well and I really think Im going to need to follow suit.

Thanks again for the tip though DrUrsus as it was fun throwing my own game, they scored a total of 10 runs in 22 innings for an ERA of 4.09 so thats reasonable for sure. They went 21/77 hitting wise for an average of 0.273, they walked 7 times and struck out 17 times for a WHIP of 1.27 and a K/9 of 6.96 so Im very happy with those stats considering I was playing at Philly for both games.

What do you have Fielder Reaction set to? That's basically the reason I turned it down to 3 (-2). Thinking of even going another notch lower. CPU infielders gobble up EVERYTHING, as I've been saying. They all play like Omar Vizquel in his prime. Before turning it down, I don't remember getting any hits up the middle or through the SS/2B unless they were total lasers. Same thing with down the lines. By reducing the Fielder Reaction, I seem to get a better variety of hits (including softer hits and choppers) through the infield, which feels more realistic.

That's why I'm 100% against turning it up to +10 like some people suggest.....I just don't see it.

As for the homeruns and power numbers...I'm not sure right now. At 6 it played perfeclty when I was tweaking in Exhibition games. I had plenty of power and smacked several doubles. I've had games where I hit 4 homeruns, and games where I didn't hit any. Same thing with doubles....it felt like I was around the two doubles per game on average, while I felt my power hitters were also a threat to go deep.

But once I started the Season, my offense went out the window completely, so I don't know if it's just a rut or what but it seems like even the bad pitchers were just on their game against me. It's not like I all of a sudden lost the ability to hit, so I don't know what's going on.

[nemesis04]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

What do you have Fielder Reaction set to? That's basically the reason I turned it down to 3 (-2). Thinking of even going another notch lower. CPU infielders gobble up EVERYTHING, as I've been saying. They all play like Omar Vizquel in his prime. Before turning it down, I don't remember getting any hits up the middle or through the SS/2B unless they were total lasers. Same thing with down the lines. By reducing the Fielder Reaction, I seem to get a better variety of hits (including softer hits and choppers) through the infield, which feels more realistic.

That's why I'm 100% against turning it up to +10 like some people suggest.....I just don't see it.

As for the homeruns and power numbers...I'm not sure right now. At 6 it played perfeclty when I was tweaking in Exhibition games. I had plenty of power and smacked several doubles. I've had games where I hit 4 homeruns, and games where I didn't hit any. Same thing with doubles....it felt like I was around the two doubles per game on average, while I felt my power hitters were also a threat to go deep.

But once I started the Season, my offense went out the window completely, so I don't know if it's just a rut or what but it seems like even the bad pitchers were just on their game against me. It's not like I all of a sudden lost the ability to hit, so I don't know what's going on.

Its best to keep fielder reaction time in the negative or under 5.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Last question for now I swear, with the contact at 4 are you able to still check swing regularly? I check swing a ton and the description for the contact slider talks about effecting discipline which leads me to believe it effects your ability to check your swing, is this the case? I know you guys have this at 4 but Im a little hesitant to do this as Im a swing only guy, ie. I dont use the left analog stick at all for hitting, so lowering it might really kill my offense. As of right now Im hitting 0.275 as a team and am 5th in baseball in terms of batting average, my offense is ranked 4th in terms of ratings so Im clearly right around where I should be for batting average but its my power that is suffering so if I can get that fixed without having my hits sky rocket then I would be in heaven.

Side note, out of those 25 homeruns I believe something like 7 of them were hit in my series with Houston so subtract those 3 games and Ive hit approx. 18 homeruns in 31 games which is terrible.

[fistofrage]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Last question for now I swear, with the contact at 4 are you able to still check swing regularly? I check swing a ton and the description for the contact slider talks about effecting discipline which leads me to believe it effects your ability to check your swing, is this the case? I know you guys have this at 4 but Im a little hesitant to do this as Im a swing only guy, ie. I dont use the left analog stick at all for hitting, so lowering it might really kill my offense. As of right now Im hitting 0.275 as a team and am 5th in baseball in terms of batting average, my offense is ranked 4th in terms of ratings so Im clearly right around where I should be for batting average but its my power that is suffering so if I can get that fixed without having my hits sky rocket then I would be in heaven.

Side note, out of those 25 homeruns I believe something like 7 of them were hit in my series with Houston so subtract those 3 games and Ive hit approx. 18 homeruns in 31 games which is terrible.

Are check swings appeal automatic or do you have to prompt them?

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Last question for now I swear, with the contact at 4 are you able to still check swing regularly? I check swing a ton and the description for the contact slider talks about effecting discipline which leads me to believe it effects your ability to check your swing, is this the case? I know you guys have this at 4 but Im a little hesitant to do this as Im a swing only guy, ie. I dont use the left analog stick at all for hitting, so lowering it might really kill my offense. As of right now Im hitting 0.275 as a team and am 5th in baseball in terms of batting average, my offense is ranked 4th in terms of ratings so Im clearly right around where I should be for batting average but its my power that is suffering so if I can get that fixed without having my hits sky rocket then I would be in heaven.

Side note, out of those 25 homeruns I believe something like 7 of them were hit in my series with Houston so subtract those 3 games and Ive hit approx. 18 homeruns in 31 games which is terrible.

I have it at 4 and i think it's fine. I did notice that sluggers and/or guys with poor contact ratings make it a lot harder to check swing though, but I've learned to sort of lay off completely now. guys like Ichiro can still check swing with ease though....

But I'm basically like you (or was). I literally check swing every at-bat with the intent of swinging every pitch basically. I toned it down a bit now though.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Played another game, first one since bumping up my power to 6 and the third one since calling my own game pitching wise and it was a good game yet again. I won this game 5-2 behind Ethier's 2 solo homeruns and even though Jason Schmidt walked 4 guys in 6.1 he only gave up 2 runs. He ran into trouble in the 7th with 1 out he had guys on 2nd and 3rd with Rollins up so I brought in McDonald who got Rollins to pop up on the infield and then struck out Victorino to end the threat. With power higher I still only went 7/34 (0.206) but they only went 6/32 (0.188) so it was a complete pitchers duel this time and I loved every second of it.

Just in the one game alone I could tell a big difference in terms of power as when Furcal and Figgins got a fat pitch they drive it more instead of hitting nothing but dribblers constantly like before. I actually walked them a total of 6 times and it was nice to see that those walks didnt lead to a ton of runs though, loving the results Im seeing right now. Im currently 19-16 sitting 4 games behind Colorado who through 33 games has only given up a grand total of 98 runs with an ERA of 2.62, figure that one out, lol.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

My struggles continue. Lost 2-0 to the Pirates, and the same problems persist for me. I all of a sudden can't get any solid hits. Any baserunner I get, the pitcher starts throwing strikes so I either ground into a double play or start striking out. Every time. The only hits I get are up the middle now. I haven't squared up the ball in about 8 games now, and I only have 1 double over that entire span. I'm still giving up WAAAAY too many singles even if I'm keeping them off the scoreboard. They had 13 singles and 1 double. I feel that if I lower their Contact slider, they won't be able to score because right now my ERA is in the high 3 to low 4 range already which is good, but my opponents batting average is a ridiculous .330 or something.

Their pitcher was Ohlendorf...yes, he did pitch a complete game shutout and he also went 3-4 at the plate with an RBI (all hits right up the middle). I managed to draw 4 walks, and his strike ratio was 64% which was realistic, but I feel like I have holes in my bat and it's out of my control.

Manny Ramirez up with RISP, weak groundout. Ethier follows him, double play. I hit into 4 double plays and each time was a hitter's count on a pitch right down the middle.

Any suggestions? I don't know what I'm doing wrong.....just a week ago everything was so perfect!

[BleacherCreature]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

pbz you could be doing the same thing I tend to do a lot.
When I get a pitch down the middle, I tend to move the L stick mainly out of habit. I am so used to expecting a pitch to break I anticipate that and feel the need to move the stick, resulting in poor contact.
I was just losing a game 6-0 in the 5th to the Jays when I realized what I was doing.
I then started to not chase pitches in the zone (if that's even possible) and started hitting better in good hitters' counts.
I got the game back to 6-3 but that was it.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Played another game and won this one 2-1 but I couldnt score to save my life off of Nolasco and it wasnt until the 9th when I scored both my runs, on a fluke no less. I had Kemp on 1st and Martin at the plate and I attempted a hit and run only to ground out to Cantu at 3rd which should have ended it and sent it into the bottom of the 9th tied but Cantu air mailed first base so Kemp kept going to second. Sanchez at 1st threw to the pitcher who had his back to the plate and instead of trying to get Martin out at 2nd he wheeled and threw home and Kemp beat the tag to take the lead, 2-1. I had a no hitter going through 6.2 before Hanley broke it up with a double down the line, he stole second and I overthrew the base allowing him to score so their one run scored on a fluke play as well. In the end they went 2/29 from the plate and just couldnt get anything done. Since switching to calling me own game pitching wise the CPU has gone 29/138 (0.210) so Im not sure if the CPU is just in a slump or if by calling my own game Im pitching far smarter and thus the CPU is really struggling to hit against me. Now keep in mind that Florida is 29th in batting average and is hitting below 0.260 on the season anyways so it might not be a good example since they werent exactly lighting the world on fire anyways. I will see how Kuroda fares in my next game since he has really struggled in his last 2-3 starts.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

I actually won a game again! 5-4 with the exact same setup as last game but I decided to ditch the L-Stick and focus on just my timing. It seemed to work.

I hit 2 doubles (Furcal) and a homerun (Dewitt pinch hit) so I'm excited to actually see some power.

Kuo blew the 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 8th only for me to regain it top of the 9th with Ethier (of course a single up the middle, which is becoming a theme now). Anyway, Broxton retired the side 1-2-3 on like 5 pitches.

I'm still all of a sudden not able to draw walks anymore. The CPU seems to have overwritten my sliders and throws 75%-80% strikes now. I don't know much about Ohlendorf but I doubt he's a strike throwing machine like that.

The Chef, are you still drawing walks?

I'm also seeing WAY too many hits by the CPU still. I mean, like I said my ERA is fine but even today in my 5-4 win they had 16 base hits. To me that's ridiculous. In real life, 16 hits usually results in 11 runs or so and a .350 batting average.

The culprit seems to be a ton of 2 out hits by the CPU that doesn't result in anything. I noticed that I gave up 7 harmless 2 out hits this game, and it also seems to be a pattern which inflates their hit totals. Don't know if it's the CPU cheating or what. 1st inning I gave up a single, then double play, then single and another single before 3 outs. Seems like I give up another single or two every time I have two outs and nobody on base.

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

The Chef, are you still drawing walks?

Yes Im still drawing walks at a very good clip, just the other game I walked 7 times total in fact. There were times where I didnt walk much over the course of a few games earlier in my season though so dont be alarmed yet, just keep playing the way you've always played and Im sure the walks will come eventually.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Well, my walks came back...so did my offense.

I played as Anaheim (durr...Los Angeles) going against Baltimore and Alfredo Simon (yea, I was desperate). He was wild from the start and I managed to draw 3 walks in the first two innings and squeezed in a run before a double from Hunter cleared the bases.

Needless to say, that didn't last because all of a sudden they went into God mode and started scorching everything. Markakis and Huff hit back to back homeruns, followed by Wiggington a bit later. I was suddenly trailing 5-4.

Their pitchers were pretty wild all game (I finished with 9 walks, woohoo). I also had 2 doubles and that early triple.....but none of it mattered. Saunders threw everything right down the middle.

Baltimore pounded out 17 hits and won 9-7. I threatened top of 9th against Sherril with bases loaded and 2 outs, but Izturis lined out to Roberts to end the game. It was fun for the fact my offense was back, but damn the 17 hits were annoying because it felt like my control didn't matter, every pitch ended up middle of the plate.

I'm going to try dropping the CPU Contact/Timing/Solid Hits all to 3....and put their Power back to default. I'm also going to raise my User Control another notch to 7.

I've been giving up way too many hits the last 10 games (mostly scorching singles). I just want to see if I can tame the CPU without feeling dominant.

I'm happy with the way they pitch overall. I see balls and walks and pitches in the 60-70% range for strike ratios (this game was 55% which was a good change of pace).

I was actually happy to see the CPU to actually have a more realistic score:hit ratio early on. I was getting annoyed by the 15 hits and 2 runs they have been producing over my last 10 games. At least today for a while it was 5-4 with 8 hits from them...until they went into another spurt mode where they had like 6 singles in a row. I'm getting there I think.

I want to get the CPU in the 4-6 run range with 7-10 hits per game...does that sound right? I'll see if slightly reducing their hitting sliders to 3 and raising my Control to 7 helps (with their power at 5).

[The Chef]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Curious to hear your results but I cant imagine lowering them anymore as ever since Ive started to call my own game Im really starting to shut guys down, in the 4 games since I started doing this the CPU has only hit well in one of those and in my last game Florida went 2/27 for the game against me. Are you using meter or classic? Are you going closer to full strength on most pitches? I love throwing a 2-seamer where it falls out of the bottom of the zone or off the corner and it works almost too tell. I also love it when I get ahead in the count 0-2 as I will burn a couple fastball at the guys eye level and then drop a change or a curve low and away and that works very well as well. Do you call your own game pitching? Im having an absolute blast calling my own game and when I give up a hit or a homerun it feels more because I made a bad decision as before it was because I followed what the catcher was telling me to do instead of thinking on my own.

[pbz06]

Re: Breaking this Game Down on AllStar ,group effort

Curious to hear your results but I cant imagine lowering them anymore as ever since Ive started to call my own game Im really starting to shut guys down, in the 4 games since I started doing this the CPU has only hit well in one of those and in my last game Florida went 2/27 for the game against me. Are you using meter or classic? Are you going closer to full strength on most pitches? I love throwing a 2-seamer where it falls out of the bottom of the zone or off the corner and it works almost too tell. I also love it when I get ahead in the count 0-2 as I will burn a couple fastball at the guys eye level and then drop a change or a curve low and away and that works very well as well. Do you call your own game pitching? Im having an absolute blast calling my own game and when I give up a hit or a homerun it feels more because I made a bad decision as before it was because I followed what the catcher was telling me to do instead of thinking on my own.

I've been using Classic and without API. It just seems my pitches end up middle of the plate way too much, like i'm somehow being punished with my control a lot of the times, and I don't know why. I didn't have this problem early on, but lately it seems this way. My ERA is fine (other than these 9 runs, and earlier I gave up 12), but I just can't get a game where I give up less than 14 hits or so, even when I only give up 2 or 3 runs. So many of my pitches end up over the plate.

Like with Saunders, he's supposed to have great control which is how he's successful (he's not known for his nasty pitches), yet last night I felt like he was a Class A low level rookie pitcher.