Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

[peteykirch]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I was just playing the Braves using the Mets combined between both teams there were 6 HRs.

The Braves basically hit 3 in a row. I don't get pitching. I did a perfect slider that cut through the backdoor and they turned on it for HR. Chipper golfed a fastball at his ankles for another HR. Then Texiera demolished a perfect circle change on an 0-2 count.

Seriously I have both User and CPU Batting Power near 0 and they are both demolishing the ball.

[roadman]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I was just playing the Braves using the Mets combined between both teams there were 6 HRs.

The Braves basically hit 3 in a row. I don't get pitching. I did a perfect slider that cut through the backdoor and they turned on it for HR. Chipper golfed a fastball at his ankles for another HR. Then Texiera demolished a perfect circle change on an 0-2 count.

Seriously I have both User and CPU Batting Power near 0 and they are both demolishing the ball.

Where do you have contact and Skills at for both?

[peteykirch]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

Contact is around a third of the bar.
Batting Skill is also a third of the bar.

[roadman]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

Interesting.

I've played with catch 22 settings recently.

Contact at 70

AI Skill and Human Skill @ 30 if I recollect correctly.

Where is step influence? Mines at 25.

[therizing02]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I'm on the right track (at least for my playing style) of having this thing fixed. I have used the "Die Hard Sliders" for CPU hitting (50S-22C-30P) for the last 5 games and have seen some numbers that are a little more realistic.

The first 3 games were at Comerica. I was the Tigers against the White Sox. Lost game one 2-1. Beuhrle vs. Verlander. In the three game series there were a total of 50-60 hits. Detroit hit 5 HRs and the Sox hit 5. Two of the Sox homers were meatball pitches. The first was one that I missed the release point and the second was with a tired Verlander in the 9th inning of the first game. Dye hit one that hasn't landed yet. In the three game series there was a great variety of hits as well.

The next two games were the second and third games of the season in my Cub franchise. I opened the season against the Brewers who, as a team last year hit 231 bombs. I pitched Lilly in the second game of the season and he just got shelled. He gave up homers to Fielder (9 for 13 in the series) and Hardy. The Cub staff gave up 15 hits in a 6-0 loss.

In the last game of the series I won 4-1. A solo shot from Soriano in the bottom of the first and solo shot from Cameron in the 5th tied the game at 1. Fontenot had a 2 out RBI single in the 8th and Lee hit him in with a 2R Homer for the 4-1 win.

For the two games the Cubs had 10 hits and 2 HR and the Brewers had 22 hits and 3 HRs.

I'm going to keep working with these for awhile.

BTW, does anyone think that sliders play differently in Exhibition and Franchise modes?

[Kramer5150]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I'm on the right track (at least for my playing style) of having this thing fixed. I have used the "Die Hard Sliders" for CPU hitting (50S-22C-30P) for the last 5 games and have seen some numbers that are a little more realistic.

These are the sliders I use as well.....not just for hitting though.
The only changes I made....was I lowered cpu's power by 5 clicks,and have been getting great results.
I will still give up the occasional long ball,but what I've found to happen is the cpu will not crush every mistake I make....lol

In my last game (haven't played for a couple of nights) I gave up a grand salami to Ibanez of the Mariners. The game before that,I didn't serve up any hr's. I also see a nice variety of hits from the cpu.
I had lowered my skill to around 10-15,but since using the tip in the hitting thread,I think I'ma going to have to bump it up some,as my hitting is alot better.
I also turned "IE" off....it just seemed like when you "scouted" certain players,and your infield/outfield would shift,they would find the hole no matter what.
So I haven't been using this,and imo seems alot better.

[LP]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

Are you just getting into this thread? If so, go back and read all of my posts and get back to me.

I don't need to go back and read, I have been following this thread. You said this:

From day 1 the only thing that I've done the same as far as settings for every game is use the catcher suggestions. I used to pitch straight to the glove, now, I throw the pitch that he calls for but, only to the area where the glove is.

Depending on who the hitter is I may throw it for a strike on a corner or aim for the pitch to be out of the zone. If it's a hitter in the lower part of the lineup I may just hang it. It also depends on the count and the game situation.

Now at first I thought it was a typo, but apparently it isn't. If you throw to the catcher's suggestions you should get hammered. The catcher doesn't know baseball, and calls for high sliders, changeups over the plate, and hanging curves. What do you think should happen when you throw these pitches.

If you are hitting too many HRs, move your step influence slider up.

[Village Idiot]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

Well, there's obviously a misunderstanding here because you could do yourself a favor by reading EVERY POST. Excellent use of the word ******** by the way.

I don't know, rizing. You seem a little offended or something. All whatdog said was that it's moronic (idiotic, foolish, silly, stupid, whathaveyou) to throw the ball where the catcher calls for it because the calls (suggestions) are moronic. I think that's a perfectly valid point, one that I think most people, including yourself, would agree with. (How many times have you read complaints about the catcher's suggestions? I know I've seen what seems like hundreds.)

In any event, I'm interested here because I have also tended to throw what the catcher calls for. Just something that goes back to 2K7, where my results were simply better when I did this. The same thing seems to be the case in 2K8, where, for example, a lot of those "********" pitches end up being strikeout pitches. Seems to me that the best way to strikeout a batter is by throwing every pitch the catcher calls and executing each to perfection. You and I both can attest to the fact that that "changeup over the plate" is often a pitch the batter will whiff at or take because, presumably, he doesn't expect it.

Now the question becomes, is this what we should be doing or not? That's a question where the answer will invariably come down to the proverbial "user preference" card, but I don't think that means there's nothing to discuss. That is, all of this is just a long way of asking a pretty simple question: to what extent should we trust the catcher and to what extent should we be calling our own pitches (or at least locations)? I don't happen to know the answer to that - we should probably mix both - but the general idea of whatdog's comments conveys the fact that lobbing a curve "middle-in" is pretty much the worst pitch you could possibly throw, and that there are several others, just as bad, that the catcher is also known to call for.

[Bondsfan]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I play on AllStar with the SF Giants. I hit a HR once every 2 games at a maximum, granted the Giants lineup stinks, but I'm just suprised others are hitting a ton of HRs. On the flip side, I'm really not giving up alot of HRs. Again, I play on AllStar default and I give up about 1 hr a game with the giants pitching.

I'm having nearly perfect results right now with All Star default and total control controls. I just don't know what I'm doing that its working out great for me, but I'm glad it is.

[therizing02]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I don't know, rizing. You seem a little offended or something. All whatdog said was that it's moronic (idiotic, foolish, silly, stupid, whathaveyou) to throw the ball where the catcher calls for it because the calls (suggestions) are moronic. I think that's a perfectly valid point, one that I think most people, including yourself, would agree with. (How many times have you read complaints about the catcher's suggestions? I know I've seen what seems like hundreds.)

In any event, I'm interested here because I have also tended to throw what the catcher calls for. Just something that goes back to 2K7, where my results were simply better when I did this. The same thing seems to be the case in 2K8, where, for example, a lot of those "********" pitches end up being strikeout pitches. Seems to me that the best way to strikeout a batter is by throwing every pitch the catcher calls and executing each to perfection. You and I both can attest to the fact that that "changeup over the plate" is often a pitch the batter with whiff at or take because, presumably, he doesn't expect it.

Now the question becomes, is this what we should be doing or not? That's a question where the answer will invariably come down to the proverbial "user preference" card, but I don't think that means there's nothing to discuss.

All of that is just a long way of asking a pretty simple question: to what extent should we trust the catcher and to what extent should we be calling our own pitches (or at least locations)? I don't happen to know the answer to that - we should probably mix both - but the general idea of whatdog's comments conveys the fact that lobbing a curve "middle-in" is pretty much the worst pitch you could possibly throw, and that there are several others, just as bad, that the catcher is also known to call for.

At this point, I DO NOT throw exactly to the glove and I also take all of the factors into consideration before throwing a pitch. People do throw curves and sliders to the middle of the plate in MLB. I may do that 2 or 3 times per game in 2K8 depending on the situation. Would I hang an 0-2 CB to Arod? Of course not. There have been times where the catcher will ask for a CB and I throw a FB low and away and it gets hammered. I wouldn't started a thread complaining about HR's if I'm hanging pitches all day long.

If you read back a few posts, you can see that I'm having great pitch counts, great battles with hitters, and I try to throw out of the zone 75-80% of the time. Whatdog's posts made it seem like I'm hanging off speed pitches all game long and *itching about too many HRs.

The problem that I'm/was having was that I would play many games where there would be a low number of hits by both teams, but the majority of those hits were HRs. No matter what slider adjustments I was using I was still have 3-2 games with 8-10 hits total per game and 4 or 5 of those hits being HRs. That was the original problem. That's hardly a problem with my pitching style because based off last years average of 165 HR's per team, you should see about 1 a game.

[LP]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

At this point, I DO NOT throw exactly to the glove and I also take all of the factors into consideration before throwing a pitch. People do throw curves and sliders to the middle of the plate in MLB. I may do that 2 or 3 times per game in 2K8 depending on the situation. Would I hang an 0-2 CB to Arod? Of course not. There have been times where the catcher will ask for a CB and I throw a FB low and away and it gets hammered. I wouldn't started a thread complaining about HR's if I'm hanging pitches all day long.

If you read back a few posts, you can see that I'm having great pitch counts, great battles with hitters, and I try to throw out of the zone 75-80% of the time. Whatdog's posts made it seem like I'm hanging off speed pitches all game long and *itching about too many HRs.

The problem that I'm/was having was that I would play many games where there would be a low number of hits by both teams, but the majority of those hits were HRs. No matter what slider adjustments I was using I was still have 3-2 games with 8-10 hits total per game and 4 or 5 of those hits being HRs. That was the original problem. That's hardly a problem with my pitching style because based off last years average of 165 HR's per team, you should see about 1 a game.

I'll start by saying, my intent was NOT to attack you or twist your words. If my posts have offended you, I am sorry.

I think that throwing what the catcher suggests is foolish at times. I follow his suggestions when I think they are good. If he calls for a changeup middle-in, I question myself "would Verlander throw this pitch?" then I choose accordingly. I would never intentionally throw a curveball above the belt, or a changeup high and away, to anyone. I don't care what the result, its just not sim to me. If I throw those pitches, it is a mistake. It still happens, I just don't throw that way on purpose.

I'm not here to tell you how to play, I am just offering information gained from my experiences with the game. Play style has a lot to do with things, and we obviously play differently.

[HK-47]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

People do throw curves and sliders to the middle of the plate in MLB. I may do that 2 or 3 times per game in 2K8 depending on the situation.

I bet all 3 get blasted into orbit too!

You should never hang a breaking ball intentionally.

[roadman]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I bet all 3 get blasted into orbit too!

You should never hang a breaking ball intentionally.

I've thrown the 12-6 curve on strike two when the catcher suggest it. I don't remember anyone hitting that 12-6 curve on strike two.

Now, accidentally hanging a strike two change to Papi wasn't too brilliant.

[therizing02]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I've thrown the 12-6 curve on strike two when the catcher suggest it. I don't remember anyone hitting that 12-6 curve on strike two.

Now, accidentally hanging a strike two change to Papi wasn't too brilliant.

Yeah. This was basically my point. I wasn't saying that the CPU hitting hanging curve balls was a problem.

The problem that I had been having was the fact that in a lot of the games I was playing the only hits were HRs and singles. I would have 5-2 games and have 5 solo shots.

It wasn't just the CPU, it was my hitting as well. A typical game was 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 of those hits were solo HRs. That's what the problem was.

If I was giving those HRs up on hanging curves and meatballs I wouldn't have bothered to start the thread because the HRs would have been my fault.

[therizing02]

Re: Bottom Line: Still too many HRs

I'll start by saying, my intent was NOT to attack you or twist your words. If my posts have offended you, I am sorry.

No worries man. I've been a little edgy lately.