Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Rafael Perez probably had his worst singles series performance in 2007 history. Unfortunately, he is on my team. (Apologies for not being able to line up the box score properly)

[b:26da71341c][u:26da71341c]Game 1:[/u:26da71341c][/b:26da71341c]
[u:26da71341c]The setup[/u:26da71341c] - RP enters a 3-3 game in Bottom of 7th with runner on first and one out.
[u:26da71341c]The result[/u:26da71341c] - RP allows three runs to score, making the score 6-3. My team scores three runs in the Top of the 8th to tie it back up. After two fairly quick half innings and Perez still in the game after 1 1/3 innings of work, RP retires the first two hitters in the 9th. A walk, single, and double later, the game is over.
[u:26da71341c]The line[/u:26da71341c] -
----------------------------------IP H R ER BB K HR
R.Perez LOSS(1-3) BS(3rd) 2 1/3 6 4 4 2 2 0

[b:26da71341c]
[u:26da71341c]Game 2:[/u:26da71341c][/b:26da71341c]
[u:26da71341c]The setup[/u:26da71341c] - RP enters a 6-6 game in the Bottom of the 7th with no outs and bases empty.
[u:26da71341c]The result[/u:26da71341c] - After four straight 1-2-3 half innings, Perez retires the first hitter in the Bottom of the 9th before allowing a walk-off HR to Aaron Rowand.
[u:26da71341c]The line[/u:26da71341c] -
-------------------------------IP H R ER BB K HR
R.Perez LOSS(1-4) 2 1/3 1 1 1 0 2 1


[b:26da71341c][u:26da71341c]Game 3:[/u:26da71341c][/b:26da71341c]
[u:26da71341c]The setup[/u:26da71341c] - RP enters the Bottom of the 9th to preserve a 5-4 victory with no outs and bases empty.
[u:26da71341c]The result[/u:26da71341c] - After retiring the first hitter, Perez gives up back to back singles, putting runners on first and third with one out. He is removed for Jason Frasor to face Aaron Rowand. Rowand grounds out to 2B, but the runner scores, tying the game at 5. Frasor is pulled, and Jon Lieber then enters to face Jack Cust. Cust promptly hits a walk-off double.
[u:26da71341c]The line[/u:26da71341c] -
--------------------------------IP H R ER BB K HR
R.Perez LOSS(1-5) H(1st) 0 1/3 2 2 2 0 1 0

A lefty closer are you mad? lol

I think he's the best lefty relief pitcher in 2007. I have him and Capps set up as a lefty/righty set-up and closer combo. Perez has done very well for me and others in other leagues.

I do know about the unexplained proclivities of the left-handed pitchers in SOM, but I think he should somewhat overcome them.

The proclivities of LH pitchers are not unexplained. It's just very easy to get guys who hit lhp's.

Yes, but if SOM is supposed to the most accurate reflection of real baseball, that aspect does not seem to be reflected appropriately.

"Real Baseball" has nothing to do with it. There are just many RH hitters that mainly hit lhp's well. In real baseball, these players may rarely see the field or are not used for the purpose that they are used for in SOMO(killing rhp's), therefore, lhp's can have a tough time.

I understand all of that. To me, it just doesn't add up. In SOM, people are sometimes apprehensive to pick up a lefty pitcher because they don't usually fare as well as expected. In real baseball, GMs love to get lefty pitchers, and subpar guys can hang around longer than they should simply because they are left-handed. I see that there is a project to re-vamp the bullpen logic used in SOM. Hopefully this may solve some of these issues so that real life baseball and SOM are even closer.

There's nothing inherently wrong with LHP. Whether you have them on your staff depends on your division foes. Sum the balances of each teams hitters and see where they stand.

You mean like "counting cards" in blackjack? Never really thought of that approach.

AeroDave,

I think the reason you see lefties do worse in SOM than in real life is because SOM managers have no problem platooning a guy who can't hit left handed pitching. In real life, usually, you pay those guys huge $$$ and you really don't see much platooning, or even pinch hitting for your starters.

What if they sat Prince Fielder, or Ryan Howard, or Brad Hawpe, or Curtis Granderson when a lefty pitched? We might, since there is often a cheap bench player who _can_ hit lefties better than one of those guys, but a real manager wouldn't. There are always a bunch of .5 to 2M dollar guys who can POUND lefties, and IMO they get a disproportionate number of at bats in SOM vs. real life.