Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Here is the situation. Final round, game 1, my opponent's SP is Left handed (actually they all are) and his closer is a RHP. I am down by 1 run in the bottom of the 9th , his RH closer comes in, and my 6L and 7L right handed batters are due up. On both of their cards I have checked "don't PH vs lefties" and "avoid RHP's." I have all my major left handed power hitters who are balance R on the bench. One was Ryan Howard, who I have filled in as my pinch hitter vs. RHP's in the strategy settings. HAL leaves in my 6L and 7L righty batters anyway vs the RHP. My question is WHY???? I asked my very experienced (and nice) opponent, and he has no clue either....

As an aside, I bizarrely won the game anyway, but I consider this dumb luck, as that is not how I wanted to manage the team....

I do not have an answer. It seems pretty wrong. But if you can, post the link to the box score.

Since there is no real way of knowing how the game engine works and the result you got is one that I see routinely in every single series I play, you just have to accept it as one the drawbacks of playing the TSN game. I believe (but dont know for sure) that everything is a probability. In other words, if a pinch hitting situation comes up there is a percentage chance that you will actually pinch hit. Behind the scenes HAL rolls the 20 sider and voila ! you leave in a bad match up. At least that is the impression I am under.

In practice, I don't think HAL respects the "avoid leftys" and "avoid righties" for platoon type players. I play a ton of platoons, and it is a hazard of playing them.

The "avoid lefties" and "avoid righties" is so that HAL won't use them as a pinch hitter their wrong way. But he won't takes guys out of the order very often in the situation you described-especially if they are hitting in the meat of the order. He pinch hits based on guys being on base in a key situation and a weak all around hitter being up to bat. He's MUCH more likely to pinch hit in a defined clutch situation as well.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/playoffs/boxscore.html?group_id=79200&g_id=984

Heres the game he's talking about. I too, haven't a clue as to why Hal left those players in. Was hoping Bernie could chime in on this.

Hey bigpusy,

I can't answer directly your question, but I can see that there are some unqualified assumption in your remarks.

[quote:cb848d7ff8]On both of their cards I have checked "don't PH vs lefties" and "avoid RHP's."[/quote:cb848d7ff8]

To emphasize apolivka's remark: the "avoid lh" on a given player applies only when HAL considers whether to bring the given player in the game. It does not have the effect of removing the player. So it is not relevant for the case you describe. And of course, the "don't PH vs lefties" has no effect since the pitcher is a right-handed closer.

[quote:cb848d7ff8]One was Ryan Howard, who I have filled in as my pinch hitter vs. RHP's in the strategy settings. HAL leaves in my 6L and 7L righty batters anyway vs the RHP.[/quote:cb848d7ff8]

Hal NEVER NEVER NEVER asks should I use this player instead of that player in this given situation. The logic of Hal is not capable of doing so.

What does Hal is to ask two questions:
A-Is this a situation that calls for a pinch-hitter? If yes, whom I should bring?
B-Should I remove this player, yes or no? If yes, whom I should bring?


So, thus reframed, your question is:

A-Why did Hal not consider this situation to be that calls for a pinch-hitter?
B-Why did Hal not remove Butler and Pearce?

Again, I do not know these answers, but I have some clues:

For question A)
There are typical situations where Hal highly considers a pinch-hitting situation: the team is losing; the game is past the sixth inning; the opponent team called for a new pitcher; it's a clutch situation; it's the first hitting of the inning. The case you describe only fulfills part of the picture. Why was it not sufficient for HAL, I think there is some random in the process as well, in any case HAL answered no to question A.

For question B)
Forget about balance 6L 7L or whatever. What HAL really looks at is slugging in general and homeruns in particular. And I believe HAL does so for each separate card, offense and pitcher. With regards to pitching, Saito has roughly the same slugging on both sides, so no need to remove a right-handed hitter. With regards to offense, both Butler and Pearce have some power vs rhp, at least they are not Jenkins vs lhp or Keppingler vs rhp. So they did not go below the threshold that Hal has for removing hitters. What is the threshold, I don't know, but Hal answered no to question B.

THANKS FOR THE EXPLANATION. OTHER THAN IT NOT BEING THE FIRST HITTER OF THE INNING, ALL OF YOUR CRITERIA FOR "A' WERE OTHERWISE MET.

AS FOR "B', IT IS A WEAKNESS OF THE GAME, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. WHY DEFEND IT RATHER THAN CALLING IT AS SUCH? IF YOU HAVE MONSTER POWER HITTERS WHO HIT RHP'S SITTING ON THE BENCH, AND YOU ARE DOWN 1 RUN IN THE 9TH INNING IN THE FINALS, YOU DON'T LEAVE GUYS IN WHO CAN'T HIT RIGHTIES. SO I APPRECIATE YOUR ATTEMPT AT AN EXPLANATION, BUT I WOULD PREFER CALLING IT LIKE IT IS; NAMELY AN UNREALISITIC ASPECT OF THE GAME THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE ADDRESSED.

AGAIN, THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS.

[quote:aed1c6d5e3]OTHER THAN IT NOT BEING THE FIRST HITTER OF THE INNING, ALL OF YOUR CRITERIA FOR "A' WERE OTHERWISE MET. [/quote:aed1c6d5e3]

Actually, no. When Pearce and Butler came up, they didn't face a new reliever in the sense I meant, as Saito had already faced Beltran. Hal is more prompt to call for a pinch-hitter for the very first hitter the reliever sees.

I think HAL doesnt see any game as more important than any other. It could be that If HAL replaced Butler with Howard for example a lefty could be brought in that would make the odds of on base EVEN worse than the current one. Plus Butler has clutch which I think HAL rarely replaces hitters in a plus clutch situation.