Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/1969/league/boxscore.html?group_id=2081&g_id=573

Can anyone shed some light on why HAL would replace Dal Canton with Knowles in the bottom of the 9th to face a series of righthanders? Or more specifically, what can I try to prevent this from happening again?

I have Dal Canton as my setup man and closer vs. righties, and Knowles as setup man and closer vs. lefties. Neither one has "avoid LHBs" or "avoid RHBs" checked. Closer usage is set to normal.

Granted Dal Canton is not a lights out closer, but he's a heckuva lot better against righties than Knowles. Dal Canton was getting knocked around, but it was only his 2nd inning of work and he wasn't "fatigued".

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Don't trust HAL. Don't trust him especially with specific commands regarding relievers or putting in a sensible sub for an injured starter. I no longer use unbalanced cheap relievers because HAL will invariably pitch a lefty with a don't face righties against RHB in a key situation and I'll lose the game. The same perverse decision applies to righties with a don't face lefties command. Sometimes HAL follows these commands but too often in a close game he ignores them and WHAMMO. And HAL on a few ocassions has taken out my closer after 1/3 inning and brought in the worst reliever to disastrous results.

No doubt there's some kind of esoteric computer programming reason for these maddening decisions. Maybe the reliever has thrown too many pitches even though he's only been in the game for 1 1/2 innings. Maybe the first reliever has given up his quota of baserunners even though he hasn't blown the save. Obviously, it's nothing personal. I'd advise you to try and get two decent relievers. Put one as a set-up man for both lefties and righties and use the other as a closer exclusively. That strategy usually works pretty well but it's sort of expensive. Even if you have excellent starters with endurance (as I have) two good relievers, as I've learned the hard way, is a necessity.

HAL's f#cked me in the past, but never like my first go round in 1969. I can't tell you how many times he's pulled one relief pitcher to bring in my LH specialist Paul Lindblad (not to bust on poor RIPaul), who is checked to "avoid RH," to face a RH hitter. A couple times I've gotten lucky. More often, I lose.

I don't know how hard it must be to program the computer so it recognizes this is a really, Really, REALLY stupid and unfair thing to do, especially when I've at least got a few RH guys languishing in the BP, but it's a killer.

Message: DON'T TRUST HAL.

tws

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the advice. I'm finding that I have a ton to learn when it comes to picking and managing a pitching staff. My pitching has killed me in my first two seasons.

I wonder if anyone can shed light on BP management 1969 style?

Q. Do you leave closer blank, and place the guys you want to pitch in the 8th & 9th as set up?

Q. Will HAL yank your strongest reliever in this case just because a closing situation has arisen? Will he stay with what appears to be an obvious best option (in most cases of course - HAL is never 100%).

Q. Don't you typcally want your strong starters to eat up innings, and let the chips fall where they may (assuming the offense doesn't turn out to be inept-causing tight game after tight game)?

Q. I've always set relief to Aggressive. This seems to help HAL go from a hard right to a hard lefty when desired. I want this in the pen, but I don't want Koosman yanked in a 2-1 game in the 7th. Know what I'm saying?

At the same time, I don't want Lindblad left in a game to face a RHB wth Osinski rested and ready to go against a string of three RHBs.