Getting tired of the AI's bullcrud when it comes to reliever

[teepack]

Last night I faced a team that has eight righthanded bats and one switch-hitter in its lineup. I set Jamie Leicester as my long relief guy, Akinori Otsuka as middle relief and Shingles Takatsu as my closer - all guys who are great against righties. I have two lefty relievers on my squad - Jamie Walker and Alan Embree - as well as a reverse righty in Dan Haren, who absolutely blows against righties. I set all three of those guys to avoid righthanders in the hopes of not having them pitch at all. I even had Haren listed as the starter in my next series in the per-game starters because the team I am facing tonight has seven lefties in it, so I want Haren to face that team but not pitch in relief last night. So guess what happens?

In Game 1, I am losing 6-5 in the eighth inning. My starter, Tomko, got knocked out early, so Leicester came in and pitched four innings, and then Otsuka came in with one out in the eighth and promptly loaded the bases while getting the second out. So the AI then yanks Otsuka and brings in Haren instead of my closer, Takatsu, to face Miguel Cabrera. I would rather it have left a weakened Otsucka in instead of bringing in Haren, but somehow Haren got Cabrera out. Then, to make matters worse, in the ninth inning, it brings in Walker to start the frame. He gets the first guy out no problem, but then the AI yanks him and replaces him with Embree! Somehow, Embree got out of the inning without damage, but I still lost 6-5. I just don't understand why it brought in Haren, Walker and Embree to face righties when I had 'avoid righthanded batters' clicked on all 3 cards!

In Game 2, I've got Bonderman pitching. It's a 0-0 ballgame through four innings. In the top of the fifth, Bonderman gives up a one-out solo home run and the AI yanks him! I had him set to slow hook and bullpen set to conservative! It brings in Leicester (would he be weak if he had pitched 4 innings in the previous game?) who promptly gives up a single and homer to the first two batters he faces. Leicester pitches through the sixth, but then gives up a single and walk to start the seventh. So the AI brings in Haren again! He miraculously gets out of the inning without further damage, and then pitches a scoreless eighth inning as well! After I rally to tie it at 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth, the AI brings in Embree to start the ninth inning! Where's Shingles? Embree gets the first out and then is replaced by Walker, who gets out of the ninth with no further damage. I, of course, don't score in the bottom of the ninth, so in the top of the 10th, the AI leaves Walker in to give up five runs! Where is Shingles?

Then in the final game of the series, Tim Hudson pitches into the ninth inning of a 2-2 game. After he gives up two singles and a wild pitch with one out in the ninth, the AI brings in Otsuka, who somehow gets out of the inning with no runners scoring. Otsuka then pitches a scoreless 10th inning as well. When the 11th rolls around, who does the AI bring in? The well-rested Takatsu, who hasn't pitched the entire series? No, it brings back Embree FOR THE THIRD GAME IN A ROW! Even though I have him clicked to avoid righties and the team he is facing has nothing but righties on it!!! Embree somehow pitches a scoreless 11th, but then in the 12th he walks the bases full with one out. Does the AI bring in Takatsu now to get out of this jam? No, it leaves Embree in, but he somehow manages to extricate himself and then I scored in the bottom of the 12th to win it.

So, to summarize, the AI brings in Walker twice, Haren twice and Embree all three games to face a team of nothing but righthanded batters, even though I had avoid righthanded batters clicked on all 3 cards. It used Leicester and Otsuka twice each and didn't use my closer, Takatsu, who murders righties, at all for the entire series! Unbelievable.

Pardon me for the rant, but I am just about fed up with this kind of bullcrap. I am seriously doubting my commitment to keep playing this game if the program is just not even going to follow simple instructions.

[hechojazz]

Just a comment regarding listing Haren as a per-game starter for a future outing, in the hopes that he wouldn't get used in that series...if you want to make sure a pitcher with both an S rating and an R rating is not used in relief on a particular night, scheduling him as a per-game starter will not help you at all. You have to put the guy in as part of your starting rotation, which then becomes your default rotation, unless you use the per-game starters lineup to instruct HAL differently. That is how you hide such a pitcher, which is necessary if you do wish to start him in a series coming up - he won't start if he's been used in relief too recently, so you have to hide him for the two nights leading up to the night you want to start him.

[bkoron]

There will be a way, but it won't be in TSN/SOM.

8)

[Play By The Rules]

Exactly right hecho, it's your own fault, d'oh...

Live and learn, don't be too upset, some of us ( :roll: ) took a lot longer than others to figure out the bullpen (still don't quite have it down actually...)

[DOUGLASKALINOUSKY]

Why would you expect Takatsu to come in? He is your closer, none of those three games went into a closing situation (you never had the lead). Do you also have closer use set to maximize? This would ensure that your closer is not used unless it is a closing situation.

I do wonder why it pitched embree in all three games, I would have thought it would pick a rested reliever before going to a tired one.

Doug

[goredsox33]

JUST BUY THE CD-ROM VERSION AND YOU CAN MAKE ALL YOUR OWN DECISIONS AND MISTAKES

[T.Richardson]

The optimal set up for that series would have been to have Haren in your default rotation. Embree as closer VS LH avoid RH dont pitch before the 9th max 1-2 IP. Walker Set up VS LH don't bring in before the 8th avoid RH max 1-2 IP. Manager setting for RP normal or conservative and No other manager settings for the pen.

[wdbarth]

See, the thing about Hal that makes me mad is that he only screws me over. I have NEVER, in 20+ teams won a game because Hal had them pitch Leicester to Bonds. It always astonishes me when I lose because of Hal. My teams would be practically undefeated if I could just make my own choices. I cannot comprehend why someone else would whine about Hal's decision making because he only screws me over. HOW CAN YOU BE THE ONE WHINING WHEN IT IS ALWAYS ME WHO IS GETTING SCREWED?