Is HAL an idiot or is he trying to tell me something?

[BDWard]

Hello everyone. Here's the game situation: It's the opening series of our $100 mil cap DH league. Obviously, no one knows the year of any of the mystery cards. Bottom of the 8th, 1 on, 1 out, down 2, with Lee Smith on the mound for the opposition and the top of my order coming up. HAL pinch hits Richie Zisk for Willie Randolph. No problem there. 2 batters later the inning ended. Jim Rice was to bat second the next inning for me. HAL pulled a double switch, deciding to keep Zisk in the game in LF (as a 4 to Rice's 3) and to insert Ron Oester in the game at 2B and to bat him in Rice's spot, instead of inserting Oester where Zisk hit and benching Zisk! Is HAL trying to tell me something about the respective players and their cards or did he just have a brain cramp?

Even if Zisk and Rice were equal fielders, I can't think of a single case where I would prefer to have Oester inserted in the lineup for Rice under those circumstances.

Is HAL trying to tell me that Zisk has a better card than Rice, or Oester has a better card than Rice, or as a switch hitter Oester had a better chance of getting on base against Smith than Rice, or am I just paranoid and in need of a life?

I'm new to the mystery card game and have just one season of online Strato under my belt, so any help would be much appreciated.

P.S.: Rice was 2 for 9 in the opening series with one solo HR batting in the 5th spot. When Mike Schmidt, my cleanup hitter, was injured for the last game of the series, against Gubicza HAL made the following batting order:

Randolph 2B
Kemp DH
Cooper 1B
Dawson RF
Lynn CF
Lance Parrish C
Trammell SS
Rice LF
Harrah 3B

Against RHPs I bat Randolph, Kemp and Cooper 1,2,3 anyway but I bat Rice, Dawson, Lynn, Trammell and Parrish 5,6,7,8,9. In demoting Rice to 8, again, does HAL know something I don't?

[voovits]

Though he is not exactly a genius, HAL is wiser than we all think.
Though I would not consider it definitive proof, I would keep a very close eye on Rice. I would also take the PH of Zisk into consideration and keep an eye on Randolph and Zisk as the season goes on.

[hallerose]

Yes, Hal knows which cards are chosen but you don't. It isn't 100%, but when Hal adjusts your batter order, line-up, or pinch-hittting in strange ways pay attention -- i.e., you probably have a bad card for Rice. Without an injury reveal you don't cut him yet, but start looking at who is available.

[Paul5757]

With regard to the injury re-ordering, you should definitely look at who the opposing pitcher was. Was it a strong righty, a reverse righty, etc.?

[canauscot]

Agree Rice is questionable, but it doesn't say anything about Randolph other than that Zisk had a better chance of going yard than Willie which doesn't tell you much.

[Marine1953]

hal is truly and idiot. its a machine, no machine can ever out think a human , when it comes to baseball or most likly anything, so yes hal is and idiot. and if anyone tells you different. its hals side kick.

[voovits]

If you want to think HAL is a complete idiot and does not know anything in this game, then I hope to see you in a league in my division someday.

[BDWard]

OK guys, here's an update. Since I swept my opening series, I figured I had a little wiggle room and would learn something that could possibly help me in the long run if I let HAL make the lineups for my series last night. He batted Rice 9th against RHPs and 5th against LHPs. The lineups are below:

LHP
Harrah 3B
Randolph 2B
Schmidt 1B
Lance Parrish C
Rice LF
Dawson CF
Berryhill DH (Huh?)
Hendrick RF
Trammell SS


RHP
Randolph 2B
Trammell SS
Schmidt 3B (this is Schmidt's 1980 .286 48 HR card)
Dawson RF
Lynn CF
Parrish C
Zisk DH (Kemp did well at DH vs. RHPs the first series)
Hendrick 1B (Cooper is injured, was his worst year card)
Rice LF

Based on those lineups, and HAL's prior moves, not only do I fear that I have Rice's worst card, but Trammell's & Hendrick's, too. None of them are hitting. Lance Parrish is just 1 for 15 vs. RHPs, but HAL has him 6th.

Right now, Rice is hanging on by a thread. I'm playing in Royals Stadium tonight, against a decent staff, so Rice will get no help there. I'd try to trade Rice, but I doubt that I would get much for him now after broadcasting my concerns to the world, so who's the real idiot?!

[voovits]

Not everyone reads the board, it couldn't hurt to try if you want to trade Rice.
Trammell batted high against the right handed pitcher, don't jump to conclusions on him just yet.
Just remember when HAL makes lineups, he values power the most. He would sit a .333 hitter with 5 homeruns in favor of a .240 hitter with 25 homeruns.

[BDWard]

I'd like to thank everyone who has tried to help me by taking the time to respond to my post. All of the comments are very insightful.

One would think that if HAL likes power, power and more power, that if Rice had all but his worst card, not only would HAL have him in the lineup, but he would be somewhere in the middle of the lineup against both LHPs and RHPs. I really can think of no logical reason for HAL to bat Rice 9th against RHPs if Rice has a good card. The rest of the team isn't exactly murderer's row, so it's not like a bunch of studs are batting ahead of him against RHPs.