"You've got some 'splainin to do Lucy"

Or anybody else for that matter...

http://365.strat-o-matic.com/game/playbyplay/435240/991

Game 5 of the finals for me.
I'm up 3-1.
Top of the 9th.
I'm up 7-5.
Henke is my closer vs. Righties. Franco is my closer vs. Lefties.
Beckwith doubles. Henke is set for Avoid Lefties/Not B4 the 9th.
He leaves for Jim Brewer. Brewer is set for IBB less.
Brewer faces Mantle.(Groundout)
Brewer faces Teddy Williams. (Lineout)
Brewer faces Josh Gibson, who walks.
Now, I have Gossage/Marshall and Balfour as my righties in the pen. All rested.

1. Why is Brewer still in to face the 9L Gibson?

Runners on 1st and 2nd. 2 outs.

Thome comes up. 3 run homerun, on a 4-7 roll.

2. Why doesn't Franco come in the face Thome?
Franco is set to Avoid righties/ Not B4 the 9th.

Any insight would be appreciated...

visick

FWIW,

I sent this to Strat before I posted here.

When/If they respond, I'll post back.

Anyone?
Bueller?
Bueller?

I don't know. I don't use those settings. I always want more managerial control, so I sympathize. Chompsky

97 views, no answers.

No answer from Strat.

This sucks, no doubt. If a human was playing, you would have certainly pulled him. But a couple things to consider, first is that you probably didn’t want him facing Williams (which might have been avoided with an avoid lh setting), but also that you don’t have quick hook enabled. Also, when Gibson comes up as a righty, that’s also pitching to Brewer’s strength, so maybe they don’t look for a better alternative if quick hook isn’t set. No idea, just a wild guess.

I can understand, sorta, why Brewer was still in.

I'd like to believe Strat's computer would think a righty facing a righty would be a better matchup.

But why is Franco, a 5L and my closer vs. lefties, left on the bench?

Seems like I have a valid complaint here...

Visick,
First of all, I Love your Lucy reference.
Secondly, I feel your frustration. It sounds like you had everything set correctly.
Regarding HAL leaving Brewer in to face Gibson, my feeling is that HAL looks at the combination of the pitcher and hitter card and would not have brought Brewer in to face Gibson. Of course the situation here is that HAL left Brewer in to face Gibson (and also didn't bring in Franco to face Thome). Again, I have no answers and I think that is really messed up for a Finals game.

I have never had great success with bullpen management myself, but do you use the fatigue settings? I sometimes wonder if these settings tend to supersede the more micro manager moves you were looking for. Brewer is still at an F9 in the game. He doesn't have either an avoid lefty or righty batter setting, so I think HAL struggles with why he should pull Brewer in this situation. As stated earlier, I don't think Hal brings Brewer in to face Gibson, but once he's in the game, I don't think HAL's logic understands why he should pull him either when your closer for righties has already been used in the game and Brewer isn't fatigued.

Now the move that does bother me, is that it would seem that Franco set as your lefty closer should trump all other setting in that Thome situation. So that would be the "logic" puzzle I would focus on, which is why the close setting didn't work as expected. However, with Brewer as a lefty and Thome as a 6R, HAL probably doesn't view that as a bad match up.

Mark