Baseball Stratogists

I have been trying to come to grips with the new interface and design of the new Net-Play features with Strat-O-Matic's Verson 14 of the Baseball game. It has been difficult to appreciate all of the features in this version that differ from previous versions of the game. I think the thing that most people have had issues with are all of the net-play game crashes. The thing I like the most about the new version is the feature which allows either the home or visiting team to host a game. This has come in very handy for many, including myself, who have had some hosting problems.

Hosting problems come in a variety of shapes and sizes and it's not always that easy to figure out, but there is help out there and there's always someone somewhere online that can help figure out router problems and diagnose hosting issues. When all else fails, maybe the other team can host the games. That is the thing I like best about this new version.

The thing that I like least is the playing field on the game. Most of the images are pretty good, though SOM could probably get better ones. The problem I have with the playing field is that with my color ballparks disk, a lot of the .loc files are not matching up with their ballpark image. San Francisco has been a really bad one for me. Home plate is somewhere behind the back stop and the second baseman is standing on the mound. It's pretty bad.

I've also noticed sometimes when I'm importing game results from my leagues that I will click on all the files in my import folder and the import "wizard", for lack of a better term, doesn't always import all of the files that I unzipped to the import folder. I am forced to go back to my zip files, re-unzip them, and then re-import them because they didn't import correctly or at all the first time I did it.

Little glitches like that are always a hassle and the biggest glitch that I have seen so far is that sometimes when I'm net playing games, we'll get to the third game of a series without any problems and then all of a sudden, the game just takes a dump. The connection dies and continues to die after every individual batter for a couple of innings. The easiest fix I've found for this problem is shutting the game down and restarting the computer. I think it's worked every time except maybe once.

I'm starting to like the interface a little more each day, but I am really hoping that the next version of the CDROM Baseball Game has been thoroughly tested before it's released and hopefully SOM will get rid of all of these stupid little glitches. All in all it's still the best simulation/replay baseball game there is. I love playing in the leagues that I'm in and hopefully net-play will just get better and better every year.

Quick Inning

.......or lack thereof.

Contest: to the first person who tells me how I can get Quick Inning to work during Netplay, I will give you a FREE copy of the upcoming 6th annual Stratogists.com Rookie Review due out this Fall. Email us at comments @ stratogists.com (I added spaces around the '@' to help reduce spam).

So far, in every game, for both home & away manager, both host & client, Quick Inning is greyed out.

I miss this feature, it was present in every Netplay game I've played in the past 5 years, and helps speed the game along quite nicely.

Actually, I suppose this feature may be disabled for reasons I can't explain for version 14.03A. If that's the case, then I'll give a FREE copy of the Rookie Review to the first person who confirms this.

My goal in creating this series is to soothe help the emotions of others who are running into similar netplay issues (!) but also to create awareness around the neverending quirks present in the netplay game.

Kudos to Strat for their diligence in improving Netplay; nevertheless it remains for many people by far the most frustrating part of Strat.

Netplay adventures on May 3, 2009:
I'd already netplayed against my usual buddy, Karl Farmer, in April, so I figured setting up for this month would be quick. Not so.
Total startup time to get Netplay working before first pitch is thrown: 30

We attempted to join the game lobby and name & setup the game. This proved challenging. But once the game was up, there was still no shortage of quirks:

Game 1 oddities: despite checking my 25-man roster before the game, all 35 players on my roster are eligible during the contest, though only the standard 25 for my opponent.

Game 2, reverse happened: My opponent had all 33 of his guys available, yet I was back to 25.

More oddities:
For the 4th Netplay game in a row, my 7th inning stretch trivia contest is different from what my opponent sees. Today I realize this is a feature, not a bug, present in any netplay game.
Also, when your opponent hits OK to get the answer to HIS question, YOUR PC will think it's for your game and give you the answer at the same time.

I have been trying to put together some wins in my Ted Williams Strat League, but have not been very successful as my pitching has been pretty bad. I just finished a three game series against Cleveland, and gave up 8 runs in each game, while only scoring a total of 13 runs in the three games combined. I was winning the third game 7-5 but of course my bullpen could not close the deal and I lost 8-7.

I have a pretty decent top five in my batting order. Not the best by any means but certainly not a lousy batting lineup.

1. David DeJesus CF
2. Carlos Guillen 3b
3. Brad Hawpe RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1b
5. Marcus Thames DH/Matt Stairs DH
6. Gerald Laird C
7. Ryan Spilborghs LF / Gary Sheffield LF
8. David Eckstein 2B/SS
9. Adam Everett SS/Omar Quintanilla 2B

I know for sure I need help up the middle. But with this lineup I have scored 4.82 runs per game over my first 28 games. The big problem is, that my pitching has been absolutely horrible, with the exception of one very good game against Tampa Bay where Justin Verlander threw a three-hit shutout. He was brilliant in that game but hasn't pitched particularly well in any of his other six starts. My team is 10-18 now with three games to go in the second block of the season.

My starting rotation looks like this with my bullpen staff below that:

1. Justin Verlander
2. Johnny Cueto
3. Pedro Martinez
4. Nate Robertson/Jake Westbrook/Jeremy Bonderman (won't start games til block 3)
5. Kenny Rogers

BP:
Hideki Okajima
Chad Bradford
Juan Cruz
David Weathers
Todd Jones
Nate Robertson

The Gambler started strong for me out of the gate, winning his first three starts against three pretty tough teams and allowing just nine earned runs in 18 and 2/3 innings. Since those three starts he is 0-3 and has allowed 19 earned runs in 13 and 2/3 innings. Quite a reversal.

I took Nate out of the rotation and put him in the bullpen after an abysmal block 1 where he started 1-2 and allowed 22 runs in 14 and 1/3 innings. Surprisingly he actually got a win against the defending league champions giving up only 3 runs in 7 full innings of work. Fortunately, his offense gave him nine runs to work with and he got the win.

Pedro has gotten a raw deal in his five starts. He has had an average of 3.6 runs in support while he has pitched pretty well overall. Martinez has only allowed 16 earned runs in 32 and 1/3 innings and has been my best pitcher overall I think in the first two blocks of the season. The problem, as I said previously, is that he hasn't had enough run support to get any wins. He lost 4-1 to Kansas City; 7-5 to Boston; 4-1 to Cleveland; and 7-5 to Minnesota. He didn't give up all of those runs in those losses but the offense just pooped out when he gave the team a chance to win, particularly against Kansas City and Cleveland.

Johnny Cueto has not pitched very well either. His record stands at 2-1 in his first five starts but 18 earned runs in just over 30 innings to give him an ERA of 5.28. I hope he'll pitch better, I hope the whole staff will pitch better but it just hasn't gone too well thus far.

The bullpen has been a disaster with Jones (0-2 and a 4.70 ERA), Okajima (0-1 and a 5.29 ERA), Juan Cruz (0-0 and a 5.40 ERA), and Chad Bradford (0-1 and a 7.16 ERA). The two bright spots in the pen have been David Weathers (0-0 and a 2.13 ERA in 12 2/3 innings) and Nate Robertson who has been pretty dang good in the bullpen since moving from the rotation. That could probably have more to do with the fact the other team got almost all their runs off the starter that I pulled early to bring in Nate to mop up. He has allowed four runs in 10 and 1/3 innings since moving to the pen. He gave up a long ball to Cleveland in the first game of the last series I played, but other than that he's been really good in the pen.

I hope that maybe I can make a deal to bring in a decent middle infielder but I think I may need to pack it in and hope for a good draft next year. I will continue to blog about my TWSL Detroit Tigers, and when and if time permits, I will also blog a little about my Schwartz League team the Riverton Raptors. I have blogged all the results of my TWSL games on our TWSL League Blog. You can also find out more information about the Ted Williams Strat League by visiting our website at http://twsl.stratotommie.com.

Thoughts while wondering just how much Ty Wigginton (.244 OB, .256 slug) misses the friendly fences of MinuteMaid Park:

Coco Crisp: still not Johnny Damon, but he's trying.
In Boston, Crisp never lived up to his performance as an Indian, but this season, his 4 triple and 16 walks in first 23 games show he has some life in him. Even a strong team could affort to bat him 7th thru 9th in the order so long as he mans CF with a 2.

Bobby Abreu: how long can he keep it up?
In signing Abreu, the Angels wisely began to deviate from their usual Kotchmanesque pursuit of flat .300 hitters who field well but don't walk enough. However, no HR for Abreu over 87 AB should tell any pitcher to fire the ball down the middle and avoid walking this guy. 2 errors already is a high number for him, but 11 steals makes him an unlikely major league leader at press time.

Carlos Guillen: is he done? Certainly not 'done'...but his days of .850 OPS may be well behind him. He's moved from a 2e30 at shortstop three years ago to a 4e28 two years ago to a corner infielder last year, and now this year he's been exiled to LF where even with a solid offensive season, he'll barely be mediocre amid the maze of sluggers who play that position. Zero HR through his first 78 AB this year, and a .295 OB? As with any player over 30 who shows a big decline in one part of his game (in his case, HR drop from 2006 to 2008 and beyond), caution beckons.

Jason Bay: his 25 walks so far (in just 73 AB) show the world he's seeing the ball well, and put him on a great path towards finishing the year with a .400+ OB. His current .490 OB pace won't last, but he's nearly erased all concerns that he might not flourish in a pressure-packed environment like Boston after leaving his sleepy Pittsburgh roots.

Asdrubal Cabrera: nearing the point where he may become very, very difficult to acquire.
Zero errors at second base so far, he is acknowledged as the best shortstop on the team (I'm sure ARod can relate!) and has 14 walks in 74 AB to go with 4 steals.

Texas catchers: not such a pretty picture.
Saltalamacchia's 2 BB vs 21 whiffs shows he's not done with spring training yet, and backup Teagarden has been overmatched. However, both should be safe for a while as Max Ramirez has had a slow start to his AAA season.

I haven't had a chance to see much baseball yet this year, but I have been reading and listening to some games and of course playing games in my two summer Strat leagues. I'm looking forward to seeing a game in Denver maybe this summer, but I'll probably only manage to get to Casper to see the Ghosts this year. I think seeing a Rockies game would be pretty interesting since I have never been to a ballpark that is a mile above sea level. My move last year from Michigan to Wyoming has not had too much of an impact on my SOM leagues as I thought it would in the beginning. I really like living here and am enjoying my new home and my new job. It's great to live next door to where I work so my commute is no longer 80 minutes to two hours like it was in Michigan.

This gives me a lot more time to spend with my family and also to pursue my favorite hobby/past-time. So far, this season, I have seen exciting things from my beloved Tigers and enjoyed watching the Red Sox sweep the Yanks. I've listened to a few Rockies games and am following Colorado almost as closely as Detroit. Brad Hawpe was off to a pretty good start til he got hit Monday night. Hopefully he'll be back in the lineup this weekend against the Giants. Hawpe is hitting the ball really well and maybe he can moved past this injury and continue hitting well. Jason Marquis has three wins in his first four starts so he is off to a decent start. It would be nice to see him pitch better this year.

As for my Tigers, I am very excited about the start they've had in April. Miguel Cabrera is my favorite player and he is just crushing the ball so far. Jackson has been a wonderful surprise and I like the youngster Josh Anderson too. Verlander has been a bit of a disappointment, but I'm sure he'll pitch better as the season moves forward. I am really disheartened by the progress of Bonderman and Willis and hoped they would be pitching by now. The Tigers are doing pretty well and the Rockies are hopefully going to play a little better and hopefully get back to .500 ball.

That's all for now from Wyoming. More soon...