The Hell?

I was playing some more MLB '08 last night (since I've "discovered" the button that shows the batter/pitcher matchup, complete with hot/cold hitting zones, my pitching has been worlds better) and had one of those moment that just defies explanation.

I'm in another 1-0 game (losing), pitching in the sixth inning. There's a man on first and the hitter hits a hard grounder just to the right of second base. The second basement doesn't move an inch to try to glove it, but whatever. Probably wouldn't have gotten to it anyway. This is where it gets weird. The ball rolls to a stop in the shallow outfield and both the right and center fielders close in on it. They're about five steps from being able to pick up the ball and they just stop. I stare at the screen for a moment, completely dumbfounded, only to see the catcher emerge from the bottom of the screen and go racing into right-center field to pick up the ball. Of course, by the time he does both the runner and batter have scored. I was... non-plussed.

Fortunately, my team bailed me out and pulled out a 5-3 win in the late innings. I really hope that I don't see anything like that happen again.

MLB '08: Learning Something New

I was all set to write up an annoyed post about MLB '08 not getting pitcher of record stats correct. I've had multiple games now where I got a loss for games for which I did not allow the winning run, and it was always my understanding that the pitcher who allows the winning run gets the loss. Here's an example:

In a game against Bowie, I allowed one run in my six innings of work. (This is Road to the Show mode.) In the seventh, a reliever allowed another run, making it a 2-0 game. In the ninth, my team (Erie) finally put up a run and we lost 2-1. Despite only giving up one run, I got the loss, which I thought was totally wrong. So, I looked up the rule on MLB.com and here's what it has to say about the losing pitcher of record:

(d) A losing pitcher is a pitcher who is responsible for the run that gives the winning team a lead that the winning team does not relinquish.

So, if I'm reading that correctly, because I surrendered the lead and Erie never recovered to at least tie the game, that's why I get the loss. That still doesn't seem right to me, and I can't believe MLB never discussed this with me, personally, but them's the breaks. At least MLB '08 appears to have gotten it right and I got to learn something new.

Still, The Show ain't perfect. In another game I was pitching in a 0-0 game; I allowed a lead-off hit, followed by a home run. The score moved, correctly, to 2-0. So, why when the next hitter reached the plate was their a runner still on second base? I didn't even notice him until I gave up a hit to the next guy and the runner on second scored for a 3-0 game. I was dumbfounded for a few minutes while I tried to figure out if I blacked out during an at bat or something, but nope, the game put a runner on base where there should not have been one. I promptly turned the console off and started over. Fortunately, after having played about a dozen or so games, this seems to have been the only time this has occurred. Still, it was damned odd.

Li'l Brakke, On the Road to the Show

I decided to skip over the franchise mode of MLB '08: The Show and start a Road to the Show player instead. (If you're unfamiliar with this, you create your own ballplayer and start him out in the minor in an attempt to build him up to a major league hall of famer.) I decided to go with a starting pitcher in the Tigers organization and I proceeded to play through all of spring training in a single evening. (Playing out each of my appearances without skipping any.)

Li'l Brakke (like Li'l Penny, only totally different) had a decent spring for the big league club considering he has no skill whatsoever and has a fastball that tops out around 84mph. (I don't like that you have to -apparently- build up your velocity from scratch. I don't think a lot of future fireballers start out in the minors struggling to hit 85mph on the radar gun.) I think I finished out the spring with about a 4.xx ERA. I gave up a metric ton of hits, but relatively few runs all considered and my strikeout to walk ratio was insanely good given my lack of control. (Something like 15:3.)

Once spring training was done I signed a one year deal to be a middle reliever for Detroit's AA club, the Erie Seawolves. At this point the game starts giving you goals to meet in terms of training your player up, like improving your fielding ability. This is done using points accumulated for being successful when playing in games. (Having a low ERA or inducing a double play, for example.) In roughly five appearances I've been having quite a bit of success, including a 2.11 ERA and continued success striking guys out despite not having any pitch velocity to speak of. (I've got a killer 12-6 curve, though, and it's been a monster strikeout pitch.)

You also get emails from your manager that let you know what he thinks about your play and you have the ability to take career actions like retire or complain about your position on the club. I had the option to complain about not being a starter, but I decided to be the patient rookie that I am. In my final game last night I was called in to start the top of the eight inning of a tied ballgame. Five innings later, having not allowed in a run, Erie pulled the game out and I had a glowing email from my manager informing me that I was going to get a shot in the starting rotation. Oh happy day!

Needless to say, I'm enamored with the Road to the Show mode in this game. It's my first experience with it (having not played MLB '07) and it's a wicked amount of fun so far. I was amazed at how much pressure I felt as a middle reliever to come into a game and keep guys in scoring position from making it home. In one game I was called in to a close game with the bases loaded and only one out. I proceeded to strike out the next two hitters and get out of the inning, which had me on my feet cheering Li'l Brakke on. The experience has actually given me newfound respect for the guys with the thankless job of middle relief.

More impressions to come.

The Post in Which Todd Lands a PS3

For the last couple weeks I've been talking up to my wife how good Bill thinks MLB '08 is on the PS3. She doesn't care, but it gets the whole PS3 conversation rolling. So, of course, while at Bill's this weekend we made a point of playing the game and I made a point of saying, "Like, this is so awesome," over and over again. (I'm subtle that way.) I didn't expect much to come of it, but much to my surprise, with our anniversary being yesterday, Angie gave me the green light to procure a Playstation 3. Now, we really don't need a PS3 in our house, but I'm also not exceptionally stupid, so I jumped on it, also picking up a copy of MLB '08: The Show last night. My thanks to Bill for helping me drive that "need" home.

Now, I haven't really played any of MLB '08 yet, but I'll get some impressions up once I do. I will say that the PS3 is mostly a marvelously designed piece of hardware and it's an exceptional Blu-ray Disc player. The speed with which it boots and loads discs, relative to our Sony BDP-301, is remarkable (and a relief) and the thing is unbelievably quiet. Love it.

I did run into a couple of things I don't like, though. One, the Sony BD remote (sold separately) is Bluetooth only. Which means almost no universal remote on the market is going to control this thing, and certainly not my Harmony 688. There is a Nyko remote that includes an IR USB adapter that I may pick up for it, but still, it's disappointing that Sony either didn't realize or didn't care that this thing will be a lot of people's primary Blu-ray player and include an IR receiver (like the Xbox 360 has). The other problem is that you can't utilize the component and HDMI outputs at the same time. Since I'm set up to send an HDMI signal to my TV and a component signal to my video projector, this omission isn't insurmountable, but it is a pain. Regardless, the rest of the unit is so good, I'll live happily with that particular misfire.

Hopefully I'll be able to really dig into MLB '08 by the end of the week. I've got some all-day and into the evening work events this week, so we'll see. Based on the one game I played at Bill's this weekend, however, I have to agree with Bill that this is the best baseball game I've seen in years.