MVP Baseball 2004 FAQ System: PS2 Author: Inks71 (email:delfjac@yahoo.com, website: www.highaims.com) Copyright 2004 Inks71. Please do not duplicate or post without permission. Versions: 3/30/04: Added "A Pure Swing Example" 3/22/04: Added "Alternating pitch speed" section Fixed numerous typos 3/18/04: First Draft Table of Content Section 1. Things You Need to Know First Section 2. How I Play Section 3. Pitching 3.1 The Basics 3.2 The Setups 3.3 Going for Strikeouts 3.4 Giving Up Walks 3.5 Additional Pitching Tips Section 4. Batting 4.1 The Basics of Hitting 4.2 "Pure Swing" Explained 4.3 The Green Zone for Hitting 4.4 A Pure Swing Example Section 5. Fielding 5.1. Outfield 5.2. Infield 5.3. Turning the Double Play ********************************************* Section 1. Things You Need To Know First ********************************************* This guide is intended to help you get the most out of playing MVP Baseball 2004. If you already have a good understanding of baseball in real life, you really don't need this guide except some mechanical explanations of the game. I don't profess to be an expert of this game; I simply try to combine my understanding of baseball (both real life and video games) with my experience playing MVP Baseball 2004 into a guide that can lessen your frustration and enhance your enjoyment of all the nuances this game has to offer. I do not have any inside information regarding the development of this game. It's possible for the game developers to find my tips erroneous. I also assume that you already know the basic of playing this game. I will not be repeating much of the same information from the manual or from the in- game videos. I've played or at least tried almost all the baseball games available and was (and still is) a fan of High Heat. In my opinion, MVP Baseball 2004 is the best baseball game ever made. It does have shortcomings and limitations, especially for someone who is familiar with HH's stats tracking capabilities. But because of it fantastic game play, I'm willing to admit that MVP is leaps and bounds beyond any of its competitors. Baseball is a game of statistics and probability. It's not about consistency and certainty. All this FAQ can do is hopefully raise your probability of winning. You can do everything right and still lose, or do everything wrong and still win. ********************************************* Section 2 - How I play ********************************************* This guide is based on my game setting. If you play on a different difficulty or have different game tuning sliders, some information here might not apply to you. Dynasty Mode: St. Louis Reason: good balance of power/contact hitters. In NL so bunting and strategic subbing come into play. Average budget which makes the game fair. In a division that has 6 teams, the schedule is less repetitive. I feel that this team gives me the best opportunity to experience all aspects of the game. I've previously finished a year with Red Sox and of course, the game appeared to be a bit HR happy (no kidding, I traded for Carlos Delgado and signed Pudge) Difficulty: MVP Game Sliders: all default (I have no problem with fielding, will explain later in the fielding section) Batting View: 5-Pitcher/3-Center (I used to play with the Angle view in 2003. It lets you judge the speed of the pitch better so you don't swing too early on Changeups, but it sacrifices your ability to judge the location. I now find the Center view is the best for batting) Fielding View: Zoom (Broadcast and Aerial give you a wider view of the field which can help you locate your player. But I like a closer look of the game. It makes no difference) Strike Zone: Off Hot/Cold Zone: On Pitch Cursor: Off (I go by the feel of the controller now. But it's good to start with the cursor on. I will assume you play with the cursor on so it makes my explanation easier to understand. Once you have a good handle of pitching, being able to pitch without the cursor is quite fun) Fielding: Manual Fielding Aid: On Vector Line: Off (it's a distraction to me) Throw Meter: On Player Names: Off (doesn't matter either way. It can help you locate your player. See Fielding section) Player Icons: Off (I actually use the scouting report before each game so I know my players and opponents before the game. They are distractions to me in the game) Injuries: On Errors: On DH Rule: AL Only User Slides: Manual What my games are like: Fairly realistic. 3-5 runs, 8-9 hits in a game are common. I don't give up too many triples. Turn fair amount of double play. Strike out 5-6 with above average pitchers, 10 or more if using power pitchers. I give up 1-2 walks because I pitch around certain players in certain situations like you are supposed to (also it has to do with my cursor being off). I draw 1-3 walks per game. Sometimes I have a shutout, and sometimes a blowout, and sometimes CPU does the same to me. OK, let's get down to the business.... ********************************************* Section 3. Pitching ********************************************* Here are some conventions I'd like to establish to help make sense out of this FAQ. 1. I'll always use the View 3 (Center) in this FAQ, even though when I pitch, I have the pitcher cam on. 2. Unless otherwise stated, I assume it's a RHP facing a righty situation. 3. I number the zones like the following diagram. ---------------------- | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | ---------------------- | | | | | 4 | 5 | 6 | | | | | | | | | ---------------------- | | | | | 7 | 8 | 9 | | | | | | | | | ---------------------- Assuming it's righty vs righty, Zone 1 is "Up and in", and Zone 9 is "Low and away" etc 4. I use 3 basic corner descriptions for the locations of the target Location A: Inside the corner (The cursor is inside the strike zone, and the edge of your cursor just barely touches both edges of the corner and your controller should barely vibrate) Here is an example using zone 9. It applies to zone 1,3 and 7 as well. | ## | ####| ####| ______##_| Location B: Right on the corner (The center of the cursor is right on the corner. Controller vibrates moderately) Here is an example using zone 9. It applies to zone 1,3 and 7 as well. | | ## _______#### #### ## Location C: Outside the corner (The cursor is outside of the strike zone but still barely touches the corner of the strike zone. You can feel the vibration of the controller telling you that your pitch is most likely going to be ball.) Here is an example using zone 9. It applies to zone 1,3 and 7 as well. | | | _________|## #### #### ## Here's a simple diagram of all the locations I use C C B-----------B | A| | | | | | | | | | | |A A| B-----------B C C Notice the absence of Location A at the upper left corner (Zone 1). That's not a good target because you need to be extra careful with up and in pitches. ********************************************* Section 3.1 The Basics ********************************************* The first step to good pitching in this game is being able to consistently hit the green zone. In 100 pitches, you shouldn't miss more than 3 times in the green zone. (This doesn't mean you don't pitch balls. It means that you don't tip off your pitch and has a big bright "hit me" cursor showing on the screen for the batter) I can usually use my starter until 35% stamina where some of his pitches only give me a thin line of green. Most people don't have problem with hitting the green zone. The trick is to understand a few mechanics about the game and about real pitching. 1. Understand that the meter matches the animation of your pitcher and the speed varies depending on the pitcher. 2. If you never pitched a ball in real life, try it (I am serious). Get yourself a ball and try it out in the backyard. You will understand the windup and observe the release point (the moment you let the ball go to hit the wall). The release point is where the green zone is. Once you get a handle on it, it's very intuitive. You shouldn't even be too focused on the pitching meter. It's a matter of rhythm and feel. 3. IMPORTANT: for most pitchers, the speed of the pitch meter becomes faster once there is someone on base. This is because pitchers generally have a full windup when no one is on base to get more power out of the pitch. And when there are runners, he pitches from the stretch (shorter windup to prevent base stealing). Hence, the meter moves faster. However, some pitchers, especially relievers, always pitch from the stretch and their meters always move fast regardless of man on base. Derek Lowe from the Red Sox, though a starter, always pitches from the stretch (He used to be a reliever). If you find your pitching out of synch in the middle of the game, this might be the reason. 4. You can also sacrifice effectiveness for larger green zone. (I usually press the meter all the way into the red because I have no problem hitting a thin green line) ********************************************* Section 3.2 The Setup ********************************************* What is the purpose of Pitching? It's to get outs. It doesn't matter whether it's a ground out, pop out, or strikeout. Your job as a pitcher is to confuse the hell out of the batter so he couldn't put a good swing on the ball. How? First, think about how the CPU gets you out. Have you been in a situation where you don't know what the hell is going on and swing at the wrong pitches, pass up the good pitches, and swing too late or too early or what have you. I bet you have. Well, what happened? Perhaps you got intimidated by a fastball so you swing early on the next slow pitch. Perhaps you got fooled by a curveball that dropped outside of the strike zone so you pass up on the next good pitch. Guess what, you can do exactly the same thing to CPU. Here are the steps: 1. Always Pitch to the Corners This is a no-brainer. But since I have friends whose knowledge of baseball is only limited to games, I'll have to explain. I was asked: "the strike zone is so big, why do you always have to pitch to the corners?" Because they are harder to hit. And that is the essence of baseball. The pitcher tries his best to get the batter to hit a bad pitch and the batter tries his best to wait for a good pitch to drive before getting 3 strikes. If you wonder why you are getting hammered, perhaps you haven't been told to pitch to the corners. When you are pitching, there is no strike zone, only 4 corners. Of course, there are pitchers whose fastball can blow by you even when thrown down the center. And of course, the CPU probably strikes you out several times by pitching down the center. Bad news, you can't do that back to CPU, not at MVP level, not even at players who have a blue zone 5. Don't pitch to zone 5, ever! NOTE: To know if you are throwing a good corner pitch: if your controller does not vibrate at all, you are aiming too close to the center. (Apology to the veteran players, I just have to get this part out of the way, I hate to have someone telling me my tips don't work only to find out he missed the first step) 2. Understand your pitcher Your pitcher does not have all good pitches. You can see right on the screen which are his good pitches, and which one are his ok pitches. Besides giving you a larger green zone on the meter, his good pitches have a higher probability of getting a called strike when pitching to Locations B – right on the corner (refer to the 3 basic locations above). Locations A is almost always a strike. And you can even get strike called once in awhile using Locations C. (from now on, I'm going to assume that you hit the green zone meter with full effectiveness in the pitch discussed) This is especially useful when you are facing a dangerous batter, you want to use your good pitch on Locations C and preferably combined with his blue zone and hope you can get lucky. Every pitcher should have 2 bread and butter pitches (a fastball and a breaking ball), all the other pitches are useful also, you just have to use them correctly. Your good pitches are the ones you want to use in a tough situation, throwing to Locations B or C. Your good breaking ball is also your strikeout pitch. 3. Understand your opponent How you pitch has a lot to do with your opponent's ability, the aggressiveness of the batter (tendency to swing at close or bad pitches), the power and contact ratings. A batter with high power but mediocre contact rating will rarely pull your low and away pitch for a homerun. And we all know that coming inside on a power hitter is one of the most dangerous things a pitcher can do. You can trick an aggressive hitter into swinging bad pitches easier than more disciplined hitters. 4. And here is a sample approach -- ***** 0-0 Count ***** Start with a blue corner A good way to start your pitching sequence is to Locations A or B (or somewhere between A and B) to a blue corner (outside corner is better than inside corner). If the batter doesn't have a blue corner, then pick a white corner (however, it's a toss up between red corner away and white corner inside), or blue side zone (again, outside is better than inside and make sure that your controller vibrates a little) If you do this well (hit the meter, have the proper location and corner, using your good pitch), you are only giving up hits on this first pitch less than 5% of the time*. The other 15% of the time might result in a called ball, and 80% of the time is the result you want: weak grounder, fly out or pop out, or a foul/called strike. *Let's say you give up 10 hits, 2 walks and 1 error in 9 innings. Perhaps only 2 of the 10 hits are from the very first pitch. 2 in 40 At-bats (27outs+10hits+2walk+1E), that's 5%. If you get a strike because of a foul ball or a swinging strike, you want to know if the batter swings early or late and by how much. ===== 0-1 Count ===== Obviously, you want to go for 0-2, but how you arrive at 0-1 and who the batter is will determine what you do. If the batter did not swing at your first pitch, you can repeat the same process if you are not afraid of the batter (i.e. he is not a dangerous hitter), especially if you have a good fastball. Other good choices including going to a different blue corner or using a different (good) pitch. Let's say you arrive at 0-1 via a foul ball or a swinging strike: If the batter was late on the first pitch, it means he's timing for a slow pitch. You want to go for another fast pitch or even faster (if your first pitch is already your fastest, then you can either do the same thing or change location). It also depends on how late the first swing was. This rarely happens on the first pitch, but sometimes you'll see the CPU batter not only swings late but also looks totally stupid, then you definitely want to humiliate him by blowing him away with another fastball. (this happens more often when the CUP has a AAA call-up) If the batter was too early on the first pitch, it means he's anticipating a fastball. Then you want to give him a slow pitch to mess up his timing (changeups and curves are good) Now, if you decide to repeat the same pitch and location of the first pitch, Remember to push the location out a bit. I.e. if you used Location A (inside corner), then go to Location B (right on corner). If you already used Location B, you want to move the location towards C but not completely outsides because you really don't want a ball. You don't mind the possibility of getting a called ball, but you just don't want to intentionally pitching a ball. IMPORTANT: you absolutely do not want to repeat the same pitch and location if the batter's swing was not too far off. If the batter hit a foul ball that's barely foul (example: almost a HR), your next identical pitch is almost guaranteed to be a hit. Change the pitch and location. ===== 1-0 Count ===== If your first pitch resulted in a called ball, you want to be a little bit more careful on the second one. If it's a threat situation and you want to be careful, you can still use Locations B. But if the hitter is not really a great concern (i.e. opposing pitcher is hitting), you should opt for Locations A, which have a better percentage of getting a strike. Again, pick a blue corner if available ===== 1-1 Count ===== Treat 1-1 count like 0-0 count but don't use the same location and pitch as the first 2 pitches. Mix them up. ===== 2-0 Count ===== Now you are behind, you want to be really careful on the 3rd pitch. Still aim at corners as always. You want to use Locations A or even more careful if the batter is not a terrible threat. To have a better chance of getting a strike, make sure that your controller is NOT vibrating. ===== 2-1 Count ===== Treat this count similar to 2-0 Count. Aim for corners, mix pitch type and speed as usual. ********************************************* Section 3.3 Going for Strikeouts ********************************************* If you are interested in striking out your batter (not all pitchers are suitable for this task) here's how: ===== 0-2 Count ===== You have the advantage here and have balls to give. There is absolute no need for you to throw a strike. This is the count where the CPU batter will swing at bad pitches. Breaking balls (curve, sinker, etc) that break down and outside of the strike zone are great in this situation. Use Locations C only, or even further out. ===== 1-2 Count ===== Almost the same idea as 0-2 count, just another chance. There is no need to be overly concern about another called ball. ===== 2-2 Count ===== Going to 3-2 count is not something you want to do. You can give Locations C another try if the batter is dangerous, otherwise, use Locations B. ===== Called 3rd Strike and Swinging 3rd Strike ===== The strategy describe above is geared towards getting a swinging strikeout. If the batter does not swing, you will definitely get a ball. However, if you want to be careful about the count, particularly on 1-2 and 2-2 counts, you might want to aim for a called 3rd strike. You use Locations A or B instead of C to accomplish this (Remember, even using Locations A, your controller should vibrate a bit). Yes, the chance for the batter to make contact with the pitch is greater (hopefully ground out or pop out) but if you do it correctly, you can make them look stupid by getting a called third strike. What the batter has done to the pitch before has a lot to do with your approach. If you have noticed that he made contact with your slow pitch (slow curve or change up) but fouled it off, a fastball to a different corner quite often leaves him stunned. If he has been pulling your fastballs, a curve to a low corner or changeup to any corner might also get a called strike. ********************************************* Section 3.4 Giving Up Walks ********************************************* Why would you give up walks? Well, if the possible damage of giving up a critical hit (someone is on 3rd), an extra base hit, or a homerun is greater than giving up a walk, then you should consider. We are not talking about intentional walks here. We are talking about pitching around a batter. Intentional walks are easy to comprehend: you don't want to face Sosa, so you walk him. Pitching around a batter is when you are facing a good hitter but iffy about walking him out right. You use Locations B and C during the at-bat, and never Locations A because you want to be careful. You hope that he will swing at a bad pitch and get himself out, but instead, you get balls and fall behind. ===== 3-0 Count ===== In most cases, CPU will take one. You are safe to throw one over the plate. But I'd still be careful about it. An away side zone is good (Zone 6 for righty). And your controller should not be vibrating at all. Your cursor does not have to go all the way to the edge, just as long as it's not in zone 5, you should have a 3-1 Count right away. ===== 3-1 Count ===== CPU batters will swing in this case. Locations A are ideal. If you don't want to walk the batter, err on the safe side and make sure that the controller does not vibrate. If you are just a little bit concerned about giving up a hit, still use Locations A but have the cursor encroaches on the lines a bit more so the controller vibrates just a little. If you are really concerned about giving up a hit, use Locations B (or closer to C even, depending on your level of concerns). The probability of walking him is greater, but you also might get lucky and get a strike or an easy ground/pop out. Throwing fastballs on 3-1 Count is dangerous, because the batter expects it. (You expect it also when you bat) However, in most cases, it's your best pitch and has the best chance of hitting your target. Again, depends on your concern and willingness to walk (and of course, your ability to hit the green meter accurately) you might want to use something else. ===== 3-2 Count ===== Anything goes, it's also a strikeout count. Not too worried about giving up a hit? Use the Called 3rd Strike strategy (use Locations A). Afraid of the batter? Use the Swinging 3rd Strike strategy (Locations B or C or somewhere in between). ********************************************* Section 3.5 Additional Pitching Tips ********************************************* 1. If you are using a power pitcher, (Randy Johnson, for example) you can throw to low and away corner all day and do ok (mix up the pitch type a bit, but use primarily fastball and hit the same corner every pitch). You might give up 2 or 3 runs, but that's about it. Though, you can really get torched occasionally, and you'll definitely feel stupid if you lose a game pitching this way. 2. Rally Has this ever happened to you? You are pitching fine, but all of the sudden, you give up 2 consecutive hits to the first 2 batters during an inning in the middle of the game, then the hits start pouring. You just don't understand it. You are making good pitches, strikes to the corners, but they just keep pounding you away. And the crowd is roaring if you are the visiting team. It's a rally. This usually happens when your pitching pattern becomes predictable (you always throw a first strike low and away, or you always go inside-outside, etc). And now, they know you are desperate to keep throwing good strikes, particularly fastball corner strikes, and particularly low strikes because you want a double play. You are stuck in a ditch. And you need to do something unpredictable to get out of it. You might want to throw a few balls, really come inside on the batter short of hitting him, perhaps a few slow pitches. Send the manager to the mount. And hopefully the crowd will quiet down and your pitcher can regain his composure. 3. Alternating pitch speed (added on 3/22/04) Though the strategy mentioned above works well in most cases, it's still very tough in MVP mode. I was experimenting with different pitch sequences and I found something interesting that you might want to try. For several games, I've been pitching one fast pitch followed by one slow pitch and repeat to blue zones at the CPU hitters. I found out that when you throw a fastball to a CPU hitter, he waits for a fastball the next pitch. Then if you throw a slow pitch, he waits for a slow pitch the next pitch. So by alternating between a fastball and a slow pitch (I use predominantly curveballs and changeups for slow pitches), the CPU hitters always appear to be early on slow pitches and late on fast pitches. I've been able to hold the CPU to 6 hits or less for a few games now. Maybe you want to give this method a try. ********************************************* Section 4. Batting ********************************************* "Pure Swing" is a pure joy. If you ever used it correctly to hit a dead-on line drive, you'd agree that this batting system is the best ever created for a video game. Many people seem to have problem with batting in this game, particularly playing on MVP level. Partially is due to the lack of information from the manual, and partially is due to the experience we accumulated from playing other baseball video games. I hope the tips I recommend here can improve your understanding of batting in MVP. ********************************************* Section 4.1 The Basics of Hitting ********************************************* The common problems for most players are: the inability to draw walks, high frequency of strikeouts, and the inability to make good contact with the pitch. Now, let's forget about hitting and the "Pure Swing" system for a moment. Before you can hit, you need to be able to recognize the pitch, work the count, and anticipate pitches correctly. To start off, here are the Primary Goals we want to achieve: 1. Minimize your tendency to swing at bad pitches 2. Get you to be aware of and understand how to work the count 3. Increase your chance of getting the pitch you want and to hit on your terms instead of the pitchers'. 4. Increase the probability of making good contact Here's an exercise I designed that can help (It's not an exercise you need to do per se. It's just an easy way for me to illustrate my method. If you can comprehend it and use the approach directly in your games, great!) 1. Setup up an exhibition match, any teams will do. Make sure that you set the difficulty to MVP on both sides. 2. Follow the approach described below. 3. You are only interested in hitting, so when an inning is over, switch the controller to play the other team. Use the following approach: 1. Absolutely DO NOT use the analog stick for this exercise. Use the X button only. Using analog stick gives you a false impression that you are capable of hitting pitches outsides of the strike zone. 2. You want to be VERY SELECTIVE when you don't have any strike on you. (0-0. 1-0 or 2-0 counts. 3-0 approach is different). You want to select an area to hit. No more than 4 zones. I.e. you can look for pitches in zones 1,2,4 and 5; or 2-3-5-6, or 5-6-8-9, etc. You can focus on even less areas if you want (like 4 and 5 only – middle and middle inside), but make sure you always include zone 5. 3. You can anticipate a pitch to hit. It's not necessary, but if you have difficulty making contact, set your mind on a fastball. It could be difficult anticipating for the first couple of batters since you are not familiar with the pitcher yet. For the first few batters, you want to get a feel of the pitcher's fastball speed and breaking ball movement. 4. Before the ball is pitched, you should have a pretty good visualization of how the pitch is supposed to come and how/when you are supposed to swing. If the pitch is not close to how you anticipated (either zonewise or speedwise), let it go. EVEN IF IT'S GOING TO BE A STRIKE. This is the toughest part. We all have the temptation to swing at a potential strike. But don't. You have 3 strikes to give, what's the rush? 5. Don't swing at borderline pitches and don't swing at corner pitches. Remember from the Pitching section, corner pitches are what we use to get CPU players out, why would you want to swing at them, especially when you don't have to. When in doubt, let it go. (Don't get too excited over the tipped off pitches. If the big bright white dot is not in the zone you want, you're better off letting it go by. Also, if the tipped-off pitch shows up in your zone, don't get too fixated and forget to gauge the speed of the pitch. You don't want to swing too early) 6. This approach will get you a lot of first called ball. And if you do swing, you are more likely to make good contact because it's hitting on your terms. 7. You can repeat the same process after the first pitch. But remember the following: On 0-1 count – the likelihood of the pitcher throwing you a junk pitch is greater On 2-1 and 2-0 count – the likelihood of getting a strike is greater. 8. There are also 3 pitcher types to be aware of: Finesse Pitchers (Mike Mussina, Greg Maddux) They don't have overbearing fastballs (92-93MPH at most). They have an array of good breaking balls. And they tend to throw balls to trick you into swinging. Power Pitchers (Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling) They have fastballs 94MPH+ that you can't react to and must anticipate. They tend to go after you with strikes Knuckleballer (Tim Wakefield, Steve Sparks). They are the SOBs. Don't use them in this exercise or you will go mad. Face them when you get better. Good luck. You can bet on power pitchers to throw more fastball strikes, and you can bet on finesse pitchers to throw more balls. Since in this exercise you'll be batting on both sides, it's a good idea to pick similar pitchers for both sides. 9. If you get in to a 2-strike situation, then you are in a reactive mode. You can still gamble and anticipate if you want. But it's not a bad idea to be protective, and try to react to the pitch the best way you can. When the count is 0-2, the probability of getting ball is HUGE, especially for finesse pitchers. Be ready to NOT SWING. 10. On 3-0 count, normally you are supposed to take a pitch as in real life (unless your batter is very capable of hitting a HR, it's not worth it to swing at a 3-0 pitch just to get a hit). However, this is an exercise, and the goal is to learn to make good contact, so look for a pitch and swing away if you get the pitch you want. (It's not a bad idea to look outside. On MVP level, the CPU pitchers are very reluctant to come inside on you on 3-0 and 3-1 situations knowing that's what most people are looking to hit) 11. In this exercise, you want to aim for getting solid contact. We don't worry about getting hits. Lines drive outs are good; hit hard to someone is ok. As long as it's hit hard. You'll find out that if you are looking for an inside pitch, you want to pull the ball (swing a bit early), if you are looking for an outside pitch you don't want to swing too late (this is kind of hard to explain. Outside pitches are naturally harder to hit. If you hit it right on, it's a comebacker to the pitcher. If you swing just a fraction late, you can put it between the first and second basemen. But since we are not using the analog stick, it's difficult to hit it hard the other way. But the goal here is to avoid pulling outside pitches) 12. Avoid "Bad Outs". I define the 2 following conditions as "Bad Outs" a. 3-pitch strikeout. A common scenario if you have no control. Swinging at the first bad pitch, pass up on the second good pitch; and don't know what's going on the 3rd pitch. If you are using my approach, you should have plenty of opportunities to avoid this type of outs. You'd know not to swing at the first bad pitch; you'd know to be aware of a ball when it's 0-2. b. Hit a weak grounder or a pop up when there is no strike on you. When there is no strike on you, you should not be swinging at anything that's not close to what you are looking for. This is a situation when you are looking for an inside pitch, but just can't resist to take a whack at an away corner pitch that looks like a strike. It's understandable if you have one or two strikes on you to swing at bad pitches, but it shouldn't happen often with no strikes. 13. After playing 9 innings (54 outs, 27 on each side), if you can consistently get 1-2 walks, 10+ hits (combined, I know, 5 per team is a low number, but remember we don't use the analog stick at all), and less then 10 "Bad Outs" (you have to count this yourself), you are in pretty good shape. This means you've learn to minimize your urge to swing at craps, you've maximized your chance to get a good crack at the ball and ready for the analog stick. Another good way to gauge you patience is by looking at the opposing pitcher's pitch count (it's on the pause screen). If you can get the pitcher to throw 10+ pitches per inning, you are not doing too badly. If he only needs 6-8 pitches to end an inning, you are too impatient. BTW, I'm sure you know never to swing at a tipped-off ball, right? The pitch that comes with a circle and X right in the middle. The only time you might possible swinging at them is when you are anticipating a 98MPH fastball and jumped the gun. Remember, hitting, is not guessing. Guessing is when you guess for an inside fastball and swing away regardless of the actual pitch. This is a systematic way of improving your chance of getting a hit. ***************************************************** Section 4.2 "Pure Swing" Explained (I try to, anyway) ***************************************************** The description from the manual and even the video explanation in the game are very simplistic. Once you get a handle on the system, it makes a lot of sense and it makes all other video game batting system obsolete. ===== The Key Points About "Pure Swing" ===== 1. Timing is more important than how you use the analog stick. From the previous exercise, you probably figured out that your batter is capable of making contact with any strikes as long as your timing is correct. If you watch the replay of your swing, you'll see that your batter tries his best to make contact with the ball regardless of its location. 2. You have absolute control over the timing of your swing, but only some control over the type of contact your batter can make. The position of the thumb stick is a general direction or objective you ask the batter to accomplish. Just like the manual says, hold up for a fly ball, down for a ground ball, etc. however, you must realize that because the batter is position on one side of the home plate, he cannot generate the same power to all 9 zones, and contact results from the zones are not symmetric. I.e. you cannot approach inside and outside pitches the same way, and you cannot expect the same result. 3. You cannot hit pitches outside of the strike zone well. In many baseball video games, if you use the thumb stick or D-pad well, you can sometimes reach balls outside the strike zone and get a hit. This type of occurrence is rare in MVP. That's because the thumb stick is not a "reaching tool" 4. Moving the thumb stick to where the ball is pitched is not the only way to have good hits. "Pure Swing" is not zone hitting like in High Heat. The thumb stick does not tell your batter where to swing but rather "How to Swing" 5. To get a quick understanding of "Pure Swing", go to homerun showdown games and try out different swings. ===== "Pure Swing" in Depth ===== (Assuming the batter is right handed) 1. Up Pushing the stick up tells your batter to lift the ball in the air, regardless of the location it's pitched. I.e. he needs to get his bat underneath the ball in order to lift it. Naturally, it's easier to lift a pitch that's already high, but you can still do it with a low pitch, provided that it's in the strike zone and your timing is perfect. If your timing is just a bit off, the common result is a weak grounder, or a pop up if you swing too early. 2. Down Pushing the stick down tells your batter to hit the ball to the ground. He must get the bat on top of the pitch. And it's naturally easier to do with lower pitcher. However, this type of hitting can create interesting results for high pitches. If the pitch is on the top of the strike zone, your batter might not be able to lift his shoulders high enough to get to bat on top of the pitch, but he might hit it squarely instead. A common result is actually a line drive. Yes, a line drive when the pitch is a high strike and you push the stick down. Pushing the stick down for a low pitch is actually not a very good idea unless you know what you are doing. All you are doing is driving the ball hard to the ground. You might get good contact, but lots of groundouts. Just like in real life, low balls are tougher to hit, and when the defense want to get you on a double play, they pitch low. In many case, it's actually better to leave the stick in the center when hitting low balls, your chances of hitting a line drive over the infielders are better. However, in the situations where you need a ground ball (Hit and Run), you want to push the stick down. 3. Left Telling your batter to pull the pitch. Pulling and push has a lot more to do with timing than the position of the thumb stick. However, using the stick can help especially if the pitcher has a very fast fastball. This position only works with center and inside pitches (zones 1,2,4,5,7,8). You chance of pulling an outside pitch using this method is next to zero. That's because this commend tells your batter to shorten his swing so he can get the bat head thru the strike zone faster in order to pull the pitch (if you miss, pay attention to the overhead p-i-p replay, you'll see the bat barely covers the strike zone). Remember, he also tries his best to make contact with the pitch, so an outside pitch is the direct contradiction of this commend. If you want to pull an outside pitch, the better way would be to leave the stick neutral and swing early, or even point the stick outside and swing early. 4. Right If you want to hit the pitch to the opposite side, this is the way to do it. If your batter does not have a high contact or a high power rating, this is the only way to counter outside pitches (or be patient). Pushing to the right works well with zones 3,6, and 9. Just like they are supposed to be in real life, outside pitches are harder to hit than inside pitches. The timing for an outside pitch is very tricky. My advice is: don't swing too early. Most of the time, if you try to pull an outside pitch to the left field, all you do is hitting it off the end of your bat and weakly ground out to the second baseman. If you hit it squarely, you might get a comebacker between the second baseman and the short stop. And if you just hit it a tad late, you might be able to put it through the space between the 1st and 2nd basemen. However, the contact will not be strong because your swing does not have the chance to generate power. And if you are too late, it's another weak grounder again. Moving the stick to the right side will cause your batter to lean in a bit and increase the power given to this type of contact, and get a better chance of driving the ball pass infielders. Outside pitches are generally the kind you pass up when you have no strikes on you, unless you have a good reason: you have a man on first so the gap between 1st and 2nd basemen is larger; Outside is your batter's hot zone; You are executing Hit and Run; or the pitcher has a great fastball that you can't catch up and want to try a different approach. For pitches that are in the middle column (zone 2,5 and 8), you normally want to pull them for power, but if you can't catch up with the pitch, it's not a bad idea to go the other way because that gives you just a fraction of a second longer to react and still be able to get a good hit. 5. Up and left. This is the most popular approach. And in most cases, it works wonders. This position tells your batter to shorten up his swing and scoop the pitch high over the left field fence. This type of swing works well with zones 1,2,4 and 5. It also works with low-and-in pitches in zone 7. It has occasional success with zone 3 and 8 depending on your batter and timing. Tough to hit zone 6 and almost impossible to get a good contact from zone 9 (except possibly bloopers to the right field). If you don't want to think much about hitting, don't want to pay attention about hitting, this is the best casual way to play. Simply sit on one pitch and one general area and hope to get lucky. Also, hopefully you are playing with a team that has many power hitters, otherwise you are just hitting flyouts. However, in MVP difficulty, CPU don't come to this zone often, particularly in times when you think they might such as 3-0 or 3-1 counts. They are more likely to pitch you away especially if you have a power hitter in the batter's box. (In my games, CPU never pitches to Pujols inside on 3-0 and 3-1) Anticipating to jack one out of the park this way is a sensible approach when you have no strikes and can afford to be picky. 6. Up and Right. This is similar to simply pressing right. However, besides giving more power to the outside swings, your batter will also attempt to lift the ball in the air. This swing works well with zone 3,6 and 9. Yes, it works with zone 9. You batter can hit a low and away pitch out of the park the other way for a homerun if you push Up and Right. It's a great way to hit if you need a fly ball (man on 3rd) and just can't get a middle or inside pitch to hit. It's also a great way to a triple. And in the situation where the CPU is setting you up for a double play, this type of swing is a good way to avoid it. (if you don't connect well, it's probably a weak grounder that won't result in a double play.) 7. Down and Right. Going for a grounder away. This is a specialty swing. You want to hit a strong grounder pass the 1st and 2nd basemen. Your batter will attempt to get his bat on top of the ball just like holding the stick directly down, except with extra power to the right side. It works with zone 3, 6 and 9. You actually can get good line drives hitting zone 3 pitches this way. Just like trying to hit high pitches holding down, your batter cannot get the bat high enough to drive the ball to the ground but hits it squarely instead. However, if your zone 3 is a cold zone, there is no way the batter can get the bat on top of the pitch, not even close. All you do is hitting pop-ups. 8. Down and Left. You are asking your batter to pull a pitch into the left side for a ground ball hit. Again, can result in line drive when approaching pitches in high zones. If your contact rating is low, you won't even be able to touch balls in zone 3,6 and 9. This is a specialty swing just like the one above. But because of the natural arc of a swing, this type of swing can also scoop low-inside pitch for a single to the left field. Remember, your thumb stick is not about where to swing, but how to swing. And your batter's performance, besides contact rating, has a lot to do with hot and cold zones. For example, if your batter has a cold zone 2, his ability to do what you ask for in that zone is low. He can't pull or push pitches well, and if you ask him to hit down hoping to get a hard line drive, you can forget about it. All he'll do is hitting pop ups. Usually all he can do in the cold zones is trying to make contact. And if your timing is good, he might get a hit. Let's say your batter has a hot zone 2 and cold zone 8, if you hold down to swing at a pitch coming at zone 2, your batter has a good chance of getting a line drive, even though your thumb stick is pointing down at the cold zone 8. Thumb stick position has nothing to do with swing location. Occasionally, Hot zones can be a mix blessing. For example, your batter has a hot zone 6 (outside). You ask him to hit an away grounder intended to go between 1st and 2nd basemen. You swing just a little bit early, and it becomes a grounder directly to the 2nd baseman. However, with another batter who has a cold zone 6, and since he is incapable of following orders in the zone to drive the ball to the ground (i.e. get his bat on top of the pitch), he simply hits it over the head of the 2nd baseman. Yes, that can happen. My description is a very generic and simplistic outline of Pure Swing. You will encounter many many incidences where the results don't even come close to what I describe or what you have in mind. I can't stress enough, timing is far more important than the analog stick. If you want to hit the ball the other way but pull it instead, you swing too early. Any time you get an unusual or unexpected result, use the replay feature to find out the contact point, you'll gain much insight to the Pure Swing system in no time. Q. It's so complicated, why can't I just point the analog stick at the pitch? A: Of course you can. It's a lot of work to make "Pure Swing" work. It demands a lot of attention and mental focus. You probably noticed during your exercise, whenever your mind wanders, you do horribly. I sometimes play it just like that, simply pointing the stick at the ball. And that's also how the in game tutorial tells you to play. Most of the time, you'll do ok, the only area lacking in this type of approaches is the low balls; you might hit into more double plays than you prefer. I just want you to know that you have options. If you've ever correctly taken an outside pitch to the opposite field for a HR, smack a high pitch to the ground for a Hit and Run, hit a line drive comebacker over the middle infielders, you'd truly appreciate the beauty of the system. ***************************************************** Section 4.3 The Green Zone for Hitting ***************************************************** The idea of hitting is to make contact in the Green Zone. (Not the Green Zone for pitchers, the Green Zone for batters). What Green Zone? Please watch the in game MVP tips video, "Art of the Hitting". It explains to you that Green Zone is where your swing can make good contact; Yellow Zone is where your swing makes so-so contact, and the White Zone is probably for no contact. You can't see these zones in the game, but they exist nevertheless. The size of green zone varies according to the location of the pitch, the batter's contact rating, hot and cold zones, and how you position the analog stick. The green zone is large for pitches in zone 5, small for corner pitches (that's why we pitch to the corners). Large in red squares and small in blue squares. Also small in away squares. Green zone is earlier (close to the pitcher) for inside pitches and a little bit late (closer to the catcher) for outside pitchers. That's why we swing early on inside pitches and a tad late or not too early for outside pitches. When you move your stick to the outside to hit the ball the other way, you increase the green zone in that area. Green zone is huge for tipped-off pitches. Green zone is almost nonexistent if your low contact rating batter tries to pull an outside pitch. When I say "if your timing is correct…" I mean that if you are capable of hitting the green zone regardless of its size. You know when you hit the green zone because you hear the crisp and sweet crack of the bat sound and it's very satisfying. Timing, is all about hitting the green zone. ***************************************************** Section 4.4 A Pure Swing Example ***************************************************** Here is a scenario that might clear up some confusion about Pure Swing Scenario: 2 different Right-handers trying to hit a low-and-in fastball for a HR over the left outfield fence BatterA: Power 90, Contact 50, Zone 7 is Cold BatterB: Power 50, Contact 90, Zone 7 is Hot Situation 1: Hold the stick up-left BatterA: Zone 7 is already cold (i.e. lower chance of contact) plus holding the stick up (i.e. decrease the chance of contact even more). He can't make a good contact so it doesn't matter whether his power is 90, 100, or 1000. His power is not going to be effectively transferred when the contact is made. Most likely a week grounder or pop-up depending on the timing. BatterB: Zone 7 is hot (high chance of making a good contact), even though he holds up, which decrease his chance of making a good contact, he is still quite capable of hitting the pitch in that zone if the timing if right. Once a good contact is made, all his power, though average, is effectively transferred and used to lift the ball out of the park. A likely HR result, but also could be a fly out. Situation 2: Hold the stick down-left BatterA: Zone 7 is cold, but holding the stick in that direction increases his chance of making a good contact. His is directed to hit a ground ball, but since it's his cold zone, his ability to following the command precisely is decreased. It'd be good enough that he makes solid contact. Once the contact is made, it has a good chance of being a line drive due to the natural arc of the swing and players tend to swing early when hitting inside. Since he is very powerful, his 90 power rating is applied to the ball due to a good contact and very likely hit a line drive HR. BatterB: Zone 7 is hot, holding the stick in that direction increases his chance of making contact even more. In addition, he can follow the command well (i.e. get on top of the pitch to get a ground ball). If he hits it well, it's a fast ground ball, hopefully through the infield. If the timing is a bit early, he might hit a line drive instead. He is not that powerful and is not told to lift the ball, so when he hits a line drive, it's not going to be out of the park. If he is lucky, he might get a hit, if not, the ball might be caught by the left fielder. There are many factors that influence the swing system. You really have to understand your batter and the situation to take full advantage of the system. ***************************************************** Section 5. Fielding ***************************************************** Fielding can be the most troublesome aspect of the game. You can get better at pitching and hitting, but you can only do well in fielding as long as the CPU doesn't choke on you. ***************************************************** Section 5.1. Outfield ***************************************************** Most people don't have any problem with a routine fly ball, even if you need to use the right analog stick for Big Play Control moments. The most common problems in the outfield are - giving up too many triples, and have a late jump on the ball. Here are a few things you need to know about fielding: 1. Despite what you might feel, the CPU usually does a good job of assigning you with a fielder who has the best chance to catch the ball. Mistake happens when you think you should be controlling one fielder but in fact, you are controlling the other and taking him down the wrong direction. 2. When CPU assigns a fielder for you to make the catch, the others fielders run back up paths. (They actually run them correctly) 3. There is about 0.5 to 1.0 sec delay after the ball is hit and before you can have control of the assigned fielder. 4. During this brief delay, all fielders are running at the correct directions, including yours. You job is to: Quickly identify your fielder and continue the path he is on before you take over. You need to move the stick to the direction he's running before the transition, otherwise he will stop and go (or slowdown) and frequently let a catchable fly ball turn into a blooper hit or worse. Here is a likely scenario of confusion: The ball is hit between left and center fielders. You assume that you are in control of the left fielder and immediately press down-right to chase the ball, but in fact, the CPU assigns you the center fielder and all you are doing is sending you center fielder to the first base direction, while the CPU controlled left fielder is running the backup path (towards the wall). ===== Tricks for locating your assigned fielder ===== 1. The fielder you control has a white circle underneath him. And if you have the player name option on, the nametag will appear underneath your fielder. 2. Unfortunately, both the circle and the name usually show up late. By the time you see them, you fielder already stops running. 3. You have 0.5 to 1.0 of time to decide, don't move your stick right away after the hit, moving the fielder to the wrong direction is more damaging than not moving or moving late. 4. The fielder that has the "L1" label on him is NOT the one you are controlling. And in most cases, it's only a decision between 2 fielders; it's easy to find him this way. Besides, unlike the circle and nametag, "L1" label shows up right away. 5. Turn off the player icon option. You don't need it. If you are playing Dynasty mode, you should know who your outfielders are and their capabilities before the game. You should also use the scouting report to know your opponent. There is no need to use icons. They inhibit your ability to quickly find the "L1" label. Let's revisit the scenario: As soon as the ball is hit and the camera switches view, don't jump the gun by immediately moving down-right. Judging by the view, you should know right away the choice is between the center fielder and the left fielder. You see the "L1" tag next to the left fielder, you immediately press down-left (because you know you are in control of the center fielder by process of elimination. You already roughly know where he is supposed to be, you know where the ball will land, you don't need to locate him before you move. You move first then fine tune his path). ===== Reducing unfair triples ===== Ah... the notorious CPU cheap triples. Some triples are legit, like those hit to the right field, or the batter is a fast runner. Some are questionable, especially the ones hit to the left side of the field by average speed hitters. They are usually the result of bad fielding, not slow fielders. Here is usually how it happens: The ball is hit between the center and left fielders. It is closer to the left fielder so you think you should be in control of the left fielder. But no, CPU assigns you the center fielder. Why? Because that's an easy double and the left fielder doesn't have a realistic chance of catching the ball. The ball will reach the outfield wall and bounce towards the center fielder. If you think you are in control of the left fielder, you probably move the center fielder out of position by the time the ball bounces towards him. Worse, if you hit the "L1" button to control the left fielder, all you can do is chasing after the ball for a long time. Even if you haven't moved the center fielder out of position much, he is no help because you know that the CPU controlled fielders don't field the ball when yours is in close proximity. Instead, if you realize that you are in control of the center fielder and use him to field the bounced ball, you can hold the runner at the second base. It's still not safe after you field the ball. You need to know where to throw, the best way is to throw to the third base (hit the square button) and immediately hold R1 to cut it off with your shortstop. If you don't cut it off, the ball will die down somewhere before reaching the 3rd base and allowing the runner to reach safely. If you do it correctly, you'll see the runner thinking about taking third but return to second right away. ===== Bloopers ===== In most cases, you are deciding between 2 out fielders to control. However, if the hit is a lazy shallow blooper, CPU might assign you an infielder. This is particularly tricky. If you can identify the situation quickly and correctly move the infielder outward without any hiccups, your infielder can make the catch. But if you just hesitate a bit or have a wrong initial move, you might want to tap L1 right away and have your outfielder come in if they are reasonably close by. CPU does tend to get a few cheap bloopers in every game. Still, with practice, the number can be reduced. ===== Other Outfield Tips ===== -Know your limit. It's a temptation trying to catch everything and trying to throw everyone out at the home plate. Don't. You should know who's running the bases, your outfielders' strength and make the correct throws. -It's better to give up a base hit than trying to reach for a tough catch and risk the possibility of letting the ball go by (i.e. a triple). The only time you do this is in a do or die situation (Bottom of the 9th, last out, man on 3rd). If you are up by 1 run, you don't mind a single, but you don't want to give up a triple. -If you can't make the catch, you should move your fielder to intercept the path of the ball before it reaches the wall instead of running directly towards the ball. -You can add more power to your throw to the home plate. When there is a man on 3rd and you get a high fly ball (you have plenty of time to get your outfielder in position) you can move the stick up after the fielder locks in position. This will cause him to move to the top of the circle (the fielding aid). Press and hold the X button BEFORE you catch the ball, and you'll see him does a short running catch and throw the ball to the home plate. (You still need to release the X button correctly after the throw meter shows up) -When throwing to the home plate, don't let your throw meter go into red. Offline throws are useless. Also, be aware of other baserunners. If the play at home doesn't have a good chance, you are better off throwing the ball to 2nd base so other base runners don't advance on you. ***************************************************** Section 5.2. Infield ***************************************************** Some key points about the outfield still apply to infield. 1. CPU tries to assign you the optimum fielder (still true, I'll explain) 2. You still have a fraction of a second before taking control of the fielder, and they all move correctly before you take over. (NOTE: my description of the fielding mechanics is not 100% accurate. The CPU behavior is not always consistent and I can't figure out why. But at least I can get my fielders to perform as instructed 90% of the time) ===== Normal Fielding ===== You move your fielder in position. LET GO of the stick once he fields the ball, then throw. This way, your fielder will try to get a good footing before throwing. Most obvious for the Shortstop --- he runs towards the third base to catch the ball. After he fields (No Big Play Control). He stops and plants his right foot, then throw to the first base. This is the way to throw if you have plenty of time to get the out. A fielder who's already running towards the throw direction might not slowdown to plant his foot (he doesn't have to) ===== Throwing on the Move ===== You move your fielder towards the ball. CONTINUE to hold the stick towards the running direction after the catch, and throw. In this case, your fielder will throw on the move without trying to get a solid footing first. If you are using Derek Jeter (or other good Shortstops), you'll see them hop and turn in the mid air to throw to the first base. Be aware of your throw meter, the chance of committing an error is greater than the Normal Fielding (particularly on MVP level) ===== Preload Your Throw ===== If you hold down the throw button before the fielder catches the ball, he'll try to get rid of it as soon as he catches it. (The throw meter will still pop up and you still need to release the button correctly). It can be done both in stationary or running positions. If your fielder is running when you preload your throw, he will do something similar to Throwing on the Move. ===== Big Play Control ===== Your fielder can jump up or take a bigger step to catch the ball when needed. And if the situation requires, he can leap and dive. This is a problem area. Leap is just like what an outfielder does, jump sideway in the air trying to catch a line drive. Dive, he slides and hits the ground trying to stop a fast ground ball. To perform a leap, your right analog stick needs to be at the top half of the circle, and to perform a dive, use the lower half. Let's say you are moving the second baseman towards the second base to stop a fast groundball that gets pass the pitcher. Your left thumb stick point up- left. You need to execute a Big Play in order to catch the ball so you move your right thumb stick to up-left position as well. It's only natural. But instead of diving down to stop the ball, because the right stick moves to the top half of the circle, the second baseman leaps as if trying to catch a line drive and let the groundball go to the outfield. It's ugly. You need to remember down for dive, up for leap regardless of his running direction. ===== Throwing after Big Play Control ===== If you hold down the throw button while executing the Big Play, your fielder will do some nifty moves. You get to see him toss from the knee; toss from the knee and roll over (common for 2nd baseman), bare hand toss etc. The only tricky part is the throw meter. The meter can be very slow or very fast depending on the Big Play. If you release the button too early, your fielder will toss the ball softly and waste the Big Play effort, if release too late, he might commit and error. You want to pay attention under these circumstances and don't assume all throw meters move at the same speed. ===== The Problem Areas ===== When pitches are hit between the first and second basemen, CPU has a tendency to give you control of the first baseman. Yes, it's the optimum choice because he indeed is capable of making the catch. However, your reaction is frequently too late to utilize the first baseman, and you prefer to control the second baseman. What usually happens is you watching the CPU controlled second baseman letting the ball go by when he is also perfectly capable of catching it. This is because CPU fielders do not field the ball when yours is close by. (They will get in the position, but just won't catch it) Though, sometimes you can get lucky if your first baseman is way out of position and CPU switch your control to second baseman before the ball gets by. Ideally, you want to quickly tap L1 and use the second baseman to catch the ball. The same thing happens on the other side between the 3rd baseman and the shortstop. And for direct comebacker, CPU will initially give you control of the pitcher, once the ball gets by him, CPU MIGHT switch control to the shortstop or 2nd baseman for you. If you can tap L1 early enough, you are in good shape. What you don't want to do is tapping L1 too late, especially just a fraction of a second after CPU gives you the correct fielder. Another issue with infielder is that they cannot lead the throw. For example, your first baseman comes in to field the ball and your pitcher moves over to cover the first base. In real life, the first base man will throw the ball to first base before the pitcher gets there so both the ball and the pitcher arrive at the same time. Unfortunately, MVP fielders in this game can't do that. They only throw if someone is there. If you wonder why sometimes your first baseman won't throw the ball to the pitcher covering the first base, this is the reason. You can either wait, or keep hitting throw button until the meter shows up. Sometimes the meter will show up, but the player won't move at all. You don't have to worry much in this case, he's just waiting for the pitcher to get there, and he'll throw once the pitcher is in position. Have you seen hits off pitcher's foot? This is the reason I don't turn the player name option on. When a ball is hit off the pitcher's foot, you might have a hard time finding it if the name option is on, especially with a long last name, the text covers up a good chuck of the grass in from of the pitcher and making locating the tiny white dot difficult. The worst part is the animation stutter. You might have seen this before. For whatever reason, your fielder just won't throw the ball as expected after fielding it. This happens more often when a fielder runs forward to catch the ball and is still in motion and unbalanced when you want him to throw. It looks like he's having trouble getting the ball out of his glove. And it happens more if the target is 180 degree from his running direction. None of these situations is a problem. Usually you just have to keep trying until he throws. The real killer is when you want a double play... ***************************************************** Section 5.3. Turning the Double Play ***************************************************** -Preload your throw is usually necessary. And it's always necessary if you used the Big Play Control (leap or dive) to catch the ball. -If there is going to be a takeout slide, I would choose to release the button earlier. Even though the throw to the first base might be softer, the alternative is no throw. There is rarely an overthrow to the first base because before you can charge up the meter to the red zone, you are already taken out by the runner. -On a 3-4-1 Double play (1st-2nd-pitcher covering 1st), you want to make sure that your throw to the second base is accurate so the second baseman can return it faster. -The worse CPU problem regarding the Double Play is not the animation stutter. It's the inability to change my mind. I can live with the notion that my fielder is having trouble getting the ball out of the glove. But once I realize that the double play is not going to work, I should have the option to abandon it in favor of getting the out at first base. But no, the fielder will still throw to 2nd base. That's ok. Because I can use it to my advantage...;) ======>Extra tips: beating the rundown If you ever get caught in a rundown, don't give up easily. You can beat it. Because the fielders are not allowed to change their minds once they decide to throw, you can change your direction as soon as you see the guy chasing you is about to throw. He can't stop his throwing motion to tag you out so you'll have enough time to get pass him and back to the base safely. (hopefully by the time you touch him, the ball is already out of his hand and in mid-air). If you can do this successfully, you can be quite callous about taking a big lead when trying to steal base. When the pitcher throws the ball to the first base and your runner hasn't moved, tell him to run to the second base instead of returning to first. Then try to beat it in a rundown. There is a reason why I have no problem with the default sliders. The CPU has advantage in some areas, and can be cheap in some areas, but I also have my advantage in some areas (more accurate pitching) and can also be cheap in some areas (better base stealing). So I think we are about even. ---- Hopefully, more to come ----- (Feel free to contact me via email. But I do apology beforehand if I can't get back to you in a timely fashion.) Copyright (c) 2004 Inks71 email:delfjac@yahoo.com website: www.highaims.com