MLB 10: The Show

[Richard Chuggar]

I'm starting spring training of my second year, and I hope to bounce up to the majors this year, if not getting the starting job out of the gate since my LF competition is some dude named Andreas Castilla, and my rating is already better than his and he's 24. Tampa Bay, here I come.

Or getting less than 50 ABs by the All-Star break and my OPS a studly .463.

Also, I just played the Cubs. Jim Thome is at first (2012), with Rickie Weeks manning second. Some Rule 5 guy of "Ron Marte" (probably made up) is in LF and Soriano doesn't appear to be on the bench for the Cubs. Alright, he is on the DL, but there is something weird. He is listed as having a 4 year contract at 5.4 mil per year. Now, the game might mean 4 years from the start of 2011, but 5.4 millon? No. Looking at the bench for the Cubs I had to laugh when I saw that they have Corey Patterson on it. They're in first in late June though. Nyjer Morgan, TDubbs' boi, is on the team... Now seeing Z's contract it says it's for 8.3 million.. Doesn't make sense at all. The only thing I can imagine is that is "Money made up to this point" when it is late June. Something is wrong in the state of MLB The Show contract numbers.

Also, Pujols is in Texas on a 4 year/$60 million contract.. BULLSHIT. Berkman followed him. I think seeing where players go is one of the most entertaining things of the RTTS. I faced Andy Pettite in AAA last year (?????).

EDIT: During the game I'm playing now, a trade notification was broadcasted showing Pujols went to the Dodgers

My beloved Mariners have Youkilis at 3B, Pierzynkski at C, Pelfrey in the rotation, and former Cubs legend Blake DeWitt at 2B.

When I ask for more PT, Ben Zobrist is listed as a reason I cant get it. The other one is Gary Matthews Jr. Also, my position is LF with RF being my secondary. However, 3 or so games in the majors this year, I've had to catch for an inning or two. Even with fielding turned off you can't skip around it. Fuck you Joe Madden. I want out dammit.

The difference between ML pitching and minor league pitching in this game is insane. Breaking pitches are impossible to touch and offspeed pitches destroy me. It seems that 90% of my swings now are Very Late/Very Early and off balance. I got to 75 or so ABs last night and I struck out in around 40% of them. Fung

You should bribe your imaginary manager with an imaginary broken iPhone for more imaginary playing time. 

Or I could have him sit down with me for a special viewig of the Chicago Code and pound some brewskies

They even have that awful show in make believe land?

[Kermit IV]

Can anyone tell me what's up with the new fielding system? I played my first game on Veteran as the Cubs vs the White Sox in a spring training venue. Lost 19-1. Made six errors including three by Blake DeWitt; two of which were back hand flips that went from sure double plays to Castro chasing stray baseballs in the outfield.

What gives?

Answered.

If he makes three errors on flips in one game this season I will easily have a stroke.

Thanks Kerm - it's probably that I'm holding it too long. So you just give a quick flick? This is the dorkiest conversation ever.

Slak, flicking the stick will give you a total lob throw, so I don't recommend it.  I honestly have no clue what I'm doing, but I generally hold the stick until JUST before it seems like the meter is going to turn red, and I seem to get decent results.  Also, I don't know if you're aware of this, but after you release the stick, the outer circle of the ring will turn green if it's going to be a good throw, yellow if it's going to be somewhat offline, and red if it's going to kill a blue-hair in the 7th row behind first base.  If I get a red and react quickly enough, I'll flick the stick to first again to cancel the throw and just eat the ball.

[Kermit IV]

DPD.  Screw whatever camera I told you before.  Catcher 9 is the best.  I have a much easier time laying off the low pitches with it.  Also, the patch that came out today fixed that annoying little hitch when the catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher.  Nice.

[Slaky]

Can anyone tell me what's up with the new fielding system? I played my first game on Veteran as the Cubs vs the White Sox in a spring training venue. Lost 19-1. Made six errors including three by Blake DeWitt; two of which were back hand flips that went from sure double plays to Castro chasing stray baseballs in the outfield.

What gives?

Answered.

If he makes three errors on flips in one game this season I will easily have a stroke.

Thanks Kerm - it's probably that I'm holding it too long. So you just give a quick flick? This is the dorkiest conversation ever.

Slak, flicking the stick will give you a total lob throw, so I don't recommend it.  I honestly have no clue what I'm doing, but I generally hold the stick until JUST before it seems like the meter is going to turn red, and I seem to get decent results.  Also, I don't know if you're aware of this, but after you release the stick, the outer circle of the ring will turn green if it's going to be a good throw, yellow if it's going to be somewhat offline, and red if it's going to kill a blue-hair in the 7th row behind first base.  If I get a red and react quickly enough, I'll flick the stick to first again to cancel the throw and just eat the ball.

Good advice. I lost my first game 19-1 and made six errors. Second game I lost 6-1 with minimal errors. Last night I lost 5-2 but I still had three errors. Still overaggressive at the plate and swinging at way too much shit. Haven't walked yet. My pitching is getting way better but I had to bring in Cashner somewhat cold in the 7th after pulling back Garza (who was dominant) for a pinch hitter. He got lit up for 2 or 3 runs before finally settling down.

Such a fun game.

[Kermit IV]

Can anyone tell me what's up with the new fielding system? I played my first game on Veteran as the Cubs vs the White Sox in a spring training venue. Lost 19-1. Made six errors including three by Blake DeWitt; two of which were back hand flips that went from sure double plays to Castro chasing stray baseballs in the outfield.

What gives?

Answered.

If he makes three errors on flips in one game this season I will easily have a stroke.

Thanks Kerm - it's probably that I'm holding it too long. So you just give a quick flick? This is the dorkiest conversation ever.

Slak, flicking the stick will give you a total lob throw, so I don't recommend it.  I honestly have no clue what I'm doing, but I generally hold the stick until JUST before it seems like the meter is going to turn red, and I seem to get decent results.  Also, I don't know if you're aware of this, but after you release the stick, the outer circle of the ring will turn green if it's going to be a good throw, yellow if it's going to be somewhat offline, and red if it's going to kill a blue-hair in the 7th row behind first base.  If I get a red and react quickly enough, I'll flick the stick to first again to cancel the throw and just eat the ball.

Good advice. I lost my first game 19-1 and made six errors. Second game I lost 6-1 with minimal errors. Last night I lost 5-2 but I still had three errors. Still overaggressive at the plate and swinging at way too much shit. Haven't walked yet. My pitching is getting way better but I had to bring in Cashner somewhat cold in the 7th after pulling back Garza (who was dominant) for a pinch hitter. He got lit up for 2 or 3 runs before finally settling down.

Such a fun game.

Oddly enough, since I typed that, I've gotten the absolute yips in the field.  I played two games last night and committed 3 errors in the first one and 2 in the second.  I also had a LOT of "yellow" throws that easily could have been errors.  I don't know what the hell I changed.  Maybe I'm trying to be too careful now.  This game is absolutely incredible.  I'm decent at pitching, but I love how when you miss your spot, you can just tell it's going to be trouble.  After scoring only a couple of runs a game, I also finally had a "breakout" game when I scored 7 runs on 9 or 10 hits, including a couple of home runs.

For you guys having trouble with power (like I was, earlier), I think flicking the stick faster generates a better swing.  I was swinging tentatively before in the hopes that I'd be able to check my swing if it was a ball, and I was getting little dribblers and very few extra-base hits.  I started being more decisive with my swings, and I hit 3-4 home runs in the past two games.

[Yeti]

Sometimes when I try to get fancy with flicking the bean while hitting, I'll sometimes show bunt instead of swinging. I kind of wish there was a separate action for bunting, maybe clicking the RS instead of simply holding it up.

[Kermit IV]

Sometimes when I try to get fancy with flicking the bean while hitting, I'll sometimes show bunt instead of swinging. I kind of wish there was a separate action for bunting, maybe clicking the RS instead of simply holding it up.

You still have to pull it down first instead of just mashing it with your palm.

[Gilgamesh]

Sometimes when I try to get fancy with flicking the bean while hitting, I'll sometimes show bunt instead of swinging. I kind of wish there was a separate action for bunting, maybe clicking the RS instead of simply holding it up.

Umm?

[Bort]

Sometimes when I try to get fancy with flicking the bean while hitting, I'll sometimes show bunt instead of swinging. I kind of wish there was a separate action for bunting, maybe clicking the RS instead of simply holding it up.

Umm?

Wow.

[Eli]

Sometimes when I try to get fancy with flicking the bean while hitting, I'll sometimes show bunt instead of swinging. I kind of wish there was a separate action for bunting, maybe clicking the RS instead of simply holding it up.

Yeah, you definitely can't get too fancy when you're flicking your bean.

[Yeti]

Sometimes when I try to get fancy with flicking the bean while hitting, I'll sometimes show bunt instead of swinging. I kind of wish there was a separate action for bunting, maybe clicking the RS instead of simply holding it up.

Yeah, you definitely can't get too fancy when you're flicking your bean.

I didn't say it was my bean.

[Gilgamesh]

Sometimes when I try to get fancy with flicking the bean while hitting, I'll sometimes show bunt instead of swinging. I kind of wish there was a separate action for bunting, maybe clicking the RS instead of simply holding it up.

Yeah, you definitely can't get too fancy when you're flicking your bean.

I didn't say it was my bean.

You have been a great source of humor this week.

Never change.

[Yeti]

Sometimes when I try to get fancy with flicking the bean while hitting, I'll sometimes show bunt instead of swinging. I kind of wish there was a separate action for bunting, maybe clicking the RS instead of simply holding it up.

Yeah, you definitely can't get too fancy when you're flicking your bean.

I didn't say it was my bean.

You have been a great source of humor this week.

Never change.

And no longer sell broken iPhone's to Al-Qaeda members in the Philippines? I wouldn't think of it.

[Saul Goodman]

I thought I had the new analog pitching figured out, but I've been getting rocked ever since that one-hitter.  ERA is up to 6.75 and I'm getting extremely frustrated with the game at this point.  Is there some trick I'm missing?  I'm leaving a lot of balls up in the zone but I can't figure out what's going on.  The line between overthrowing the pitch and throwing it correctly with this pitching system is razor-thin.  I've been checking the pitch analysis and I'm getting a lot of "Late" and "Early" but it seems pretty arbitrary on the game's part considering I'm hitting right on the yellow line at the bottom of the meter.  Anyone have some tips?  I've tried every combination of slowly moving the stick back up the meter, moving the stick back up and holding it there like a followthrough, and flicking it forward once I hit the yellow line at the bottom, but no luck.  I keep putting the game down for a day or two thinking it'll reset my muscle memory but it doesn't work.  About to stop playing at this point.

[RW]

I thought I had the new analog pitching figured out, but I've been getting rocked ever since that one-hitter.  ERA is up to 6.75 and I'm getting extremely frustrated with the game at this point.  Is there some trick I'm missing?  I'm leaving a lot of balls up in the zone but I can't figure out what's going on.  The line between overthrowing the pitch and throwing it correctly with this pitching system is razor-thin.  I've been checking the pitch analysis and I'm getting a lot of "Late" and "Early" but it seems pretty arbitrary on the game's part considering I'm hitting right on the yellow line at the bottom of the meter.  Anyone have some tips?  I've tried every combination of slowly moving the stick back up the meter, moving the stick back up and holding it there like a followthrough, and flicking it forward once I hit the yellow line at the bottom, but no luck.  I keep putting the game down for a day or two thinking it'll reset my muscle memory but it doesn't work.  About to stop playing at this point.

Tiger Woods comes out Tuesday.