My team rankings

[Clambutt]

DET
CAL
BOS
SF
MIN
NY
STL
HOU

[edfan]

California is a better team than the Twins if you know how to pitch. California's SP's are a generic version of San Francisco's, but still good enough to get you that win if you do utilize that above average offense. Both bullpens aren't the best, but I'd give the edge to California.

SF is the number one team. It's just how it is.

I will have to give SF some more time when I play next.  I know that Will Clark is solid there and I love Chili Davis.  The rest was always kinda 'meh' for me.  I do believe that SF has a very good bench though.  Always had clutch homers for me.  I never cared about pitching with Krukow, but I HATE facing him

[danehill917]

Chili Davis is the man.

With proper use of subs, there's no holes in that SF lineup, which is always nice.

[Clambutt]

Min has a lefty starter in Viola and 2-3 guys with good fastballs, including Senor Smokage.

are you really throwing that many fastballs?

[Darky]

Please explain.

Cali pitching staff is all righties, and mostly soft tossers.

Min has a lefty starter in Viola and 2-3 guys with good fastballs, including Senor Smokage.

Witt and Sutton have quality movement. Movement is an essential key to good pitching in RBI---not heat. Senor Smokage is horrible. All heat, no movement---a skilled RBI hitter and Jedi as myself will quickly exploit his weak stuff.

[Reds]

With proper use of subs, there's no holes in that SF lineup, which is always nice.

False.  No pop in that lineup.

[danehill917]

Min has a lefty starter in Viola and 2-3 guys with good fastballs, including Senor Smokage.

are you really throwing that many fastballs?

I like to throw a heater now and then.

But I am also referring to the speed of the regular pitches. All four Cali pitchers throw about the same speed (medium) on the regular pitch and all are RH. I like to mix it up.

[danehill917]

Please explain.

Cali pitching staff is all righties, and mostly soft tossers.

Min has a lefty starter in Viola and 2-3 guys with good fastballs, including Senor Smokage.

Witt and Sutton have quality movement. Movement is an essential key to good pitching in RBI---not heat. Senor Smokage is horrible. All heat, no movement---a skilled RBI hitter and Jedi as myself will quickly exploit his weak stuff.

I absolutely agree with what you said about movement, but I don't think speed and having Rh/Lh options in the pen are non-factors.

[Darky]

False.  No pop in that lineup.

False-You just suck in RBI

True-no pop in your cock

[Reds]

lol

/crow picture
//thats your favorite foreign film
///other annoying shit

[danehill917]

So do any of you guys live near Lexington, KY and want to play some RBI?

Or Chicago? I travel back to Chitown every few months to visit the family.

[Reds]

seymour IN

we got a couple guy swho live on the Tucky Ohio border.

And about half the board is from Chicago or the outskirts.

[edfan]

Sorry, Reds.  I am gonna have to agree with Darky on this one about the Giants.  I disagree that there are no weak spots (even with subs), however, they look solid.

Let's review

1 - Uribe - should be immediately subbed out for Spilman who has a nice lefty bat and will hit homers
2 - Mitchell - he is just ok, but has his moments.  Not the Mitchell of RBI 2, but a solid performer
3 - Leonard - Just his name is great.  Leonard Pt. 6, Don't call me Jeff, One Flap Down, plus some power
4 - Maldonado - some power, but will disappoint more than most clean-up guys not named Nokes
5 - Clark - He is as good as ever here.  Lots of power + a lefty
6 - Brenley - I would typically sub Aldrete here for the lefty factor, though he is my least fav SF sub
7 - Davis - Chili is a beast in the 7 hole on this game. 
8 - Thompson - I would typically sub either Speier or Youngblood here and save the other for a pitcher sub

Using subs, I would say that you have frequent pop at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 with 2 and 4 being the most inconsistent.  I don't find that lineup to be lacking too badly.  In straight pitch, I would take them any day over SL, Ho, or Mn and possibly NY.  I would definitely rank them below Bo, Dt, and Ca. 

[fightonusc]

seymour IN

we got a couple guy swho live on the Tucky Ohio border.

And about half the board is from Chicago or the outskirts.

Drinking early?

[nomaaa]

ca
bo
dt
sf
ny
mn
sl
ho

[nomaaa]

i always played with bo, but when i went to the fest, i lost all five or six games i played with them. pretty terrible. they're still my favorite...

i played great with new york and calif, though. i've always thought san francisco was a good team, but not enough to consistently beat the top 3

[Darky]

Sorry, Reds.  I am gonna have to agree with Darky on this one about the Giants.  I disagree that there are no weak spots (even with subs), however, they look solid.

Let's review

1 - Uribe - should be immediately subbed out for Spilman who has a nice lefty bat and will hit homers
2 - Mitchell - he is just ok, but has his moments.  Not the Mitchell of RBI 2, but a solid performer
3 - Leonard - Just his name is great.  Leonard Pt. 6, Don't call me Jeff, One Flap Down, plus some power
4 - Maldonado - some power, but will disappoint more than most clean-up guys not named Nokes
5 - Clark - He is as good as ever here.  Lots of power + a lefty
6 - Brenley - I would typically sub Aldrete here for the lefty factor, though he is my least fav SF sub
7 - Davis - Chili is a beast in the 7 hole on this game.  
8 - Thompson - I would typically sub either Speier or Youngblood here and save the other for a pitcher sub

Using subs, I would say that you have frequent pop at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 with 2 and 4 being the most inconsistent.  I don't find that lineup to be lacking too badly.  In straight pitch, I would take them any day over SL, Ho, or Mn and possibly NY.  I would definitely rank them below Bo, Dt, and Ca.  

Nice analytical piece. I've won 7 major tournaments with the Giants and I know these guys inside and out.

I just love their balance up and down the lineup. The major weakness that I've encountered is with the leadoff spot. I usually go with Aldrete or Speir. I always put Spillman in the 8 hole.

1. Aldrete/Speir- both don't have much power but enough here and there. Speir has a little more speed and I like that. Aldrete seems to be a streaky player and I usually like to start him if I am facing a rhp dominant staff. Their not stars, but they have a lot of grit. Put a gun to my head in a championship game, and I'd start Aldrete.

2-5 is dangerous and can hit with anybody.

6. Brenly- he can hurt you at times and is a great team player. Not a superstar, but certainly no liability.

7. Chili- scary to face this dude in the 7 hole. 5 tool player.

8.  Spillman- Beautiful power and always a threat. Perfect guy to protect Chili.

So that leaves me with 2 subs that is good enough to have for strategical purposes.

Thompson and Uribe have never played for me. They just don't get it done and have no place on my lineup card.

The Giants SP rotation is the best. I say that because I can master their movement. I never use a FB or knuckle ball which gives them the extra stamina. They are the best at throwing the S pitch as far as RHP's go. I always work from the right side of the mound (human player view). In a nutshell, they will keep you guessing and off balanced---like trying to catch flies with chopsticks. If they are on, they can combine to give you no less than 7 innings. If they can get you 7 or 8, then Caveman and Garrelts are that much more dangerous cause then you can really bring the heat and mix it up with off-speed...and here is why...

The Giants bullpen can get it done. Garrelts is only good for an inning. The key is to throw hard and mix speeds...and keep everything on the black---away. He has just enough movement to skate the edge of the black if you do swing which should result in a weak grounder or pop up.

Caveman Robinson has good movement to go with his hard shit. I employ the same pitching approach with him as I do with Scotty Garrelts...but I will come inside to break up the sequence---but that is if I am working from the middle of the bump when I use my sequence of pitches from that spot---basically with Caveman, I can use two different spots on the mound. He can be lights out for one inning and that's it.

In any case, I used to always play my best friend for hours all day and everyday. He used AM all the time. And some other good friend that would join us always used NA. So I really learned how to pitch---'cause those lineups are crazy.
When I played in tournaments, all the other teams were a cakewalk until I got to the semi-finals or finals---when I played either AM or NA. It was an anything goes type tourney---with teams.

My Giants have never lost a game outside of the State of California. I played a lot of RBI when I was in the minors and living in different regions. Nobody ever beat me with my Giants.

It's really hard for me to rank the other teams in some numerical order. I can only say that I don't like playing with Det. Their pitching is shit.

NY is very underrated. They are a good team---great pitching and bullpen. They are built to win low scoring games, and have the pitching to do that. NY is easily in my top 3.

[danehill917]

Very interesting post Darky.

Sounds like you use Garrelts the same way I use Berenguer.

So what have I learned from this string....

California is better than I realized. (Need to give them another chance)

But San Fran is legit.

And I can't wait to face a quality human opponent so I can see if my RBI skills are still there (or if I ever had any!).

[Darky]

Yeah, Juan is alright if you can stay on the outside corner. I just don't like his lack of movement (like bending the outside pitch away from the hitter just a hair). But I guess if you have a pitching style that works, than that's cool. I have my style and I have seen other pitching approaches that are solid---though I could never use them.

If I recall correctly, I think Juan is really solid for 3 hitter at the most if you go all out with him. Damn, I used to have pitching charts on everybody and I had it down to a science---like how many pitches they usually get tired with using X amount of various pitches. Think I had 3 different sets (just normal pitches) (normal pitches with x amount of hard shit) (normal pitches X amount with hard shit and knuckles).

I have not faced a human opponent since about a year ago when I was back home. I beat my buddy like 12 straight times and I beat him with every team (except for the all star teams). He pretty much used Boston every time.

[danehill917]

It hasn't taken me long to realize I was wrong and the board majority was right about the Angels being a top team (although I'm still not in love with their pitching staff).

My new rankings:

Det
Bos
SF
Cali

Min

NY
Hou/Stl