RBI Tourney - Playing Styles?

[Big Hath]

Just interested to know about any different playing styles, pitching/batting strategies, etc. of the tourney participants.  Or did everyone pretty much follow the same strategy?

[Stock]

Besides Joe's "cheating" style of play, I am pretty sure everyone else played the same way.

[GDavis]

Mike D likes straight pitch while rdub prefers anything goes.

[Lips]

A few small notes...

Riley has a crazy way of batting.  He constantly moves his batter left-to-right-to-left-to-right...like a spaz.  He's very good at it, though.

Pitches just don't find their way over the inner 80% of the plate.

Some players will try to avoid the beanball (and possibly even swing at it)...so the opposing pitcher has to throw 3-5 extra pitches.

[Big Hath]

when/why would the beanball be employed by the pitcher?

[Big Hath]

. . . and is the left/right movement some kind of timing machanism for Riley?

[ultimate7]

Beanball in place of intentional walk to save pitches. 

I'm not sure about Riley's movements, maybe to confuse the pitcher, not sure where he's gonna be set up in the box.

[BDawk]

. . . and is the left/right movement some kind of timing machanism for Riley?

Why don't you ask Riley?

[Big Hath]

so pretty much everyone nibbles at the outside corner and comes inside only occasionally?  that's what I would have expected, I guess

[Big Hath]

. . . and is the left/right movement some kind of timing machanism for Riley?

Why don't you ask Riley?

considering he hardly ever posts, I'm doubting I would get much of a response

[JoeDirt]

. . . and is the left/right movement some kind of timing machanism for Riley?

yeah--that's all it is.  he's always done it that way for some reason.  it sucks because he ruins all of our controls.  perhaps it distracted a few people, but by in large, i don't think it affects the pitcher much--or maybe i'm just used to it...

[fknmclane]

I mostly nibbled on the outside corner.  Most of these guys were good enough to capitalize on an inside pitch that got too much of the plate.

GDavis completely ate me up with an inside pitch that started off at my head and then caught the inside corner for a strike.  I knew he was going to throw it but still couldn't hit it.  Very, very rough.

I was very pleased with my pitching but my hitting skills were complete and utter shit.

[Wilfong]

I may check out the next tournament just to see how bad I really am compared to everyone else. I've been a straight pitch guy for the last year or two now, so any ATG skills I had are long gone. Even in straight pitch, I don't think I'd be able to compete, some of the dee-nee records are inredible. Would anyone ever play a straight pitch tourney?

[Stock]

Would anyone ever play a straight pitch tourney?

I'd be down, but I think most of the people on here are too good for that.
Also, I take straight pitch to a whole new level (press 'A' only, and ~middle of the mound).  My roommates and I referred to this style of play as "Batting Practice".  We have crazy games with this style of play.  The final scores are almost always in the 20+ range.  Deffense is that much more important in Str8 pitch too, since you just cannot give someone 4 outs when anyone in the lineup can hit a bomb.

[JoeDirt]

Deffense is that much more important in Str8 pitch too, since you just cannot give someone 4 outs when anyone in the lineup can hit a bomb.

This is absurd.  In my opinion, defense is far more important in ATG because giving up even 1 unearned run can be extremely costly.

[Big Hath]

gonna have to agree with JDirt here - you can recover from a defensive lapse in straight pitch fairly easily - in ATG, the margin of error is much tighter

[Stock]

gonna have to agree with JDirt here - you can recover from a defensive lapse in straight pitch fairly easily - in ATG, the margin of error is much tighter

No way!  In ATG it is so much more easy to get an out on the next batter, thus making it so much more difficult to capitalize on someone getting on base.
In straight pitch, you know the next batter will not strike out and will most likely hit the ball on the sweet spot.

[ultimate7]

Yes but in straight pitch, you will have many more chances to get that run back, it certainly isn't cut and dry one or the other.

[Stock]

Yes but in straight pitch, you will have many more chances to get that run back, it certainly isn't cut and dry one or the other.

This is true, however, and extra out in SP will likely cost the deffense several more than 1 run.

The real reason deffense is probably more important in SP is deffense is the only way one person could clearly be better than another person.  This is because in SP, pitching and hitting ability should be the same for both parties.  Deffense is the one dividing line.

[JoeDirt]

That's interesting because generally speaking, the top ATG players are all close to equal defensively.  I don't think defense is like learning to hit or to pitch.  After enough experience with the game, either you play good D or you don't.  There's not much middle ground.