Fielding Frustrations...

[druski_2k5]

Ugh, does anyone else have these problems? On a few ground balls that are little bit away from the fielder, and the fielder puts down his glove too early, or not far enough, thus resulting in a hit for the computer?

I had this happen in a critical situation. There were 0 outs and a Yankee hit a ball to Youkilis and he barely reached his glove out and the ball went through his glove [yes I know it's not completely perfect, but still, it should have been knocked down] and went into right field. Later, I got two outs with Alex Rodriguez coming up. Now the inning should have been over to the grounder to Youk, but then Lackey gave up a line drive shot over the Monster and I lost 5-3. Yeah I understand I gave up the home run, but fielding is frustrating.

In another instance in this game, score is 0-0, and runners on 1st and 2nd, line drive to center field, and Cameron isn't charging the ball as he should be and I'm controlling him and he won't come in, he is on one knee waiting for it, and the ball moderately rolled towards him, thus resulting in a run on the play.

One other thing I can think of is when you dive with the a fielder, in this case with the short stop, and when it auto switches to the fielder, because I hit dive with my short stop, it somehow made my center fielder dive as well, and the ball rolled to the wall resulting in a double rather than a single.

It's just things like this that upset me. I know that I get a few base hits through the infield because the computer can mistime a dive as well, but the above situations had me super upset at fielding. In another game, there was an easy 4-6-3 hit to Pedroia, and he flips it, but the flip was way, way, way, way to the right of my short stop and it resulted in a hit with runners on 2nd and 1st.

I don't really want to play with Auto-Fielding on, I already play with Auto-Running on because I hate the running controls of this game and would like to be controlling everything else besides running. So is this common, is it bad luck, is there anyway to make sure you can play better defense? This happened at times on 09 as well and for 10 I figured the defense would be "tightened up" a little better, or maybe it's just me.

[MattP598]

I see it happen down the 3rd and 1st base lines occasionally, but that is about it. Everything else seems fine except for every now and again I have an OFer pick up a ball in the gap and get stuck in an animation of him running against the wall allowing a runner to get an extra base.

Are you playing with manual fielding or assist? I use assist and it seems to work pretty good except for those pesky balls down the line.

[badmrfrosty7]

I know what you mean on some of those things. Like the AI animation just lacks urgency on a situation. Like at times a fielder will do this slo-mo version of rounding his path to a ball on the ground which takes about 3-4 extra second and the baserunner can take another base. It's just weird cause I've seen that animation be done regular speed and this slo-mo speed that serves absolutely no purpose since it looks awkward and gives runners more time to go from 1st to 3rd or 2nd to home.

Or, I believe like you said, when I want to charge a slow grounder with a shortstop I get locked into a kneel down animation as he waits for the ball to get to him slowly but surely and then I'm stuck with forcing a strong throw on something that would've been a bit more routine. Or instances where you snag a sinking liner in RF and you hold down the 1B button since the runner is way up the line but he instead goes into his non-chalant toss to 1B which gives the runner enough time to get back. There's a bunch more random instances with fielding where I feel your pain there man.

Some's my own fault though. I can't for the life of me figure out how set up an outfielder to make a running charge at a fly ball so he can make a play at the plate a bit easier. Sometimes I lock into the correct "spot" I guess? Usually it doesn't work out. Also, I'm terrible at playing a ball off the wall and finding the "spot" that gets him in a receiving position for it.

Sorry for venting all over your thread but just letting you know that I agree it's infuriating at times.

[druski_2k5]

It's not assist or auto fielding, not sure if there is an assist for fielding? But I know it's not auto.

I understand shots down the line will happen, or balls go through gloves because it is a game after all, but my frustrating thing is, when the ball is right next to the fielder, and he could literally kick the ball to stop it or knock it down with his foot, yet he doesn't even put his glove down to attempt a play.

Or when the ball is a little out of reach and he doesn't reach his glove out far enough to make a play.

Another one: Runner on third, ball hit to Beltre at third base, the runner breaks for home, Beltre had to move a little bit out of the way to make a play, I immediately press to throw home, but he stops, gets set, waits another 1/2 second and then throws home, but that extra "lag" or "set up" allows the runner to score.

Perhaps that is because the ball is hit so hard that there isn't enough time to react and dive like that, which I could see happening, but it just seemed to be a common occurrence in the last game, maybe it was just 'one of those games'.

Not every play should be made, but when the ball is so close like that, not even an attempt to bat it down or pick it up frustrates me. Maybe if the ball were hit slower, it would result in a defensive play. I'll have to keep an eye on it for the next few games.

[druski_2k5]

Playing the ball off the wall is super hard, especially at Fenway. I've been playing since 08 and I don't have it down to an art, and it should be a little harder off the wall, but it's hard to see exactly where it's going, which is why when I know it is going off the wall, I play back a little behind the wall and try to catch it off the bounce.

When I try to set up a throw to third from the outfield because the runner will be advancing, is to find the marker where it's coming down, get a bit behind that marker, and as the marker gets smaller and smaller, carefully inch up with the fielder, so when I catch it I already have some momentum built up and make a nice throw to third, or wherever the runner will be advancing.

[MattP598]

There is an assist option for fielding. Try that and try raising your fielding reaction slider. I'm using PsychoBulk's slider set and have fielding reaction set to 10 and fielder speed at 0. It seems to work well.

[stoncold32]

What ticks me off is the occasional glitch that happens. I gaev up an inside the park home run yest. b/c my outfielder got stuck in a running into the wall animation.

[druski_2k5]

I actually won a game due to that glitch.

I was down by 1, bottom of the 9th, got a runner on 2nd, hit the ball to the 420 mark in the triangle at Fenway with Youk against the Yankees. Youk with an inside the park home run is funny to think about!

The runner on 2nd scored easily off of that to tie it up legitimately, but then Granderson got stuck at the wall before the triangle area, trying to get the ball, so he couldn't get to the 420 mark, and Gardner from left field couldn't get through an invisible wall, basically deep right center field with no obstructions in front of him.

That was in the bottom of the 9th as I said, so it was a walk-off inside the park home run.

I felt bad for taking the win due to it being a glitch, [even if it was against the Yankees ], so I didn't save the win and re-started the game.