Lately I’ve been playing a lot of the baseball game I have on PS3, and mostly online. There is something about playing a human opponent that is so much more satisfying than playing the computer. The game still has some network related kinks, but the gameplay is downright solid. All you need to see is me pumping my fists after getting a groundout in the bottom of the 9th to secure a 2-1 win. It’s awesome.

The game is ultra-realistic when you’re playing another human because you can get inside their head. For example, early on you can start to figure out what type of player they are. Some people have zero patience and swing at everything. Even if the pitch is in the dirt, they still swing. In my most impressive outing yet I struck out a guy 22 times in a game. It’s so advanced that you can fool people. Sometimes I’ll throw a fastball pretty far outside so that it’s unhittable, and a decent player will lay off the pitch. But then the next pitch I’ll come back a little closer to where the ball is just outside the zone, but the previous pitch makes it look like a strike. Usually people will swing, and if they don’t miss, they get horrible wood on the ball and make an out.

In addition to the batter/pitcher duel, sometimes games are downright intense. In my last game I went down 1-0 early to the Phillies. I was putting men on base, but I was having a horrible time capitalizing. I eventually put a run across on a double-play ground out and made it 1-1. Lowe had pitched a good 7 innings for me, so I brought in Olmedo Saenz to face the lefty with 1 out and nobody on. He left a pitch out over the plate and the Killer Tomato put the ball over the fence, 2-1 Dodgers. Billingsley held it in the 8th, and Saito came in for the 9th. Everything was great in the 9th until Ryan Howard doubled with 1 out. Next batter grounded out and Howard took 3rd on the play. With the tying run at third and 2 out Saito was able to induce a groundout to win the game 2-1. It was awesome.

So far I’m 19-6. You can see my online profile here. Unfortunately you can’t see all the fun statistics that you can in the game, like ERA, k/9, HR/game, etc, but they do show your average. I’m batting .318 as of this posting, which is pretty good if you ask me.

Due to my pathetic lack of posts lately, I give you two in the same hour!

What’s up with Wilson Betemit? Most of the year he looks like total garbage, then they bring up LaRoche and he starts hitting. All I know is one of them needs to break out and shine.

Speaking of baseball, I’ve been reading about MLB ’07 The Show on PS3. I’m really in a precarious situation. I love my Wii, but it will never have a classic baseball game on it due to the motion controls. My other console is the original xbox, which only has one new baseball offering this year, and it’s probably the last.

As I consider my inevitable purchase of either an Xbox 360 or PS3, the baseball title offerings are a huge priority. Sega has a monopoly on the MLB license, so MLB 2k7 is the only baseball title made by a 3rd party publisher. SCEA, Sony’s publishing house, is exempt from that exclusivity, so they can make their own MLB game. It’s only available for PS3 though. That means Xbox 360 has one game to choose from, and PS3 two games.

Of course the PS3 costs $600 and the game is another $60. There should be a price drop eventually, but the kid in me still gets excited reading about new games even though I don’t have a lot of time to play them. I still need to beat Zelda, and I have Paper Mario on the Gamecube waiting.

This post has two goals. The first is to give the Dodgers a shot out for getting off to a great start. They’ve been playing some great baseball lately. I have to say that when everyone in their lineup is playing well, we’ve got a very difficult 1-8 hitters. Even Randy Wolf lit it up last night in the ninth spot. Even with a few injuries I still see the Dodgers being rock solid. We’ve got players in AAA that could be great at the MLB level.

The second goal of this post is to bring Nixon out of hiding. Look, DOYERS!!!

The Dodgers are in HD! The game doesn’t count, but it’s glorious! The picture is beautiful. It’s like being at the game in the really good seats. I might never leave the couch.

I just bought some stuff for hotdogs. Gonna watch the game!

I remember hearing that all Lakers games will be broadcast in HD from here on out, but I don’t remember hearing that so will the DODGERS games! KCAL will broadcast all their Dodgers games this season in HD. In case you’re not a Dodgers or HD fan, last year all the games were in old blurry SD tv. Even the rare FOX televised games on Saturdays weren’t true HD. I’m way excited about this. You can check the schedule here.

We don’t have satellite or cable tv, but I was curious to see how much it would cost to get the Dodgers cable games in HD. Sadly it’s not that easy to figure out. The cable games are broadcast on FSN Prime Ticket, but it’s not clear if all of the games are in HD, or only some of them. That being said, Direct TV’s cheapest HD package is $55, but that doesn’t include the regional sports networks. To get FSN you have to pay another $10 or so. Then if you want a DVR it’s a one time fee of $200. All of this for games that may or may not be in HD on FSN Prime Ticket.

Obviously you get more than Dodgers games for your $65 a month, but I’ve got plenty to watch on regular TV, and I don’t need to watch every Dodgers game. A couple games in HD a week for FREE will be plenty.

1) Play Betemit, not Lugo.
2) If Nomar can’t play, put in Loney. Stop with the crappy shifting of Kent and playing people out of position.
3) According to Steve Lyons the strike zone shrinks in the post-season. Was he paying attention at all tonight?
4) Pitching hasn’t been too bad, but the offense is anemic.

Have to hope that a change of scenery back to Los Angeles will help. Right now the Mets look like a much better team.

I’ve been pretty quiet on my Dodgers for the last couple weeks, so here’s a little update. THEY ROCK!

Now granted, about a week ago I would have said they were the worst team to ever exist. But amazingly they’ve turned things around after their post all-star break slump. Playing .500 ball after the slump wouldn’t be enough to cut it, so they’ve gone out and won 8 straight. They went 1-13 after the break, so they’re still digging themselves out of that hole. They’re 2 games back in both the West and the Wild Card, but don’t show any signs of cooling off.

I’m not superstitious, and I’ll be the first to tell you how pointless it is. However part way through this streak, I decided it would be fun if I developed a superstition: I have to wear my Dodger hat. I woke up this morning and Saenz was already up when i realized I didn’t have it on! I had to race upstairs and get it to make sure the Dodgers continue their streak.

Something else I’ve been contemplating is what pair of broadcasters do I most prefer? I have to say I love Steve Lyons. He’s entertaining, self-deprecating, and has some good insight. Vin Scully of course is great. Charley Steiner has grown on me since he first started. I’ve gotten used to his voice and delivery, but he’s a little too verbose for me. It seems that he says a lot and most of it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Rick Monday with Steve Lyons, but I might like that better. Jerry Reuss isn’t very exciting. Vinny of course is always solo, and even with his frequent brain farts, you gotta love him. So in order:

1) Vin Scully
2) Steve Lyons
3) Rick Monday
4) Charley Steiner
5) Jerry Reuss

And finally, because Baseball is the only sport I really care about, I decided to become as big an expert as possible. I bought the Baseball Field Guide from Amazon. Basically a couple guys took the MLB rulebook which is very hard to read, and turned it into an organized guide to every rule in baseball (and with pictures too!). What happens if a runner is hit by a thrown ball? What different ways can a pitcher be credited with a save? How does the infield fly rule work? Answers to all those questions will be at the ready on my coffee table. Hardcore baseball fans, check it out!

Let’s talk some Dodger baseball!

Can you say SWEEP?!

Today I went out to the ballpark to celebrate Tim’s waning days of freedom. Luckily for us the Dodgers continued to play some great baseball. Unfortunately for us it was HOT! I remember it being hot last year for my bachelor party, but the humidity today was insane. Today we were on the 3rd base side out near the foul pole, so I spent much of my time harrasing Andre Ethier for a ball. I was not successful. Brad Penny did so-so, but the bats were still hot and helped us win our 4th in a row.

Good luck Tim and Melissa!