High Heat Baseball 2003

High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 is here, offering smooth graphics, tons of action, and superior game controls. Featuring World Series co-MVP Curt Schilling, the game presents several new modes for 2003, including Home Run Derby, Fantasy Draft, Create-a-Player, Stand-Alone Playoffs, Batting Practice, and Two-on-Two Challenge. Gameplay features include umpire arguments, player ejections and suspensions, dropped third strikes, and snap throws from the catcher. Mound-visiting managers and animated base coaches spice up the action while adding to the strategy. Signature pitcher and batter animations mean the stars pitch and bat just like in real life, and improved TruPlay AI technology makes batting, base running, fielding, pitching, and managing seem truer to real baseball.
Customer Review: Almost a classic
This is easily the best depiction of major league baseball that I've encountered in a video game. The game does an excellent job of capturing the tension between batter and pitcher confrontations and allows the player to customize a lot of the gameplay. While HHB2003 does have its problems, it is overall a very solid game. Gameplay: More than anything, the gameplay mechanics are just right. Everything from batting and pitching to fielding and base-running all just seem perfectly done and intuitive. The larger strategy game of putting together a team, managing AAA players, arranging schedules, and so forth is also well done and allows a lot of customization of gameplay. You can get deeply involved in trading, statistics, and standings, or ignore them altogehter. There are several modes that you can play, including exhibition, homerun derby, playoffs, or an entire 162-game season! There is also a career mode. The computer-controlled teams play intelligently and never seem to cheat (at least not on the pro or all-star difficulty levels). However, teams that you have been beating all season do get noticeably bettter in the postseason. The game is very immersive and intense, and you do get a great sense that you are in the midst of a real baseball game. There are a few things that slightly ruin the atmosphere (see below), but overall the game almost perfectly imitates the big leagues. Visuals: This is a mixed bag. Player animations are pretty good, but the stadiums are completely static. The fans are literally colored blots on a flat surface. There is no movement in the dugout. The fields look okay, but the stadiums overall appear nondynamic. This is where the game fails to maintain the immersive atmosphere. It's not fatal to the experience, but, noticeable. On the positive side, the game does instant replays and the highlights of the game are saved for viewing once a game ends. Sounds: Generally great. The announcers are fantastic, and there is commentary for nearly every possible situation. I've been playing the game for weeks, and I'm still occasionally hearing new quotes. The crowd cheers and boos at appropriate times, and the rock music that plays when various menu screens are opened is fine. The audio for this game would be perfect except for occasional studders. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does it's awfully annoying, since the audio is generally excellent. It's too bad that the developer did not patch this, assuming that it could be easily fixed. Technical/Replayability: This game has been perfectly stable on my computer. The instruction manual that comes with the game is good. Of course, there is a lot of replay value, since every game is different and there are 30 different teams and several gameplay modes. You can even create new teams and players. If you are a baseball fan, this game is definitely worth picking up. Rating: 4.25/5 stars
Customer Review: Major League Sucker
Everything Sucks in this game. It's to easy to hit a home run. And Hey 3DO went bankrupt. I wonder why. Because it Sucks. Every Game they came out with (except Sarge's Hero's) all sucked.As Tommy Tallarico said in Judgement Day on G4 said it SUUUUCCCCCKKSSS. And then he threw it down on the Ground. Stay away from this sucker. 3D0 Sucks

"Christmas In March" - that's how my fellow fantasy obsessed friends and I like to refer to fantasy baseball draft day. It truly is one of my favorite days of the year. In fact, the night before the draft I actually go to bed dreaming about what tomorrow will bring. Will I take Arod with the first pick? Will Albert Pujols slide to me at pick 7? Am I going to get all of the sleepers I want? Yes my friends..."Christmas in March" has arrived.

Draft day can have different meanings to different owners. For returning league champs it's about trying to repeat as league champions. For guys who finished in the cellar last year it's about new beginnings. But for you perennial contenders / soon-to-be perennial contenders out there, it's about preparing to draft a stacked team that will undoubtedly help you make a run at the title. And this year's fantasy baseball draft bible will help you do just that.

The fantasy baseball draft bible is an overall strategy on how to approach your league's draft or auction and is applicable to almost every league format including; H2H, 5x5, Draft or Auction. It will be comprised of a series of articles that deals with everything you'll need to know about dominating your draft and fielding the best fantasy baseball team possible. The draft bible covers the following topics:

Draft Prep
- League Rules
- Sleepers
- Busts
- Familiarize yourself with personnel changes
- Investigating injuries
- Exact targets
- Cheat Sheet
- Tiering

Draft Day
- Get comfy
- Take inventory
- Draft board
- Early rounds strategy
- Middle rounds strategy
- Later rounds strategy
- Post draft assessment
- Pick-up free agents

So without further ado, let's get started. Today I'll cover the first topic under the draft prep category, League Rules. It's not sexy, it's not flashy, but it deserves your attention because it will influence how you go about drafting your team.

League Rules
Whenever you play a game or enter a contest there's going to be a set of rules that everyone must follow and fantasy baseball is no exception. All of these rules are equally important and will dictate how you and your opponents approach the game. While not every rule is going to need your undivided attention, there are several rules that need to be accounted for, which will contribute to your drafting strategy. One of these rules is the requirement of how many active pitchers you will have.

One of the first rules that you should look at is the active lineup requirement in regards to pitchers. There are typically 2 formats for pitching depending on the league that you're in. You'll either start a total of 7 pitchers or a total of 9 pitchers. The first thing you'll want to determine is how many of the 7 or 9 active pitchers should be starting pitchers and how many should be closers? Well, in a 5x5 or 4x4 league that requires 7 pitchers in your lineup, you should have 5 starting pitchers and 2 closers. In a 5x5 or 4x4 league that requires 9 pitchers in your lineup, you should have 6 starting pitchers and 3 closers. This will give you the optimum chance out of the gate to compete in every category (I can't stress enough the importance of keeping pace in every category). Now that you know how many starting pitchers and how many closers you will have in your active lineup, you will be more prepared for your draft. But it doesn't end there. In addition to looking at how many starting pitchers and closers you'll have in your active lineup, you'll need to look at whether there are any rules regarding minimum or maximum innings pitched.

While most of the rules are meant to be a restriction of sorts, there can sometimes be rules that actually provide you with an advantage. The innings pitched rule with possible maximums and minimums will dictate this. The minimum innings pitched usually won't be of any concern with the strategy we discussed above (using a combo of 5 starters and 2 closers or 6 starters and 3 closers). However, if there's no maximum on innings pitched, you can use this greatly to your advantage.

Whenever there's no maximum for innings pitched, I like to stream at least one pitcher each week. What is streaming? Streaming is when you pick up a free agent to play in your active lineup based upon how good of a match-up they have that week and whether or not they'll be making two starts. For instance, I'd rather pick-up a Micah Owings who will have a two-start week against a horrible Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants offense than have John Garland vs. the Yankees in one start. The reasoning is this. Garland will most likely not get the win and probably end-up with stats like 5 IP, 4 ER, 2 K and 0 W. While Owings through his two starts in the same week could easily end-up with 12 IP, 5 ER, 10 K and 1 W. Seems like a no brainer right? Well that's because it is.

Now, if you're going to be streaming than you'll need to adjust the draft strategy we spoke about above. Instead of making sure that you take 5 starters and 2 closers or 6 starters and 3 closers for your active lineup, you only need 4 starters or 5 starters because you will be using the last slot for streaming. Streaming will certainly get you more wins and K's and shouldn't hurt your ERA and WHIP. So make sure that you don't waste a pick on a sixth starter in the middle rounds on draft day by taking a John Garland when you could be snagging one of your hot sleepers instead.

Jason Goldman
http://www.rotoexpert.com