Saturday, August 06, 2005
The Secret to the Home Run Derby Game
This post is solely for Max and Matt Daffy. We've been discussing the Home Run Derby game on Candystand.com for the last week or so.
Today I figured out the key to the game during a session in which I hit 125 home runs. Incidentally, after the game I clicked the submit button to put my name on the high score list, and I just got a "Page Not Found" error. It doesn't really matter, though because I think the list gets taken down every day, since the numbers are always different when I look at it. My 125 home runs would have been good enough for 34th place so far today had I been able to put my name up.
Real general rundown of the game in case you're reading this and you're not Max or Matt. The pitcher pitches pitches to you and you swing the bat to try and hit a home run. You start the game with 20 swings and each time you swing, whether you hit a home run or not it takes a swing off your total. One exception is if you hit the ball off the scoreboard or out of the stadium, then you get a bonus swing and in effect your swing total doesn't go down. The other exception is that if you hit the ball off of one of the billboards, you get two bonus swings instead of one.
In any event, the key to the game is not to swing just at the fast balls, but to swing at every pitch. You have to recognize the type of pitch and time it so that you hit it out of the park. The general wisdom is that you can only hit the fastballs out of the park, but that's not true. Each pitch can be hit out of the park if you swing correctly.
On top of this fact, the change up type pitches are easier to hit off the billboard. If you recognize it and swing a little bit later than you would at the fastball, then you can pull it out towards the billboard, and get the extra bonus swing on a more consistent basis than if you are just swinging at fastballs.
My new strategy is to look for a change up and get the swing timing down based on that pitch. If he throws a fastball you just swing right away and forget the timing. If you get on a roll you can hit literally every one out of the park or off the scoreboard.
Invariably my timing got messed up somewhere in the middle, so I changed back to the just swinging at fastballs strategy until I got back in the zone.
I cannot imagine what you are thinking of my if you've read this entire post and have never played the home run derby game. To answer the obvious questions. Yes, I am a dork. No, I do not have anything better to do because I'm on summer vacation. No, I will not marry you.
Today I figured out the key to the game during a session in which I hit 125 home runs. Incidentally, after the game I clicked the submit button to put my name on the high score list, and I just got a "Page Not Found" error. It doesn't really matter, though because I think the list gets taken down every day, since the numbers are always different when I look at it. My 125 home runs would have been good enough for 34th place so far today had I been able to put my name up.
Real general rundown of the game in case you're reading this and you're not Max or Matt. The pitcher pitches pitches to you and you swing the bat to try and hit a home run. You start the game with 20 swings and each time you swing, whether you hit a home run or not it takes a swing off your total. One exception is if you hit the ball off the scoreboard or out of the stadium, then you get a bonus swing and in effect your swing total doesn't go down. The other exception is that if you hit the ball off of one of the billboards, you get two bonus swings instead of one.
In any event, the key to the game is not to swing just at the fast balls, but to swing at every pitch. You have to recognize the type of pitch and time it so that you hit it out of the park. The general wisdom is that you can only hit the fastballs out of the park, but that's not true. Each pitch can be hit out of the park if you swing correctly.
On top of this fact, the change up type pitches are easier to hit off the billboard. If you recognize it and swing a little bit later than you would at the fastball, then you can pull it out towards the billboard, and get the extra bonus swing on a more consistent basis than if you are just swinging at fastballs.
My new strategy is to look for a change up and get the swing timing down based on that pitch. If he throws a fastball you just swing right away and forget the timing. If you get on a roll you can hit literally every one out of the park or off the scoreboard.
Invariably my timing got messed up somewhere in the middle, so I changed back to the just swinging at fastballs strategy until I got back in the zone.
I cannot imagine what you are thinking of my if you've read this entire post and have never played the home run derby game. To answer the obvious questions. Yes, I am a dork. No, I do not have anything better to do because I'm on summer vacation. No, I will not marry you.
# posted by ChuckJerry : 8/06/2005 07:28:00 PM
