Okay, I know that everyone's favorite game is to bash on the robot, but I have a new one.

I recently played three home playoff games in 2000 RT 2 (I am the Hong Kong Cavaliers). In every one of these three games, the robot removed the staring pitcher after 2 to 2-2/3 innings, despite the fact that in none of the games was the starter hurt and in none of them did the starter give up 4 or more runs.

This also happened to me in a leage championship deciding game last year, when the robot brought in Derek Lowe (virtually unhittable by righties last year) to face Vlad Guerrero with two on and two out in the fourth in a game that I eventually lost 3-2. Lowe finished the game giving up only one hit in 5-1/3. As you can see, this still smarts a year later.

It is clearly in violation of the posted rules for the robot to do what it was doing. The manual says:

"Starting pitchers can't be taken out of a PB game unless they have pitched a minimum of 4 innings or allow a minimum of 4 runs. The game enforces this rule. It will not allow you to relieve or pinch hit for a starting pitcher which has not fulfilled those requirements. This rule prevents a team from using relievers so early and so often as to eliminate the need to maintain a realistic group of starting pitchers."

This is particularly important to me because I assume that my opponent in the current series set his bullpen very aggressive becuase he has comparatively weak starters and a comparatively strong bullpen.

As it turns out in the current instance, I won 2 of the 3 games, but it is very disturbing to see the robot violate the posted rules of the game repeatedly. This seems like a potentially exploitable bug that could cost some folks important games.

Have others seen this kind of behavior?