Tiger Geist

Being a tech geek and an iphone user, the MLB.com at-bat 2009 application looked extremely promising.  Priced at $10, it advertises itself as an application that gives you in-game video, audio feeds from both the home and away team, real time scoring, video highlights, and pitch by pitch graphical updates.  $10?  Count me in.  I also purchased the mlb.tv package for my computer and… I’ll give that a review after a week.  I don’t think its fair to judge that app after one day so I’ll give it some time (though they do get some egg on their face by strutting the wonders of their switch to adobe the same day as the mlb.tv web app crashed for millions of users).  Give me the weekend to play with mlb.tv, as I’m still intrigued by their features — probably a server / load problem.

I spent most of opening day playing around with the iphone application, and in the ultimate test, I walked home from work (about 3 miles) listening to the Tiger / Blue Jays game.  Here are my first impressions.

PROS:

• This thing is really slick.  While many iphone applications are slick, the interface is very well thought out.  Live in PST?  Tell the app and all games are listed in PST.  Favorite team is Detroit?  It will automatically put every Detroit game at the top of the application.
• You can listen to one game and browse box scores, game updates, etc from another game without interruption of your audio stream.
• Audio works very well.  The quality is about the same as your standard internet radio feed.  Not quite AM quality (slightly tin-y) but easy to listen to for a few hours.
• Audio was tested on Wifi, 3G and Edge network connections and worked well.  Video / rich content speeds may vary based on connection speeds, but audio quality was the same for each.
• My walking tests?  I walked from the financial district, down market street, to the lower haight in San Francisco, about 40 minutes.  Very limited audio interruption, and this was only caused when the network dropped 3G and moved to Edge and then back to 3G.  The game picked back up automatically.  I imagine if you were hanging out in one area you wouldn’t see an interruption, as I probably went 15 minutes at a time before buildings probably blocked the signal.
• Battery life was very respectable.  During a 40 minutes in mostly 3G, starting with a full battery, I easily had 65-70% battery life remaining.  This was mostly walking in a 3G network;  If you disabled 3G and stuck with Edge it might have been better, but I don’t see any issues with the battery.  Easily could get through a game without any concerns.
• Real-time box scores and play by play is easy to use and easy to read
• Video results populated themselves;  while waiting for a stop light I checked the stats and was able to watch a video of Curtis Granderson’s solo shot in the fourth (can’t verify the time it showed, but it was about 20 minutes after he hit the homer that I checked and noticed the video was available).
• Video quality was very good.  Could have been better, but the game wasn’t in HD (from what I read) so that could have been a factor in the coding/codec available.
• When the app crashed (see below) the phone was unaffected.

CONS:

• They advertise “home and away” radio broadcasts.  The fine print says “All home and select away feeds”.  I was going to buy the app anyway, but it was very misleading.
• Not all audio feeds came through; some didn’t work at all, and some crashed the application.  Luckily, the phone never crashed.  This was a problem during the earlier games, but I didn’t have any issues with the Tiger game.  Early glitches may have been solved by then.
• Early games didn’t seem to post video feeds; nothing was available for the Texas 9-1 victory over Cleveland.  Not sure if this was a glitch that is to be worked out or if they didn’t have any videos of interest.
• Volume levels (while walking in an urban environment) are low.  Noise isolating headphones would be preferred, but then I wouldn’t be able to hear the drug dealers offering their wares.  In an office environment there aren’t any issues.
• Standard iphone headphone adjustments don’t work and have unexpected results.  For example, iphone headphones allow users to pause music, fast forward, or rewind by the click of their headphone extension.  However, when this is done while listening to a game on at-bat 2009, it actually starts your iphone’s itunes application.  By habit, when i’m listening to music and someone stops to ask me something, I just ‘pause’ what i’m listening to.  When this happened at work while listening to the Rockies / D-backs game, it clicked on itunes.. which had a different volume level and was playing music.  Not the expected result and scared the crap out of me.
• Standard iphone issue, but its annoying here too — you can’t use another iphone application while the mlb app is running, and if you do the game audio feed stops.  So if you get a text message, to reply you must stop the game.  Frustratingly there is no saving of the last known state, so when you re-open the application it doesn’t remember your game or what feed you chose.
• Application launch can be slow if you’re in 3G, and slower still in Edge.  Not as much of an issue, but compounds your annoyance level with the above issue.
• Small glitches — I had to select the Toronto feed of WXYT to listen to the actual Detroit announcers.  Sounds like a data feed problem that can be easily fixed without a software update.

Overall… this thing rules.  For $10 its one of the best applications you can purchase for the iphone in terms of service and what you can get out of it.  Yes, a portable satellite radio would have better service, but I don’t have satellite radio — I have an iphone.  Very Highly recommended.  Go buy it.  Now.

Also available:

MLB.com At-Bat 2009 Lite:  Blah.  Its free, but its not worth the time or money.  No audio, no glitz… no value.  The optimized espn.com mobile site I feel is faster, and allows you to click into the game immediately.  If you deem $10 not worth it, the mobile espn.com is pretty slick (scores only — no audio).

As I mentioned yesterday, I asked a few different Tiger Bloggers two questions heading into the season:

1) What was your biggest surprise of spring training?

2) Detroit opens with 10 straight games before their first off-day.  Is there anything you’re looking for during this opening stretch?

Here are a few of the responses:

Lee at Detroit Tiger Tales:

(1) The biggest surprise of spring training was the release of Gary Sheffield.   I thought it might happen some time during the season but I was not expecting them to eat $14 million right before opening day.  I do think it’s a a good move because it gives them more roster flexibility.  It’s hard to have a versatile bench when you have a full-time designated hitter.  They can now use the designated hitter spot to rest Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera on occasion without taking them out of the line-up.
The second biggest surprise was Ryan Perry’s strong spring.  I knew he had a lot of upside but, given his lack of professional experience, I was expecting him to have command issues.  He still might have problems once the season starts but he has definitely earned his spot on the roster for now.  Rick Porcello was less of a surprise because I knew that he was a very polished pitcher for his age and experience.
(2) I have faith that they will score runs and I believe their fielding is very solid.  Like everyone else, I’m concerned about their pitching staff so I’ll be looking for positive signs concerning both their starting rotation and bullpen.  Specifically, they need a big year from Justin Verlander and a couple of strong starts at the beginning of the season would be a nice boost.  From the rest of the rotation, I would be encouraged if I saw a good number of six plus inning starts.  As for the bullpen, I’ll be elated if they don’t blow any of the first ten games. Or at least not more than one blown game!

Kudos to Lee for being kind enough to answer AND not making fun of the grammatical errors in my email to him.

Big Al takes some time away from The Wayne Fontes Experience and worrying about Matthew Stafford:

1. In my mind, the biggest surprise of camp was the release of Gary Sheffield, if only for the amount of money involved. No matter how rich you may be, and Mike Ilitch is rich enough to weave his toupee out of $100 bills, $14 million is a huge amount to let walk away, getting so little in return.

Thing is, Sheffield was an impact player…for all of 2-3 months in 2007. Other than his great start in ‘07, Sheffield, thanks to his shoulder injury, had turned into a non-entity, and blocked any chance at giving Jim Leyland much needed roster flexibility. It’s sad to say about a possible Hall of Fame player, but Sheffield deserved to be released.

Which leads me to another big time surprise, the Tigers actually keeping the best 25 players on the roster, no matter their past reputation, money owed or veteran status. In cutting Sheffield to make room for the young, power hitting Jeff Larish, and keeping the even younger and untested pitchers Ryan Perry and Rick Porcello, all of whom outperformed their veteran rivals in spring training, the best 25 players in camp actually did go north.

By putting Perry in the pen, and Porcello in the rotation, the Tigers had to demote Dontrelle Willis (owed $20+ million) to Toledo, and Nate Robertson (owed $14+ million) to mop up man status. But it was something the Tigers had to do if they wanted to compete with the best possible 25 man roster.

2.  Not going 0-10. Seriously.

What I want to see in those first 10 games is the Tigers not end their season before it truly gets started.

The Tigers don’t need to go 10-0 or 9-1 in that opening stretch. It’d be nice, I’d be ecstatic, but it’s unrealistic. (A team going 9-0, 16-1, then 35-5 is a once in a lifetime event, and we’ve had it in ours. Well, in mine, anyway.) But I could live with 5-5, even 4-6. Hell, 3-7 wouldn’t have me in “EVERYBODY PANIC!!!” mode…yet.

If Jim Leyland wants the contract extension he was denied in the off season, he can ill afford another excruciating 0 for the season start. Ilitch’s rug covered head would explode, and the fanbase would go ballistic, wanting heads, preferably one with a lit Marlboro, to roll.

Detroit’s 0-7 first week in ‘08 immediately put the team behind the 8 ball, and left them scrambling the rest of the season. The Tigers never recovered, making for the most disappointing year of Tiger fandom I can remember…though I would prefer not to.

So win a few of those first 10 games, and I’ll be relieved. Not happy. Nor ticked off. But relieved the season isn’t over before it stops snowing in Detroit.

Yeah… 0-10… ouch.  That would be quite the kick in the shorts.  Let’s not forget those baseball posts after the NFL draft!

Last, Billfer at the Detroit Tigers Weblog was short and sweet:

1. That Gary Sheffield was cut
2. Pitching that doesn’t suck, Fernando Rodney surprising people, and bench players being overused.

Billfer’s season preview pretty much sums it up:  The 2009 Tigers — they might not suck

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