Here's a hypothetical:

You're halfway through the second game of a second shift league, and the lanes are really broken down.  Your normal equipment is forcing you to play a deep swing and the pattern is so broken up that it's a hero or zero situation.  Either the ball drives right through the pocket and sends ten to the pit or you miss it altogether, with a good chance of splits or multiple pin spares.  If you're really hitting your mark and are dead on with your speed you might be able to string some together.

The only weaker ball you have available is a urethane or plastic ball.  That ball is giving you a consistent read, but you're not carrying the corners very well.  You can probably grind out a decent game, but it won't be a great one.

Which ball do you throw in this situation?

plastic or the urethane, take the 9 counts makes spares and move on, spares are a heck of a lot better then splits and you may get lucky and carry a 2-3 bagger in there with plastic.

me personally I am jsut as comfortable throwing plastic as I am my reactive stuff most nights
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Triggerman

F.O.S Loud, F.O.S. Proud

Lane #1 Baby

That was my entire second shift league a couple years ago.  The heads would get scorched and the shot could get really over/under.  I surprisingly had good luck with a MoRich Onslaught particle pearl my buddy gave me for free.  Pin was probably 2 or 2.5 inches from my PAP, about ring finger height, no x-hole.  It gave me a good transition from the deep inside angle and was strong enough to kick out the corner pins pretty well.  Staying up the back of the ball a little more than you normally would for a deep inside line helped control the breakpoint as well if they got touchy.

If the lanes are that hard, I would agree with triggerman, the 9-spares and lucky strikes might be good enough.  I'd rather be in the pocket than deal with the washouts and lousy counts.  You can't count on stringing strikes, so take 'em when you get lucky and then rely on your spare game.

SH

Edited on 11/20/2007 3:45 PM

Cranker.........Move deep and stay with resin(over power lane)

Power Stroker...use urethane or plastic and move into track or use resin with a fluff release.

stroker.........use urethane or plastic with slower ball speed or throw resin with a straight release.

straighty.......use resin, this is your shot and you should eat this up and kick butt

any questions    
scooterdog

It also kind of matters what the opposition is doing, doesn't it?

If everyone else is grinding, you can afford to play conservative and take your medicine. But if you've got people having success by taking chances, you might have to move to answer their move.

In the spirit of the original question, I'd probably take plastic or urethane and come from the outside.

Of course, I also have a very weakly-drilled resin piece that allows me to play a shot on a crap condition, so I'd move there first. But if I didn't have access to that, I'd probably get the non-resin ball and move somewhere everyone else wasn't.

Jess

I'd grab my polyester ball, move outside, aim straight at the pocket and put as much speed and hand on the ball as I could.  I had an opportunity to do this a few weeks ago.  It wasn't very "satisfying", but it worked well enough to get a 237 game out of it which was truely amazing.

I am a power player and I am fine grabbing my Urethne Nitro and this is what I would. Get the Nitro and move right take the crappy carry and make my spares.
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Mainzerpower