More simply, you're not pulling them out because they're having a bad game. You're pulling them out because you're still trying to win the game and you're in a situation where another pitcher might be better able to keep that possibility alive.
What I would actually prefer, given your point about how the game works, is if the pull logic paid little or no attention to what I would consider "prior results." In other words, if it's the 6th inning of a 1-run game and there's 1 out and 2 on, I'd probably like my pull settings to bring '95 Maddux out of the game if he's thrown 87 pitches and his pitch counts are 95/110 or something like that (obviously that depends to some extent on how good, deep, and fresh my bullpen is, but I can at least theoretically have taken those things into account when I assigned the pull setting). At this point I (and the game engine) couldn't care less if the score is 1-0 or 8-7, but the current pull settings certainly seem to treat these two scenarios very differently. If my Maddux has a shutout going but that many pitches it's not like any CG shutout logic should apply, and frankly, as far as the end result of the game is concerned, those two scenario are identical. But the pull settings definitely treat 7-run Maddux differently than they treat 0-run Maddux even though, as you mentioned, he's the exact same set of numbers as far as the engine calculating PA results is concerned.
5/17/2012 6:55 PM (edited)