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Forum => The Locker Room => Topic started by: Ted on December 23, 2010 @ 12:04:21 AM

Title: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on December 23, 2010 @ 12:04:21 AM
Continuing the old thread from SGN
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on December 23, 2010 @ 12:05:49 AM
I'll explain later, but I restarted my MLB 2k9 Mariners franchise.  I was 70 games into the second season, but went backwards and restarted from the off-season and am now 10-14 in season 2.


I’m a little over a month into the second season of my MLB 2k9 Mariners franchise and I’m truly beset by nagging injuries. First, my fifth starter, Jarrod Washburn tears his achilles during a game and goes on the sixty day DL. His expected return is one hundred and three days. He missed a significant part of last season and if I remember correctly he had a achilles problems then too. This isn’t the end of the world, but a few games later I get hit with a double. Jose Lopez (2B) gets hit by a pitch and immediately leaves the game with back spasms. Adrian Beltre (3B) later injures his shoulder running into the railing going after a foul behind third base. Both of them are expected out for nine days and I leave them on the roster. I move Hank Blalock (acquired in the off season) from first to third and start Brian LaHair at first. Yuniesky Betancourt will get a few starts and replace Lopez at second. During a 4-3 loss at Oakland, Ronny Cedeno (SS) sprains his wrist sliding into second trying to break up a double play. That forced me to make a call to Tacoma and I chose to pull Branyan back up to MLB level and take over at first, moving LaHair to second and Betancourt to short.  Beltre and Lopez are due back in three more games so hopefully this hodge-podge infield can get the job done for a series.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on December 26, 2010 @ 04:02:11 PM
The Mariners lost a tough game 3-2 in 18 innings to the New York Yankees. Lots of two out hits on both sides, but pitching was strong when it counted and the Yankees finally broke through on a Damon single, Jeter sacrifice, and Texiera single to finally put the fans out of their misery. The CPU dropped two of the final three games and Seattle falls to 13-19 on the season.  Hosting Detroit for three next.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: K_Mosley on December 26, 2010 @ 10:23:36 PM
Hey Ted,

I take it you're playing one game of each series in your franchise?  I might try that sometime...

Kevin
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on December 27, 2010 @ 01:22:27 AM
Kevin,

Yes, I play the first game of each series.  That allows me to see all of my pitchers during the course of a season, to allow the stat engine to mitigate some of the unrealistic stats that might occur if I played all of the games, and finally to be able to get through a whole season in a reasonable amount of time.  It comes out to about 50 games played or so by me.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on December 30, 2010 @ 01:49:42 AM
Following our 3-2 loss to New York (and dropping three of four games there) we took one of three from Detroit and closed out our short road trip at 2-5.  We returned home and dropped two of three to New York and three straight to Anaheim.  We then swept visiting San Diego in inter-league play before traveling to Tampa Bay and sweeping them.  A six game winning streak brings a seriously struggling 16-25 Mariners to within three games of .500 at 22-25.

I think our hitters are performing fine even though they aren't as hot as last year.  It's our bullpen that is killing us, specifically middle relief.  I feel Percival and Cordero can be relied upon, but the rest of the pen is very shaky and most all are journeymen that really belong in AAA to be called up when injuries strike.  The pickings are slim as there is nothing better on the free agent market right now.  I turned off trading for the entire league (more on that in future posts) so trading for someone isn't even an option anymore.

Adding to the bullpen problems are a couple of question marks in the starting rotation.  Garrett Olson replaced Washburn after his achilles injury and like the middle relievers he is a journeyman/AAA player that is now being asked to step up.  He hasn't for the most part, but I'm hopeful he can at least give us a chance at winning games if he has run support.  The other question mark is Eric Bedard.  He was injured last year and came back late in the season (I'll have to check my old notes) and had been a great #2.  His rating was an 81.  It's still an 81, but I noticed his fastball had decline a point from 77 to 76, not a big deal really.  What worries me is he had an 82 curveball and now he has a 64 curveball.  It is a little suspicious because his other two pitches are rated a 64 as well.  I don't know if it is a game glitch or corruption or if his curveball really did deteriorate that much after his injury recovery.  I only wonder because his overall rating didn't decline as a result.  It's cool either way, and I hope it is something that the game does to injured players, i.e. causing sharp declines that threaten their careers, but he's on a five year contract now and I can see him moving way down the rotation because he is getting hammered now, especially in simmed games.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on January 04, 2011 @ 07:10:40 PM
I was able to beat KC 8-2 on the strength of Brandon Morrows 5 2/3 inning start.  He struck out seven, walked two, and gave up two earned runs before Vargas came in to relieve him and held down the final 3 1/3 innings.  Wladimir Balentien hit his fifth home run of the season and made an outstanding diving catch in the outfield.  Ronny Cedeno also contributed with three excellent defensive plays.

The CPU split the final two games and the Mariners climb to second in the AL west with a 24-26 record.  We travel to Anaheim next.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on January 05, 2011 @ 05:08:35 AM
A quality start by Felix Hernandez and timely relief by Troy Percival led the Mariners to a 6-4 victory over the Angels in Anaheim.  Seattle shot out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning off a two run Griffey Jr. HR.  They were later able to add four more runs and take a 6-2 lead into the eighth inning before Hernandez faltered and gave up three straight hits after Balentien committed an error on a sharp line drive to left field.  Percival came in with no outs and men on first and second and shut down the Angels in the eight and ninth, allowing no hits or walks, and securing the win.  Percival was awarded the Pepsi Clutch Performer for the game.

The CPU split the remaining two games with Anaheim and our record improves to 26-27 as we head home to host Texas next.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on January 11, 2011 @ 03:09:31 PM
Chris Davis hit a two run blast in the top of the tenth inning in Seattle to power the Texas Rangers over the Seattle Mariners 3-1.

The Mariners were unable to mount any offense despite jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Starter Dustin McGowan pitched a solid five and a third innings before leaving the game with a cramping hamstring and being relieved by Ryan Rowland-Smith. Rowland-Smith was excellent in three innings of work, allowing no runs and striking out four with one walk allowed. Chad Cordero mopped up the ninth inning and then struck out Ian Kinsler to start the tenth. Michael Young walked and Josh Hamilton hit into a fielder’s choice. With two outs and Hamilton on first Cordero allowed a fastball to drift up into the zone and Davis blasted the 2-0 pitch over the right-centerfield fence. Cordero finished off the final out and during the Mariner’s half of the inning Ichiro struck out, LaHair lined out to second, Beltre singled to left, and Griffey struck out to end the game.

The CPU swept the next three games against the Rangers and the Mariner’s record climbs to 29-28 climbing above .500 for the first time since April 26th.  Seattle takes over first place in the AL West, holding a statistical lead over Anaheim which holds a 30-30 record.  The Mariner’s host the Baltimore Orioles in a three game series before traveling to San Diego to start interleague play.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on January 12, 2011 @ 01:16:17 PM
Brendan Morrow struck out nine batters and walked three in a solid six and two thirds innings work and helping his team defeat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 before thirty seven thousand fans at Safeco Field.  The twenty-five year old Morrow improved his record to  4-2 in his 12th start of the season.  Vargas came in to relieve Morrow, holding the Orioles scoreless, and Percival earned this save.  Morrow was later named the Pepsi Clutch Performer for the game.  The Mariners improve to 31-29 and hold a one and a half game lead over Oakland in the AL West.

Seattle's third starter, Morrow has been the Mariners most dominant pitcher so far this season.  In 76.2 innings of work he has amassed 82 K's while giving up 74 hits and 34 walks.  His ERA stands at 4.04.  Opponents are hitting .239 against him.


(https://www.digitalgamingarena.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi99.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl314%2Fatleiker%2FMorrow600x338.jpg&hash=9fdcd08cc9df3447127a8dbff2dd042978f709a4)
Brendan Morrow shown throwing a strike three fastball to Brian Roberts in the top of the first inning for the first of his 9 K's of the night.

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on February 16, 2011 @ 01:55:01 PM
Finally got around to some High Heat last night, hope to get back into it.

Split two games with the Yankees, losing the first 8-4 and winning the second 6-3.

We're in first place early in 2012, but the division is a logjam.  Nonetheless, we have a good hitting team (for once), so we'll see if we can make a run.


BTW, my 4-and-a-half-year-old is 6 games into a season in Backyard Sports Football '09 also on PS2.  He's playing a game almost every night, and is 4-2 so far (a few games didn't save due to glitches in the game).  Amazing to see how into it he is!! :-)
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on February 25, 2011 @ 03:55:03 PM
Beat the Yankees again in a 2-1 duel, but followed it up with 3 blowout losses in a row at Toronto to drop out of first place.

Then last night had a great game at Texas -- led 2-0 most of the game, scored 2 in the 9th to make it 4-0 and felt safe, only to see Texas hit back-to-back homers in the last of the ninth to make it 4-3 with 1 out.  With 1 on and 2 out Colby Lewis picked up his sixth save by striking out Chipper Jones to preserve the 4-3 win.

We're now 10-9, tied with Toronto for first place in the jumbled East.  Almost halfway through the 2012 season.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on March 02, 2011 @ 04:59:59 PM
5th starter John Garland kept Texas in check for 5 innings, but the bullpen blew up and Texas exploded for a 7-2 win.

Hot-and-cold "Ace" Bobby Crouch was then on fire at the Yankees., throwing 8 scoreless innings.  We made 3 baserunning errors after not making any in a year, we probably could have had 2 or 3 more runs, but it didn't hurt us and we won easily 5-2.

We're now 11-10, 1 game back of Toronto in the East, approaching the halfway mark of the season.

Though we are a pretty good defensive team, I recently realized that a large percentage of our fielding errors were being made by our good-hitting 2nd baseman Joe Thurston.  I also noticed Rafael Furcal was unsigned and available, so I picked him up as a late-inning defensive replacement.  Well, Furcal was so much better in the field that he's been our starting 2nd baseman the last four or five games, with Thurston moving to DH.  Suddenly our pitching seems much better, as his range and hands are both better than with Thurston, it seems to save at least 1 or 2 hits a game and minimizes the erros.  It's funny how little things like this can really be a big difference!
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on March 02, 2011 @ 05:27:50 PM
Defense is so underrated.  It takes pressure off your pitchers AND your hitters.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on March 10, 2011 @ 03:58:45 PM
Beat the Yanks 5-2 again for a rare 2-game sweep! 

Then played two against Tampa Bay who are a good-hitting team. Jose Loftus pitched for us.  Background on Loftus: In 2008 and midway through 2009, he was one of the top pitchers in the NL.  We dealt a lot of talent for him mid-way through the 2009 season, and he was awesome.  In 2010, he was our #1 starter and one of the best in the league, 6-1 with a 2.66 ERA.  Midway through 2011, despite being only 30, he suddenly seemed to show signs of "getting old".  He started striking out fewer batters, walking a LOT more, and giving up an alarming number of HRs.  Despite an OK start to the season, he finished 3-5 with a 6.00 ERA.  This season it has gotten worse, and coming into this game he was 0-4 with an ERA over 8.  So this game was his last chance to stay in the rotation.

He got TB out 1-2-3 in the first inning, but then proceeded to give up 5 runs without getting out of the third inning.  Tampa was awesome, and they walloped us 16-5 in a game that didn't seem as close as the score.

Pete Whiteside, one of our top pitchers this year, pitched the second game.  In the third a two-out error led to three unearned runs.  Then in the fourth they got a big HR and we were down 6-0.  At that point I started thinking that Tampa was the top team in the East and that they would soon be running away with the division.  Suddenly, we started hitting and got into their bullpen, and I immediately realized why TB will not likely actually be running away with the division.  We came all the way back to take a 7-6 lead.  Barry Zito came in late for them and couldn't find the plate, our bullpen stranded a ton of their runners, and we ended up getting a big win, 10-6.

We're now 13-11, tied with Toronto for first place in the muddled East (only the Yanks seem to be fading a little).  We're halfway through the season.  Our hitting is awesome (2nd in the league in BA and around that in the other categories), but our pitching is up-and-down (in the bottom third in the league in most categories).

Despite sadness, I then moved Jose Loftus to Florida for one of their top pitching prospects, who I'll immediately give a shot in the rotation.  We're almost at the trading deadline, and we're legitimately in contention, so we had to do something to bolster our chances.  I also released Doug Davis who was a fantastic stop-gap starter and occasional reliever for us in 2010 and partially in 2011.  I replaced him with one of our top pitching prospects.

Hopefully our two new pitchers will give us a boost.  We'll see.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on March 10, 2011 @ 04:51:12 PM
Nice Mike.

You have free agency off and only draft and trade is that correct?

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on March 14, 2011 @ 04:01:07 PM
Yes.  I turned off contracts/budgets due to some small bugs in the CPU-team logic.  The CPU-logic for drafting and progressing through the system, as well as trade offers and acceptance is solid.

In the first few seasons I really didn't pay attention to the draft since I didn't realize I would go so long in the franchise.  More recently I've been writing down all the draft picks, and really studying what I will need a few seasons down the road, and it's definitely helping the team.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on March 18, 2011 @ 03:47:22 PM
Played a few more games this week, and started to slump.

Hosted Texas, who are first in the AL West.  Great pitching from 5th starter John Garland who gave up 3 runs early but no more and got through 8 innings.  3-3 through 8 innings and then my bullpen could not get ANYONE out in the 9th.  Seriously, not anyone.  A lot of hits and walks, a couple errors, and a Home Run, and we lost 9-3.

Hosted Seattle, who are second in the AL West.  Top starter Bobby Crouch just didn't have it and we got killed early.  Ended 10-3.

Following an off day, traveled to Seattle for 2 games.  In the first, we got pretty good pitching from Joe Kennedy but we couldn't hit.  Luckily, the Seattle pitcher was super-wild and walked a ton of guys.  In the 4th he walked the bases loaded and Bobby Brown (our power-hitting centerfielder who's under .200 for the season so far) launched a grand slam.  We ended up winning 6-4 despite getting only 4 hits for the game.

In the second game, our new rookie starter John Bell (just acquired from Florida) made his first start.  He only gave up single runs in the second, fifth, and 6th, a solid 6 inning outing, but we were still down 3-1 and ended up losing 6-3.

We then played at Oakland, who were at .500 for the year.  It felt like an important game, with Pete Whiteside (our most consistent starter) pitching.  They scratched out some runs on him early, but he kept us in it.  We threatened a few times but just couldn't tie it up.  Finally, down 4-2 in the 8th, our best hitter Larry Henderson delivered a big double and we tied it!  But we couldn't get him home, and Oakland scored against our bullpen in the last of the 9th for a 5-4 loss.

We're now at 14-15, 2.5 games back in the East and 2 games back of the WildCard.  With 19 games to play, we desperately need a few wins to get into real potential playoff position.  Our next two games are at Kansas City, who are last in their division.


Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on March 21, 2011 @ 04:17:10 PM
Played two games at KC who are a very weak team.

In the first, John Garland (our 5th starter) gave us another strong outing.  We went up 3-0 and won 4-2.

In the second, our #1 starter Bobby Crouch pitched well and left with a 3-2 lead in the 8th.  Our bullpen couldn't do a thing, and KC won it 4-3 in the last of the ninth.  This felt really painful as they are just not a strong offensive team.

Then a single game at Anaheim who currently top the AL West.  We burst out to an early 5-0 lead, but Joe Kennedy couldn't hold it.  At 5-5 in the 4th I sensed disaster, but a great performance by recently-called-up-pitcher Matt Moore (4.1 IP, 0R) and some big hits late broke it open for a big 11-5 win.  If Kennedy has another poor start, we might try Moore in the rotation.

Now a critical 3-game series at Tampa, who are a great hitting team with a horrible bullpen.  They're behind us in the East.  Played the first game, with John Bell pitching (the prospect we just got from Florida) -- He had pitched well in his first start, but had some hard luck.  We hit like crazy and AGAIN burst out to a 5-0 lead.  Bell was pitching awesome, but let them back in the game in the 5th, walking 2 with 2 out and then throwing a HR to A-Rod.  With the score 5-4, the game became a roller-coaster with Tampa threatening but not scoring in the 6th, 7th, and 8th.  One time they loaded the bases with 1 out, and Jeremy Affeldt went 3-0 on the hitter, but he somehow some way wriggled out of it.  Meanwhile Barry Zito relieved for Tampa, and he walked a ton of hitters but was otherwise effective and kept it close.  We finally got 1 in the top of the 9th to make it 6-4.  With me finally feeling confident, star closer Colby Lewis showed he was human by giving up back-to-back jacks, the second being A-Rod's second of the game, to allow the Rays to tie it, 6-6.  Unfazed, we then rallied for 3 runs in the 10th to win a barnburner, 9-6. 

We're now 17-16, but we're 4 GB in the East as Toronto is red-hot.  We're 2 GB in the Wild Card race.  15 games remaining in 2012.  Without question this has been our best team in the franchise so far, it's just unclear if we have the consistency to reach the playoffs.  Our bullpen has been a bit shaky of late, but at least our bats seem to be heating up again.

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on March 23, 2011 @ 03:59:57 PM
2 great games with horrible results last night to finish out the Tampa series.

In the first: Marty Slattery (our under-performing 1B) homered in the first.  Pete Whiteside, our most consistent starter, pitched incredibly, 7 innings of shutout ball.  But we couldn't hit at all against their top starter, and in the 8th they finally broke through against our bullpen to tie it 1-1.  They finally scored again in the 12th to win the pitchers duel 2-1.  We were amazingly held to 3 hits through the 12 innings, and didn't really deserve to win; it still hurt to waste that great pitching performance though.

In the second: 5th starter Jon Garland gave up some runs early, but settled down.  Our hitting returned and it was 3-3 through 5.  We had a ton of guys on base in the next few innings, but couldn't cash one in, including an "out at the plate" for a 3rd out where Slattery was just too slow scoring from first on a double.  Scott Stewart came in for the 8th inning; historically he has been great for us as a one-or-two-batter lefty specialist, but he's been having a bad season in 2012.  He was horrible, walking 2 of the 3 guys he faced.  We held them to 1 run, but trailed 4-3 going to the 9th.  With 2 out and none on, Gary Cox (our great rookie LF who has a good shot at rookie of the year) went 0-2, but fought back to 3-2 and delivered a single.  Our catcher drew a walk, so it was now first-and-second with 2 outs.  5th OF Chris Brantley hit next, and he hit a shot that looked like a HR or at least off-the-wall...until the Tampa RF came streaking over a made a jumping-catch-at-the-wall to save the game for the Rays.  A very very painful 4-3 defeat.

We are now down to 17-18 overall, still in second place but 5 games back in the East to streaking Toronto.  We're 3.5 GB in the Wildcard race behind Chicago, and our next two games are at Chicago.  We really really need to come up with two wins to bolster our playoff hopes with only 13 games remaining in the season.



Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on March 24, 2011 @ 03:35:40 PM
Frustration continued at Chicago last night.  They have a phenomenal power-hitting lineup, whose only real weakness is that it's lefty-dominated.

First game: They killed Bobby Crouch.  We hit a lot to keep it interesting, but they took it 8-6.

Second game: Joe Kennedy (a lefty) pitched his best game of the season by far.  They only got one run, which scored on a Rafael Furcal error in the 5th.  We got 8 hits, but they were mostly singles and couldn't put a rally together and lost a heartbreaker, 1-0.

Then we played weakling KC at home, and took out our frustrations on them with an easy 7-2 win, breaking a 4-game losing streak.

It's at the point where every game feels just about must-win now.  We're tied for second in the East with Baltimore at 18-20, 4 GB of Toronto with just 10 games left.  We're 5.5 back in the Wild Card, with lots of teams in the mix, so that seems unlikely.

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on March 25, 2011 @ 12:52:22 AM
Man what a nail biting season!
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on March 30, 2011 @ 04:22:51 PM
A few wins and a few more losses this week, nothing too notable.  We're now 6 GB with 6 to play.  2-7 over our last 9 has really done us in. :-(
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on April 11, 2011 @ 04:09:53 PM
OK, 2012 is in the books.

We finished tied for second with Baltimore (our best finish so far), but our record was an uninspiring 21-27.  We just did not have any pitching consistency, particularly down the stretch, and we fell out of the race quickly and painfully.  We are still yet to be in a pennant race for an entire season.

Cleveland took the AL pennant, their fourth in the 10-year franchise.  Atlanta took the Series, back-to-back champs, the first time that's happened.

Looking to the offseason:

Our pitching is in a messy state and needs some rebuilding.  Our top starter Bobby Crouch was inconsistent.  The rest of our rotation was OK, but not great.  The bright spot was John Garland, who was an awesome 5th starter, but he's not an Ace.  Meanwhile our bullpen is really aging; Scott Stewart was horrible after many years of being great against lefties, and Jeremy Affeldt is wild and not the answer either.  Colby Lewis and Scot Shields were very strong as Closer and Set-Up man, but they're both aging, hopefully they still have another year or two of good performances.

Our lineup is in a slightly better state.  Larry Henderson is a proven All-Star at 3B, he hit 12 HR, and is still in his mid-20s.  Gary Cox is our LF and he won Rookie of the Year, hitting over .330.  Our CF Bobby Brown hit 11 HR and is good in the field, he's also in his mid-20s.  Cristian Guzman, though old, is still pretty good at short, and Carl Crawford is solid in all phases in RF.  We could really use another good RH bat to bolster 1B/DH, and a young 2B who can field to replace stop-gap Rafael Furcal.

Our farm system is not too strong right now.  We used a lot of draft picks on pitching the last two seasons, who are making their way up the system but not really ready yet.  And it has left our number of lineup-ready players pretty thin.

Bottom line, it's REALLY hard to improve your team quickly without taking big risks.

Will try to play the offseason in the next few nights, then on to 2013!
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on April 15, 2011 @ 04:45:53 PM
OK, I have worked on the offseason tasks about 6 late-night hours this week, and we're ready to start 2013.

The big (and very sad) news: After 10 seasons, we had to move Carl Crawford, leaving us only 1 "original" player, Cristian Guzman.  The trade accept/deny logic for the other teams is super-tough, and they generally wouldn't take any of the players I wanted to get rid of (which is, of course, how it should be).  In an effort to bolster our pitching, after attempting about 300 possible trade combinations to multiple teams, I resigned myself to having to give up something of value and that was Crawford (since we have some semblance of outfield depth).  We also had to give up solid fifth-starter John Garland to get a young 2B.

Here are his career stats:

            At Bats   Average   HR   RBI   SB
2012   189   .275    5   22   6
2011   165   .327    11   36   9
2010   173   .249    3   15   1
2009   197   .299    6   21   16
2008   200   .275    6   22   9
2007   191   .251    5   24   7
2006   196   .352    7   19   15
2005   127   .276    1   9   10
2004   185   .303    2   17   11
2003   174   .333    1   12   6

Despite his more-than-solid all-around numbers, the biggest thing I think we'll miss is his ability to cover ground in RF.

OK, so here's how things shape up for 2013.

Pitching Rotation: Tons of potential.  Bobby Crouch, Pete Whiteside, and John Bell return.  Crouch was a top-pick who was 6-2 in his rookie year of 2010, but has been up-and-down since.  Pete Whiteside had an ERA over 4 last season, but was extremely consistent and almost always kept us in the game.  Bell was a late-season pick-up from Florida who looked great most of the time in limited action.  We picked up Randy Sanders, a young lefty who had a good season with Milwaukee, as well as John Brogna a 21-year-old with fantastic potential from the Mets.  Overall the rotation is super-young, with nobody over 27 years old.

Bullpen: Scot Shields and Colby Lewis return as set-up and closer, they've been solid for many seasons.  Pat Rodriguez returns, who was a good pre-set-up man last season, and we picked up Kyle Lohse to help in that department.  Matt Moore was a rookie last year who was pretty good, he'll cover long-relief and spot starts.  The big weakness appears to be LH relief, as all we have is Jeremy Affeldt (who was wild last season), and a low-regarded rookie, Scott Hickey.  It's definitely a deeper bullpen than last season, but there are some questions of aging  with Shields and to some extent Lewis, as well as the ability to get out a LH hitter in a key spot.

Hitting: Our three best offensive players return.  Larry Henderson was an All-Star calibre 3B, Gary Cox was the Rookie of the Year in LF, and Bobby Brown our CF hit 11 homers despite slumping much of the season and having an injury.  We picked up a high-potential prospect Tony Lieberthal from Anaheim to play 2B, and Cristian Guzman returns at short for an 11th season.  C should be decent between Bill Montgomery (who we've had for 4 seasons) and our 22-year-old top draft pick.  Our potential weaknesses seem to be DH (Joe Thurston, good singles hitter who I couldn't trade for more power), 1B (Marty Slattery, good field, limited hit), and RF (a mix of aging JD Drew, overachieving-but-limited-youngster Chris Brantley, and two decent prospects from AAA).  Rafael Furcal is still around and should be able to help out here and there too.



Is anybody else actually playing seasons this year ?   Or continuing from past versions ?
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on April 15, 2011 @ 08:58:16 PM
Good luck in 13!

I'm going to start a new franchise from scratch with 2k11, but just don't have the time right now.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Slumberland on April 18, 2011 @ 01:22:01 PM
Quote from: Mike_S on April 15, 2011 @ 04:45:53 PMIs anybody else actually playing seasons this year ?   Or continuing from past versions ?

I'm in mid-August of my Mets season on the PSP version of The Show '10 (last year's), leading the wild card race by a measly half game but a ways to go. I'm committed to getting through the season without simming, then maybe an off-season and a little bit of the next season and I'll see whether I want to upgrade to the new edition.  As a big Ike Davis fan, I wish I had him in my season, but it's impossible to add created players in the PSP version once you get going.

On the PS3 (The Show '11), I've got a fantasy Pirates season going, 29 games per season, so you basically just play every team once. Quite fun, 11-9 and in a six-way tie for the wild card spot with nine games to go.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on April 21, 2011 @ 04:20:25 PM
Had a ridiculous experience last night.

Opened the 2013 season with a 3-game set against Tampa.  They are a great power-hitting team that has 3 awesome LH hitters batting 2-3-4, plus 2 decent RH hitters lower in the lineup (one of which is an aging A-Rod).  Their bullpen is their biggest weakness.

Game 1: Bobby Crouch got crushed, giving up 2 HRs in the first inning.  We were down 5-0 after a half-inning, and lost 7-4.  It was never close.

Game 2: Randy Sanders, our new LHP battled for four innings and it was 1-1, but he gave up 2 HRs in the 5th and it was quickly another blowout.  We scored a few late to make it more respectable, but still lost 8-5.

Game 3: In dire need of a win, John Brogna got his first Boston start.  Brogna is the 22-year-old, 2nd-year RHP with a ton of potential obtained from the Mets for Carl Crawford.

Brogna threw four innings of no-hit ball to start the game.  In the 5th, the Rays hit a ball up the middle.  I hit the "dive" button for our 2B, who stopped the ball, but the delay from the dive allowed the runner to beat it out for their first hit of the game, an infield single.  Brogna then proceeded to not allow another hit the remainder of the game, finishing with a 1-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory.  And almost all of their outs were soft grounders in the infield.

To put this in perspective:

- I think I have legitimately played thousands of games of High Heat baseball and never remember pitching better than a 3 or 4-hit game (against a legitimate difficulty level, anyway).  I have never been no-hit either, though I think I have been 1-hit or 2-hit maybe 2 or 3 times total.

- The Rays had just CRUSHED us for 15 runs in 2 games against our "top 2" starters, including 6 homers.  They proceeded to get 1 single over an entire game.  And Brogna didn't exactly match up great against the Rays, since their top hitters all are LH hitters.

- I am about 80% sure I could have gotten to the ball without diving; and if I had, I definitely would have been able to throw out the runner for sure.

- Most of Brogna's "current" ratings are way below his "potential" ratings due to his young age and lack of experience. 

Brogna's only slight negative was 4 walks.  We also made 1 error.  But with so many grounders, we were able to turn 3 DPs.  Only 1 runner got further than first over the whole game.

Needless to say, it was the best pitching performance I have ever seen in High Heat by far.  It was an amazing gaming experience, and gives me a lot of hope both for this season and the future.



Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on April 21, 2011 @ 11:41:32 PM
It is really fun when a game you have played so much of gives you such a new and unique experience.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Slumberland on April 22, 2011 @ 02:04:54 PM
Cool stuff.  Mike, I forget, how many games are your seasons comprised of?
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on April 22, 2011 @ 04:05:43 PM
48-games seasons.  I chose that number because it seemed like my interest in season-play always waned between 50 and 70 games in.

I like it now because it's roughly 1/3 of a full-season which makes stat-comparisons easy -- for example,  hitting 10 HRs in my season is comparable to hitting 30 in a full-length season, etc., and a pitcher winning 6 games has done REALLY well (like winning 18 in MLB).

Also, if I fall out of the pennant race, there's usually only 15-or-less games left.  Can't imagine being out of it and having 40 or 50 games left to play through!!
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Slumberland on April 23, 2011 @ 09:41:14 PM
Some video from a nice day game at PNC park in my fantasy Pirates 'chise... we snapped a three-game losing streak, and now stand at 12-10 with only seven games left to go.

Padres at Pirates (Game 22 of 29) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDFP5tK_TPw#)
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on May 04, 2011 @ 04:05:37 PM
We took 2-of-3 from the Yankees, who do not appear to be super-strong.

We then split 2 extra-inning games against Seattle. 

Randy Sanders pitched much better than his first start in the first game, but we couldn't hit.  We clawed back from 4-0 with 1 in the 7th, 2 in the 8th, and finally 1 with 2 outs in the 9th.  In the 12th I thought we won it on a grounder up the middle, but their shortstop got it home for a tag-out (I thought he was safe, it was REALLY close).  They finally homered in the 16th inning to win it 5-4.  Kyle Lohse was amazing with 5+ innings of scoreless relief.

Then in the second game John Brogna had his follow-up start after the awesome 1-hitter he threw in his first appearance.  Much to my surprise, he actually gave up a run in the second inning on two singles and an error.  He was really good again though, and left with us leading 2-1 in the 7th -- no earned runs allowed through 16 IP so far!!  Colby Lewis gave up a run trying to close it out in the 9th, but he was great after that and we scratched out a run in the 11th for a 3-2 win.

We're 4-4 so far in 2013, tied with 2 other teams for first in the East so far.  Our pitching -- and especially the bullpen -- has been fantastic, our ERA is best in the AL so far.  Our hitting has been poor, but at least we've had some timely power.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on May 08, 2011 @ 05:12:30 PM
Unbelievable.  Top of the ninth inning with another perfect game going with Doug Fister of all people.  Pitched count is 78 of an 85-102 limit.  Count is 1-2 and I get injured again.  Upper arm injury.   Again this wasn't a game eligible for the contest, but I'm really aggravated that I've had two potential perfect games stolen by the pitcher injury bug.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on May 09, 2011 @ 03:54:24 PM
That's horrible.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Jason on May 09, 2011 @ 07:39:54 PM
That sucks Ted. Hopefully the soon-to-be-released patch takes care of the issue.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on July 22, 2011 @ 04:28:03 PM
Anybody still playing their seasons ?

I've slowly started playing a game here and there in my HH career mode again and it's been really fun.  My 2013 team is looking stronger so far.  Swept the Yanks in a 2-game set in the road, then blew out Anaheim before finally breaking the winning streak in a 7-2 loss.

We're 7-5, 1GB.  3 games at Baltimore (poor) next, followed by a huge early-season 3-game set against Tampa Bay (first place).

My hitting stats are around 9th in the league, but in a major surprise, my pitching is awesome so far -- 1st or 2nd in almost every major category.

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on July 22, 2011 @ 05:24:13 PM
I just have no time anymore, but I like your updates so please keeps sharing if you like.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Jason on July 26, 2011 @ 02:42:36 PM
I'll probably start one with MLB 2K11 once the baseball season winds down. I've had less time for gaming this summer than any other, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Like Ted, I enjoy reading your updates too.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on July 31, 2011 @ 02:22:05 AM
Over the last week or so I started playing more again.  Too much fun.

We won 2 in a row at Baltimore, then were beaten up in game 3.  This put us 0.5 game up in the AL East over Tampa, going into a big 3-game set in Tampa.  They had beaten us 2-of-3 in Fenway already, and we only play 2 series against AL East foes per season.

In the first game we went up 5-1 and seemed to be cruising.  But with 2 outs in the 6th they hit a 2-run homer, and our bullpen just couldn't hold the lead.  We lost 6-5.

Suddenly the next game felt very intense.  Randy Sanders was our starter; he was a pre-season acquision, who had been big disappointment so far.  He gave up 2 early runs and was pitching terrible, but somehow kept getting out of ridiculous jams.  We got 1 back, and were down 2-1 forever.  After finally tying it at 2 in the 7th, our bullpen gave up 2 more and things looked bleak.  Larry Henderson, our best player, homered in the 8th to bring us within 4-3.    Then we got a man on 2nd with one out in the 9th.  Following a strikeout, Bill Montgomery (our singles-hitting catcher) got 2 quick strikes.  But he fouled a few off and finally delivered a single and we had tied it up!  Horribly, our pen again couldn't get it done and we lost it, 5-4.

Needing a win incredibly badly, we turned to John Brogna, our top pitcher so far this season who had 1-hit Tampa early in the season.  Brogna was extremely wild but still effective.  Tampa did get a homer in the 3rd, and led 1-0 while we were stymied at the plate.  Finally in the 6th we tied it.  Brogna walked a ton but gave up very few hits and kept it tied.  Through 8 innings each team had 1 run and 4 hits.  Somehow some way in the 9th inning we rallied for 2 runs and Colby Lewis closed it out for the big 3-1 win.

We then played 2 at home against KC who are battling for the lead in the AL Central.  In the first game we were on the verge of being blown out...we went down 4-0, were lucky it wasn't 6 or 7-0, and their pitcher had retired out first 14 hitters!!  But then, with 2 out in the 5th, we broke up the no-hitter with a single.  The next batter hit an infield grounder that was so slow that there was no play and we had 2-men on.  JD Drew followed with his first HR of the season and amazingly we were back within 4-3.  We went down 5-3, but Henderson delivered his league-leading 10th homer in the last of the 7th to tie it at 5!  We had turned 5 hits into 5 runs thanks to timely power.  We manufactured a run in the 8th, and Colby Lewis saved another win for a ridiculous 6-5 win.

KC absolutely drubbed us in the second game, our worst blowout loss this season; we lost it 10-1.

So we're now 11-9, tied with TB for first in the East, 1 game ahead of Toronto who we haven't played yet.  Our next 2 games are against lowly Baltimore, but then 4 of our next 5 will be against Minnesota and Texas who are 2 of the top teams in the AL.  Our pitching is still near the top of the AL even with a few shaky games; our hitting is poor for average, but we have a ton of power plus a decent amount of speed.

It's exciting...



Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Jason on July 31, 2011 @ 07:51:55 PM
Great stuff. I feel like I'm reading about the real thing when reading your posts. 
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on July 31, 2011 @ 11:05:20 PM
Same here.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 02, 2011 @ 03:04:44 PM
Unexpectedly lost 2 at home against Baltimore.  The first was 5-4 in 10 innings, and then they put up a 10-spot and we got blown out in the second.  I was really down in the dumps after this; the team had fallen to third place, plus also Baltimore (who had seemed out of it) was creeping up within striking distance of us as well.

Then we had 2 against Texas, the top team in the AL with amazing hitting.  I was hoping we could at least a stop the bleeding and get a split.

Our Ace, John Brogna, pitched the first game.  For the first time all season he was roughed up some.  But our bats roared to life with 16 hits (our top output all year) and we won a wacky one, 7-5.  Brogna is now 4-0 with an ERA just over 2.00 (which leads the AL).

Pete Whiteside (whose very consistent) pitched the second game, and our bats continued to pound Texas pitching.  We went up 8-1 after 6 and it seemed like it was all over.  Then Texas' big bats exploded late as they crushed our bullpen, and they got it all the way back to 8-7 before Colby Lewis closed it out with men on base in the ninth!

We are now 13-11 at the halfway point of the season, 1 GB of Tampa Bay and 0.5 ahead of third-place Toronto.  We're around 9th in the league in most offensive categories, and 3rd in most pitching stats (but we were first, we've been falling a bit lately).

There are only 4 days left until the trade deadline, and I'd love to move on more starting pitching.  We have a legitimate ace and 2 consistent other starters, but our other 2 starters have been washouts.  The main issue is that we have no real depth to trade, and I haven't found a taker for a prospect.  In the meantime, we're moving Matt Moore (our long reliever) and Kyle Lohse (our secondary setup man) into the rotation to see if it helps.

This is clearly the best team we've had through the first-half of a season in the ten seasons of the Franchise.  Three more home games will start the second half.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 05, 2011 @ 10:05:37 PM
Couldn't get anybody to bite on a trade to give me some better pitching for scraps, and didn't feel the need to add any unsigned free agents or bring up minor leaguers yet, so on with the season...

Matt Moore made his second start as we hosted Oakland who are around .500.  He is a decent long-reliever who I threw into the rotation since 2 of my starters have been getting lit up, but his first start was not strong.  This time, he was outstanding getting out of trouble 3 times and holding Oakland scoreless through 7 innings on 6 hits.  Unfortunately the A's starter was unbelievable, holding us to 3 hits.  In the 8th we went to the pen and hit a batter, and he came around to score.  We lost, 1-0, the first shutout against us this season -- a huge surprise considering how high-scoring all our recent games have been plus expecting nothing from Moore.  It was a real heartbreaker.

Next two home games against Minnesota who are very strong and the top hitting team in the league.  In the first game, Bobby Crouch pitched well but we against couldn't hit and we were down 3-1 through 7.  We manufactured a run in the 8th, then Larry Henderson hit his league-leading 12th home run in the 9th to tie it.  Colby Lewis pitched 4 innings of great relief in his longest outing of the season, but we couldn't buy him a run and he didn't have the stamina to finish it; we got crushed in the 13th inning, and lost 7-3.

Then Kyle Lohse made HIS first start of the season after being pretty good in the bullpen.  He cruised through 4 innings giving up only 1 run, and then we FINALLY exploded at the plate for 6 runs in the 4th.  Unfortunately, Lohse couldn't keep it going or hold the lead -- he gave up a 2-run bomb in the 5th, then a horrible wind-blown 3-run homer in the 6th.  Eventually Minnesota brought in 2 more against our bullpen for an 8-6 win.  It was a terrible defeat, and a painful 3-game losing streak.

Needing a win super-duper-badly, we turned to our Ace, John Brogna, who has been the top pitcher in the AL so far this season.  We were on the road at KC, who are also pretty strong.  Brogna was on his game, walking only 3 and striking out 8, and we got him a ton of support.  It wasn't easy, but we eventually pulled away for a big 6-1 win.  Brogna is now 5-0 through 6 starts with an ERA right around 2.00 (and the average AL ERA is about 4.50 -- remember that the game was made in 2003 when teams hit like crazy compared to now!!).

We now stand at .500, 14-14.  We are 3 games back in the AL East of both Tampa Bay and Toronto, who are tied for the lead.  Also, Baltimore is 14-14 and tied with us for third place.  We are similarly 3 games back in the Wild Card race with 20 games left to play.

We're heading into a crucial stretch with 6 more road games next against good teams -- the last three of which are at Toronto.

Unfortunately, I'm heading out for a family camping trip for the next week, so things will have to be put on hold for a little while.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on August 15, 2011 @ 08:58:57 PM
I've started a new Franchise with MLB 2k11 (PC version).  With my playing time severely constrained I have decided to sim all the season games and only play the playoff games.  I will miss the variety of opponents, but this will allow me to get through multiple seasons like Mike is doing and also to play the minor league playoff games (AAA and AA) when those teams qualify.  I'm sticking with my Mariners and hope to improve the franchise to the point it is a playoff team again one day.  I've started with the latest official 2k roster which was dated 8/3/2011.  Just simming there is actually quite a bit to do, managing all the injuries and personnel moves through the organization.  There is also the amateur draft in June and I'll be keeping a close eye on my "homegrowns" to see who pans out and who busts.  The computer also initiates quite a few trades so that has to be managed as well.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on August 16, 2011 @ 12:08:44 AM
AAA Playoff Game 1 Tacoma Raniers (73-71) @ Nashville Sounds (84-60)

Luke French v Cedric Bowers

Both had seen some time with their MLB clubs this season with Bowers doing a stint in AA as well. Bowers is not a true starter so I figured we would get into their pen early. Bowers ended up going 4 innings and gave up three hits and one earned run while striking out two.

French worked his way out of jams in the first and second inning without giving up a run and then was solid through 6 innings, only allowing 5 total hits and 0 runs.  He was pulled in the bottom of the sixth for a pinch hitter.

Tacoma scattered a handful of hits before scoring their first run on a two singles and a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and following up with another one in the seventh when the leadoff hitter recent draft pick Darren Aybar walked and then scored on a triple hit by Mike Wilson. 

Dan Cortes came in for relief in the top of the seventh and immediately gave up a single and then walked the next hitter for a two on no out situation.  He was rattled and a mound visit by the manager settled him.  The next hitter hit into a double-play and then Cortes struck out the last hitter.  In the eighth he struck out the leadoff man and then got the next two to ground out.

Tacoma threatened in the ninth, but nothing came of it and recent draft pick Rickey Hellickson came in to close it out.  He struck out the first two batters, gave up a single and then struck out the final batter to end the game.

Tacoma hitter scored 2 runs on 7 hits and committed no errors while striking out 6 times and walking 3.

Nashvilled hitters scored 0 runs on 8 hits and committed no errros while striking out 5 times and walking 2.


Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 16, 2011 @ 03:56:08 PM
Cool plan, hope you can stick with it.

I'm surprised a team started a non-true-starter for game 1 of the playoffs ?!?
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on August 16, 2011 @ 05:46:50 PM
Probably a glitch with 2k's game.  To clarify, Bowers has 60 stamina so he is a long or middle long reliever stamina wise.  His sheet shows he is good for 78 pitches on the high side.  He might have been their best option as a 65 overall pitcher which is a lower end journeyman in this game.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 20, 2011 @ 03:31:38 AM
Started the critical 6-game road trip tonight.

First game was at Texas who are an amazing hitting team and among the top AL teams.  It was a ridiculous game and not-at-all intense, as the ball was flying all over the place for both teams.  JD Drew hit a 2-out grand slam to break it open 8-4 in the 4th, then later added a 2-run double. We won 11-8, sweeping Texas for the year 3 games to 0.

The next game was at Oakland who were now 1 game up on Texas in the West.  It was a Matt Moore vs. Gary Bowman pitching rematch from the game we lost 1-0 a week ago.  Moore, our fifth starter, again exceeded expectations and pitched well.  It was 1-1 after 2 innings and stayed that way until Oakland got 2 more in the 6th.  But Bowman was awesome again holding us to 4 hits, and the A's took it 4-1.

The next game was also at Oakland.  Bobby Crouch gave up 2 early runs but battled hard and we stayed in it.  We threatened a ton, but just couldn't score.  The game was very intense as it stayed 2-0; three times we hit into inning-ending double plays, and once Cristian Guzman got gunned down at home trying to score on what could have been a sac fly.  Finally Oakland got 2 more in the 7th to break it open, and they went on to win it 6-3.  With the win the A's have swept us for the season, 3 games to 0.

We now move on to arguably the most important series I've had in the entire franchise, a 3-game set at Toronto.  Currently Toronto is first in the East, and we're fourth, but we're only 2.5 GB as all five teams are close to each other.  John Brogna, our ace, is set for game 2, but the Jays have their top 2 starters scheduled in the first two games.  Per stats, their hitting overall is only a little better than ours, and with less power, and their pitching overall is much worse; their 17-13 record seems much better than they deserve based on stats, but they do have a great closer with 11 saves (which leads the AL).

Meanwhile we're also only 3 GB in a tight Wild Card race.

Of our final 17 games, we only face 2 teams with good records; 5 games against the Blue Jays, and 3 against the Indians (who lead the Central division).  The other 9 games are all against bottom-dwellars and struggling teams.  We also do not face any other Eastern Division teams except for the Jays.

Winning at least two out of three would be great, and winning at least one seems a requirement to legitimately stay in the 2013 race.


Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 21, 2011 @ 03:55:28 AM
Played a ton today including the key series in Toronto, and it was so frustrating.

First game was their #1 starter (Gabe White) against Kyle Lohse making his second start.  It was intense and awesome through 5 innings, with both teams scoreless on 2 hits.  In the 6th, Lohse gave up a single and walk with 1 out.  Then came the key play of the game -- a routine fly to left that my usually-reliable LF Gary Cox mishandled.  A double and single later it was 4-0, Lohse was gone, and it was over.  We lost 7-2.

Second game was wild.  Their #2 starter, Brad Shea, against our Ace, John Brogna (5-0 coming in).  In the top of the first we manufactured a run to take the early lead, but ended the inning with a runner thrown out at home trying to be aggressive.  Brogna was not sharp, and in the last of the 1st their cleanup hitter hit a fly-ball that somehow drifted into the seats for a 2-run homer, and we were down 2-1.  Brogna was not himself, getting in trouble every inning through the 4th, loading the bases twice; but somehow some way he kept stranding the runners,  and he kept it 2-1.  In the 5th we finally put together two hits and it was 1st and 3rd  with no outs, but we followed with 2 strikeouts and a pop fly and still trailed.  All of a sudden both starters were dominant.  Not much happened offensively the rest of the game, and it ended 2-1.  I couldn't believe that score held up the whole way, especially with Brogna pitching pretty poorly, and I was really disappointed in another punchless offensive game (6 hits, 1 run, only really 2 innings where we were close to scoring).

Desperately needing a win in the final game of the series, usually-consistent starter Pete Whiteside gave up 4 hits in the last of the 1st, the last of which was a 3-run bomb and we were down 4-0, depressed, and nearly out.  Completely unexpectedly he then settled down and only gave up 1 more hit through 7 innings which kept it within striking distance, but our offense was still doing nothing.  We eeked out 1 run early, but didn't get another 'til the 9th.  The Jays pitching was fantastic again, as it had been through the series, and they completed the sweep with a 4-2 win.

Our pitching was actually pretty solid through all three games, but our hitting was absolutely horrible.  Few hits, and little power.  Not enough baserunners to make something happen with speed.  No home runs at all for the series.

We then went home to start a 6-game homestand in dire need of some wins to have any hopes of the playoffs.  Matt Moore, our 5th starter, promptly couldn't get out of the 1st inning against Anaheim and the game was all-but-over at 6-0 before our first at bat.  We lost 10-3.

Then we had a ridiculous game against Detroit with our offensive FINALLY waking up.  We took an 8-5 lead late, but our bullpen broke down and they tied it up.  We thankfully put a rally together in the 10th inning and Bobby Brown (our CF) had a walk-off single to win it 9-8, ending our 6-game skid.

We're through 36 of 48 games for 2013 and down to 16-20.  We're 6 games back of Toronto in the East, 4.5 back in the Wild Card.  While we're still breathing, it feels like we need to rip off 4 or 5 wins in a row to have a real pulse.  We have enough pitching such that it seems possible, plus we're playing some of the weaker teams, but the hitting is going to have to come alive at this most critical time.



Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on August 21, 2011 @ 10:46:53 AM
Oh man what a setback.  Good luck.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 23, 2011 @ 02:20:31 PM
Well, we continued fading late in the season just like in 2012.  Our offense is nearly 100% dead right now.

Detroit beat us 7-2.  The White Sox beat us 6-2.  Then, in the must-sweep 2-game set with the Blue Jays, even an incredible 8-inning no-run pitching performance by Pete Whiteside was wasted as the Jays scratched out a run in the 9th then 2 in the 10th to beat us 3-1.  We finally eeked out a win in the final game of the series, 2-1.  That's 7 runs in the 4 games, after the horrible offensive output at Toronto last week.

We're now 17-23 and pretty much out of it with 8 games to go.  We were 13-11, I just can't believe how the offense fell apart over this stretch of games.  Toronto is now in command of the division, likely on their way to their second straight AL East title.

We're still in the top 3 or so in most pitching stats in the AL, but we're down to 12th or 13th in most hitting stats.  Beyond Larry Henderson, our all-star 3B, we only have a number of guys having average seasons plus a number having way-below-average years at the plate.  And our power, the saving grace for most of the year, has sagged against good pitching of late.  Worst of all, time feels like it's running out on our last remaining "original" player, Cristian Guzman, now 35 years old, who is hitting around .220 with no home runs for the year.

Hopefully we can turn it back around and at least make a run toward .500.  It's been a super-fun season, but the swoon sucks.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 26, 2011 @ 03:59:05 PM
Well, 2013 is complete and it ended badly.  We went from 13-11 at the halfway point of the season to 18-30 at the end, 10GB of Toronto in the East.  It was a complete collapse, with some blowout losses, blown leads, and losses of many other varieties.  It's amazing to me, because it still feels like this team was so much better than most of the previous years' teams.

The team fell apart because of 4 main reasons:

- Our offense hit for a ton of power in the first half, not so much in the second.  Larry Henderson had 12 HRs at the halfway point and finished with 17 -- good enough to tie for 1st in the AL, but a huge dropoff from his amazing first half.  Gary Cox our LF had 4 mid-way through the season, and finished with 5.

- Our Ace, John Brogna, was 5-0 with a 2.02 ERA through 6 starts.  He finished 5-4 with a 3.29 ERA, which was still a good overall season (average AL ERA was about 4.50 remember), but it shows how bad he was in the second half compared to the first.

- Our older guys stopped performing.  The worst cases were in the bullpen.  Early in the year Colby Lewis had 5 saves; he finished with 5, and blew saves left and right down the stretch.  His long run as our closer is likely over.  Also, our last remaining original Red Sox, Cristian Guzman, hit .222 with 0 HRs, his worst stats by far in his 11 seasons with the team.  His amazing run as our starting shortstop is likely over as well.

- Schedule.  We had 11 games against teams that won divisions, and all were in the second half of the year.

Anyway, Toronto won the East for the second straight year, Cleveland took the AL for the second straight year, and Milwaukee took their first World Series.  An interesting side note is that Cleveland has now won 5 AL pennants in the 11 years I've played; they are the dominant AL dynasty -- so far.


I did some statistical analysis.  We were WAY below average at SS and DH, below average at LF and RF, and only above average at 3B (Larry Henderson, our best player).  Our pitching was pretty good, 6th in the AL in team ERA, but our bullpen was bad -- dead last in both saves and save percentage.

I hope to try to acquire some players during the off-season to plug these holes, but it's tough when you don't have a lot of depth or players you can give up.  On the plus side, we have a lot of promising pitching prospects coming up, so maybe we can do something with a few of them.  Also, most of our productive core players are in their mid-20s, so at least they're still improving (in theory).

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 28, 2011 @ 03:14:26 AM
Did the offseason last night.  HUGE overhaul of our roster, much more than usual, in an effort to get together a powerful nucleus that can compete for the playoffs and championships year-in and year-out.

Key areas to upgrade included DH, SS, and Closer/Bullpen.  We actually have a pretty strong AAA team, in particular with pitchers, so the strategy was to move prospects or older players where possible for under-utilized high-potential players on other teams.  And also to REALLY try to make our team young all around the roster.

Gone of note:
- Cristian Guzman, our starting shortstop for all 11 seasons so far.
- Colby Lewis, our closer for the last 6 seasons.
- JD Drew, our starting RF last season (he retired at age 37)
- Tony Lieberthal, starting 2B last year with lots of potential but average performance
- Kyle Lohse (older P), Chris Brantley (utility OF), John Bell (young SP/Long Reliever), Joe Thurston (long-time DH/2B/1B)

Arriving:
- Rich Gibson, 29YO DH; good hitter who couldn't start on Milwaukee due to poor defense and no DH in NL
- Jeff Wallace, top SS prospect from Houston
- Glen Bradley, good RP from Atlanta, will start our season as closer
- Marc Young, top RP prospect from Philadelphia
- Kevin Moore, P from Oakland who was in their bullpen since they have a strong rotation, but will start for us.
- 3 top prospects from our own farm system: CF Mike Appier, 2B Henry Cooper, and OF Pete White.

So we have newcomers in the lineup at 2B, SS, DH, and CF (Bobby Brown moves to RF from CF to replace Drew), plus two top new relievers and a new starter.

The newcomers position players have a lot of potential for hitting, but appear better than those they replaced at both speed and defense.  And the new bullpen guys have great potential.  We'll see how it goes, but it like it'll have a little different feel at least.


2014 then started great with two wins in Baltimore.  The first game was a 4-1 win behind John Brogna, where Larry Henderson and Bobby Brown homered, and Scot Shields (the elder statesman of our team by far at age 38) was solid as setup man, and Bradley picked up his first save.  Then we won again, 3-2.  Kevin Moore was awesome in his first start, and we appeared to have a 3-0 win well-in-hand.  40-year-old Shawn Green homered for the O's to make it 3-2, but then Marc Young set up and Bradley closed it again for his second save.

The defense has been fantastic at both 2B and SS, it has really helped out so far.  We didn't hit all that great, but at least we had power and speed to get a few runs home when we had the chances.

I soon realized I couldn't remember the last three-game road sweep we've had (we only play 5 3-game series per year and only 2/3 on the road so it's not THAT awful, but still pretty bad), and was hoping Pete Whiteside could make it happen.

This third game reminded me why I love High Heat so much.  It was an amazing game, just a super gaming experience.

The wind was blowing in, and it was an intense pitchers duel.  We led 1-0 most of the way, and Whiteside was fantastic.

Fast-forward to the top of the 8th inning.  Bobby Brown tripled with no outs (we almost NEVER triple BTW), but a pop-up and strikeout later, he was still only on third.  Following a walk, Henry Cooper (our new 2B) was up -- 2 on, 2 out.  Though Cooper has hit very well so far, the percentages called for a lefty and so newcomer Pete White was called to pinch hit for his first ML At-Bat.  He delivered a clutch 2-run triple, and it was 3-0 and felt like the game was in the bag.

Last of the 8th, a tiring Whiteside gives up a single and a walk and comes out.  Scot Shields gets two outs, but then walks a man and the bases are loaded.  The next batter (a long-time Sox-killer) crushed a Grand Slam, and the O's were up 4-3 and I was completely deflated.  It flat-out felt like the game "cheated" to win.  We have lost so many games with our bullpen lately, I was just shaking my head (and almost ready to throw the controller).

Top of the ninth.  With one out, an error got us a baserunner.  Then after another out, a walk made it first and second.  Larry Henderson on second, who is pretty slow.  Marty Slattery our first basemen got a clutch single -- there was going to be a possible play at the plate.  Henderson did the worst-possible-slide (which very rarely happens, but often results in an out) and it was a virtual tie between runner and ball -- SAFE and the game was tied!!  We couldn't convert another run, but at least we were alive.

The O's loaded the bases in the 9th with 2 outs, but Marc Young got a key strikeout to send it into extra innings.

10th inning.  Furcal on second with two outs, but Henderson up.  Another clutch single, and ANOTHER possible play at the plate.  Understand that there aren't many plays at the plate in these games, and when there are they're rarely super-close, it was amazing that there would be two in a row like this.  As Furcal was coming down the line I thought at first he'd be out by a mile, then thought he'd make it...and he ALSO did the worst possible slide, and it was AGAIN a virtual tie between runner and ball -- OUT!  I couldn't believe the call.

The O's then proceeded to get 2 men on in the 10th, but strand them.

Our offense went dead after that, and Bobby Crouch (now in our bullpen relieved).  The O's proceeded to get 2 men on again in the 11th or 12th, but both times Crouch got the key outs and they couldn't get the winning run home.

In the 13th they got first and second again with one out.  Crouch then got a strikeout, but the next guy delivered a hit.  We relayed it home, but he did a better slide and was just barely safe.  The O's had won it 5-4, but it was an absolute classic and we played very well.

So we're 2-1, tied for first in the early 2014 AL East standings.

On to Tampa Bay for the next three games, they're also 2-1...

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Jason on August 29, 2011 @ 10:52:42 AM
I've said this before, but I'm absolutely amazed (and a little jealous ;) ) at the amount of fun you're getting from this game. You are playing the Xbox version, right? I'd love to find one game that I could dive so deeply into and stick with for such a long time.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 29, 2011 @ 04:53:37 PM
Yes, I'm playing the XBox version.  It's better than the PS2 version in that the frame rate is better, and there are some weird glitches that were fixed by the time XB shipped.  The PC version may be even better, because you can customize more stuff, it's just way easier for me to play on XB downstairs on our TV.

There are a ton of reasons why I find myself able to stick with this as opposed to most EA or other sports games (that are mostly 1-game-and-done for me).  I am hoping that someday I can help make some more sports games that exploit these core philosophical differences.

There are a few other very very very old sports games I've had similar experiences with, but they're super-duper-dated graphically at this point (and all DOS games).  MISL Soccer by SportTime is one (don't even ask, but just so far ahead of its time in terms of how franchise played out), the old TV Sports Basketball is another, and the best of all was the Bethesda Softworks Wayne Gretzky Hockey series.  Speedball 2 is pretty good as well, I had this on GBA and PC and later on PS1.  And then also Cyberball/arcade for a multi-player game.  I have no idea how old you guys are, but if you're old enough, or into SUPER-retro stuff, I hope you got/get to check these out at one time or another...

But yes, I'm amazed at how fresh and different games and players feel even after 500-ish games of the franchise and probably 1500+ games overall...
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on August 29, 2011 @ 11:29:11 PM
Wayne Gretzky Hockey (Amiga) was THE game that got me into sports games and also introduced me to the real sport of hockey.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on September 06, 2011 @ 08:20:30 PM
Got in a few games over the long weekend.

Was swept in a horrible 3-game performance in Tampa Bay.  Steve Hickey our 2nd-year lefty pitched great in the opener, and left in the 7th in a 1-1 tie, but a grand slam off of Scot Shields blew it open and we lost 5-1.  Then in the second game we got killed and went down 7-3; we slowly but surely battled back against the poor Rays bullpen, but fell short 7-6.  Even John Brogna couldn't stop the bleeding, leaving down 3-1 in the 7th of game 3, and a 3-run homer against our pen gave them an easy 6-1 victory.

Then on to KC for a 2-game set.  Newly-obtained Kevin Moore had his second great start in a row, and we broke the losing streak with a hard-fought 4-1 win.  Then Pete Whiteside had nothing in the second game, and the Royals won it 6-2.

We're now 3-5, going to the Home Opener.  We have 7 games against Tampa, Chicago, and the Yanks, all of whom are 6-2 right now, so it's going to be a very tough stretch.  Our starting pitching has generally been very good, our bullpen mostly good but a little spotty, but our hitting has been extremely poor.


Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on September 08, 2011 @ 04:26:36 PM
Split two games with Tampa last night.  Steve Hickey dominated in a 3-hit complete game and we won the opener 6-1.  Then Matt Moore got crushed in the second game, giving up 5 runs in the first two innings.  Bobby Crouch was superb in relief and we slowly kept creeping back into it, but Tampa hit a HR in the 9th to ice it and we lost 7-5.

We sent Moore back to AAA after his second consecutive horrible start, and moved prospect Earl Herrell up into our 5th starter slot.

Two more tough series coming up against top AL teams in the White Sox and Yankees.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on September 12, 2011 @ 04:19:01 PM
Two games against the White Sox last night.

Won the first, 4-2, behind a great pitching performance from John Brogna.  Lost the second, a tough 2-1 defeat despite a great performance from Kevin Moore.

Still just below .500, third straight series against a top team comes next against the Yankees.  Our pitching is great and we feel close...
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Slumberland on October 17, 2011 @ 09:30:26 AM
I'm 41-50 with the Mets on the PS3 going into the All-Star break, tied for last place with the lowly Nationals.  I've played every inning of every game.  It's been tough... pitching's good (with a surprisingly strong showing so far from Boof Bonser who made a spot start on account of injuries and just kept giving me reasons to keep him there) but I have a lot of trouble scoring runs.  Playing with everything on defaults, which means All-Star difficulty, and using all the analog pitching/hitting/fielding mechanics, which are pretty swell.

My team has been seriously shaken up, and I don't mind robbing the CPU when it lets me because the game is so damn tough.  Not that you can always abuse the other GM's, but here and there it happens.  Boston for some reason was super eager to take Johan Santana (who I just cannot pitch with for some reason) in exchange for both Jon Lester and Clay Buccholz.  The Nationals quickly soured on Bryce Harper, so I was able to nab him to be a most excellent 4th outfielder.  Reyes is gone, bringing back Austin Jackson to patrol centerfield and Victor Martinez who is a marked improvement over Josh Thole behind the plate.  I got Nick Punto (I love switch-hitters) to make do at shortstop, and K-Rod was shipped west after various embarassing meltdowns (including a key role in losing a 7-run lead to the Brewers that was one of the most ridiculous games I've ever played, but hey this stuff happens) and Detroit's Joel Zumaya is slinging heat for us as our new closer.  St. Louis is reportedly shopping Pujols, but I've got nothing that even mildly interests them.

Anyway, having fun, even if it's driving me nuts sometimes.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on October 26, 2011 @ 04:01:57 PM
Awesome that you've played every game!

I finally played the three-game set with the Yanks last night.  Won the first 9-2, then blown out in the second and third games.  We're 6-9, 3 GB in the jumbled East going into a 3-Game set against the Orioles.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on October 28, 2011 @ 08:55:43 PM
Had an uneventful 4-1 loss to the Orioles, but followed it up with an easy 7-3 win and then a GREAT tight game which we won 3-2.

We're now 8-10, 2 GB in a very jumbled East division.  Next up, 2 games against Minnesota who are last in the Central.  Our pitching has been fantastic so far, but we need more consistent hitting.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on November 04, 2011 @ 07:16:30 PM
Had 3 great games today.

Led Minnesota 3-1 going into the 8th in a tight game.  Then set-up-man Mark Young, after two strikeouts, walked a man and gave up a homer and it was 3-3.  In the last of the ninth Rafael Furcal hit a rare homer and we won it 5-3 for our third straight win.

In the second game our fifth starter, rookie Earl Harrell gave us a great gritty performance (after pitching horribly last time out in his first-ever start).  We led 3-1 after 6 after getting a lot of hits, but we were just unable to cash in any more than that despite plenty of baserunners.  In the top of the seventh, with two on and two out for Minnesota, Jose Vidro came up.  He has been a thorn in our side for the Twins throughout the long franchise, but this season he is pretty old and struggling at a .150-ish clip so far.  We went to reliable reliever Pat Rodriguez to force him to bat lefty, his weaker side.  Wouldn't you know Vidro drilled one to center field that bounced around for a 2-run triple and the game was tied at 3.  With 2 strikes on the next hitter, Rodriguez unleashed a wild pitch and Vidro came home to make it 4-3!  We were deflated.  For good measure, Vidro delivered a 2-run hit in the 9th and we lost it 6-3.

Then played the first of a key three-game set against traditional-nemesis Toronto.  John Brogna pitched for us, our #1 starter who has been a little wild this season so far.  Gabe White, a long-time #1 starter, pitched for the Jays.  In the first we loaded the bases with 2 out.  Matt Slattery our first baseman delivered a hit to score a run, but speedy Gary Cox was somehow called out at the plate for the third out -- so we led 1-0 at the end of the inning instead of leading 2-0 and still batting.  White then settled down and was brilliant the rest of the way.

For us, Brogna was super-duper-sharp, disposing of the first nine hitters with mostly weak grounders before finally giving up a hit to start the 4th.  Unfortunately, he then lost it, giving up another hit, then a double, and a walk.  It was 1-1, 1 out, bases loaded.  Brogna then somehow regained form, and struck out the next two hitters to leave 'em loaded.  It was super-sweet, and he was also sharp the rest of the game.

The game flew along, 1-1 into the last of the 8th.  With two out, and Cox on first, our best hitter Larry Henderson delivered a clutch Fenway double off the monster, and Cox sped home to make it 2-1 after 8.

Now we faced a decision -- Brogna had given up 1 run on 4 hits through 8 innings, but he was tiring and starting to get a little wild.  Closer Glen Bradley had 5 saves without giving up a run yet this season, but it felt weird taking the game away from Brogna.  Regardless, we went to the bullpen and in came Bradley.

The first player singled, bringing up their best two hitters.  Bradley got a grounder to first for the first out, but the runner moved to second.  Their cleanup hitter delivered a deep fly to right, but Bobby Brown our RF ran it down for the out.  Two outs, with the tying run now on third.  The next batter had an ridiculous long at-bat that eventually ended with a walk.  Somehow the next guy grounded to second for the final out, and we had held on for the 2-1 win.

We're now 10-11, 2 GB of the Yankees who now lead the jumbled AL East.  We have 2 games left with Toronto before going on a road trip as the 2014 season nears its halfway point.  Our pitching has continued to be among the best in the league.  Our hitting is still pretty weak though; our team Batting Average is going up a little bit, but our power hasn't been there lately and we still have two hitters under .200 at the end of the lineup.


Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on November 04, 2011 @ 08:27:19 PM
Very cool.  Love the story about Vidro, Mike.  Also, is it starting to look like Brogna is past his prime and how does that make you feel?  Thanks as always for sharing.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on November 07, 2011 @ 04:14:54 PM
Brogna is definitely not past his prime age-wise.  I think he's 23 years old, in his second season with us.  The thing is that he started last season 5-0 and was dominant.  He gave up only 1 earned run through 3 starts!!  But he finished 5-4 for the season with an ERA around 3.00 (which was actually kind of bad after his phenomenal start).  Somewhere in there he started getting really wild and losing his consistency -- he wasn't horrible or even bad, just far from dominant.

That has continued into this season, where he's now 3-1, but he just hasn't been dominant too often, and has been wild a lot even when effective.  This past game was his 5th start, and the first he really pitched super-well.  He got the first 9 outs, then he recovered from his bad inning during the 4th by striking out 2 guys and leaving the bases loaded.  He finished having given up only 4 hits through 8 innings.  This was the type of game he had early last year.

I don't really know what to do except ride it out.  He's clearly our best pitcher when on, he's just on-and-off.


Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on November 07, 2011 @ 08:11:32 PM
Got in 3 more games today.

#2 starter Kevin Moore pitched great, and we broke open a 2-2 tie in the 7th to beat Toronto again, 5-2.  Moore is 4-1 and has been our most steady pitcher this season.  And we're finally back to .500 at 11-11!!

#3 starter Pete Whiteside has been workmanlike and consistent so far this season -- but he gave up 3 right away in the first inning this time and we ended up getting blown out as Toronto avoided the sweep with an 11-3 win.

Then we started a road trip at Detroit, who have some good HR hitters but are not strong overall.  Steve Hickey pitched great, but the Tigers scratched out single runs in the 4th and 5th.  Gary Cox, our #3 hitter, got a fly-ball HR in the 6th at he hit the opposite-field foul pole, and it was tied at 2.  In the 8th we got 1st and 3rd, but could not score against some awesome relief pitching for Detroit.  Our bullpen got the key outs to keep the game going, but finally the Tigers scored in the last of the 10th to win it 3-2.  It was an intense game and a tough loss, although our hitting was just unable to earn us this win despite outstanding pitching.

At the half-way point of 2014 we stand at 11-13, 4GB of the somewhat-hot Yankees in the AL East.  Strong pitching, mediocre hitting, etc., etc., etc.


Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on November 07, 2011 @ 08:45:04 PM
Oh wow, I don't know why, but I thought Brogna was this old vet #1.  I wonder who I was thinking of.  I thought he was like a 10 year guy or something.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on November 08, 2011 @ 08:13:49 PM
No, I cleaned house on my staff and have few older players left, particularly on the pitching staff -- save for Scot Shields who will be gone either during or after this season. :-(

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on November 09, 2011 @ 06:56:57 PM
Played some more, and our bats -- and team as a whole -- are coming alive!

We won the second game at Detroit, 6-2 behind a good performance by Earl Harrell our fifth starter.  But he had to be pulled leading 4-2 with men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs in the 5th inning, leaving him one out shy of getting his first Major League win.  We hit very well, as some of our lesser guys started getting their averages up a bit.

We then returned home for a brief 3-game home-stand.  The first two games were against Seattle who are not that strong.

John Brogna pitched the first, and was not that sharp.  He walked a lot, and gave up a few hits, but as is his typical style lately, he still got the key outs and kept the runs to a minimum.  We were hitting like crazy again but not able to convert a lot of runs; in particular two key outs on the bases hurt us.  It felt like we should have been way ahead, but it was only 2-1.  Brogna gave up 2 in the top of the 6th and we were somehow down 3-2, but then we answered back with a pair of our own and led 4-3 through 6.  I cannot emphasize enough that it felt like we were dominating and should have been up 6-3 or maybe 7-3, so there was a little nervousness with only a 1-run lead.  Brogna left after 7, leaving it to the bullpen.  Unfortunately our setup man Mark Young gave up a 2-run bomb and then fell to pieces, and the Mariners won it 7-4.  It was the second time in a row that when we lost a game, it felt like we should have won.

Kevin Moore who is turning out to be our ace pitched the second game against the M's.  He was not his sharpest, but got out of trouble whenever he got into it.  For the third straight game our bats were hot, but we also left a lot of runners on base.  Moore left after 7 1/3, giving up only 1 run.  Young got through the 8th unscathed, and we went to our closer Glen Bradley fpr the 9th leading 4-1.  Bradley to this point had 7 saves, and had not given up a run all year.  He gave up a hit and a walk, but got two outs.  The next guy doubled, knocking in a run, which made it 4-2 with men on 2nd and 3rd!  Somehow Bradley got the next guy to ground to short, and we held on for a closer-than-it-should-have-been 4-2 win.

The final game of the home-stand was against Kansas City who are also fairly weak this year.  Unfortunately, they got 3 in the first against Pete Whiteside, and their starter Bruce Alexander was very sharp.  They led 5-1 when we scratched out a run in the last of the 6th to make it 5-2.  Then suddenly in the last of the 7th we came alive!  Two walks, a hit, an error, and a sacrifice fly made it 5-4 with 2 outs.  Another hit tied it at 5!  Then Marty Slattery, our first-baseman who has been showing signs of coming out of a hitting slump, blasted a 2-run double and we led 7-5!  It felt like our best win of the season!

But we weren't out of the woods yet.  Young pitched the 8th, and there was a man on first with 2 outs.  Their #2 hitter singled to center, but we somehow gunned out their runner at 3rd to end the inning!!  The bad news was that left their 3-4-5 hitters for the 9th inning, all good power hitters, and all lefties.

I wondered whether to call on Bradley, our usual closer, or go to Jeremy Affeldt who's more of a Lefty specialist, to pitch the 9th.  I went with Bradley, who was 8-for-8 to this point in converting saves.  The first batter singled, and the next guy homered, and the game was tied again, 7-7!  Bradley let two more guys on base in the 9th, but retired the side with no further damage.  We threatened in the 9th but didn't score, and it went to extra innings. 

Not much happened in the 10th, but when the Royals had their LH-hitting 3-4-5 hitters scheduled for the 11th, I went to Affeldt.  He got them in order.  In the last of the 11th we got a walk, and then on a hit-and-run play, Larry Henderson of COURSE delivered a double to left-center to bring home the winning run of an 8-7 masterpiece!


We're now back to .500 at 14-14.  The bad news is that the Yankees and Angels have been red-hot, and both have great records to lead their division.  So we're 5 GB of NY in the East, and 4 GB of Texas (who Anaheim just passed in the West) in the Wildcard race.  There are 20 games remaining in the 2014 season, and we are headed for a long road trip; the first few games will be against decent-or-worse teams, and the last few will be against the playoff leaders including the Yanks.







Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on November 11, 2011 @ 06:47:48 PM
Got in 3 more games.

First a 2-game set in Cleveland.  Not much to say other than the Indians played like the HH dynasty they are.  They scored 5 runs before we even got an out in the 1st inning en route to a 14-2 thrashing, and then crushed us again 9-3.

Then the first of a critical 2-game set in Toronto, a near must-win game.  John Brogna gave up a run in the first, and was again in and out of trouble all game due to wildness, but somehow some way didn't give up another run in 7 innings of work.  We scratched out a run in the 4th, another in the 5th, and FINALLY put a bunch of hits together in the 6th to break it open as we went on to win, 8-1.

There was an interesting side note in this one: In the third inning, our second baseman Henry Cooper suffered a minor injury.  Then in the fourth inning, our first baseman Marty Slattery also suffered a minor injury.  I can't remember if we've ever had two injuries in the same game before.  But the interesting part is that Rafael Furcal can play many positions, and is both our backup middle infielder and also our backup first baseman!  So with need for two backups, we had nobody familiar with playing first base on the roster!!  We through our 25th man in there -- an obscure outfielder we rarely use -- and wouldn't you know on the very first throw to first he dropped the ball!!  But he did fine from then on as we went on to win.  We don't really have any prospects ready to fill in, so we'll probably have to suffer with this for a game or two until somebody comes back.

We're at 15-16, 6 GB of the Yankees in the East and 4 GB of the Rangers in the Wild Card with 17 games to play in 2014.  We have another at Toronto and then one at lowly Oakland before heading into 4 huge games -- 2 each at New York and then in Texas.  It would be awesome to win the next two and go in with some momentum.



Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on November 28, 2011 @ 07:27:49 PM
Second game at Toronto: We played very well, and Kevin Moore who's been our top starting pitcher pitched well again, but we couldn't close them out.  Then the bullpen blew up, and we ended up losing 6-4 in a game it felt like we should have won. 

Single game at Oakland, who are last in the west.  This felt like an important game to win going into our key four-game stretch.  Pete Whiteside pitched his best game of the season, in and out of trouble the whole way, but we just couldn't hit.  Down 2-1 going into the ninth it felt like it was going to be a bad loss, but then we somehow strung 3 hits together with one out against their closer to tie it up!  Then we exploded for 4 in the 11th inning to put them away, 6-2.  A very satisfying win.

Now into NY (first place in the east) for 2 games, then Texas (first place in the wildcard) for 2 more. 

First game at NY: Steve Hickey, our fourth starter, battled.  He gave up only 1 run through 4 innings.  With 2 out and one on in the fifth, we managed back-to-back homers low in our batting order for a surprising 3-1 lead.  With 2 out in the last of the fifth, NY loaded the bases and knocked out Hickey.   A double then tied the game, but we gunned the third runner at the plate to preserve a 3-3 tie.  Both bullpens were then fantastic.  Pat Rodriguez, our middle reliever, gave a great performance.  In the 8th we got a man to second with none out, but couldn't bring him home as a possible HR was caught at the wall. 

In the last of the 9th the Yanks got a double with one out, and had their great hitters coming up.  We made the early call to Glen Bradley, our closer.  He fanned Albert Pujols and then got Marty Rice (another long-time HR hitter) on a fly to right to get out of the jam and send it to extra innings.

We did nothing through the 12th, but Bradley was phenomenal in his longest outing of the season.

Finally in the 13th, Larry Henderson delivered a 2-run Homer to put us up 5-3.  The Yanks got a man on in the bottom half, but Bradley finished out a 4.2 inning masterpiece for his first win of the season (to go with his 8 saves).

We're now 17-17, 4GB in the East behind NY with one more game to play in NY.  We're 3GB in the wild card race, and will go to Texas, the wild card leader, next.  There are only 14 games total left in the season...We'll have our fifth starter Earl Harrell going in NY, but then back to Brogna and Moore to hopefully make it really interesting against Texas.

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on November 30, 2011 @ 06:58:50 PM
2 more games played today...

Second game at NY: Scratched out runs in the first, second, and third innings for a 3-0 lead, but that vanished in a hurry.  5th Starter Harrell couldn't get through the third, our middle relief wasn't much better, and the Yanks coasted to a 7-4 victory.

Needing a win badly, we turned to #1 starter John Brogna going against Wild Card leader Texas.  John Kane, at 4-0, pitching for Texas.  The Rangers lead the AL in most hitting categories, and are surprisingly in the top 2-3 in most pitching categories as well.

After breezing through the first two innings, Brogna got roughed up badly in the third.  A ton of hits, a walk, and a key error led to 6 Texas runs, and with Kane pitching well against us, it felt like it was over.

We scratched out one run in each of the fourth and fifth innings, using our running game, then out of nowhere cracked a 2-run homer in the 6th to chase Kane and close the gap to 6-4.  Brogna was not his sharpest, but was fighting and keeping us in it.

Then with two out in the seventh, Gary Cox singled and Larry Henderson delivered a super-duper-clutch 2-run Homer to tie it at 6!! 

In the top of the 8th, slow-footed DH Rich Gibson got a hit with one out.  I debated pinch-running for him, but elected to leave him in since we might need his bat again in the 9th (or 10th).  Another hit got him to second, then came the second out.  Jeff Wallace singled, but Gibson wasn't going to have a chance to score, and I thought the decision to leave him in would end up biting us badly.  But slumping Mike Appier ALSO singled, and two runs came home to give us an 8-6 lead!!

Then in the bottom of the ninth, the Rangers top of the order coming up.  Jeremy Affeldt starts the inning, just to get their leadoff batter who's a left-handed hitter.  He walks him.  Glen Bradley, our closer (who just had the tremendous outing a few games ago) comes in to try to get the meat of their order.  He gets one out, but then gives up a single.  2-on, one-out.  Their cleanup hitter is up and hits a line-shot to right field.  Our RF Pete White gets there, but DROPS THE BALL, his first error of the season and our fourth of the game (!), so the bases are now loaded with only 1 out.  Their #5 hitter flies to right (and White holds this one) and a run comes home, so it's now 8-7, men on first and second, and 2 out.  Chipper Jones, now 42-years-old, but still hitting well and a traditional Red Sox KILLER comes to the plate.  Bradley somehow gets him to pop up, which preserves the 8-7 win!!

We're 18-18, 4GB of NY in the East, 3GB of Texas in the Wild Card race.  12 games left.  Game 2 at Texas will feature Kevin Moore (who has been our top pitcher this season and has an ERA around 1.78 so far) against old friend and long-ago Red Sox #1 starter Stan Sheridan who will pitch Texas.




Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on December 02, 2011 @ 01:55:08 AM
Keep fighting!
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on May 08, 2013 @ 04:12:49 PM
How has nobody posted in this for over a year ? :-)

Mid-way through 2015.  Still haven't made the playoffs yet.  It feels like the best team we've ever had, but the bullpen is our undoing.

I've been doing more diligence over the draft, and have been minding my time while the guys develop in the minors.  The result is that we have developed 4 Rookie of the Years, all of who are currently in the lineup (3B, C, LF, and CF).  We hit great, though a little more power would be nice, and our fielding is below average.

I also have spent a ton of time orchestrating trades for top pitching prospects, and it really has paid off in our starting rotation, which is the best we've ever had.  However these trades have left us really thin in the bullpen, and also in the minors where we have very few non-pitching prospects right now.

We are currently 9-13, about halfway through 2015.  The bullpen (other than our closer) is our weakness, and it has cost us 4 of the last 5 games.  We just had an important 2-game set with Tampa, and the bullpen blew both games badly.  In the first we were up 3-0 in the 7th when our starter tired and started to walk batters; I pulled him and we  ended up losing 7-3.  Then in the second game of the series  we led 2-0 after 5.  We then gave up 2 each in the 6th, 7th, and 8th, 1 more in the 9th, and despite delivering a ton of clutch hits and scoring a ton, eventually lost 8-7 in 11 innings.

I am scouring the league and our minor league system for bullpen help right now, it feels like we should be contending for the playoffs.  Unfortunately I need to find 2-4 reliable relievers without giving up anything significant...

Anybody else playing baseball seasons or dynasties this year ?
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on July 01, 2013 @ 07:50:34 PM
I pulled out 2k12 over the weekend and started a franchise with Seattle, but did a computer draft for all the teams so everything was randomized.  Played 6 spring training games to find a good level.  Default All-Star seems to be a good balance of difficulty, realism, and fun so I think I'll go with that.  I set it up for a 52 game schedule.  I'll probably sim the rest of spring training and play from there.

I'll post the lineup and rotation later in case anyone is interested.

I was taking in the detail of the game on the new monitor and noticed the ball rotating differently on different pitches so I slowed it down in replay and looked and sure enough they don't show the grip changes with the pitch types (everything is gripped like a 4 seam), but sliders spin like sliders, changes like changes, 2 seam like a 2 seam, et al.  I thought that was pretty cool.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on July 03, 2013 @ 11:15:49 AM
That's really cool.  High Heat had a little of that back in the day, but it was hard to see in the game from most camera angles.

Unfortunately, right in the middle of an exciting 2015 season, my original XBox has had another problem and is in now in a service shop.  It is unclear if it can be saved, and if not, it is unclear if the hard drive (with my career data on it) can be ported to another XBox.

Cross your fingers...

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on July 03, 2013 @ 03:37:44 PM
OH I FORGOT TO TELL YOU!

I found that original xbox.  I didn't trade it in.  I can't find the power supply, but that shouldn't matter right?  So no cords or controller, but do you want the box?

Edit:

So in my season I forgot about the nasty pitcher injury bug and my ace, Jon Lester.  So he is out for 77 days (4 or 5 starts).  I have to find someone in AAA to bring up and I've turned off injuries.  It's a 52 games season and I don't want my team or CPU teams to be screwed by long injuries.  I decided to just live with the one with Lester because I didn't want to start all over and draft a new team.  I kind of like what the CPU drafted for me.

We won that game Lester in which Lester was injured, defeating Oakland in Oakland 1-0.
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on July 05, 2013 @ 04:19:27 PM
It's possible that I will want the box, but it depends on what the problem with my current XBox turns out to be, and whether you can successfully move a hard drive from one XBox to another and have it work correctly.

Thanks so much for the offer; I will let you know once the repair shop gets their act together and lets me know what's up.

Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on July 23, 2013 @ 10:18:54 PM
Ted --

If you still have that old XBox around, and don't mind parting with it, I would love to have it.

Mine is dead and gone, but I still have my hard drive and am hoping I can get it working in another original XBox.  (If not, I'll have to get a 360 soon and start a new HH franchise using that...but I really hope not...)

E-mail me off-line at [email protected] and I will figure out how to cover your shipping, etc.

Mike
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Ted on July 24, 2013 @ 01:07:43 AM
Mike,

I do and I'm delighted to help you out.  I did some more digging and I found the power cord, the a/v cord (old style yellow, red, white) and the controller!  Ok now for the slightly bad news.  I fired it up and I do remember this happening when I was using it regularly.....the dvd eject is a little wonky.  It doesn't always want to open or stay closed.  You usually have to press it two or three times or nudge it along to help it.  When it doesn't want to open sometimes pushing on the tray cover like you are trying to close a closed door makes it spring open.  I think the eject mechanism is worn out or something, but someone should be able to fix that if it ever goes belly up right?  And it will work you just have to work it a little.  After fiddling with it for 5 minutes I could get it to open and stay closed with a couple of nudges or pushes every time.  When the wife quits the TV tonight I'm going to fire it up on the TV and make sure it actually loads.  I'll even try loading my copy of HH.  Expect an email from atleiker at gmail within 24 hours.  Let's get you back into your dynasty!
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on July 24, 2013 @ 07:29:21 PM
Sounds great Ted, my XBox' DVD tray had a very similar issue.

Thanks so much!
Title: Re: Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates
Post by: Mike_S on August 02, 2013 @ 09:45:31 PM
Ted: The package just got here!!  Unfortunately I'm leaving for a week-long camping trip momentarily and won't have time to try it until next weekend.

Meanwhile: PLEASE let me know how much the shipping cost so I can send it.

Thanks!