Power Pros Forum

May 25th:

Seattle Mariners (32-18) at Nashville Venom (21-29)

The best in the West faced off against the worst of the East today. The result was a blowout, which was fitting enough, except it was in the Venom's favor, they had no trouble scoring runs off of the Mariners pitching. They scored a total of 12 runs, including a home run by Yakim Roma, the first of his 2 home runs in the game. The Mariners scored only 2 runs in their loss.

Mariners: 2
Venom: 12

Win: Reid (3-2)
Loss: Bedard (5-2)
HR: Butron (6), Roma (3, 4), Johjima (8)

Venom Box Score:

Stewart: 3-5, 2B, RBI, 3 R
Grindell: 1-5, 2 RBI, 2 R, K
Butron: 2-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, K
Roma: 3-5, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 R, K
Trammell: 3-5, 2B
Stults: 1-5, RBI
Reynolds: 0-4
Rivas: 2-4, R
Ormond: 2-4, 2B, 2 R

Reid: 5 innings pitched, 8 hits, 2 runs, 1 strikeout, win
Tremie: 1 inning pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 strikeouts, hold
Ishizuka: 2 innings pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 strikeout
Reyes: 1 inning pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 strikeouts

We score 12 runs and Stults is 1-5 with a single RBI?

At least I'm not Reynolds' agent.

End of May:

Roma won a weekly MVP award, for Week 8 (May 25th-31st), with a .417 average, 2 HR, and 13 RBI.
Grindell won a Rookie of the Month Award, with only a .223 average for the month, but 3 home runs and 22 RBI.

AL East:
1. Yankees, 40-16
2. Red Sox, 35-21, 5 games behind
3. Rays, 30-26, 10 games behind
4. Blue Jays, 27-29, 13 games behind
5. Venom, 25-31, 15 games behind
6. Orioles, 24-32, 16 games behind

The Venom are currently not in last place in their division, but nobody knows how long that's going to last. Probably the best news overall for the Venom is that they should be getting the first pick in the draft next month with one of the most promising prospects in years available.

The Wings are doing fairly well so far this year, at 28-28, they're 7 games behind in their division.

Player Stats:

Stanley: 6.27 ERA, 2-6 record, 51 strikeouts
Snead: 6.11 ERA, 4-5 record, 46 strikeouts, 1 save
Reid: 6.06 ERA, 3-2 record, 44 strikeouts
McNichol: 5.51 ERA, 4-4 record, 40 strikeouts
Hampson: 3.59 ERA, 3-4 record, 45 strikeouts
Weibl: 5.98 ERA, 3-3 record, 32 strikeouts

Clontz: 1.72 ERA, 1-1 record, 26 strikeouts
Ishizuka: 6.49 ERA, 0-2 record, 23 strikeouts
Asencio: 2.96 ERA, 2-2 record, 19 strikeouts
Tremie: 1.01 ERA, 3-0 record, 24 strikeouts
Reyes: 13.5 ERA, 0-0 record, 1 strikeout
Marte: 5.34 ERA, 0-1 record, 19 strikeouts

Benoit: 4.41 ERA, 0-1 record, 15 strikeouts, 11/11 saves


Stewart: .350 avg, 5 HR, 29 RBI, 7 SB
Grindell: .269 avg, 3 HR, 33 RBI, 6 SB
Butron: .225 avg, 6 HR, 28 RBI, 4 SB
Roma: .257 avg, 4 HR, 32 RBI, 2 SB
Trammell: .305 avg, 5 HR, 24 RBI, 2 SB
Stults: .243 avg, 6 HR, 32 RBI, 4 SB
Reynolds: .236 avg, 3 HR, 22 RBI, 3 SB
Rivas: .249 avg, 1 HR, 16 RBI, 2 SB
Ormond: .290 avg, 1 HR, 21 RBI, 1 SB

McMillon: .211 avg, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB
Deardorff: .108 avg, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB
Rottino: .382 avg, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

---

The Venom starting pitching is generally doing very badly, which is holding the team back more than anything. Some of their relief pitching has proven to be solid, Clontz and Tremie with ERAs under 2. Tremie is looking to be the next great knuckleballer. Benoit is perfect in converting saves so far.

Hitting has been pretty good for the Venom recently. Shannon Stewart is looking to be the best overall hitter on the team right now, but everyone is contributing to the offense. Yakim Roma has really turned it around after a horrible April, he now hits over .250 with plenty of RBIs, not quite team leading yet though.

2009 Draft:

The Venom had a great draft day, as you might expect, them being the team with the first overall pick. They picked up a Right Fielder that is expected to be a Legend in Henry Aaron (he's expected to be as good as the legend he shares his name with). They also got a great prospect at shortstop in Benjie Morita. But that's not all, they also managed to get through free agency, a pitcher with star potential in Aria Palmer.

Henry Aaron:
RF/LF
4 Trajectory
A 14 Contact
A 255 Power
C 10 Run Speed
B 12 Arm Strength
C 11 Fielding
E 7 Error Resistance
Clutch Hit 5
VS Lefty 5
Contact Hitter
Power Hitter
Spray Hitter
Push Hitter
Hot Hitter
Tough Out
Good Back to Back Hitter
Firstball Hitter
Consistency 4
Gold Glover
Cannon Arm
Tough Runner
Star
Aggressive Runner

Benjie Morita:
SS
2 Trajectory
D 8 Contact
E 86 Power
D 8 Run Speed
D 8 Arm Strength
C 10 Fielding
E 6 Error Resistance
Gold Glover

Aria Palmer:
P
95 Top Speed
E 118 Control
C 90 Stamina
Level 3 Slider
Level 3 Knuckle-Curveball
Level 3 Forkball
Throwing 4
Error Prone
Star

---

The GM was reached for comment on his players:

"If there's one player of the bunch I think is ready for the team right now, it would be Henry Aaron, but I'm going to wait to put him in next year, I don't want to put too much pressure on him by throwing him onto a losing team midseason. I want things to work out for him as well as possible by putting him in the most comfortable situation possible. I definitely like the other draft picks too, but they're probably not going to be ready for a little while. Morita may replace Reynolds at short, he has a great glove and they have around the same hitting talent at the moment. Palmer has good pitches, but lacks control, I don't know what to do with him yet."


(I was going to give the Wings a good player from Success Mode too, but when I offered them one for 1 point, it was only a 1 star trade, so they get nothing because their GM is an absolutely unbelievable moron)

An update on the friendships among the Venom players:

Phil Stults and Chuck Brownlie reached the highest level of friendship.
Stults has good bunt. Brownlie has Rally Hitter.

The group of Tremie, McGlinchy and Reid is all at the highest level.
Reid had Dr.K, nobody else has anything.

I'm dropping Tremie and calling Aaron.

June 12th:

Nashville Venom (30-35) at Washington Nationals (31-34)

This battle of the mediocre went in the favor of the Nationals. Venom hitters seemed badly motivated and it showed in their play, getting shutout. The game was scoreless until the 5th, when back to back doubles brought the Nationals ahead 2-0, they added 3 insurance runs in the 8th to secure an easy 5-0 win.

Venom: 0
Nationals: 5

Win: Griffiths (1-3)
Loss: Weibl (3-4)
HR: Zimmerman (9)

Venom Box Score:

Stewart: 1-4
Grindell: 1-4
Butron: 0-4
Roma: 2-4, 2B
Stults: 1-4
Reynolds: 0-3, BB
Rivas: 2-4
Ormond: 0-4, K
Weibl: 0-2
Trammell: 0-1
Deardorff: 0-1, K

Weibl: 6 innings pitched, 7 hits, 2 runs, 0 strikeouts, loss
Asencio: 2 innings pitched, 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 strikeouts


(Side Note: After setting up my best scoring chance in this game with a walk and a single, I paused to try to check my hitters stats and accidentally fast-gamed past it)

Glad to see this back!

My logs never actually die unless the save they're based on is deleted. And there's never any telling if they'll be active when they return or it's going to be just one update and then falling back into the abyss. I can't even tell if I'm going to do another update for this soon, or if I'm going to update my other log soon as well.

(I must have really gone far and become attached to my Reapers team, even now I'm still typing "Reapers" as my team name and having to replace it)

June 22nd:

New York Yankees (52-22) at Nashville Venom (35-39)

This up and coming young Venom team took on the powerhouse of the MLB in the Yankees in a home game. It's not good for the confidence of the team when most of the fans in a home game are fans of the opposing team, but there's not much to be done about that for now. The Yankees came out on top, as expected, but the Venom gave them a good game, keeping it close until the Yankees added some late insurance off an Alex Rodriguez 3 run home run in the 9th inning.

Yankees: 7
Venom: 2

Win: Hughes (5-4)
Loss: McNichol (4-7)
HR: A.Rodriguez (21)

Venom Box Score:

Stewart: 0-4, RBI, K
Grindell: 1-4, RBI
Butron: 1-4
Roma: 0-4, K
Trammell: 0-4
Stults: 0-4, K
Reynolds: 3-4, 2B, R
Rivas: 2-4, R
Ormond: 1-3

Reid: 3.2 innings pitched, 6 hits, 2 runs, 3 strikeouts
McNichol: 3.1 innings pitched, 6 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts, loss
Reyes: 1.1 innings pitched, 3 hits, 2 runs, 0 strikeouts
Asencio: 0.2 innings pitched, 1 hit, 1 run, 0 strikeouts

Luke Reid came out of the game in just the 4th inning with elbow problems, but would appear to be okay after the game. Venom's manager Gilles was reached on the injury issue:

"It was scary, for sure, to see one of our starters come down with an injury so early in a game and on such a low pitch count. We already lost a pitcher a few games earlier to elbow pains (D.Marte, returns in 2 games) and it could have become a major issue for us. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like it'll be a lasting problem for Luke, it was probably just the stress of the game. Nobody wants to pitch against the Yankees, with the most powerful offense in the league you get nervous and overthrow your pitches, and that puts unnecessary strain on your body."

Luke Reid was moved to stamina practice after the game. He'll remain there for a while unless his agent comes back and demands otherwise.

End of June:

Grindell won a weekly MVP award for week 11 (June 15th-21st) with a .385 average, 1 home run, and 5 RBIs.
Grindell also won the Rookie of the Month award with a .292 average, 1 home run, and 9 RBIs.

AL East:
1. Yankees, 58-24
2. Red Sox, 50-32, 8 games behind
3. Rays, 45-37, 13 games behind
4. Venom, 39-43, 19 games behind
5. Blue Jays, 36-46, 22 games behind
5. Orioles, 36-46, 22 games behind

The Venom are trying desperately to maintain a certain level of competitiveness in the league, and they are having moderate success, being among the top 20 MLB teams and 4th in their division isn't much to brag about, but it's just fine for their standards at the moment.

The Wings are doing well so far, at 42-40, they're only 5 games behind in their division.

Player Stats:

Stanley: 5.27 ERA, 3-7 record, 87 strikeouts
Snead: 4.97 ERA, 7-5 record, 72 strikeouts, 1 save
Reid: 6.59 ERA, 4-4 record, 71 strikeouts
McNichol: 7.00 ERA, 5-8 record, 63 strikeouts
Hampson: 3.00 ERA, 4-6 record, 68 strikeouts
Weibl: 5.57 ERA, 4-4 record, 44 strikeouts

Clontz: 2.17 ERA, 4-1 record, 35 strikeouts
Ishizuka: 4.91 ERA, 0-2 record, 26 strikeouts, 1 save
Asencio: 3.43 ERA, 3-2 record, 37 strikeouts
Tremie: 1.37 ERA, 5-0 record, 42 strikeouts
Reyes: 10.3 ERA, 0-0 record, 2 strikeouts
Marte: 5.40 ERA, 0-2 record, 25 strikeouts

Benoit: 5.24 ERA, 0-2 record, 16/16 saves


Stewart: .325 avg, 12 HR, 51 RBI, 10 SB
Grindell: .276 avg, 4 HR, 42 RBI, 11 SB
Butron: .229 avg, 7 HR, 45 RBI, 4 SB
Roma: .239 avg, 4 HR, 39 RBI, 3 SB
Trammell: .301 avg, 7 HR, 30 RBI, 5 SB
Stults: .234 avg, 9 HR, 43 RBI, 5 SB
Reynolds: .251 avg, 3 HR, 32 RBI, 4 SB
Rivas: .269 avg, 1 HR, 27 RBI, 3 SB
Ormond: .282 avg, 2 HR, 29 RBI, 1 SB

McMillon: .245 avg, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SB
Deardorff: .094 avg, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 1 SB
Rottino: .345 avg, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 0 SB

---

The Venom continue to struggle with the same kinds of issues, generally poor starting pitching and some inconsistent hitting all around their lineup. Bright spots include starting pitcher Mikhail Hampson's 3.00 ERA, reliever Anakoni Tremie's 1.37 ERA, closer Joaquin Benoit being perfect in save opportunities despite somehow losing his team a couple games. On the hitting end, free agency pickup Shannon Stewart is exceeding expectations, leading his team in most categories, but losing out to rookie Shawn Grindell in stolen bases, Grindell also leads the team in triples and is playing well, especially for a rookie.

I'm going to drop Reynolds and pick up Tremie once again.

You can't drop starters.

He's talking about agents

Yes, I know.