Power Pros Forum

I've definitely been denied certain trades & free agents due to roster limits, so there is a total limit on players allowed

Should be 44 for EVERY team.

Ouch! That hurts!
5-15-2008
Iowa City Gazette

[We now time warp to a report on the 5 – 14 – 2008 game against the White Sox. Between May 1 and May 13, the Country are five and six, having scored and allowed 59 runs. In that span, they are 4 & 2 against the Royals, 1 & 2 against the Indians and losing the 1st game of the current series against the Whitesox.]

Today's lineup:
Country Whitesox
Sweeney CF. Swisher CF
Huisman C. Cabrera SS
Sanchez 2b. Thome DH
Harris SS. Komerko 1b
Johnson 1b. Dye RF
Erodes LF. Pierzynski C
Schrager DH. Quentin LF
Chavez 3b. Crede 3b
Avalon RF. Uribe 2b
Depablos P. Vazquez P

The White Sox started with a bang, as Swisher sent the 2nd pitch of the game over the left-center wall. Cabrera and Thome followed with singles to place runners at first and third with no out. After Konerko grounded out, allowing thome to move to second, but unable to score Cabrera, who remained at 3rd, the infield was brought in and dye sent the ball to second base where Sanchez picked it up and relayed to home to tag out Cabrera. Pierzynski singled in Thome, putting runners at 1st and 2nd for Quentin, who struck out on 3 pitches. The country went down quietly in their 1/2 of the inning. End of 1, white sox two, country zero

After setting the white sox down in order in the second, including a strikeout of Swisher (caught looking at a curve), the country struck back. Harris led off with a single to left and after a shallow pop fly by Johnson, Erdos singled to left center, putting runners at first and second. When Schrager grounded into a fielder's choice, leaving runners at 1st & 3rd, Chavez drove Harris home with a sharp single to left before Avalos lined out to short. 2-1, Sox.

After, again, setting down the white socks in order in the top of the 4th inning, the Country tied the game when Johnson singled, moved to second and then scored on singles by Chavez and Avalos. Chavez scored on a slow, rolling single up the middle by Sweeney and Huisman drove Avalos home on a sharp liner to right-center. 4-2, Country

Depablos left the game in the 6th having allowed 2 runs on 5 hits over 5 innings. Said the Country Manager: "he gave a great effort today. He was fealing blue and did not have good movement on his slider, but was able to use his curve very effectively. Considering that many times, the difference between an average pitcher and a great pitcher is the ability to put your team in a position to win even when you don't have your best stuff, we hope he will remember today and build on it."

Unfortunately, Depablos would not qualify for the win, as Jiang relieved him in the sixth and promptly gave up a two run homerun to Konerko, and a solo homer to Dye. The fourth White Sox run of that inning would come when Crede doubled off of Murray (who relieved Jiang) after Pierzinski reached based on a catching error by Harris. The only "good news" of the inning was that the homerun hit by Uribe was a solo HR since it was hit after Crede was thrown out trying to steal 3rd. Iowa City threatened but did not score in their half of the sixth inning, as Sweeney grounded into a fielder's choice and Huisman hit a sharp liner to 1st to end the inning, stranding Chavez at 3rd. 7-4, Whitesox.

In the top of the 7th, Sweeney made an amazing catch on a short fly to left-center by Cabrera, diving to make the catch and then somersaulting on the ground afterwards. Amazing! Unfortunately, Avalos, in right, was inspired, so on a similar fly hit his way by Jim Thome, he dived, but missed, allowing Thome to reach second. Thome eventually came home on a single by Dye.

Consecutive singles by Johnson, Erdos, Schrader, and Chavez, mixed in with a wild pitch, scored 3 and left Chavez alone on first. Chavez move to third on a hard hit single by Avalos. Chavez was stranded at 3rd when Sweeney hit a shot up the middle that was intercepted by the shortstop. 8-7, Whitesox

the Whitesox went down 1-2-3 (or, really, 1-3-2!) when Iowa City reliever, Oliver, who entered in the seventh inning, retired the White Sox with two impressive strikeouts sandwiched around Huisman's thoew out of Crede at second. Then, Harris homered off of Linebrink over the centerfield wall to tie the game at 8.

The Sox quickly pulled ahead in the ninth, as Cabrera singled before Thome hit a high arching two run home run to left. Sessions replaced Oliver and promptly gave up a single and a homerun also. The Country could not recover. 12-8, Whitesox

The country are in the midst of an incredibly-difficult stretch: 2 3-games series with the White Sox alternating with 2 3-games series against the Red Sox, and the Country are now in the midst of a 5 game losing streak.

In a 5-15-2008 v White Sox Buehrlie, the Sox struck in the top of the second, as Dye singled, Pierzynski doubled, and then Quentin doubled Dye & Pierzynski home. In the bottom of the second, Dan Johnson hit a solo homer to right, which would be the only Country run of the game, while the Sox scored 6 more times, capped by a three run homerun by Swisher in the 6th.

After getting swept by the White Sox, the Country played the Red Sox on 5-16-2008, facing Matsuzaka. This time, the Country scored in the bottom of the 1st. With the bases-loaded, Harris hit into a double play, scoring Sweeney. Then, Johnson hit a two run homerun.

In the top of the second, the Red Sox closed the gap to 2 when Varitek hit a run-scoring double.

Varitek tied the game in the 4th, doubling with the bases-loaded to tie the score at three and then was singled home along with the runner on 3rd to put the Red Sox up 5-3. The Sox scored 3 more in the 6th & the country never recovered.

On 5-17, the Country faced the Red Sox John Lester. In the top of the third, Lowell hit a single scoring Ortiz who previously doubled off of the Country's James. In the bottom of the sixth, Shrager singled, was bunted to second by Chavez, and scored on a single by Erdos to tie the game

James was replaced in the 6th, having held the Red Sox to 1 run on 6 hits.

The Red Sox ended up winning the game in the 8th on a Manny Ramirez solo home run.

Damn, well done on those updates!

Thank you - and thanks to the dragon dictation app on my iPad!

How's that work?

(that's the voice recognition thing, right?)

Yes. It's an app in the app store, and there is probably an android version, too. I open the program, and as I play the game, I hit pause on my Wii, open up my ioad with the dragon program and hit a button to start dictating. After 15 sec of dictation, it gets converted to text that i can edit. It rarely gets the player names right, but it's still better than my typing out the whole thing.

Anyway, when I'm done, I'll either copy and paste it into this site, I'll email the dictation to myself to copy and paste later.

Good idea!

5-18-2008
The Red Sox jumped on country pitcher Bourgious right away, loading the bases with one out and finishing the inning with three runs scored. The country loaded the bases in their half of the inning, too, but only came away with one run on a single by Harris

Youkilis and Ramirez each singled in another run in the fourth inning off of Buchanan.

Neither team scored again until Dan Johnson hit a solo homer to right field in the bottom of the sixth. At that point, Okajima came in to pitch for the Sox, giving up a single to Huisman (batting sixth), who went to third on a hit-and-run with the country DH, and scored a Chavez sacrifice fly leaving the score 5 - 3 Boston.

Boston scored one more run in the seventh inning and held the Country scoreless the rest of the game to win their second in a row 6 – 3. Things do not get any easier for the Country, who seemed relatively lifeless throughout most of the game. The Country now travel to Chicago to play the white socks in the midst of a six game losing streak.

White Sox Beat Country in a Heartbreaker. Losing streak extends to 7

5-19-2008
Different "Sox;" same result. This first game of a three-game series against the White Sox started off uneventfully. Country pitcher Depablo's had a strong 1st inning, allowing a bloop single, but striking out Jim Thome on a backdoor slider, and Erdos made a nice diving catch in left field to end the inning.

Unfortunately, Jermaine dye led off the second with a solo homer to left, quickly followed by a single and then another home run by Quentin.

The country broke through in the third when Bittner, playing centerfield (DF) singled, moved to second on a bunt by Sweeney, and then was singled home by Erdos.

The country's defense seemed to falter in the fourth when a soft liner that seemed to be within second baseman white's range and would have started a double play, instead went under his glove into the outfield, And with two strikes, Joe Crede mis-hit a ball so softly that it wound up being an infield single to load the bases. This was followed with a fielder's choice by Uribe scoring a run. Sox 4-1

Erdos singled home another run in the top of the fifth, this time Sweeney, who moved to second when Sanchez grounded into a 1st-3rd double-play (Bittner out at 3rd;Sanchez out at 2nd).

Depablo pitched a full five innings, departing after throwing 56 pitches and allowing 4 runs. Said manager ERISA Dude: "he pitched like a warrior today. He kept us in the game and was able to keep the sox off balance, except for two mistakes. He was looking pretty blue even at the start of the game, so I am very impressed by his gutsy performance."

The country made some noise in the top of the sixth, as Johnson led off with a double and was promptly singled home by Huisman. Sox 4-3

Jiang relieved Depablos to start the sixth and retired the White Sox easily, but in the bottom of the seventh thome hit a towering 2 run home run to put the sox up 6-3 heading into the eighth inning

In the top of the eighth, Harris led off with a double, but was thrown out at home on Johnson's follow-up single. In the top of the 9th, the country made some noise as Ryan Sweeney singled home Chavez, who moved to second on Bittner's fourth single of the day. Bittner then came home on a single by Sanchez. This brought up Erdos, 3-4, with one out and runners at first and second against White Sox closer Scott Linebrink ( CD 95 . Erdos grounded into a double play to end the game at a disheartening 6-5.

5-22-2008

The Country had to wait until the last game of their series against the White Sox to end their losing streak with a 6-1 win.

[GUESS I SHOULD SIM MORE GAMES! AS I GET CLOSER TO THE DRAFT AND THE TRADE DEADLINE, I TEND TO DO THAT - MAYBE THAT'LL PICK UP MY RECORD!]

Country can't put it together on the field, but has its act together in the trading room

5– 25-2008
At 20 & 29, the country are one game better than fellow expansion team, the honey bees, and our time with the Orioles for second to last place in the American League, so there it all bureau year can Harley hardly be treated as a success, but they seem to have been successful in making back office transactions, this time with the Pirates.

The country receive relief pitcher Tyler Yates ( 96 CE 4), two years away from free agency, and right fielder Great Speier (DFDEFD), 6 years away from free agency. In exchange, the Pirates get relief pitcher Truby (82 DC 6) and two minor leaguers, Second baseman Cordito (EFEEDF) and pitcher Lunar (83 EC 4).

Said GM ERISA Dude: "we actually were not shopping at the time. The Pirates contacted us, looking to trade Yates directly for Truby. With Yates only having 2 years left on his contract, it did not fit with our philosophy, although we like his top-end. After reviewing their lineup, we thought this 2 for 3 swap was more in line with our goals, since Speier is a rookie who should be able to make decent contact. We hate to lose Truby, as he showed some promise as a spot-starter, but it is difficult to overlook is 82 mph top speed. Similar with Luner's 83 mph. After stamina, mph is the hardest area to improve.

For Cordito, we would have liked to have seen him develop further, but we do have a couple of shortstops with virtually identical stats who slightly fewer errors. This made Cordito expendable. That the Pirates also threw in 1,500 points also made this a very tempting deal!

In an amazing event that can only be described as "WII Save Error," time has shifted back to May 19 and all posts since that date are unwritten!

5-20-2008
The country hit the trading lines again, this time trading third baseman Schrager ( EDEEDE), who has been mainly used on and off as a designated hitter, to the nationals in exchange for Lastings Milledge (EDBEED). Said the country GM: we looked at Lastings earlier in the year because he can be a dynamic player who can play all outfield positions, but the Nationals were not interested. We would have liked to have let Schrager develop further, but we did not see him displacing our current infielders anytime soon. The Nationals issued the following statement: "We certainly wish Lastings well, and are going to miss his speed and ability to play all outfield positions, but we did not want to pass up an opportunity to get slightly-younger and pick up a potential MLB starting 3rd baseman."