Power Pros Forum

The Month of May
An May recap from the desk of GM Roger Anybody

In the month of May, the Sting went 14-13, making their record an extremely average 29-26. The starting rotation is struggling, and a trade may be in order if they don't step it up. Felix Hernandez, Shock Gordon, and Jair Jurrjens all have E.R.A.'s over 5, Gordon's being an astonishing 7.91. As for the bullpen, all have Earned Run Averages under 4, several being under 2, with the exception of Brian Wilson, who's sitting on a 5.73 mark. From an offensive standpoint, the team is doing respectably well, with a team average of .275 and 72 home runs, good for 13th and 4th in the NABA, respectively. Now time for a look at the team leaders:

Pitching
Innings Pitched: Jake Peavy (67.0)
E.R.A.: Jake Peavy (4.30)
Wins: Felix Hernandez (5)
Saves: Hideki Okajima (13)
Strikeouts: Jake Peavy (65)

Batting/Baserunning
Batting Average: Carlos Lee (.332)
Hits: Carlos Lee (68)
Doubles: Kevin Kouzmanoff (11)
Triples: Prince Fielder (2)
Home Runs: Carlos Lee (14)
RBI's: James West (41)
Runs: Bill Hall (31)
Walks: Prince Fielder (25)
Stolen Bases: Kosuke Fukudome (9)

Carlos Lee is pretty much dominating the team in terms of offense, but James West is still leading in RBI's. One statistical thing not listed here that concerns me is Brendan Harris' batting average, which is a miserable .226. I have confidence that he'll be able to bring it up, but my patience is running thin, and Angel Sanchez is basically begging for a starting spot with his .357 average off the bench.

The American League East Standings are as follows:
1. Ottawa Canadians 35-20 - 0 GB
2. Rochester Charge 29-26 - 6 GB
2. New England Sting 29-26 - 6 GB
4. Charlotte Yetis 23-32 - 12 GB
5. Buffalo Warriors 22-33 - 13 GB
6. Orlando Chipmunks 21-34 - 14 GB

The Canadians had an incredible month of May, posting a record of 20-7. The Charge, on the other hand, have completely fallen off the table, going a measly 10-17 over the course of the last month. The Orlando Chipmunks have the worst record in the AL and are tied with the Honolulu Gunmen for the worst in the league. Let's hope the boys can make up some ground during their 4-game series with the Canadians late this month.

Until next month, I'm Roger Anybody.

June 3rd
The Toledo Predators have accepted a trade offer made by the Sting:
Sting get:
SP Slowey - $390,000
RP J. Smith - $390,000
RP Moseley - $390,000
Predators get:
SP Danks - $390,000
CF Gathright - $390,000
$390,000, to cover one of the salaries

"I'm really glad they accepted," said GM Roger Anybody, "I wasn't sure they would, but I could see they needed outfield help, and that really helped seal the deal. Gathright and Lastings Milledge or pretty much interchangeable, so it won't be too much of a loss not having him, whereas our pitching staff is in huge need of some help. Shock Gordon and his 7.26 E.R.A. have been sent down to AAA to make room for Kevin Slowey, who will be the new 5th man in the rotation, and Moseley will work in middle relief. Brian Wilson has been moved to the role of 'mop-up man' due to his less than stellar 5.48 E.R.A.."

The results of the June rookie draft are as follows:
Round 1
Adam Abraham
Swing Man R/R
Top Speed: 92 mph
Control: D(120)
Stamina: C(91)
CUT(2)
SLD(1)
CB(2)
KN(3)

Round 2
Andy Rodriguez
Catcher L/R
Contact: F(4)
Power: F(47)
Run Spd: G(3)
Arm Str: E(7)
Fielding: D(8)
E Res: E(7)

"I'm really happy with our first round pick, Adam Abraham," said Roger Anybody after the draft, "it's not often that you see a guy throw 92 mph and have a good knuckleball. I can't wait to see him in a game. As for Andy Rodriguez, he has the potential to develop into a solid, fielding-oriented backup in about five years time. He really needs to improve his hitting, though."

I would push a like button for Fielder's 2 triples. Great job so far.

Molina Breaks Collarbone, Out for 30 Days
June 18th
Yadier Molina broke his collarbone running into the wall behind home plate on an attempt for a leaping catch in yesterday's game. Team trainer Matt Nizol said, "He'll easily be out for 4 weeks, possibly more, depending on how rehab goes." When asked about his plans, Roger Anybody said, "Well, rookie catcher Andy Rodriguez will be called up from AAA to back up J.R. Towles, who will take over for the next month. We'll certainly miss Molina, but Towles has been doing respectably well this season with an average of .256. This will also give us a chance to look at Rodriguez and get a gauge on where he stands against MLB pitching. We have high hopes for his future."

Power Pros Sports NABA Game of the Day
June 23rd
Ottawa Canadians(42-32) at New England Sting(39-35)
|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|R|H|E|
|0|0|0|0|0|0|1|0|0|1|4|0|OTT
|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|2|2|7|0|NE

WP: Nippert (2-1)
SV:
LP: Hughes (7-3)
HR:

Statistics
Hall - 3-4(.289), R(42), 2 SB(11)
Fukudome - 2-4(.276), R(30), SB(12)
Lee - 0-3(.310), RBI(47), K(44)
Fielder - 0-4(.296)
West - 1-4(.285), RBI(51), K(36)
Peralta - 0-3(.263)
Harris - 1-3(.226)
Kouzmanoff - 0-3(.278)
Towles - 0-3(.239)

Miller - 6.1 IP(66.0), 6 K(64), ER(2.86)
Nippert - 2.2 IP(19.2), 3 K(20), (2.75), W(2)
______________________________________________________________________

"I'm really proud of the boys for pulling out this comeback win against the division leading Canadians. This game makes their lead just 2 games, now, and we have a chance to take the division lead over the course of this series. Andrew Miller pitched another great game, and he continues to be one of the few bright spots in our starting rotation. Dustin Nippert also was a big help out of the bullpen. Hall and Fukudome did great jobs running against the aging Jason Varitek, and Carlos Lee and James West came up with the big RBI's in the 9th inning. Overall, it was a great win that I'm sure the sellout crowd enjoyed."
The 4-game series against the Canadians continues tomorrow.

June In Review
A June recap from the desk of GM Roger Anybody

The Sting went 14-12 in June, continuing their trend of being just barely above .500. It's worth noting that their run differential this year is now -1, with 351 runs scored and 352 allowed. The team batting average has dropped a few points to .272, and they've now hit 102 home runs on the year, 7th in the NABA. The team ERA is at 4.58, 10th best in the league, so there's really no reason why they can't win more games than they have. Prince Fielder was great this month, bringing his batting average up to .286, second on the team. Kevin Slowey hasn't been great since we acquired him, but I'm sure that will change. Rookie Adam Abraham has worked 12 innings of shutout work already in his rookie year. Also, Hideki Okajima is leading the entire NABA in saves. Now, a look at the team leaders:

Pitching
Innings Pitched: Jair Jurrjens (91.2)
ERA: Jake Peavy (4.38) - Andrew Miller has a 2.79 ERA in 71 innings pitched
Wins: Cole Hamels, Jake Peavy, Jair Jurrjens, and Felix Hernandez (6)
Saves: Hideki Okajima (21)
Holds: Joel Zumaya (15)
Strikeouts: Jake Peavy (84)

Batting/Baserunning
Batting Average: Carlos Lee (.314)
Hits: Bill Hall (93)
Doubles: Kevin Kouzmanoff (17)
Triples: Kosuke Fukudome (5)
Home Runs: Carlos Lee (21)
RBI's: Carlos Lee (55)
Runs: Bill Hall (45)
Walks: Prince Fielder (29)
Stolen Bases: Bill Hall and Kosuke Fukudome (13)

Now let's look at the AL East standings:
1. Ottawa Canadians 45-36 - 0 GB
2. New England Sting 43-38 - 2 GB
3. Rochester Charge 40-41 - 5 GB
4. Buffalo Warriors 37-44 - 8 GB
5. Charlotte Yetis 36-45 - 9 GB
6. Orlando Chipmunks 36-45 - 9 GB

The Sting split their series with the Canadians this month, and winning it really would've helped with the division race, which seems to really be evening out. The 9 games separating first and last place is the fewest and the American League. We don't play the Canadians again until late September, so we'll have to rely on other teams to hand them some losses. Of course, our first priority is winning games, which we need to do a lot more of.

I'm Roger Anybody, and I'll see you in next month's issue.

July 7th
The New England Sting have rejected a trade offer from the Honolulu Gunmen:
Sting get:
RP Rauch - $1,600,000
Gunmen get:
1B West - $950,000

"This was a very easy offer to decline," said Sting General Manager Roger Anybody, "It's a $650,000 salary increase, Jon Rauch is nothing special, and James West is making a bid for Rookie of the Year. There was no way I was going to accept this trade, especially since we already traded for two relivers earlier in the year."

Power Pros Sports NABA Game of the Day
July 12th
Buffalo Warriors(41-51) at New England Sting(52-40)
|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|R|H|E|
|0|0|0|0|0|0|3|3|0|6|10|0|BUF
|2|0|3|2|0|0|0|0|0|7|13|0|NE

WP: Abraham (3-0)
SV: Okajima (27)
LP: Prior (4-7)
HR: Lee (23), West (20), Vizquel (4), Berkman (17)

Statistics
Milledge - 2-5(.391), R(18), SB(7)
Hall - 2-4(.283), 2 R(56), SB(18)
Lee - 3-4(.318), 2 2B(17), HR(23), 4 RBI(62), R(49),
Fielder - 1-4(.300), RBI(53), R(41)
West - 1-4(.282), HR(20), 2 RBI(61), R(44), K()
Peralta - 1-4(.264)
Harris - 0-4(.226)
Kouzmanoff - 1-4(.275)
Rodriguez - 2-4(.263), R(1)

Abraham - 6+ IP(20.2), K(4), 2 ER(0.87)
Moseley - 1.1 IP(51.0), 3 ER(6.35)
Zumaya - 0.2 IP(51.2), K(43), ER(1.22), HLD(18)
Okajima - IP(34.0), K(25), SV(27), (2.91)
______________________________________________________________________

"It was a great win. We've been really hot so far this month and this game was no different. I'm extremely happy with the performances of Adam Abraham and Hideki Okajima, but Moseley's 1.1 inning, 3 run performance puts me a bit on edge. We should have won that game by more than we did, but winning was what was most important and we got that done. Carlos Lee was fantastic, with over half of our team's RBI's, and West had a great home run despite not being at his best today. Andy Rodriguez did well coming off the bench, and his .263 average puts him right there in the middle of the pack for backup catchers. Overall it was a great win and I hope we can keep it up after the All-Star Break."

Heading into the All-Star break, the statistics for the New England Sting players are as follows.

I'm following! Well I don't care if I'm late!

Haha, I appreciate it.

What difficulty do you use for your games?

Pitch Speed: Normal
Lock-On Batting: Normal (off)
CPU Batting: Expert
CPU Baserunning: Expert
CPU Pitching: Powerful
CPU Fielding: All-Star

Props dude! I've been trying to work my way up to increase the difficulty. I've been updating the SF Giants rosters and tried to make it as realistic as possible. Imagine how that's working out.