Power Pros Forum

WOO!!!!! Go Vince!!!

I don't always mention trades or anything, but one of them came by that I couldn't ignore.

The Phillies traded Ryan Howard to the Red Sox for Dustin Pedroia. (really only took specific notice as a Red Sox fan, but that's still a pretty major trade right there)

Before the Spring Training games began, my stats looked like this:

Top speed: 101 MPH (finally satisfied with my fastball, at least, for now...)
Control: D 132
Stamina: B 137 (really hoping to get that up to an A sometime in the next few years, my stamina is still kind of low for a starter)

SIFB: 2
SNK: 5 (definitely a solid pitch to rely on, especially in double play situations, going to work on getting it up to a legendary 6 next spring training, then I can leave it there)
CHG: 2
KNCB: 1 (I was looking for a kind of curveball, and this seemed as good as any, considering how I failed to learn a knuckleball previously)

Spring Training games with the Cubs, next.

Spring Training 2014:

Game 1: 3 innings pitched, 5 strikeouts, no runs allowed

Game 2: 3 innings pitched, 5 strikeouts, no runs allowed

Game 3: 3 innings pitched, 5 strikeouts, no runs allowed

Game 4: 3 innings pitched, 2 strikeouts, 1 run allowed

Unsurprisingly enough, I made the opening day roster, what was surprising is that they're giving me the honor of being the #1 starter for their team. Now I really hope to do well.

I predict the Athletics will win the World Series.

End of April stats: 2.29 ERA, 3-1 record, 41 strikeouts
Oakland... Wait... Chicago Cubs record: 11-17, 4 games behind

Well, I understand now, I was wrong to be blaming the A's all those years, clearly it wasn't their fault, and they were simply amazing to make the playoffs twice over the years. It's obvious now that I've simply been cursed for absolutely no reason whatsoever, I mean, this is ridiculous. I'm pitching far better than I ever have and yet my mere presence has brought a #1 team down to the bottom 5 in just a month, I should easily have a record of 5-1, if not better, but nothing has gone right.

Oh, right, I suppose I should mention that my wife had the baby, it was a boy, I think, I wasn't really paying attention, there are more pressing issues at hand now. The kid was pretty ugly, I just named it Matthieu, didn't really give it any thought, it just seemed somehow appropriate.

Stupid MLB...

Once again, I lol'd

Those kinds of comments are pretty much what makes logs worth writing. Well, actually this one is fun anyway when I don't go overboard and play way too much of it. The old Steven Davis one I used to write was just annoying to play, I couldn't even hit .200 and I wasn't making any progress in anything.

I intended the sinker as a double play pitch, but for some reason, if Spring Training is any indication, it works really well for strikeouts. One time I put runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs, threw nothing but the low sinker, and got 3 straight strikeouts to end the inning. Also, I think it was during the Spring Training that I actually picked up the Dr.K ability that was almost obtained for ages previously. I think at one point I was leading the league in strikeouts, but it's usually Sabathia, who the Athletics traded with someone else for nothing in return.

The Cubs management is stupid too, they have Pujols and Youkilis and they can only use one. They should just trade Youkilis for a good fielder at another position, or a relief pitcher, or maybe even a starting pitcher, but I'd rather get something else, as better starting pitchers don't help my stats at all.

I love this log for it's dry humor. Keep it up!

Wait, did they actually listen to me? I'm almost at the end of another month, and the Cubs actually traded away Youkilis, which was a good decision as he hasn't played a single game here.

Cubs got:
Cain

Diamondbacks got:
Youkilis

Next up, finding a solution to the Pujols/Konerko thing, Konerko is easily the best hitter we have among our regulars, but that still doesn't excuse having Pujols as a bench player behind him.

Well, perhaps the managers are slightly smarter than I gave them credit for, they have now traded away Pujols as a bench player, personally I would have preferred keeping him over Konerko, but still...

Angels get:
Pujols

Cubs get:
Beckett

Really looks like they want to improve our starting pitching for the future, I would rather improve our hitting so we're not the worst hitting team in the league, but it's not my choice to make. We now have 7 capable starting pitchers for some reason...

End of May stats: 2.64 ERA, 3-5 record, 75 strikeouts
Chicago Cubs record: 23-32, 5 games behind

It was another bad month for the Cubs, the only reason it wasn't worse is that they ended the month on a 5 game win streak to only fall one game further behind, from the Pirates, who lead despite only being 28-27, this is a really weak division this year. I didn't get a single game this month with more than 2 runs of support, and the only time I started that I didn't get stuck with a loss is when I went over 8 innings without giving up a run, I still didn't get a win though.

It has gotten to the point where I'm starting to give up my dream of a World Series win and replace it with the dream of becoming an international Darts champion, though it might help if I could hit what I was aiming at...

End of June stats: 2.34 ERA, 8-5 record, 108 strikeouts
Chicago Cubs record: 39-42, 1 game behind

Suddenly it looks like we could make the playoffs, we were up there in a tie with the Pirates for a little while, and had a .500 record before a bad run took us down a bit. Really we're only having a chance because of how weak this division really is, I mean, as it stands, the division leaders, the Pirates and Astros, have records under .500, there are divisions elsewhere where only the worst team is under .500. I guess it's lucky we aren't in one of those.

Lately I've been thinking about the Triple Crown a lot, I know it's a bit absurd to even dream of winning something that great, but I've been following the standings and it isn't really that preposterous, all I need is to keep my own personal hot streak going and have the team keep their hot streak going and I can take the ERA and Win leading spots. I've been holding a top 3 spot in each category for a while now, I'm currently on top of the NL ERA standings, tied for second, yet still 3 wins away from leading there, and now tied for third in strikeouts. It's just that I doubt I, or anyone else, will be able to overtake Sabathia for the leading strikeout spot, I hate the A's even more for trading him, if they would have kept him I wouldn't have him to contend with here, he leads the MLB in strikeouts pretty much constantly. I can only hope that eventually I'll be able to overtake him and still hold good ranks in the other categories, I am 7 years younger than him, so hopefully his skills may begin to decline as I hit my prime, in any case though, that won't be for a while. I suppose before looking for the Triple Crown, I should just try to take home another Pitcher of the Year Award.

I might even have an All-Star game to look forward to next month!

I won the Pitcher of the Month Award in June for the NL, with 5 wins, a 1.75 ERA, and 33 strikeouts.

End of July stats: 2.43 ERA, 9-9 record, 151 strikeouts
Chicago Cubs record: 50-56, 4 games behind

I was selected to be the starting pitcher for the All-Star Game, against Duke, Konerko was the only one from the Cubs joining me, winning by over 3 million votes. I pitched 3 shutout innings striking out 5 and only allowing 1 hit, the run support was about as bad as it is when I play for the Cubs, so I got a no decision when the NL won 3-2. Putz got the save and won the All Star MVP.

The Cubs made another good trade as the deadline approached, trading Harang to the Phillies for Ordonez, hopefully this will improve the team's run support, if only a little. Also, having 7 starters made no sense, and we're now down to 6. Ordonez is losing his abilities with age, but he still has great power, if the team lets him play, which it doesn't look like is going to happen. Idiots....

In general, this was another horrible month, I'm keeping my pitching dominance going, this is the best I've ever pitched in my career, but I don't even have a winning record to show for it, the run support I get is absolutely horrendous, if there's an unlucky pitcher in this league, it would have to be me, I never get more than 2 runs of support in a game, often it's 1 and more often it's 0 runs. The only win I got was pitching a shutout for a 2-0 win. The team has a lot of great hitters but the managing over here is completely moronic and doesn't even let most of them play. I even passed Sabathia in strikeouts for a while, but no way I could lead any league in wins the way this team is running. The team only scores runs for pitchers who don't know what to do with it, I'm pitching and they score 0 when I give up 1, someone else is pitching, and the team winds up with 5 runs and a loss, 13 runs and a loss... Ridiculous.

We could get back into a playoff spot if we turn it around for the rest of the year, but it's hard to imagine that happening.

The leading team in the division is below .500?

54-52 is 4 games ahead of 50-56 not 54-56.

They were, this division is absolutely pathetic, almost as pathetic as the turnaround year the Cubs are having now that I've joined them. They pick up a starting pitcher in the offseason that leads the league with the best ERA and second-most strikeouts, yet they go from over 100 wins in a season to well under .500, though the season isn't over yet, if they finish every month from now on so much as 1 win over .500, they could easily stand a chance at a playoff spot, it's fair to say nobody in our division is ever going to stand any chance at a Wild Card spot, the leaders are way worse than the second best in any other division.