Power Pros Forum

Season 6, Game 5:

Boston Bruins (3-1) at Toronto Blue Jays

Bruins: 10
Blue Jays: 1

The Bruins seemed to be bent on revenge after the last time they played the Blue Jays and were embarrassed. This time the Bruins were on the winning side of a blowout. Bryan Kelly pitched a good last game but Jose Bautista ruined his retirement shutout with a solo home run in the 9th inning. Shawn Thornton didn't steal a base in this game, but he still had 2 doubles and a grand slam, which is okay too.

On that grand slam, Thornton became the first Bruins player to hit 25 RBIs, and he got his 28th from that hit.

Player of the Game: Shawn Thornton

Thornton: 3-5, 2 2B, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI
Gardner: 2-5, K, 2 SB
Butler: 2-5, 2B, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
Votto: 1-4, 2B, BB
Ciriaco: 3-5, 2B, HR, 3 R, RBI
Gonzalez: 1-4, BB, K
Cooper: 1-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
Davis: 2-4, R, RBI
Curtis: 1-4, R

B.Kelly: 9 innings pitched, 6 hits, 1 run, 7 strikeouts, win

Win: Bryan Kelly (3-1)
Loss: Mark Buehrle (0-1)
HR: S.Thornton, B.Butler, P.Ciriaco, B.Cooper, J.Bautista

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Retirements are:

Brett Gardner
Pedro Ciriaco
Eddy Gonzalez (ties team record of home runs, with 8 )
Bryan Kelly
Junichi Tazawa

The best time of the game, replacement players!

New this season is:
Zack Greinke
Jimmy Rollins
David Wright
Andrew Bailey
Dougie Hamilton

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Dougie Hamilton may be the less known of the new recruits, but he's expected to develop into a star player in the future. He started at just 69 overall, but after some training, will begin his debut as a 75 overall, he has decent speed to start, but he's expected to develop into more of a power hitter with speed for tracking the ball down in center field.

Hamilton already has better power attributes than Thornton, who's tied for the team lead with 8 home runs, but his contact hitting ability isn't expected to ever reach Thornton's level, as Thornton is hitting .491 after 25 games.

To give some insight into Hamilton's current ability:

Speed: 78
Power: Low 60's
Contact: Mid 50's
Fielding: 60's, but his arm is even worse

So he's definitely a work in progress, and it may be a while before he reaches his actual potential. I'll work on mostly power first, then contact and speed, and then maybe fielding, but I'm still not sure on how much fielding attributes really matter.

Not a bad haul for the new players.

I was definitely hoarding way too many star players earlier on, now I realize that to get use out of even most of them I'll probably have to use all star players nearly all the time.

Although for shortstop I may use another dynasty player since there's not that many good shortstops available, Rollins was the only 90+ one I had and I think I had almost fifty 90+ rated MLB players before then.

I also need to activate a lot of those superstar players so I can complete collections, and take the money you get to buy more players and complete more collections in a nearly neverending loop.

The only position I may slack off on is relief pitching, since a lot of the times my relief pitchers don't see too much time. I can't even remember the last time I actually had to send my closer out in a save situation, seems every game is a blowout one way or the other. I thought I would get to use him for a while last game, but the late grand slam opened things up too much.

I think Case should be in the HOF...

He can be considered, but I can almost guarantee he can't make it in the first time because he retires after the same season Thornton does, I think.

And I don't know how the hell he does it, but after 25 games, Thornton is still hitting around .490, and he holds the team record in stolen bases (and probably hits), and ties the home run record.

Also, I have to think of somebody for this HOF now, because I was about to just casually cancel it by not bringing it up again.

Well, I think someone wanted Motte a long time ago, so I could consider him, probably either him or Ciriaco. Gardner had a great start but a horrible finish and I don't think he's even worth considering now.

HOF available players:

Jason Motte
Joel Hanrahan
Philippe Aumont
Jacoby Ellsbury
Alfredo Aceves
Brian Wilson
Justin Morneau
Brett Gardner
Pedro Ciriaco
Eddy Gonzalez
Bryan Kelly
Junichi Tazawa

In HOF:
Gio Gonzalez
Ryan Zimmerman
David Ortiz

Might as well give it to Motte to even up the pitcher/batter number I guess.

Season 7, Game 1:

Boston Bruins at Boston Red Sox:

Bruins: 6
Red Sox: 4

The Bruins had the power and the relief pitching to get a close win against the Red Sox. It looked like Thornton had an uncharacteristic bad game, as he was only 2-5, but when you consider the home plate umpire was what got him out two of those times, it's not bad, once where he took a walk but the umpire called the pitch strike 3 when no part of it touched the strike zone, and once when he fouled a pitch off but the umpire called it fair and it was a groundout.

Player of the Game: David Wright

Thornton: 2-5, 2B, R, K (called, but not really), SB
Rollins: 0-3, R, BB, K, SB
Butler: 0-4, K (I made him DH because the old one was the only player not hitting over .300, but this idiot struggles to hit .200)
Votto: 3-4, R, 2 RBI
Wright: 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, K
Hamilton: 1-4
Cooper: 1-4, HR, R, RBI
Davis: 1-4
Curtis: 1-4, HR, R, RBI

Z.Greinke: 6 innings pitched, 4 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts
A.Bailey: 1 inning pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 3 strikeouts, win
K.Uehara: 1 inning pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 2 strikeouts, hold
J.Grilli: 1 inning pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, save

Win: Andrew Bailey (1-0)
Loss: Craig Breslow (0-1)
Save: Jason Grilli (1)
HR: D.Wright, B.Cooper, R.Curtis, J.Gomes

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May need to get the replay of the AI exploiting itself to get extra bases.

Season 7, Game 2:

Milwaukee Brewers at Boston Bruins (1-0)

Brewers: 3
Bruins: 13

The Bruins managed a ridiculous display of power against the Brewers pitching in this game, several players hit home runs, including a 3 home run game by Tucker Davis to take a decisive lead for career home runs for the Bruins, as he now has 10. Thornton got hit 15th career stolen base in a game where the score would mean you probably shouldn't be stealing, but he was clearly angry about how the pitcher hit him to put him on base. Rollins had a grand slam in that game somewhere mixed in with all the other home runs. Hamilton, projected to be a power threat in the future hit his first career home run as well.

Player of the Game: Tucker Davis

Thornton: 1-3, 2B, R, BB, HBP, SB
Rollins: 3-5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, K
Butler: 2-5, K
Votto: 2-5, R, RBI, K
Wright: 1-5, 2B, R, RBI
Hamilton: 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, K
Cooper: 1-4, R, 2 K
Davis: 3-4, 3 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, K
Curtis: 2-4, HR, 2 R, RBI

J.Weaver: 7 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 runs, 10 strikeouts, win
J.Shannon: 1 inning pitched, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
B.Lugo: 1 inning pitched, 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 strikeout

Win: Jered Weaver (2-0)
Loss: Yovani Gallardo (0-1)
HR: J.Rollins, D.Hamilton, T.Davis (3), R.Curtis, R.Weeks

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Wasn't expecting that from Davis, I was waiting for Hamilton to get good to try to get the home run and triple crown achievements. The home run one being 10 home runs, and the triple crown being 10 home runs, 25 RBIs, and .300 batting average, but after that outburst, it looks like Davis will be the one to get them. He's just 1 RBI away from the Triple Crown with 8 games left.

Thornton won the stolen base achievement at 15.

Individual achievements remaining are:
Triple Crown
10 saves
50 strikeouts

The 10 save one I'll need to get a great closer who can pitch 3 innings a game, and for 50 strikeouts, that one seems so impossible I won't even bother trying. I'd probably have to put it on rookie and never let my fielders make a play for an out.

Looks like Royal may have to wait a few seasons after this to even have a chance at HOF, with Thornton retiring after this one and Davis retiring next one, they both seem like sure winners. Unless Davis somehow goes all 8 of his games without getting that 1 more RBI.

Tucker Davis? More like Chris Davis, if you catch my drift.

Season 7, Game 3:

San Francisco Giants at Boston Bruins

Giants: 4
Bruins: 6

The Bruins got the win in a close game against the Giants. Davis finished his Triple Crown with a home run in the second inning. Thornton had a couple chances to steal but Posey has 200 arm strength and 300 arm accuracy so it's beyond impossible to do. Royal got his record holding 6th win.

Player of the Game: Billy Butler

Thornton: 2-4
Rollins: 0-3, R, BB, K
Butler: 4-4, 3 2B, 2 R
Votto: 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
Wright: 4-4, 2B, R, RBI
Hamilton: 1-4, 3B, 2 RBI, K
Cooper: 1-4, 2 K
Davis: 1-4, HR, R, RBI, K
Curtis: 0-3

C.Royal: 6 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 runs, 4 strikeouts, win
A.Bailey: 1 inning pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, hold
K.Uehara: 1 inning pitched, 2 hits, 2 runs, 0 strikeouts
J.Grilli: 1 inning pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, save

Win: Case Royal (6-1)
Loss: Matt Cain (0-1)
Save: Jason Grilli (2)
HR: J.Votto, T.Davis, M.Scutaro

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I've given up complaining on called strikeouts on pitches nowhere near the strike zone. After carefully watching a few real games, I realized that virtually every called third strike in the MLB is on a pitch that's out of the strike zone clearly, one way or the other.

Also, I'm worried about upgrading Hamilton any more, he's not even close to the best hitter, but for some reason he's the only hitter on my team that the pitcher will never give in to. For some reason every pitch to Hamilton is right on a corner, they'll throw hanging pitches or weak fastballs to anyone else, but not him.

Season 7, Game 4:

Washington Nationals at Boston Bruins (3-0)

Nationals: 0
Bruins: 0

Game canceled for no apparent reason after the Bruins rallied to take a 5-3 lead.

Season 7, Game 4 (2):

Arizona Diamondbacks at Boston Bruins (3-0-0)

Diamondbacks: 3
Bruins: 5

The Bruins came out on top thanks to a 3 run home run by Votto. After they came back from a deficit to make it 5-3 again, they were slightly worried about whether the game would count, but this one did, and the pitching held the win.

Player of the Game: Joey Votto

Thornton: 0-2, R, 2 BB
Rollins: 1-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB, K
Butler: 2-4, R, BB
Votto: 1-4, HR, R, 3 RBI, K
Wright: 0-4, K
Hamilton: 0-4, 2 K
Cooper: 0-3, BB, 2 K
Davis: 0-2, BB, K
Curtis: 1-3, 2B, K

R.VanVorstenbosch: 5 innings pitched, 6 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts
B.Lugo: 2 innings pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3 strikeouts, win
A.Bailey: 1 inning pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, hold
J.Grilli: 1 inning pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, save

Win: Benito Lugo (4-0)
Loss: Ian Kennedy (0-1)
Save: Jason Grilli (3)
HR: J.Votto, M.Montero

Season 7, Game 5:

Atlanta Braves at Boston Bruins (4-0)

Braves: 3
Bruins: 6

The Bruins came back against the Braves for the first time since a humiliating loss, and were able to handle themselves much better this time. They barely struck out against Medlen and managed some runs off him. Curtis hit his 9th career home run in this game. Hamilton, as he can't seem to get his power going, decided to show the team management he could play small ball too, as he took a walk, stole second, and scored the Bruins last run.

Player of the Game: Romeo Curtis

Thornton: 0-4, K
Rollins: 1-4, R
Butler: 1-3, R, BB
Votto: 1-4, RBI
Wright: 2-4, 2 2B, 2 R, K
Hamilton: 1-3, R, BB, SB
Cooper: 3-4, 2 RBI, K
Davis: 2-3, RBI
Curtis: 1-3, HR, R, RBI

Z.Greinke: 6 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 runs, 9 strikeouts
A.Bailey: 1 inning pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, win
K.Uehara: 1 inning pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, hold
J.Grilli: 1 inning pitched, 1 hit, 1 run, 0 strikeouts (I'm going to have to look up the save rule to find out why he didn't get one here)

Win: Andrew Bailey (2-0)
Loss: Cory Gearrin (0-1)
HR: R.Curtis, J.Heyward, J.Upton

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Retirements:
Shawn Thornton (hit somewhere around .470, OBP around .500, 8 home runs, 15 steals)
Billy Butler
Joey Votto
Barry Cooper
Ryan Staton (career bench player)
Ryan VanVorstenbosch
Case Royal (6-1 record, 2.44 ERA, 37 strikeouts)
Julio Feliz
Koji Uehara
Jason Grilli

I will take HOF voting, but it would take a decent show of support for anyone but Thornton to make it this time.

I don't think he got the save, since he gave up a run, presumably making it 6-2 entering the 9th. He would not have gotten a save in this situation, since he would need to be within 3 runs or less entering the inning to earn one.