Power Pros Forum

You also got Johnson, right? His ave has fallen a bit, but he's leading the AL in HR by 5.

Yep! Mwahahahahaha!

Main bench players

Towles & Riggins, C. The league was initially surprised when the Country picked up 2 light-hitting catchers, even though all they gave up were a rookie pitcher who had trouble hitting 80 mph on the radar gun and an offensively-challenged, weak-armed rookie ss. Eyebrows raised even further when they used a 1st round pick on a catcher, all when they had a fine defensive catcher to start with. In talks with GM ERISA Dude leading up to the draft, it is clear that the Country value athleticism, and seem to view a player's listed defensive position as a mere "suggestion". Furthermore, the GM believes that SS and catcher generally bring the most athletic players, with SS having a step up in terms of defensive range and catchers having better arms. If so, then based on Towles' BCC arm and defense & Riggins' BDD arm & defense, and off-the-record discussions with a Country executive who is not authorized to speak for the team, rather than focusing on Towles' & Riggins' offense next spring training, those players will probably focus on learning various infield positions; especially 3rd and short. That same executive commented that the Country may be willing to forgo offensive production from their backups in exchange for having these "all-infield" players that may allow the Country to leave some rookies in the minors to develop and allowing them to carry an extra pitcher.

Schrager, 3b (DCFDED). Schrager, whose offense recently improved to DC from ED, is not a starter, but he has DH'd (though that spot is now filled by Cust) and filled in at 1st. An anonymous source inside the Country front office tell us that management believes Schrager's 350 ave is representative of what he can do on an everyday basis, but until he improves his defense, he will likely be limited to playing 1st base. Apparently, there is disagreement within management on how to develop Schrager. Some say that he should continue to focus on batting since that is what the team invested in; others say that since he just improved in that area, he should focus now on his defense.

McCurdy, C (DEFCDC). The Country's 1st round pick is a solid backup who can be a starter. Word is the Country are thinking about moving the athletic starting catcher (Huisman) to shortstop and moving McCurdy up to the starting spot next year. If so, the Country must expect McCurdy to improve on what he's shown at the plate, thus far. With his contact recently improving from E to D, he now has similar offensive qualities to the current starting catcher.

Ryan Sweeney, LF, CF, RF (DFDEFD). 1 of the Country's early-season trade pickups, Ryan lost his RF starting spot when the Country traded for Spilborghs. The unofficial word is that the Country are content to keep Sweeney as a backup OF and let him develop.

7/21-23/2008 Three-game series against the rays

Summary: Country Come Out on Top in Close 3 Game Series

Game one: country Bourgeois (90 DC CB– three, cu – four, SL – two) versus rays Miller (97 EB CH – two, CB – two, CU – two, SL – two)

A pitchers duel early on, the country had a chance to score in the top of the fourth inning when milledge singled, stole second, and tried to score on a base hit by Erdos but was thrown out by at the plate by BJ Upton. Instead, the rays scored first in the bottom of that inning when Carlos Pena hit a two run homerun.

The country took the lead in the top of the fifth when Johnson got a two strike single up the middle and went to third on a double by cust off the centerfield wall that missed being a homerun by about 1 foot. After hart was called out on a strike three cutter that just barely caught the plate, Huisman doubled both runners home. After Sanchez' fielders choice allowed Huisman to move to third with two out, Sweeney came through in the clutch and singled home the go ahead runner

The rays tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when Upton singled and scored on a triple by Gomes to right field that should've been a single, but Sweeney attempted a diving catch and messed, allowing Upton to score the tying run

The country pulled ahead in the top of the eighth as the Rays starting pitcher began to tire. Sweeney battled Miller and laced the seventh pitch of the at-bat (a clear "mistake pitch") into centerfield. Rather than pull Miller at that point, he pitched to milledge who homered on the second pitch of the at-bat over the left center field wall, giving the country a five – three lead

Sweeney was also a catalyst for the country's last run of the game, singling Huisman to third. Milledge then drove Huisman home, extending the Country lead to 6-3 entering the ninth inning

Notable players on offense: Lastings Milledge (3/5, HR, three RBI, R) and Ryan Sweeney, filling in for an ailing Spilborghs, (3/4, RBI, R)

Pitching:

Bourgeois – five IP, 2R, 4H, four SO

Brown (winning picher) – two IP, R, 2H, 2SO

Green (hold) – one IP, 0R, 1H

Chamberlain (save) – one IP, 0R, 2H

Notable: Hart's strong offensive showing had to end sometime and today was the day, as he went 0-4, but made up for it with some nice fielding, especially to close out the ninth inning. hart made a great defensive play in the bottom of the 9th - with the speedy BJ Upton on first, Gomes lined a shot right down the left-field line. Hart made a diving catch on what would have clearly allowed Upton to reach third-base, if not score. He then started the game ending double-play by fielding a grounder, stepping on third base and still throwing out the speedy baldelli at first

Game two: Rays stop country win streak at 6 with 1-0 win

country Depablos (93 DC SL – four, CB – three) versus rays Garza (96 DB SL – three, CB – two, CH – two)

In what turned out to be quite a pitching duel, Depablos wriggled out of a big jam in the third when, with runners at first and second, 1 out, Crawford laced a ball down the right-field line that Johnson snared and took the sure out at first, allowing the Rays to advance to third and second, and the next batter lined out to 3rd.

Depablos 6IP, R, 6H, 3SO
Brown 2IP, 0R, H, 2SO

Game three: Country Take Anotehr Tight Game 8-7

country Jimenez (98 ED CH – four, cd – one) versus rays Howell (87 EB cD – two, CH – two)

If at 1st you don't succeed: in the top of the second inning, down one – zero, Johnson led off with a base hit. Cust followed and was robbed of a homerun by an amazing jump by Carl Crawford snatching the ball out of the stands for an out. The next batter, Hart, crushed the next pitch for a two run home run

Offensive stats:
Milledge 2/5, 2RBI, R
Erdos 2/5
Harris 1/5, 2B, RBI
Johnson 3/5, 2B, 3R
Cust 2/5, 2-2B, RBI
Hart 4/4, HR, three RBI, 2R
Sweeney 3/5, R
Huisman 3/5, RBI, R (with this game, Huisman is now batting 300 for the season)
Sanchez 1/4

Pitching stats:
Jimenez - 3-2/3 IP, 6R, 10 H, 3SO
Jiang 2–1/3 IP, 0R, 1H, 2 SO
Brown 2 IP, 1R, 1H, 3SO
Chamberlain one IP, 0R, 0H, SO

Nice job, Jack and Dan!

7/25-27/2008
Country v White Sox: Country hopes crash-land in windy city, as Sox sweep Country

Game one: country Lannan (89 ED SL – two, CB – four, CH – two) versus white sox buehrle (90 CA 2sf – two, SL – two, CU – four, CB – three, CH – four)

Summary: buehrle baffles the country; pitches complete game

Other than a first inning run, Harris, scoring on a single by cust, the country offense was futile, as buehrle allowed one run on seven hits while country pitchers allowed six runs, including a pair of two-run home runs, with only three strikeouts

Game two: Country lose slugfest against White Sox, 14-10

country James (91 CB SL – two, CH – three) versus white sox ??? (95 CA CH – three, SP– One, CD – three, SL – two)

Offensive stats:
Milledge 3/5, RBI
Erdos 3/6, RBI, R
Harris 2/6, RBI
Johnson 4/5, 2 2B, RBI, 2R
Cust 3/5, HR, three RBI, three R
Hart 3/5, HR, two RBI, 2R
Huisman 2/5, RBI, R
Sweeney 1/5
White 2/5, R

Pitching stats:
James 0 IP, 5R, 5H, 0SO
O Connor 2 2/3 IP, four R, 5H, SO
Stratton 2 IP, three R, 6H, SO
Deardorff 2 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 2H,
Jiang IP, 2R, 2H, 2SO

Game three: Country get swept in heartbreaker, 7-5

country Grindell ( 90 3EC cu – three, CD – two, Pa – three) versus White Sox contreras ( 95 CA 2SF – two, SL – three, SP – four, CH – four)

Notable offense: spilborghs went 2/5, with 2 doubles and an RBI, but hit into the game ending double play with the bases loaded, all in his return from his extended rest; Johnson and hart homered, and white, playing second in place of Sanchez, went 3/4 with an RBI

Pitching struggled again today against the powerful Sox lineup. Starting pitcher Grindell allowed three earned runs, and James, the starter from yesterday's game who exited the first inning without recording an out, was only able to go one and two thirds innings today, allowing four runs. Green pitch an excellent 2 1/3 innings, allowing zero runs, one hit, and five strikeouts

It was an exciting top of the ninth, with the country losing 7-4: hart gets a leadoff single and is replaced by pinch runner, McCurdy. Huisman singles to right center allowing McCurdy to go to third; White hits a tapper up the middle bringing McCurdy home (7-5) and putting runners at first and second, no out; Milledge hit a short shallow single to left field, loading the bases with nobody out for Erdos, who popped out to the second baseman; Spilborghs then hit a sharp line drive right at the shortstop who turned a double pla to end the game

I don't mean to be a grammer Nazi but can you fix your capitalization. It makes it a little more difficult to read the logs.

Is it really distracting? It's because I dictate my entries and when I spell something out, it capitalizes every letter, but if I just say a name, nothing gets capitalized

Not really. BYE!

Capitalization isn't really as big as an issue to me as the formatting. Everything is just normal font and there are no heading, subheadings, or color. That's the reason I haven't read this log at all

Ditto. You gotta make it look appealing to the eye

Why do you think Skittles likes Skittles?

Yes, but I do not like yellow font

But aren't there yellow Skittles? You can't just hate on a Skittle because it's yellow? Because within each Skittle, no matter what flavor is one thing: a small troll that goes into your body that injects a tiny little diabetes bomb inside your body.

I said the font color!

Skittles, Fonts, all the same