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NST Sportsnet
July 18th, 2008.

Hornets trade All-Star Junge to Mets.

It seems that the Hornets are unsatisfied with their bullpen as they have traded catcher Junge to the New York Mets for RP/SP Mike Pelfrey, this move will let Seth McClung go down to AAA to find his stuff as he's given up a grand total of 19 runs in 6 innings while Mike Pelfrey will take the long relief spot. Junge was hitting very well with 10 homeruns, 55+ RBI and a .370 batting average, but as Clyde McFloyd said, there was no room. As a former trade analyst I don't like this deal, Junge has so much potential and skill right now, Mike Pelfrey is a solid player. But I think the Mets got the better end of the deal.

(So panther threw a no-hitter, woo woo. Also I'll be simulating this phillies series as its a 2 game set so I won't bother putting in the box score and what all. We got swept.)

Record: 64-33
1st in NL Central
Lost series 0-2.

NST Sportsnet
July 19th, 2008

Hornets beat Cubs, Chris Snyder with 2 triples.

Win: Villacis (6-3)
Save: R. Betancourt (13)
Loss: R. Hill (3-9)
HR: X

Hornets: 0-0-1-0-2-0-2-0-0
Cubs: 0-2-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Final Score:

Hornets: 5
Cubs: 2

NST Sportsnet
July 24th, 2008.

Hornets get Ellis in blockbuster deal.

The New Orleans Hornets have acquired Mark Ellis in a deal with the Athletics, shipping off SS Rolls and recently traded for Joba Chamberlain. Pitcher A. Brown was also included in the deal, as well as the Athletics sending $990,000 in funds to the New Orleans ball club. We reached GM Clyde McFloyd on this while he was at the McDonald's in Panpaka Stadium.

"Man this McFlurry, is good! And they even let you add little chocolate syrup things on it! Anyways the GM of the Athletics said it was a less than satisfactory trade (2 stars) and that he'd have to think real long and hard on it. Good thing he did, eh? Mark Ellis is a real good second baseman with plenty of speed and power. And since he's only 31, he's still in his prime. He does become a free agent in one year though, so we'll hope to lock him into a deal. It's disappointing that we had to let Rolls go as he was leading the league in sacrifices with 28 as he had Bunt Master as a skill. Same with Chamberlain, he had some good pitches and threw the heat as well. We're not done dealing yet, we still have a week to orchestrate more."

NST Sportsnet
July 24th, 2008.

Hornets win on great outing by Panther.

Win: Panther (7-0)
Save: X
Loss: Oswalt (7-7(
HR: X

Hornets: 0-0-0-1-0-0-1-4-0
Astros: 0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-1

Final Score:

Hornets: 6
Astros: 2

We take you now from the Canadiens highlights to show you the Hornets and Astro's action. Starting Pitcher Panther came into the game 5 days after throwing perfection. The odds of that happening back-to-back was diminished when the Astro's got a leadoff double, James kept them scoreless when he gave up 1 run, the only run in his 6 inning performance. The bats were doing pretty good as well. Mark Ellis made his Hornets debut in this game going 1-4 with a double, just a glimpse of things to come he said in the post-game interview. C. Snyder led the offense this game as usual, going 3-4 with 1 double and no RBI, but he did score 3 runs in the game.

Catch the Hornets tomorrow as they play the Houston Astros in a division series game, the Hornets look for the series win in this one.

Record: 70-33
1st in NL Central
Won series 3-0

(I figured that Panther would get more than 14k points as a salary next year, so I had to deal him, I feel really bad about trading a success mode character, it's like getting free money, but I could've gotten much more for these two guys I'm getting, and I'm giving up Willits and Lockwood. But first off...)

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

AL: Mike Lowell (.500, 4 HR 13 RBI)
AL: Nate McLouth (.500, 3 HR, 9 RBI)

NL: Spark Jackson (.600, 5 HR, 10 RBI)
NL: Nick Johnson (.478, 4 HR, 14 RBI)

NST Sportsnet
July 18th, 2008.

Hornets deal ace Panther to Indians.

Cleveland:
>Grady Sizemore
>Kelly Shoppach

New Orleans:
>James Panther
>Lockwood
>*sniffle sniffle* Reggie Willits

In a blockbuster deal, just 3 days before the deadline, the Hornets have traded Ace James Panther, minor leaguer Lockwood and starting left fielder Reggie Willits to the Cleveland Indians for all-star calibre player Grady Sizemore and backup catcher Kelly Shoppach. The moves reportedly started when the Hornets were browsing for a backup catcher as they have no one except Chris Snyder as a back-stop, when the Indians started asking about James Panther and how he threw the first perfect game in Hornets history. Talks led to execution and this deal happened. Our analysts here at NST strongly disapprove of the trade, saying it was mixed in lies and slander when Clyde McFloyd announced it. It is assumed Grady Sizemore will takeover the job at left fielder while Shoppach will be the backup to C. Snyder.

NST Sportsnet
July 29th, 2008.

Hornets win in complete game by Suarez.

Win: Suarez (13-1)
Save: X
Loss: Sessions (6-2)
HR: Sizemore (17)
Spark (13)

Hornets: 2-0-0-0-1-1-0-0-0
Wildboys: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1

Final Score:

Hornets: 4
Wildboys: 1

SP Suarez had entered this game without a single career complete game. He changed that by going the distance allowing only 4 base hits and giving up one unearned run in the top of the ninth to win the game, on top of that, he also went 3-4 to help his own cause in winning. Recently acquired outfielder Grady Sizemore hit a solo blast down centre field for his first homerun as a Hornet. This win ties their season series at two games a piece as both teams claw and slash their way through to beat their rivals.

NST Sportsnet
July 31st, 2008 (Day of the Deadline)

Hornets acquired Dan Haren in blockbuster deal, ship away Sizemore as well.

Arizona:
>Dan Haren
>Conor Jackson
>Stephen Drew

New Orleans:
>Grady Sizemore
>Seth McClung
>Angel Sanchez

We are here, live with Hornets GM Clyde McFloyd, he scheduled a meeting with us right here at the NST Headquarters instead of us intercepting him at some fast food restaurant, Clyde, how did you orchestrate what is so far the biggest deal of the season?

"Well darling, all it takes is a little luck (3 stars) and a little skill, am I right? I started this whole deal when I acquired Angel Sanchez, I would use him and let him perform for a little while, and then trade our ace for a top calibre player, Grady Sizemore wasn't the initial player, but I couldn't get Tex Mex for a reasonable price, so he worked. This was all for Conor Jackson initially, and then a bunch of money, but when I saw Dan Haren and his 2.47 ERA, I had to take the risk for him, it definitely paid off as now we have an amazing shortstop, a top notch starter, and a great player overall in Conor Jackson."

"Then what about Ryan Garko? Conor Jackson looks better than him on paper and in the actual stats."

"Of course, I already had that in mind, Ryan will be dealt with, just watch."

Conor Jackson will replace Ryan in the lineup.
Stephen Drew will replace Angel Sanchez.
Haren will join the rotation.

PLAYERS OF THE MONTH FOR JULY

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
AL: Joe Mauer (.424, 7 HR, 23 RBI)
NL: David Wright (.406, 8 HR, 30 RBI) (Spark did better)

PITCHER OF THE MONTH
AL: Fausto Carmona (4 WINS, 0 SAVES, 1.24 ERA, 5 K'S)
NL: Chiasson (4 WINS, 0 SAVES, 1.93 ERA, 37 K'S)

ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
AL: (lul) James Panther (3 WINS, 0 SAVES, 0.56 ERA, 62 K'S)
NL: (lul x2) Spark Jackson (.414, 11 HR, 22 RBI)

RELIEF PITCHER OF THE MONTH
AL: NOT AWARDED
NL: Brian Fuentes (0 WINS, 7 SAVES, 3.48 ERA, 12 K'S)

5 star trade declined ;-;

I lost all desire to play this season after the trade deadline. Probably because I looked at our players contracts and about 85% are on 1 year contacts, including Dan Haren I believe.

NST Sportsnet
August 1st, 2008.

Hornets win on walkoff by McMillon.

Win: Haren (9-1)
Save: X
Loss: R. Soprano (0-2)
HR: Tex Mex (26)

Hornets: 4-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1
Braves: 0-0-4-0-0-0-0-0-0

Final Score:

Hornets: 5
Braves: 4

The Hornets left a grand total of 9 runners left on base, 5 of which were in scoring positio, that didn't seem to be a factor as they still won on a walkoff hit by McMillon in the bottom of the ninth. Dan Haren was doing fine in his Hornets debut until the 3rd when he gave up a 488 foot blast to Mark Teixeira to tie up the game. After that he pitched fine, only giving up 2 more hits in his 4 run complete game. Giving him 9 wins and 1 loss on the year. The other two newly acquired pieces, Stephen Drew and Conor Jackson went 3-4 and 2-4 respectively, with both scoring 1 run.

Record: 74-35
1st in NL Central
Won series 3-0

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

AL: Vladimir Guerrero (.556, 1 HR, 9 RBI)
AL: Miguel Cabrera (.391, 3 HR, 11 RBI)

NL: Ryan Theriot (.346, 2 HR, 10 RBI)
NL: Matt Holliday (.737, 2 HR, 5 RBI)

NST Sportsnet
August 4th, 2008.

(I'm going to stop doing these news headlines unless its the New Orleans gazelle as I have to keep coming up with new ones which is pretty hard, all I can get is hornets win in route of etc. or pitcher etc. has a dominating performance in hornets win)

Win: Suarez (14-1)
Save: X
Loss: Germano (3-6)
HR: Spark (15)

Hornets: 0-0-3-0-0-2-1-0-0
Padres: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Suarez was pitching today for the New Orleans Hornets and pitched 5 shutout innings before being taken out for safety precautions as he felt pains in his elbow, a MRI will be done on him tomorrow to ensure nothing bad has happened. His 5 innings were good enough as the bullpen only gave up 1 more hit in the next 4 innings to get Suarez his 14th win of the season as he gets more Cy Young thoughts. He is currently leading the MLB in wins, and he was a reliever for 1 month of the year! Right fielder Adam Jones banged against the wall while jumping to catch a ball, he suffered some elbow pains and will be out for the whole Padres series.

Record: 77-35
1st in NL Central
Won series 3-0

NST Sportsnet
August 8th, 2008

Win: Haren (10-1)
Save: X
Loss: J. Wright (2-6)
HR: Helms (8)
C. Snyder (15)
Spark (17)
Spark (18)
Votto (6)

Hornets: 0-3-0-1-2-1-3-0-4
Marlins: 0-2-0-0-0-0-2-0-0

Final Score:

Hornets: 14
Marlins: 4

Dan Haren took the mound today after pitching a complete game just 5 days back. He clearly didn't need more rest as he went the distance again even though he gave up 4 runs which is exactly how many he gave up in his last start. He currently leads the NL and AL in complete games, is 1st in the NL for shutouts and 2nd in the AL even though he only has 11 decisions. Onto the rest of the game now. The offence exploded scoring 14 runs. Most coming from the bat of Spark who delivered 5 RBI with 2 homeruns, evening his homerun total at 18. Catch the Hornets play the marlins tomorrow at 7pm right here on NST.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

AL: Chone Figgins (.500, 2HR, 9 RBI)
AL: Jon Lester (1 WIN, 0 SAVES, 0.00 ERA, 14 K'S)

NL: Spark Jackson (.607, 5 HR, 12 RBI)
NL: Stephen Drew (.636, 1 HR, 3 RBI)

Hey! We had both players of the week on our team!

Record: 79-36
1st in NL Central
Won series 2-1

Team standings in next post.

AMERICAN LEAGUE STANDINGS AS OF AUGUST 11TH, 2008.

American League East:
1. New York Yankees (70-45)
2. Boston Red Sox (61-54)
3. Tampa Bay Rays (56-59)
4. Baltimore Orioles (53-62)
5. Toronto Blue Jays (49-66)

American League Central
1. Minnesota Twins (68-47)
2. Cleveland Indians (61-54)
3. Chicago White Sox (60-55)
4. Pittsburgh Pirates (55-60)
5. Detroit Tigers (54-61)
6. Kansas City Royals (44-71)

American League West
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (72-43)
2. Texas Rangers (61-54)
3. Milwaukee Brewers (57-58)
4. Oakland Athletics (52-63)
5. Seattle Mariner (42-73)

NATIONAL LEAGUE STANDINGS AS OF AUGUST 11TH, 2008.

National League East:
1. Florida Marlins (75-40)
2. New York Mets (60-55)
3. Atlanta Braves (58-57)
4. Philadelphia Phillies (52-63)
4. Orlando Wildboys (52-63)
6. Washington Nationals (51-64)

National League Central:
1. New Orleans Hornets (79-36)
2. St. Louis Cardinals (61-54)
3. Cincinnati Reds (60-55)
4. Chicago Cubs (47-68)
5. Houston Astros (45-70

National League West:
1. Colorado Rockies (64-51)
2. Arizona Diamondbacks (59-56)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (58-57)
3. San Francisco Giants (58-57)
5. San Diego Padres (46-69)

NL BATTING LEADERS:
1. Dan Uggla (.372)
2. Albert Pujols (.368)
3. Chipper Jones (.361)
6. Mark Ellis (.349) (Mark is one hit away from being the hit leader, dan uggla leads.)
7. Chris Snyder (.348)

NL HOMERUN LEADERS:
1. Dan Uggla (34)
2. Jim Edmonds (30)
3. Tex Mex (28)
25. Spark Jackson (19)

NL RBI LEADERS:
1. Hanley Ramirez (105)
2. Dan Uggla (102)
3. Luis Gonzalez (99)
33. Chris Snyder (74)
mfw all top 3 rbi leaders are on the same team.
dan uggla might get the triple crown, step down hanley!

NST Sportsnet
August 11th, 2008.

Win: Haren (11-1)
Save: X
Loss: Hampson (0-5)
HR: C. Jackson (9)
Spark (20)

Hornets: 0-0-0-3-0-1-3-4-1
Padres: 0-0-0-0-0-1-10-0-0

Final Score:

Hornets: 12
Padres: 11

The Padres offence exploded during the 7th inning, scoring 10 runs, all on SP Suarez. Manager Clyde McFloyd reportedly asked Suarez to leave the game after giving up 1 run in the 6th, but Suarez refused and said he'd quit if he was taken out, so he stayed in. Most of us here at NST think that Suarez was gambling on this game for the Padres as he gave up 10 runs and then came out after that. Apart from that the game was sloppy, the Hornets didn't score until the 4th and then only a miraculous comeback brought the Hornets to a victory. Conor Jackson made a much anticipated comeback to the lineup after being purple for the other series against the Marlins, but Clyde forgot to pencil him in at the start of the game, so he pinch hit for 3B Medrano and hit a 1 run jack to win the game for him and his squad.

We have an update on the condition of Suarez.

Alright, you all saw Suarez get jacked in the elbow by the ball right? Turns out he fractured his arm. He will be out for all of the season.

Bye bye Cy Young chances. Maza will be called up for him.

Record: 82-36 (clinched a winning record)
1st in NL Central
Won series 3-0

NST Sportsnet
August 15th, 2008.

Win: Haren (12-1)
Save: X
Loss: Mitre (5-4)
HR: Ellis (14)
C. Jackson (10)
Jacobs (14)

Hornets: 0-0-1-0-3-6-0-2
Marlins: 0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-0

Final Score:

Hornets: 12
Marlins: 2

The Hornets are on fire at home as they've just won their 4th consecutive after clinching a winning record in the previous game, Dan Haren pitched 7 innings while only giving up 1 run to get his 12th win of the season, trailing 2 wins from the current win leader of the tea, Suarez. Conor Jackson belted his 10th of the year on a 3-0 meatpitch, it was the longest homerun in Hornets history as it went 524 feet, down centre field. Mark Ellis also went. 5-5 with a homerun. He currently leads the MLB in hits.

Catch the Hornets tomorrow as they play the Marlins. Sandberg or his brother Lundberg are scheduled to pitch.

Edit: For anyone that's following, I'm probably going to slow down on the updates and stay with the one-per-day, as I've found a lot of fun in Baseball Mogul lately.

Ugh, I hate simulating games without showing you guys the scores, but due to my almost 2 week absence I wanted to just get August over with. I won't bother with standings or players of the month or week until next year.

TSN Network
September 1st, 2008.

Win: McConnell (1-0 first appearance in bigs)
Save: R. Betancourt (22)
Loss: Broxton (2-2)
HR: C. Jackson (13)
C. Snyder: 1 (18)
C. Snyder: 2 (19)

New Orleans: 2-0-1-0-0-1-0-2-1
Los Angeles 0-0-0-0-0-1-3-0-0

Final Score:

Hornets: 7
Dodgers: 5

Record: 93-44
1st in NL Central
Won series 3-0

NST Network
September 4th, 2008.

Win: D. Davis (3-3)
Save: X
Loss: R. Betancourt (1-2)
HR: Sizemore

Hornets: 0-0-2-3-0-4-2-3-0
Diamondbacks: 2-0-0-3-0-0-2-0-7

Final Score:

Hornets: 13
Diamondbacks: 14

The New Orleans Hornets lose in a heartbreaker, the squad was up by 6 runs in the bottom of the ninth when R. Betancourt came in to finish off the game. Instead he gave up a grand slam to former Hornet Grady Sizemore which paved the way to a 7 run inning for Arizona, Dan Haren pitched this game and lasted 5 1/3 giving up 5 runs, leaving with the game tied. The Hornets hope to win the series as they have a magic number of 8, and would need to lose pretty much every game in September to miss the playoffs.