Rangers dynasty (MVP 08): 8-3

[JT_55]

Hmmm...it does work now. I was trying to load quickly by going to properties and getting the URL for it, but I think it was too long for Windows to recognize. With the whole page, it works.

Yeah, the grass looks wierd, but didn't you use a screen from the game? Might want to fix up the background behind the text, too.

[jonthefon]

Nah, I photoshopped it and changed contrast

[jonthefon]

Well, as it turns out, this thing is dead until I figure out how to get the opening-day roster I'm using to work on dynasty. It's crashing.

[jonthefon]

Back on track! First game will be up soon.

[jonthefon]

Opening Day 2008

Texas Rangers
at
Seattle Mariners

GAME PREVIEW:

Since I got no feedback, I'll just keep using my current format.

This lineup actually resembled the Rangers real opening-day lineup, only with a few order things and Botts playing instead of Broussard (who can't hit leftys as well). Kevin Millwood is naturally starting.

A typical lineup for the M's...Ichiro leading off, Jose Lopez at 2 followed by Ibanez and Beltre. Erik Bedard, the new Seattle ace lining up opposite to Millwood.

GAME RECAP:

To say the least, I got very little out of this game.

Had some fun early though. The second batter of the season, Young smashed a liner back at Bedard which hits him in the face. Welcome to the AL West!



Unfortunately, he's okay and I can't get into the 'pen (which outside of Low and Putz, I'd say I could hit).

From there on, it's all Seattle. Ichiro leads off with a single which he extends into a triple when it gets past a diving Hamilton at CF, and Lopez hits a sacrifice fly to score him for a 1-0 Seattle lead.

In the bottom of the third, Ichiro steps up with Johjima on first, and promptly makes a mess of a hit-and-run when Kinsler catches a tough liner and throws out Johjima to end the inning.



My offensive futility continues throughout the game. Nothing seems to leave the infield: the few liners I hit go straight to fielders and Bedard's curve is especially nasty.

In the top of the seventh, Blalock leads off with a single down the center and Botts sacrifices him to second. When Byrd hits a deep fly to right, Blalock gets to third but Lopez makes a great grab off Murphy's liner to end the inning.

As it turns out, that would be as close as I would get. Beltre and Ibanez get base hits to start the next inning, Balantien singles both home, and after Johjima and Betancourt load the bases to chase Millwood, that's the game. Sexson adds an RBI single for good measure though.

Grading and Player of the Game:

Hitting: D-I worked the count and got some pitches to hit, but didn't get much in play. Stuff like that happens.
Pitching: C+-I can't say I pitched a lot worse than Bedard, but the hitters got onto a lot of stuff early in the count and put it in play.

Player of the Game: Erik Bedard-7IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 6K, W

[jonthefon]

Game 2 (managed):

Texas 7, Seattle 2
Boxscore


Game 3:

Texas Rangers

versus

Seattle Mariners

GAME PREVIEW:

Obviously, here, I'm filling out my ideal side-no offensive black holes over the lineup: Kinsler/Young/Hamilton/Blalock/Bradley/Murphy/Samm-er, Broussard/Botts/Saltalamacchia and decent D (of course, with the exception of Salty's arm . Jason Jennings making his first start as a Ranger.

The M's run the same lineup they did on Opening Day, so not much to say. Carlos Silva, their expensive offseason pitching acquisition starting.

Important thing for me once again is to put the ball in play-something I did very little of on Opening Day. From there, I can get the pitch count up, chase Silva hopefully early and get into the Seattle bullpen which has already been used rather extensively over the previous two games-Lowe and Putz in Game 1, then Morrow and Green for >1 inning relief stints in Game 2.

GAME RECAP:

I didn't start off well-after going down in order in the top of the first, Ichiro gets another leadoff single and proceeds to steal second and third on consecutive pitches, making a mockery of Salty. After Lopez K's, Ibanez singles down the middle to get me behind early again. Beltre hits into two to end the inning.

Thankfully, my offence gets going. After drawing consecutive walks to start the inning, Murphy doubles to right center scoring both runners and giving me the lead. Botts doubles to the same place, scoring Murphy for a 3-1 lead.



Although Salty draws a walk, Kinsler hits into a double play to end the inning.

Afterwards, things settle down a little. Jennings is pitching really well though, and plate discipline isn't there-the hitters are swinging first pitch at his sinkers, hitting into a bunch of DPs-I think I counted five throughout the game...



Bottom of the seventh, with the score still 3-1, Jennings fans Lopez...



Ibanez singles off the new pitcher Guardado but quickly tests out Salty's arm again. This time he gets him.



He had the right idea though-Beltre hits another grounder that looks like a two-ball to end the inning.

In the top of the eighth, with Arthur Rhodes so far solid, I finally make a bid to kill the game off. Hamilton doubles with two out and Blalock smashes a clutch two-run shot to push the lead to 5-2.



Bottom of the inning, Seattle makes a bid to pull the lead back-Sexson gets his third base hit of the night, but is immediately erased by yet another double play. It proves costly-Balantien goes yard for just a solo shot.



The pinch-hitter Byrd adds another two-run shot off Rowland-Smith just for good measure.



Boxscore

Grading and Player of the Game:

Hitting: A-Made the pitchers work for their outs all night and scored the runs by putting on 13 baserunners
Pitching: A-A couple of blemishes but otherwise excellent work-especially by Jennings.

Player of the Game: Hank Blalock-2/3, 2R, BB, HR, 2RBI

[jonthefon]

wallbanger, all I did was create a layer of Byrd and then apply a blur effect on the rest of the image on Photoshop. Anyway, so far, I've enjoyed picking out good-looking effects to use. Just a matter of time to see if I get tired of it.

Kikix, thanks

Game 4:

Texas Rangers

versus

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

GAME PREVIEW:

Opening a series at the Halos, who pummelled me black-and-blue all spring training. Or moreso, Kaz Fukumori who's tucked away in AAA.

Playing my lefty-hitting lineup again, with Byrd and Laird playing. Brandon McCarthy starting as the No. 4 in the pitching staff.

The Angels run out pretty much what you'd call their conventional lineup, with new acquisition Torii Hunter hitting cleanup. The only earmark is of Robb Quinlan playing shortstop instead of Aybar or Izturis (WTF?), and with Mike Napoli out with an opening-day suffered injury, Mathis catching. Joe Saunders on the hill for the opener at Angel Stadium.

Since the Angels bullpen is quite strong, the aim was to remain sensible and patient but to go for the hittable pitches more often than I did during the Seattle series.

GAME RECAP:

Everything clicks into gear right away, but I do get a hand in doing so.

Off Saunders' fifth pitch, Kinsler cracks a flyball to deep right which beats Vlad to the wall and ensures extra bases. But Vlad helps me out by misjudging the bounce off the wall, and Kinsler gets to third...unfortunately, he doesn't get the hit thanks to the bug relating to errors on MVP and his average remains at a crap level.



Young and Hamilton follow with consecutive doubles and I'm up 2-0. After two outs, Botts walks and Figgins' throw is wide of first, loading up the bases. Murphy strikes out on a check-swing to end the inning.

Next inning I get a chance to score again with the bases loaded, one out and Bradley coming up, but he hits a solid grounder straight to Kendrick who turns two with Quinlan to end the inning.

I had a couple more opportunities to score in the third, but Vlad doesn't muff Murphy's flyball this time around...



Meanwhile, McCarthy is dominating the LA hitters. Vlad gets two doubles but there's little elsewhere as once again, they're swinging first-pitch at everything. I'll have to lower the CPU swing frequency.

Top of the fifth, I put the game away.

Bradley leads off with a double, Blalock hits an RBI single, Botts singles, Byrd draws a walk and Murphy knocks Blalock and Botts home.



Kotchman barely hangs onto a flat liner by Laird, which loads the bags once more...



...and then after a sac fly by Kinsler, can't hold onto what would've been a innings-ending grounder by Young...



Eventually Blalock flies out to end the inning.

Laird pummels another two-run shot later on, but after that, I can't be screwed to play any further, so I manage out the rest.



Boxscore

Grading and Player of the Game:

Hitting: A+:Another top-notch performance; picked out good pitches to hit and executed well.

Pitching: A+: Got lucky at times, but generally a very strong performance.

Player of the Game: Brandon McCarthy, 6IP, 3H, 0R, K, W

[JT_55]

Not much of a suprise you couldn't get anything off Bedard in the first game. Too bad he isn't that consistent this year. He's shown some flashes of brilliance, but haven't really settled in as a Mariner. Millwood kept you in the game well, but couldn't get the offense going.

The record for most double plays turned in a game is...what? okay, maybe five wasn't enough. But still, took it to your advantage, got a few longballs, and chalked up the win. I like the blurred effect on Byrd's home run pic. Looks like it's preparing for impact.

Great all-around game against the Angels. Facing Joe Saunders instead of Barty or Weaver helps. Funny how pitch count is zero for managed innings. Does that mean you can pitch them the next day at full health?

Don't look now, but you're 3-1 to start the season.

[jonthefon]

Nah, managing shows the stamina bar which slowly goes down. Generally realistic.

Barty? As in, Colon? He's a BoSox now

But I do face Lackey and Escobar (uninjured) next, so tough prospect.

[jonthefon]

Game 5:

Texas Rangers

versus

Los Angeles Angels

[b]GAME PREVIEW:

Kason Gabbard against John Lackey, so an uneven matchup. Otherwise, it's an ordinary lineup for me.

The Angels play it interesting again, with Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales in after a lackluster game one offensively.

I'll probably have to take my chances against Lackey - he doesn't give away much. Hmm, and I'm also kinda confident of my chances against K-Rod: I kinda hit him during ST while he was making four-run saves

GAME RECAP:

I get off to a great start. Kinsler gets a lucky hit down the middle off a diving slider, Young walks and then Hamilton pounds an inside change (one pitch you don't give to him) to right.



Bottom of the inning, Vlad tries to steal off Salty. Of course, Salty's superior baserunner-throwing skills gets him easily.



After that, Lackey settles down but he does put a guy on base every inning. Top of the fifth, Blalock adds a solo homer.



But the Angels get something going in the bottom of the inning after not touching Gabbard for the first four. Morales leads off with a solo homer off an inside sinker (not a good decision):



Quinlan, Willits and Figgins all add singles to load the bases before Kendrick clears them off with a double to the right-field gap to tie the scores. Vlad follows it up with a double of his own, and I'm suddenly behind again.



Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Broussard singles, Botts walks, and Saltalamcchia laces a double to put runners on the corners while scoring Broussard.



Lackey injures his forearm throwing pitch no. 101 to Kinsler, and after Young reaches on an error, Ham strikes out to Justin Speier. Blalock works to a full count and then draws a bases-loaded walk to score Botts.



On a 2-2 count to the next hitter, Milton Bradley, Speier tosses an inside splitter...



Boom! A grand salami, and I'm ahead 10-5. Murphy adds another solo shot to push me even further out.

Bottom of the seventh, the Angels make a little rally, when Willits doubles, Figgins scores him after a bobble by Murphy at left, and then Vlad and Hunter get on base to load them up. Rivera hits a sac fly to Hamilton before Morales hits into a fielders choice to end the inning.

Their brief comeback matters for little when Vazquez (replacing Blalock at third) belts a shot to center to end the scoring.

Boxscore

Grading and Player of the Game:

Hitting: A+, great situational hitting got me the win
Pitching: B-, not particularly impressive but got the job done.

Player of the Game: Milton Bradley-1/5, HR, 4RBI, GS: Game-changing granny-was less impressive in other ABs but that single shot made the difference.

[jonthefon]

Game 6 (managed):

LA Angels 7, Texas Rangers 5
W: Escobar (2-0) L: Millwood (0-2)
Boxscore

Game 7:

Texas Rangers
versus
Baltimore Orioles

GAME PREVIEW:



Opening day at Arlington Ballpark: Vicente Padilla stepping up to the mound. Once again, a normal lineup for me with nobody sucking particularly so far.

Steve Trachsel starting for the O's: they too, trot out a regular lineup.

Of course, the best and perhaps easiest way for me to win is to go after Trachsel early. Hopefully Padilla can turn a solid outing.

GAME RECAP:

Brian Roberts leads the game off with a 1-1 homer to left. Bastard.



Padilla starts off rather shakily: he gives a one-out double to Nick Markakis and then a single to Aubrey Huff to put the O's up early 2-0. Bradley adds an RBI double in the bottom of the second, but Luke Scott restores the lead with a double of his own.

Then in the bottom of the third, I finally get what I was looking for against Trachsel. Kinsler triples to deep right, and after a popup by Young looking for the sac fly, Hamilton gets the inside pitch that he duly dispatches to right to tie the game up.



The score stays that way until the bottom of the fifth. Salty rolls a leadoff single to left, Kinsler adds his second hit of the game and then Hamilton walks to load the bases. Blalock's sac fly scores Saltalamacchia, and then Milton Bradley hits a grounder which is only a fielders' choice at second as Hamilton breaks up the double play. Kinsler scores, giving me a 5-3 lead.

The next inning is huge. Scott, Huff and Millar hit consecutive singles to lead off the inning, loading the bases for Ramon Hernandez. He rolls a grounder to first, where Botts makes the play but Scott scores, pulling my lead back to 1. Cintron hits a liner straight to Kinsler, who barely misses Millar for the double-play.



Jones grounds out to end the threat.

Bottom of the eighth, I get three insurance runs when Broussard hammers a three-run shot to center after Bradley and Murphy reach base. That four-run lead looks enough.



But alas, not quite. With one-out, pinch-hitter Jay Payton reaches base on an error. Roberts follows up with a single off the new pitcher, CJ Wilson who I subbed in for Benoit. After Mora strikes out, Nick Markakis gets base hit no. 4 to load them up, bringing up Luke Scott (who has plenty of pop, though against lefties...). Wilson works a 2-2 count, throws an outside slider...



Struck him out on a missed check swing! I get a little lucky but end up winning 8-4.

Boxscore

[jonthefon]

Game 8:

Texas Rangers

versus

Baltimore Orioles

GAME PREVIEW:

Jason Jennings starting for the Rangers, with Byrd and Laird in against the lefty pitcher.

Loewen starting for the O's, who trot out a similar lineup only with Guillermo Quiroz catching over Ramon Hernandez.

My strategy is probably the same as yesterday: get a quality start, work the count and score runs quickly.

GAME RECAP:

Not a great start: Kinsler can't handle a grounder hit by lead-off man Roberts, who reaches on the error.



After Roberts steals second (I picked it: threw a pitchout and he still ran through it), Young runs in on a Markakis grounder and overthrows it for the second man on base: no hits yet, Roberts scores. 1-0 O's. Huff follows a Scott grounder with a double to score the Stick, and then Millar drives him in to give Baltimore a three-run cushion. Cintron finally grounds out to end the inning.

I set about making up the margin: Kinsler and Young get lead-off singles and Hamilton walks to load the bases. Blalock singles, and then Byrd knocks a two-out two-RBI single to tie the score up. Murphy strikes out on a check swing to end the inning: I took 33 pitches to get my 3 runs while the CPU took 14. Damn first-pitch in-play gameplay.



The score doesn't stay knotted up for too long. Roberts hits a double and Markakis blasts a no-doubter two-run shot to right.



After that Loewen settles down a little. Murphy has a chance to drive in runs with the bases juiced and one out in the bottom of the third, but he hits into two. Earlier in the inning, Botts continues his defensive masterclass at first base (why do I feel this'll curse him to go Bill Bucker on me next game?) and turns a great double play.



The game slowly gets away from me after that. I continue to put men on base, but can't score them. Meanwhile, Millar crushes a solo shot off Jennings and Scott an inning later off Frankie Francisco. 7-2 O's.



Top of the ninth, Baltimore adds three more, two coming off Luke's second longball.



Boxscore

Grading and Player of the Game:

Hitting: B--It wasn't a terrible hitting performance (3 runs on 9 hits and 7 walks, the same number of men on base as the O's) but couldn't drive them home.
Pitching: C-Really, it wasn't that bad. But I hate the damn first-pitch-swing-and-make-contact of the game. I threw 82 pitches and put 16 guys on base. Ridiculous.

Player of the Game: Nick Markakis-3/5, 3R, HR, 2RBI

[jonthefon]

Game 9 (managed):

Texas Rangers 9, Baltimore Orioles 2
W: McCarthy (2-0) L: Albers (0-1)
Boxscore

Game 10:

Texas Rangers

versus

Toronto Blue Jays

GAME PREVIEW:

Opener of a three-game series against the Jays. Kason Gabbard starting for the Rangers, against a nasty lefty-hitting side. Otherwise, no changes.

The Jays send Casey Janssen to the mound and field a shuffled lineup: Barajas over Zaun, Lyle Overbay hitting ninth, Stairs in the cleanup spot, Vernon Wells to five.

I'm hoping Gabbard gets me five good innings, and then I let the righties in the bullpen take over from there. Same might apply when I go up against the Tigers.

GAME RECAP:

I completely dominate the first part of the game. After sending the Jays down in order, Kinsler extends his hitting streak to nine games with a leadoff triple and Young drives him in.

Kevin Mench totally misses a curveball from Gabbard to strike out.



The inning afterwards is a total Rick Ankiel-like implosion by Janssen.

Broussard leads off with a walk. After Botts strikes out, Saltalamacchia walks too. Kinsler singles to load the bases and Young gets his second hit to score Broussard. Hamilton singles to score Salty, and then Blalock and Bradley draw bases-loaded walks: two more runs and Janssen is chased. Frasor appears to have walk-itis too, giving Murphy a free pass to score Hamilton, but Broussard strikes out and Botts K's on a full-count failed check swing.

Things get ugly in the top of the fifth for me. Barajas leads-off with a double, Mench's single puts runners on the corners with no outs. After a fielder's choice by Rolen, Overbay's single scores Barajas, Hill drives in Rolen and Rios loops one into centerfield to score Overbay before Stairs is out to end the inning.

Top of the sixth, Vernon Wells finally puts his gigantic contract to use by slamming a homer to left.



Mench folllows it with his own blast to centerfield, and suddenly, I'm only up 6-5.



The Jays' rally is capped off in the top of the seventh when with Eckstein on, Matt Stairs drills a hanging slider by Scott Feldman into the left-field seats, giving the Jays a 7-6 lead.

But the game isn't quite over yet. Bottom of the eighth with setup man Jeremy Accardo on, Saltalamacchia starts off with a single, and moves to second on Kinsler's grounder. Young sends on down the middle with pinch-runner Marlon Byrd in, and ties the game up with his third RBI of the night.

Hamilton strikes out on a weird moving fastball that seems to show up randomly (had it happen a couple times before). Of course, it was a pitch I really should have demolished.



After Frank Francisco pitches a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, I go for the win in the bottom of the inning. Bradley once more gets a lead-off single, and a full-count walk by Murphy gets him in scoring position. After Broussard rings up his 4th K of the night, Botts also gets a walk, off the new pitcher BJ Ryan to load the bases. Gerald Laird comes up, and on a 2-1 count, he gets a fastball away which he makes contact with. Normally, it'd be a bloop single, but with the outfield in, Rios is able to make the catch.

He can't stay on his feet though, and Bradley charges home to score the winner.



Boxscore

Grading and Player of the Game:

Hitting: A--I drew seven walks to go with ten hits, but struck out fourteen times to get. Along with Broussard's four at-bats of futility, Botts gets a hat-trick and Hamilton, Murphy and Salty all pick up spares.
Pitching: C-Crap pitching gave up the lead: Feldman's gone from being lights-out in ST to being completely hittable so far this season.

Player of the Game: Michael Young-3/5, R, 3RBI

[jonthefon]

Game 11:

Texas Rangers

versus

Toronto Blue Jays

GAME PREVIEW:

A battle between two aces: Kevin Millwood has been a loose cannon for me so far, losing both his games but his stuff is pretty good and providing the Jays don't hit his breaking pitches. Vazquez playing in place of Blalock, whom I'm resting.

Roy Halladay is starting for the Jays': naturally, he's a darn tough customer to hit. Adam Lind playing first base with Lyle Overbay moving to DH and Kevin Mench sitting.

The big key is for me to take every opportunity I could get from Halladay: if not, then work the pitch count like mad and chase him by about the seventh inning. Hopefully, Millwood could keep it close during that time too.

GAME RECAP:

After a relatively untroubled top of the first, Kinsler and Young get going with a 1-2 punch: consecutive singles to lead off the half of the inning. Kinsler's single extends his hitting streak to 10 games. Hamilton thumps a 2-1 pitch from Doc deep to center field: it looks to be getting over Wells' head but Vernon then makes a ridiculous over-the-shoulder diving catch to deny Hamilton a base hit.



Kinsler gets to third though, and after Bradley pops out, he scores on a bloop single from Vazquez. Murphy K's to end the inning.

Top of the third, Scott Rolen produces a little hidden power: sure, I haven't seen him produce power like that for three years, but whaddaya know...



His solo shot evens things up.

From then on, it's a pitchers' duel as advertised. Millwood is blowing through the Jays' lineup pretty easily, while I'm doing exactly what I wanted against Halladay: make him throw pitches. This nets me four walks in the process: I get two men on base in the fifth but Bradley strikes out to end the threat.

On my side, Botts continues to play impressive D: along with a couple of good putouts, he makes this gem of a grab on a hard liner down the line.



In the bottom of the seventh, I break the game open.

With two outs, Young works a 3-1 count and blasts a pitch to deep right: it bounces off the wall but he slides into third. After Hamilton draws a walk, Bradley rips a grounder past Halladay for the go-ahead RBI.



Apparently, Vazquez isn't going to be outdone: he crashes a poor changeup to right-field for a three-run shot and a 5-1 lead: the dagger.



With the game seemingly in the bag, all eyes turn to Millwood, who's two innings from the CG. Halladay leaves with 7IP and a pitch-count of 137: Gustavo Chacin follows him with a solid inning in relief.

Lind pounds his first homer of the season in the ninth, before Millwood gets flyballs from Rios and Stairs to end the threat: Murphy gets a web gem of his own to end the game.



Boxscore

Grading and Player of the Game:

Hitting: B+-Five runs, seven hits, five walks. I did just enough in that one big inning to get myself the win.
Pitching: A+-Ridiculous: a 59-pitch CG even with the batter swing frequency turned down. Gah.

Player of the Game: Ramon Vazquez-2/4, R, HR, 3RBI