Oklahoma City Stars, A 1993 BBM12 Dynasty

Suicane75 · 06-02-2011, 09:00 PM

Prologue
---------------------
The year is 1993. The Toronto Blue Jays are the reigning World Series champions and baseball is booming. This season will see two new additions to the National League. We all know that in the real world those two teams were the Colorado Rockies and The Florida Marlins. Well screw that. This is a different world, my world, and in my world those two teams never exist. Instead the city of Washington DC is granted an expansion team. To be named the Senators, the new team in Washington will play in the Eastern Division and call New Griffith Stadium its home.

The other team, the team I'll be running, are the Oklahoma City Stars. Located close enough to Atlanta, Cincinnati and Houston to make realignment unnecessary and with a natural rival in Houston, the Stars will play in the National League West. A beautiful new park named Century Stadium is state of the art and boasts a terrific sight line of downtown Oklahoma City over the center field bleachers. As General Manager I've hired a fiery young former ballplayer by the name of Larry Bowa to run my club. I believe his intensity will help our young players and his experience as a player will help our veterans.

Century Stadium

Suicane75 · 06-02-2011, 09:12 PM

How I'll Play
-------------------------
I'm trying to keep things as realistic as possible, so i've got AI trades reduced to low. I myself will try to keep from making too many trades or abusing the AI. BM does not have a 40 man roster but i'll make one each season and adhere to it in that any man I add will result in the demoted man being released. This helps me keep my prospects organized and stops me from using them willy nilly and starting their arbitration clocks.

I've reduced Home Runs by 20% cause I don't wanna see a shitload of them like in the real world.

I guess that's it. So up next is the expansion draft. You will likely be seeing a ton of draft day trades but that's to be expected.

Suicane75 · 06-02-2011, 09:14 PM

Code:

1993 MLB Expansion Draft

Round #01
Washington:    SP Jack Morris
Oklahoma City:    SP Dennis Martinez    37    83/83    $3.6M/1YR

Round #02
Washington:    SP Rick Sutcliff
Oklahoma City:     SP Mike Morgan        33    83/83    $2.7M/3YR

Round #03
Washington:    SP Scott Sanderson
Oklahoma City:     SP Joey Hamilton    22    64/89    $120K/ARB95

Round #04
Washington:    SP Danny Darwin
Oklahoma City:     SP Cal Eldrad        25    75/88    $145K/ARB94

Round #05
Washington:    SP Bob Tewksbury
Oklahoma City:     CF Andy Van Slyke    32    83/83    $4M/4YRS

Round #06
Washington:    LF George Bell
Oklahoma City:     SP Bud Black        35    82/82    $900K/1YRS

Round #07
Washington:    SS Spike Owen
Oklahoma City:     SP Willie Banks        24    74/82    $130K/ARB94

Round #08
Washington:    CF Otis Nixon
Oklahoma City:     SP Hideo Nomo        24    73/83    $7K/ARB95

Round #09
Washington:    RF Dale Murphy
Oklahoma City:     SP Tim Belcher        31    81/81    $1.8M/1YRS

Round #10
Washington:    C  Dave Valle
Oklahoma City:     1B Eddie Murray        37    79/79    $1.5M/2YRS

Round #11
Washington:    2B Jeff Treadway
Oklahoma City:     LF Kevin McReynolds    33    77/77    $760K/2YRS

Round #12
Washington:    3B Scott Livingston
Oklahoma City:     SP Nolan Ryan        46    81/81    $930K/1YRS

Round #13
Washington:    SP Doug Jones
Oklahoma City:     C  Tom Wilson        22    62/79    $5K/ARB95

Round #14
Washington:    SP William Van Landingham
Oklahoma City:     CF Doug Glanville    22    63/79    $5K/ARB95

Round #15
Washington:    SP Ariel Prieto
Oklahoma City:     3B Terry Pendelton    32    77/77    $2.5M/1YRS

Round #16
Washington:    SP Pete Schourek
Oklahoma City:     2B Scott Fletcher    34    76/76    $1.4M/1YRS

Round #17
Washington:    SP Orlando Hernandez
Oklahoma City:     SP Steve Cook        23    71/83    $12K/ARB95

Round #18
Washington:    SP Charles Nagy
Oklahoma City:     SP Donovan Osborne    23    72/81    $120K/ARB94

Round #19
Washington:    SP Bill Wegman
Oklahoma City:     LF Keith Mitchell    23    65/78    $23K/ARB94

Round #20
Washington:    SP Pedro Astacio
Oklahoma City:     C  Brian Johnson    25    62/74    $7K/ARB95

Round #21
Washington:    SP Tom Browning
Oklahoma City:     CF Darrin Jackson    30    76/76    $1.3M/2YRS

Round #22
Washington:    SP Tyler Green
Oklahoma City:     SS Greg Gagne        31    76/76    $800K/1YRS

Round #23
Washington:    SP Rick Helling
Oklahoma City:     RF Rob Deer        32    74/74    $1.4M/2YRS

Round #24
Washington:    SP Joey Eischen
Oklahoma City:     C  Tony Eusebio        25    71/76    $130K/ARB95

Round #25
Washington:    C  Jorge Fabregas
Oklahoma City:     RP Don Pall        31    75/75    $300K/1YRS

Round #26
Washington:    RP Rick Krivda
Oklahoma City:     RP Carl Willis        32    73/73    $770K/1YRS

Round #27
Washington:    SP Paul Byrd
Oklahoma City:     SP Greg Harris        29    79/79    $410K/ARB93

Round #28
Washington:    SP Pat Hentgen
Oklahoma City:     SP Paul Abbott        25    77/79    $130K/ARB93

Round #29
Washington:    SP Tommy Greene
Oklahoma City:     SP Bryn Smith        37    82/82    $1.2M/1YRS

Round #30
Washington:    SP Ricky Bones
Oklahoma City:     SP Butch Henry        24    72/77    $130K/ARB94

Round #31
Washington:    SP Brian Bohanon
Oklahoma City:     SP Aaron Sele        22    69/82    $120K/ARB95

Round #32
Washington:    SP Kelly Downs
Oklahoma City:     SP Mike Witt        32    79/79    $580K/2YRS

Round #33
Washington:    SP Randy Tomlin
Oklahoma City:     CF Willie Wilson    37    75/75    $1.2M/2YRS

Round #34
Washington:    SP Chris Nabholz
Oklahoma City:     LF Tom Goodwin        24    72/77    $130K/ARB94

Round #35
Washington:    SP Trevor Wilson
Oklahoma City:     RF Dan Pasqua        31    73/73    $480K/1YRS

Round #36
Washington:    RP Dennis Rasmussen
Oklahoma City:     RP Tom Thobe        23    60/73    $10K/ARB95

Suicane75 · 06-02-2011, 09:28 PM

Draft Day Deals
-------------------------------

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
SP Dennis Martinez    37    83/83    $3.6M/1YR

To The New York Yankees For,
LF Hideki Matsui    18    67/82    $4K/ARB95

While Matsui is not a great prospect he was the best offer we had on the table when we were set to make our draft pick. It's a solid deal for us.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
SP Mike Morgan        33    83/83    $2.7M/3YR
SP Greg Harris        29    79/79    $410K/ARB93

To The Boston Red Sox For,
SS Tim Naehring        26    78/81    $171K/ARB93
RP Ron Mayhay        21    64/76    $4K/ARB95

Really hoped the fish would be biting harder on Morgan but they weren't. What we got out of the deal was a solid if unspectacular guy who can play all around the infield and a prospect reliever, I can't complain with the money saved.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
CF Willie Wilson    37    75/75    $1.2M/2YRS
2B Chris Sexton        21    57/70    $4K/ARB95

To The Chicago Cubs For,
2B Eric Yelding        28    67/67    $192K/ARB93
C  Steve Lake        36    73/73    $490K/1YRS

Chicago offered us this deal before we were set to pick and we took it. It doesn't do much but it provides us with depth on the 40 man roster.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
RP Luther Hackman    18    49/71    $4K/ARB95
RP Juan Acevedo        22    57/74    $4K/ARB95
SP Mark Thompson    21    52/76    $4K/ARB95
RP Ryan Hawblitzel    21    60/75    $4K/ARB95

To The Toronto Blue Jays For,
RP Billy Koch        18    66/81    $5K/ARB95

All these guys were in our farm system pre draft and I had a glut of pitchers so I figured i'd put a package together to try and get a decent prospect. Koch is by no means top tier but hopefully he can turn into something solid out of the pen in a few years.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
RP Jim Stoops        20    60/76    $4K/ARB95
RP Ron Mayhay        21    64/76    $4K/ARB95
SP Bryan Rekar        20    61/77    $130K/ARB95

To The Cincinnati Reds For,
RP Scott Ruskin        29    75/75    $130K/ARB93
SP Eddie Priest        18    48/76    $4K/ARB95

Ruskin is a guy who can help us right away in the pen, something we needed very much. Priest and Rekar are pretty much a wash except we have more time to develop Priest. I'm fine with this deal.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
SP John Thomson        19    64/74    $130K/ARB95
RP Fred Rath        20    60/74    $4K/ARB95

To Cincinnati Reds For,
RP Ross Powell        25    54/69    $4K/ARB95
RP Milt Hill        27    65/71    $32K/ARB94
RP Mo Sanford        26    65/71    $19K/ARB95
RP Chris Bushing    25    65/72    $10K/ARB95
CF Tommy Gregg        29    69/69    $190K/1YRS
RF Gary Varsho        31    65/65    $80K/ARB93

This was nothing more than a deal to acquire filler for my 40 man roster so I wouldn't have to use any prospects in a pinch. All the guys acquired are pretty much set for AAA and emergency use only.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
RP Ross Powell        25    54/69    $4K/ARB95

To The Seattle Mariners For,
C  Jorge Brito         26    57/67    $10K/ARB95

We needed a catcher down at AAA, this gives us one.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
SP Cal Eldrad        25    75/88    $145K/ARB94
RP Mike Porzio        20    50/78    $4K/ARB95

To The Chicago White Sox For,
SP Alex Fernandez    23    81/84    $145K/ARB93

Now this was a biggie. While Eldrad has slightly better potential, Fernandez is more developed and has much more endurance. Fernandez had a solid rookie season in Chicago last year and we see him as a guy we count on for many years to come. We immediatly ink Alex to a 5 year deal at $700K per year. I really like this deal.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
CF Andy Van Slyke    32    83/83    $4M/4YRS
RP Roger Bailey        22    60/76    $5K/ARB95

To The Philadelpia Phillies For,
RP Doug Nickle        18    51/81    $130K/ARB95
RF Wes Chamberlain    26    73/73    $78K/ARB93

We never intended to keep Van Slyke and his high salary and of all the deals out there this was the one we decided to go with. What this does is opens playing time in CF for Tom Goodwin and adds a youngish bench/platoon player with some potential in Chamberlain. Nickle is of course a long term prospect.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
RF Rob Deer        32    74/74    $1.4M/2YRS
CF Darrin Jackson    30    76/76    $1.3M/2YRS
SP Bryn Smith        37    82/82    $1.2M/1YRS
SP Eddie Priest        18    48/76    $4K/ARB95

To The Oakland Athletics For,
SP Curt Young        32    74/74    $320K/2YRS
CF Eric Fox        29    69/71    $130K/ARB94
LF Troy Neel        27    72/78    $130K/ARB95
$100,000

This was simply a cost cutting deal. None of the players we got in return are anything more than borderline servicable major league players but Deer and Jackson were both reserves and Smith was a guy we could afford to move with our depth of starters, old starters, but starters none the less.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
3B Terry Pendelton    32    77/77    $2.5M/1YRS
LF Keith Mitchell    23    65/78    $23K/ARB94

To The Baltimore Orioles For,
3B Leo Gomez        27    73/73    $295K/ARB93

Another cost cutting move that gives us a servicable 3B for the season. We had to add a prospect to counter the salary Baltimore took but that's ok.

TRADE

Code:

Oklahoma City Stars Send,
2B Scott Fletcher    34    76/76    $1.4M/1YRS
2B Jason Bates        22    53/72    $4K/ARB95
2B Chris Peterson    22    51/64    $4K/ARB95
C  Brian Johnson    25    62/74    $7K/ARB95

To The Milwaukee Brewers For,
SS Bill Spiers        26    76/78    $229K/1YRS

Much like the previous deals this was simply a cost cutting maneuver.

Suicane75 · 06-02-2011, 09:32 PM

The Aftermath
----------------------------
Budget concerns caused me to move a lot of guys I would have liked to keep. As I'll be trying to play a good deal of my games it sure would of been nice to have some veterans I was familiar with but I'll have to make do. My staff is fairly solid if fairly old but i'll get into that deeper in the upcoming season preview.

Suicane75 · 06-02-2011, 11:55 PM

1993 Oklahoma City Stars Season Preview

Code:

LINEUP
C-  Tony Eusebio    25    71/76    $130K/ARB95
1B- Eddie Murray    37    79/79    $1.5M/2YRS
2B- Tim Naehring    26    78/81    $171K/ARB93
SS- Bill Spiers        26    76/78    $229K/1YRS
3B- Leo Gomez        27    73/73    $295K/ARB93
LF- Kevin McReynolds    33    77/77    $760K/2YRS
CF- Tom Goodwin        24    72/76    $130K/ARB94
RF- Dan Pasqua        31    73/73    $480K/1YRS


BENCH
C-  Steve Lake        36    73/73    $490K/1YRS
SS- Greg Gagne        31    76/76    $810K/1YRS
SS- Eric Yelding    28    67/67    $192K/1YRS
LF- Troy Neel        27    72/78    $130K/ARB95
CF- Tommy Gregg        29    69/69    $190K/1YRS
RF- Wes Chamblerlian    26    73/73    $130K/ARB93

Vs RHP                Vs LHP
1. CF Tom Goodwin        1. 2B Tim Naehring
2. SS Bill Spiers        2. SS Greg Gagne
3. LF Kevin McReynolds        3. LF Kevin McReynolds
4. 1B Eddie Murray        4. 1B Eddie Murray
5. RF Dan Pasqua        5. RF Wes Chamberlain
6. 3B Leo Gomez            6. 3B Leo Gomez
7. C  Tony Eusebio        7. C  Steve Lake
8. 2B Tim Naehring        8. CF Tom Goodwin

Heading into Spring Training the SS job was Gagnes, but the fact is that we have zero speed outside of Goodwin and Spiers so for now they will be 1-2 most days. The middle of our order should be able to produce decently if we have people on but the bottom third isn't gonna light the world on fire. We're probably gonna struggle to score runs with this team.

Code:

PITCHING STAFF
SP- Bud Black        35    82/82    $910K/1YRS
SP- Alex Fernandez    23    81/84    $700K/5YRS
SP- Tim Belcher        31    81/81    $1.8M/1YRS
SP- Nolan Ryan        46    81/81    $930K/1YRS
SP- Mike Witt        32    79/79    $580K/2YRS

CL- Don Pall        31    75/75    $310K/1YRS
SE- Scott Ruskin    29    75/75    $130K/ARB93    
SR- Carl Willis        32    73/73    $770K/1YRS
SR- Butch Henry        24    72/77    $130K/ARB94
MR- Willie Banks    24    74/82    $130K/ARB94
LR- Paul Abbott        25    77/79    $130K/ARB93

I'm as please as possible with the rotation I have set. Tim Belcher has a strained oblique and will miss the first 2 weeks of the season but once all five starters are lined up I think we'll be solid. The pen is something I have no idea about. Henry, Banks and Abbott are all converted starters but have some potential while the top of our pen is veteran if not spectacular.

Code:

AAA
C-  Jorge Brito    *    26    58/67    $10K/ARB95
2B- Craig Counsell *    22    64/74    $10K/ARB95
3B- Pedro Castellano *    23    61/65    $10K/ARB95
CF- Eric Fox *        29    69/71    $130K/ARB95
CF- Quinton McCracken *    23    60/68    $10K/ARB95
RF- Dave Clark *    30    69/69    $270K/1YRS
RF- Gary Varsho    *    31    65/65    $80K/1YRS
SP- Hideo Nomo *    24    73/83    $7K/ARB95
SP- Curt Young    *    32    74/74    $320K/2YRS
SP- Jeff Ballard *    29    64/64    $150K/1YRS
SP- Darrin Winston *    26    49/63    $150K/1YRS
RP- Mo Sanford    *    26    65/71    $19K/ARB95
RP- Chris Bushing *    25    65/72    $10K/ARB95
RP- Milt Hill *        27    65/71    $32K/ARB94
RP- Blaise Iisley *    28    50/61    $150K/1YRS

AA
1B- Todd Helton        19    79/92    $120K/ARB95
CF- Doug Glanville    22    63/79    $7K/ARB95
SP- Donovan Osborne    23    72/81    $119K/ARB94
SP- Steve Cooke        23    71/83    $12K/ARB95
RP- Matt Miller        21    70/79    $119K/ARB95
RP- Jim Thobe        23    60/73    $10K/ARB95

A
C-  Tom Wilson        22    62/79    $5K/ARB95
SS- Neifi Perez        19    63/83    $120K/ARB95
LF- Hideki Matsui    18    67/82    $4K/ARB95
RF- Angel Echevarria    21    62/80    $4K/ARB95
SP- Aaron Sele        22    69/82    $120K/ARB95
SP- Joey Hamilton    22    64/89    $120K/ARB95
SP- Bobby Jones        20    57/79    $5K/ARB95
RP- Marcus Moore    22    63/79    $5K/ARB95

R
SP- Jamey Wright    18    57/79    $4K/ARB95
RP- Billy Koch        18    66/81    $5K/ARB95
RP- Doug Nickle        18    51/81    $130K/ARB95

Outside of Nomo we have no real prospects at AAA to start the year, but we do have plenty of guys who can fill in due to poor performance or injury on the big club.

Obviously Helton is the jewel in our system. I expect most of the guys in AA to get promoted to AAA at some point in the season save for maybe Glanville. These arn't elite prospects but they're close enough to think that they could be on the big team next year.

Financials
Tickets: $5.60 (League Average)
Farm Ssytem: $3,300,000 (1st)
Scouting: $3,250,000 (1st)
Medical Staff: $2,700,000 (1st)

I'm not dicking around with my expenditures, i'm gonna put as much money as possible into them to try and build my farm system and keep my boys healthy.

Payroll Budget: $8.7 Million
Payroll: $14.3 Million
Cash: $4.5 Million

My budget is a lot lower than I expected it to be so i'll have to be very careful. It's very likely that a few pricey veterans will be moved during the season so I'm not shitting myself yet but like I said, I have to very smart and not start hemorrhaging money.

My 1993 Outlook
Well we arn't good, but we arn't awful either.

Lineup wise we're old or young and uninspiring and there really isn't much in the minors outside of Helton to get jazzed over for the immediate future.

As far as our pitching is concerned we're solid but old and unlike the lineup we do have a dearth of arms in the minors who at least project out as solid pieces if not studs or stars.

So what do I predict for this team? 70-75 wins is what I think we should get but I see no reason why we can't push to be a .500 team.
We open with 3 games on the road and then our inaugural home opener will feature Nolan Ryan taking the hill for the first game ever at Century Stadium and I'm pretty damn jacked so let's get rolling.

Suicane75 · 06-03-2011, 12:03 AM

Around The League

The only offseason news of note after I entered the game was Texas sending Rafael Palmeiro to the Braves in exchange for RP Mike Stanton, 3B Vinny Castilla and SP David Nied.

Suicane75 · 06-03-2011, 12:44 AM

APRIL 1ST: Stars (0-0) At Cubs (0-0)
Alex Fernandez gave up just 2 runs over 6 innings but Jose Guzman shut us down, allowing just 7 hits. Goodwin had 2 hits including a single to lead off the game but he was caught stealing and save for 2 hits in the ninth inning we never really threatened. Bleh.
Final Score: Cubs 2 Stars 0

APRIL 2ND: Stars (0-1) At Cubs (1-0)
For the love of Pete. Steve Lake staked us to a 2-0 lead early with a 2 run double. Bud Black went 6 strong giving up only 2 runs and an Eric Yelding pinch hit RBI single put us up 3-2 in the 7th. Carl Willis pitched two masterful innings and Don Pall was an out away from securing our first ever win when Shawon Dunston cranked a 2 out, bottom of the ninth, 2 run homer that just cleared the wall and a leaping Kevin McReynolds. The gods are having a laugh at me.
Final Score: Cubs 4 Stars 3

APRIL 3RD: Stars (0-2) At Cubs (2-0)
Woohoo, our first win! Witt went 5 and gave up 5 runs but our offense finally woke up. Goodwin went 2-4 with 2 runs and 2 rbi. Murray knocked in 2 and Naehring added 2 hits as we got ahead and the bullpen came through, including Pall redeeming himself with his first save. Nice.
Final Score: Stars 8 Cubs 6

Suicane75 · 06-03-2011, 12:57 AM

Shuttin it down for the night, wanna be fresh and into it when Nolan christens Century Stadium.

I don't think I've ever gone very far in my dynasties on here but I'm hoping my interest level stays high on this one because so far I'm immersed in it nicely.

I will probably switch on and off between playing out and simming the games at least for the first couple of months but just so I don't get bored when there's nothing to play for I'll more than likely just sim a month at a time near the end of the season. It's all about trying to find the right balance.

RedHawk00 · 06-03-2011, 11:12 AM

every once in a while i get an itch to fire up Baseball Mogul, it has not happened this season, good luck with the Stars.

Suicane75 · 06-03-2011, 11:44 AM

APRIL 4TH: Stars (1-2) Vs Senators (1-2)
Nolan Ryan went 5.1 and gave up 2 runs, he allowed a ton of baserunners but did fine enough. Bill Wegman shut us down until the bottom of the 8th when we scored 2 runs to tie the game. Unfortunately Willis and Ruskin could not hold the lead and we fell by a 4-3 score in our home opener. Tom Goodwin had two more hits, he and Eddie Murray are the only guys hitting for us right now. Attendance was only 8,000. Good golly. Maybe i'll hike down the tickets by 10 cents or so.
Final Score: Senators 4 Stars 3

APRIL 5TH: Stars (1-3) Vs Senators (2-2)
Well, Curt Young struggled mightily, giving up 7 runs in less than 5 innings. On the bright side, Dan Pasqua hit a 3 run homer, the first in team history, in the bottom of the first inning to keep us in the game. Down 7-3 we got to Jack Morris in the fifth inning as Murray blasted a two run shot and then Pasqua hit his 2nd dinger of the day, first back to back, nice.
Our bullpen however would be the death of us as Carl Willis allowed five ninth inning runs to break a 9-9 tie. We scored 3 in the bottom frame but it wasn't enough. All told there were 36 hits and 7 errors. McReynolds, Eusebio and Murray had 3 hits, Pasqua had 2 homers and five RBI and it still wasn't enough. Attendance was down to 5,500. Crikey. I'm dropping ticket prices 30 cents and we'll see what happens tomorrow.
Final Score: Senators 14 Stars 12

APRIL 6TH: Stars (1-4) Vs Senators (3-2)
Alex Fernandez pitched 7 strong innings and left with a 2-1 lead. Abbott and Pall closed it out. Leo Gomez homered as we stop the skid and get back in the win column. Nice.
Final Score: Stars 3 Senators 1

APRIL 7TH: Stars (2-4) Vs Senators (3-3)
Bud Black gave up 6 runs over 5 innings and Charles Nagy held us at bay all day. Greg Gagne got the start at SS and homered. Goodwin had a 2 run double but we were never really in it. Pretty disheartened right now. Attendance the past two days has been around 7,000 and we're already $100,000 in the hole. Ooofah.
Final Score: Senators 7 Stars 3

APRIL 8TH: Day Off

Suicane75 · 06-03-2011, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedHawk00

every once in a while i get an itch to fire up Baseball Mogul, it has not happened this season, good luck with the Stars.

Appreciate it. Mogul really is a fun little game and with a few house rules can be quite the challenge without getting bogged down in minutia. Outside of FOF MP it's the only text sim I play anymore.

Suicane75 · 06-03-2011, 11:48 AM

APRIL 9TH: Stars (2-5) At Reds (4-2)
Son of a bitch! Mike Witt left after 7 with a 4-3 lead but Paul Abbott allowed a run in the 8th and the winner in the 9th. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Greg Gagne had a couple of steals and a Naehring had a 2 run double. This one hurts.
Final Score: Reds 5 Stars 4

APRIL 10TH: Stars (2-6) At Reds (5-2)
Despite 9 K's, Nolan got knocked around pretty good, giving up 9 runs in 6 innings. Eddie Murray had 3 hits but Jose Rijo was fine enough to keep us at bay.
Final Score: Reds 13 Stars 4

APRIL 11TH: Stars (2-7) At Reds (6-2)
Now this is what i'm talking about. McReynolds had 4 hits and 4 RBI, Gomez and Naehrng each homered and despite Curt Young not being real effective we still romped as we steamrolled John Thomson and Chris Hammond. Goodwin had 3 more hits. All our starters had at least 1 hit and we had 18 total. I'll take it.

As we head home we have a couple of injury notes. Alex Fernandez has a calf strain and needs a couple of extra days rest. Rather than make any moves we'll give Butch Henry a spot start tomorrow. Bill Spiers also has a groin pull that's expected to keep him out a week. We're not gonna DL him though. Gagne will take over at SS, maybe permanently. We're also going to drop our ticket prices another 30 cents. We need to get people to come out to the ballpark damnit.
Final Score: Stars 14 Reds 9

Suicane75 · 06-03-2011, 11:50 PM

APRIL 12TH: Stars (3-7) Vs Giants (6-3)
Butch Henry couldn't make it through five in his spot start and our worn out bullpen struggled following him. Wil Clark smashed a homer and John Burkett limited us. Gagne and Yelding has 2 hits a piece but the Giants cranked out 16 hits en route to an easy victory. We really need Bud Black to give us some innings tomorrow. On the bright side, attendance rose almost 3,000 with our ticket prices slashed.
Final Score: Giants 7 Stars 2

APRIL 13TH: Stars (3-8) Vs Giants (7-3)
What a game. A two run single from McReynolds put us up 2-1 and Bud Black held it into the ninth where I maybe tried to get too much out of him and he allowed a homer to Will Clark to tie the game. Willie Banks got us out of it tied. Then in the bottom of the ninth Leo Gomez blasted a run game winning homer. A very nice win.

Transaction: Following the game I made the decision to send CF Tommy Gregg and LF Troy Neel down to AAA and call up Outfielders Dave Clark and Gary Varsho. I just like the intangibles those guys provide better as our bench is not very good.
Final Score: Stars 4 Giants 2

APRIL 14TH: Stars (4-8) Vs Giants (7-4)
Alex Fernandez threw 7 shutout innings, Eddie Murray blasted a two run homer and our pen made it stand as we win back to back games for the first time in franchise history. I'm pleased. Our attendance is not to where it's making us money but we've had 10k, 9k and 9.5k this series and I'm hoping it will slowly start rising.
Final Score: Stars 5 Giants 1

Suicane75 · 06-04-2011, 11:38 PM

APRIL 15TH: Stars (5-8) Vs Astros (5-7)
The bad news, Mike Witt gave up 9 runs over 7.2 innings. The good news? He drove in 3 runs, Greg Gagne hit a 3 run homer and Tim Naehring had 4 hits as we beat up Daryl Kile, won 11-9 and Don Pall got the save. Gary Varsho got the start in RF today and that may continue as Dan Pasqua has not hit a lick yet. We've now won 3 in a row.

Transaction: Tim Belcher is ready to come off the DL, he'll start in 2 days. Curt Young is being sent to AAA.
Final Score: Stars 11 Astros 9

APRIL 16TH: Stars (6-8) Vs Astros (5-8)
Grrrr. Nolan gave up one run over 7 innings and we trailed 2-0 in the eigth when Murray hit a two run double to tie it. Ruskin and Banks gave up four ninth inning runs though and our winning streak was stopped. Boo.
Final Score: Astros 6 Stars 3

APRIL 17TH: Stars (6-9) Vs Astros (6-8)
Tim Belcher came off the DL and threw a shutout, outdueling Shane Reynolds, sweet. With Fernandez & Belcher we have a really solid 1-2.
Final Score: Stars 1 Astros 0

APRIL 18TH: Stars (7-9) Vs Astros (6-9)
Bud Black threw 6 solid innings but we trailed 4-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. In the ninth we pieced together 3 straight singles and a sacrifice fly to tie it up off of Doug Drabek & Billy Wagner. It stayed that way till the bottom of the 12th when Greg Gagne blast a 2 out homer to give us the walkoff win as we take 3 of 4 from the Astros. Excellent.
Final Score: Stars 5 Astros 4 (12 Innings)

Suicane75 · 06-04-2011, 11:39 PM

APRIL 19TH: Stars (8-9) At Dodgers (9-6)
Fernandez fell behind the Dodgers 3-0 thanks in part to solo homers by Eric Davis and Tim Wallach but we were able to come back and tie it at 3 in the top of the fifth off of Ramon Martinez in thanks to a 2 run double by Naehring. In the top of the ninth Leo Gomez led off with a double. Bill Spiers would pinch run and score on a wild pitch to give us the lead. In the bottom of the ninth Don Pall allowed the tieing run to score and then gave up a 2 out grand slam to Jose Offerman. Ooofah. What a bitch of a way to lose.
Final Score: Dodgers 8 Stars 4

APRIL 20TH: Stars (8-10) At Dodgers (10-6)
Mike Witt got lit up and we trailed 7-1 after 3 innings. We chipped away but couldn't make it back and fell 7-5. Leo Gomez hit his 5th homer of the season.
Final Score: Dodgers 7 Stars 5

APRIL 21ST: Stars (8-11) At Dodgers (11-6)
Nolan threw 6 solid innings but Candiotti stymied us. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth but Todd Worrell closed us out to complete the sweep. Damnit.
Final Score: Dodgers 3 Stars 0

Suicane75 · 06-04-2011, 11:40 PM

APRIL 22ND: Stars (8-12) Vs Expos (8-10)
Gagne had another homer, we got 11 hits and Belcher and Pall combined to shut down the Expos as we got back in the win column.
Final Score: Stars 6 Expos 4

APRIL 23RD: Stars (9-12) Vs Expos (8-11)
Tied at 3-3 we exploded for five 7th inning runs including 2 run hits from Pasqua and Lake. Bud Black and our pen were solid as we won a big game against a very good Ken Hill. Pasqua had 3 hits.
Final Score: Stars 8 Expos 3

APRIL 24TH: Stars (10-12) Vs Expos (8-12)
Alex Fernandez had his first sub par outing giving up 4 runs over 7 innings. We would tie it in the top of the eight but the in the bottom frame the Expos would score 2 off of Paul Abbott and avert the sweep. Wil Cordero got us for 3 hits and 4 RBI. Tom Goodwin had 3 hits for us and Dan Pasqua had 2 RBI.
Final Score: Expos 6 Stars 4

APRIL 25TH: OFF DAY

Suicane75 · 06-05-2011, 07:17 AM

APRIL 26TH: Stars (10-13) At Braves (11-10)
Mike Witt and Steve Avery each went 6 innings and each gave up 3 runs. Ruskin and Banks would falter however, giving up 2 eight inning runs. We got the tyeing run to 3rd in the ninth but came up just short. A real tough loss. Ron Gant homered for the Braves.
Final Score: Braves 5 Stars 4

APRIL 27TH: Stars (10-14) At Braves (12-10)
In a battle of legends, Nolan Ryan vs Greg Maddux, the young man won the day. Nolan only lasted 5 innings, giving up 5 runs in the process. Abbott and Henry were innefective in relief and we got routed.
Final Score: Braves 10 Stars 2

APRIL 28TH: Stars (10-15) At Braves (13-10)
How's this for a huge win. Tim Naehring leads the game off against Tom Glavine with a HR. From there on neither starter would surrender a run as both men throw complete games and we escape Atlanta with a victory to avoid the sweep. I'm pleased. Now it's on to Cincinnati to take on the first place Reds.
Final Score: Stars 1 Braves 0

Suicane75 · 06-05-2011, 07:17 AM

APRIL 29TH: Stars (11-15) At Reds (16-9)
Alex Fernandez didn't make it out of the sixth as the Reds exploded for 6 runs in that inning. Hal Morris had 3 RBI and Roberto Kelly as the Reds stomped us. Leo Gomez went 3-4 for us.
Final Score: Reds 10 Stars 4

APRIL 30TH: Stars (11-16) At Reds (17-9)
Tim Belcher got knocked around, Jose Rijo dominated us with a 2 hit shutout and Roberto Kelly had 3 RBI as the Reds rolled to another easy victory.
Final Score: Reds 8 Stars 0

MAY 1ST: Stars (11-17) At Reds (17-9)
Ughh. We jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead but it was all down hill from there as Mike Witt got knocked around bad. Espy, Roberts and Kelly all had 3 hits a piece for the Reds as the sealed the sweep. Eddie Murray had 3 hits and a homer and Yelding and Spiers each had 2 hits a piece in spot starts.

Nolan Ryan has a groin strain so we're going to push his next start back a few days. We need to get our pitching in order promptly.
Final Score: Reds 10 Stars 7

MAY 2ND: OFF DAY

Suicane75 · 06-05-2011, 07:33 AM

April Report Card
Record: 11-17, 6th Place NL West, 8.5 Games Back.

Code:

1993 Batting             Team    G   AVG    AB    H  2B  3B  HR   BB    K   SB  CS    R  RBI   SLG   OBP
Murray, Eddie             OKL   29  .299   117   35   6   2   3    8   16    1   0   15   19  .462  .344
McReynolds, Kevin         OKL   29  .320   103   33   7   0   0   11   11    0   2   12   14  .388  .379
Goodwin, Tom              OKL   27  .282   103   29  10   2   0    5   16    6   3   18    9  .417  .321
Naehring, Tim             OKL   26  .253    91   23   4   0   2   10   12    1   0   17   12  .363  .333
Gomez, Leo                OKL   27  .245    94   23   2   0   5   12   16    0   0   14   13  .426  .345
Pasqua, Dan               OKL   27  .226    84   19   2   0   3    6   22    0   0   11   16  .357  .266
Gagne, Greg               OKL   25  .220    82   18   2   0   4    6   18    3   3    9   12  .390  .278
Eusebio, Tony             OKL   21  .176    74   13   3   0   0    4   11    0   0    4    5  .216  .228
Spiers, Bill              OKL   16  .273    44   12   3   0   0    1    5    4   0    9    6  .341  .289
Lake, Steve               OKL   12  .265    34    9   3   0   0    0    2    0   0    5    4  .353  .286
Yelding, Eric             OKL   15  .360    25    9   1   0   0    0    1    0   3    3    3  .400  .360
Chamberlain, Wes          OKL   12  .290    31    9   1   0   0    2    3    0   0    5    1  .323  .333
Clark, Dave               OKL    7  .444     9    4   1   1   0    0    2    0   0    0    0  .778  .444
Gregg, Tommy              OKL    3  .444     9    4   2   0   0    0    2    0   0    1    1  .667  .444
Varsho, Gary              OKL    6  .167    12    2   0   1   0    2    2    0   0    3    1  .333  .286
Neel, Troy                OKL    9  .091    11    1   0   0   0    0    2    0   0    1    0  .091  .091

The numbers pretty much speak for themselves and outside of Gagnes four home runs there arn't really many surprises. Eusebios struggles are bothering me a bit but he's our catcher so that's that. If Pasqua doesn't start hitting I could give Chamberlain a shot at an every day job but his ratings vs righties just arn't that good. We'll see.

Code:

1993 Pitching            Team     IP   ERA    G  GS   W   L  SV    K   BB   R/9
Black, Bud                OKL   41.1  2.61    6   6   1   1   0   23   14 11.98
Fernandez, Alex           OKL   39.2  3.86    6   6   2   2   0   32    9 10.89
Witt, Mike                OKL   30.0  6.60    6   6   2   2   0   14    8 17.70
Ryan, Nolan               OKL   29.0  5.59    5   5   0   3   0   27   14 14.59
Abbott, Paul              OKL   22.1  6.85   13   0   0   2   0   14   10 14.51
Belcher, Tim              OKL   20.0  3.15    3   3   2   1   0   10    4  9.00
Banks, Willie             OKL   17.1  2.60   14   0   1   0   0   12   11 16.62
Henry, Butch              OKL   16.1  5.51   10   1   1   1   0   11    9 18.73
Young, Curt               OKL   11.0  9.00    2   2   1   0   0    8    6 19.64
Willis, Carl              OKL   10.2  5.06   10   0   0   2   0    6    3 13.50
Pall, Donn                OKL    8.2  9.35    9   0   0   2   4    4    1 15.58
Ruskin, Scott             OKL    7.2  5.87    9   0   1   2   0    6    6 16.43

The glaring thing here is how awful our bullpen has been. Yikes. Outside of Willie Banks they've all been terrible. Bud Black has been a nice surprise but Ryan and Witt have been pretty bad.

Finances
We lost $630K in April which was less than I expected but I don't forsee our attendance getting better if we don't start winning. The only bright side is that a couple of big contracts will likely be moved near the trading deadline to help us cut some costs but we've got to be very careful not to go broke before the season is over.

Minor Leagues
All of our young pitchers at AA are doing very good work and are more than likely going to be promoted in a month or two. Hideo Nomo has struggled at AAA but i'm hoping he can turn it around.

Todd Helton is tearing up AA and will more than likely get promoted to AAA very soon. Same goes for Matsui down at single A.

Summary
About what I expected. We've had some good stretches but the better teams have had their way with us. I'm hoping against hope that Black, Belcher and Fernandez can help us right the ship and get us closer to .500 at the end of May.

Suicane75 · 06-05-2011, 07:39 AM

Around The League In April
The Pirates, Reds, Orioles and White Sox are your division leaders although none have huge leads at this point. Paul O'Neill leads the majors with a .419 average and Jim Thomes 10 homers set the pace. Ellis Burks 37 RBI and Ricky Hendersons 20 steals put them at the top of those leaderboards. Roger Clemens has 5 wins and 59 K's to lead all pitchers.

There have been no notable major injuries so far (nothing more than a few weeks).

There havn't been any trades.

Suicane75 · 06-05-2011, 09:25 AM

MAY 3RD: Trade

Code:

The Oklahoma City Stars Send,
CF Eric Fox *        29    69/71    $130K/ARB95
CF Tommy Gregg        29    69/69    $190K/1YRS
SP Jeff Ballard *    29    64/64    $150K/1YRS
SP Darrin Winston *    26    49/63    $150K/1YRS
RP Marcus Moore        22    63/79    $5K/ARB95

To The Texas Rangers For,
RP Matt Whiteside *    25    65/72    $14K/ARB95
RP John Dettmer    *    23    63/69    $5K/ARB95    
CF David Hulse *    25    67/70    $12K/ARB95

This is something I should of done before the season started, no need to waste all that money on AAA players and this deal saved me close to $600,000. Whiteside goes to AAA but is a potential bullpen replacement. Dettmer goes to AA and Hulse goes to AAA. Helton is added to the 40 man roster and is promoted to AAA. It's a good deal, we had to give up a solid bullpen prospect but we needed to cut some salary and this was the only way to do it.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:10 AM

MAY 3RD: Stars (11-18) Vs Astros (15-14)
Bud Black was dealing. He threw 8 shutout innings. Murray and Pasqua had RBI hits in the first inning off of Doug Drabek to put us in front, Tony Eusebio had an inside the park HR on the first weird bounce off our center field fence and Tom Goodwin had 3 hits as we got off the schnide in a nice way. Attendance was only 7,400. Our lack of fan support has been the major story throughout baseball over the first month of the season and it's making us look pretty damn bad.
Final Score: Stars 4 Astros 0

MAY 4TH: Stars (12-18) Vs Astros (15-15)
God dammit. Tim Naehring hit a 2 run homer and Alex Fernandez pitched 7 strong innings and left up 2-1. We led 3-1 going into the ninth. Pall allowed 2 runs and then a Naehring error allowed the go ahead run to score. Billy Wagner closed us out and we lose a heartbreaker.
Final Score: Astros 4 Stars 3

MAY 5TH: Stars (12-19) Vs Astros (16-15)
Here we go again. Belcher was solid enough, leaving after 6 innings with a 6-3 lead. Butch Henry would give it all away in the eighth but it wasn't all his fault as Naehring made a critical error for the 2nd game in a row. Biggio hit a 3 run triple in the inning. Leo Gomez hit a ninth inning homer but we came up a run short. Gagne had 3 hits.
Final Score: Astros 8 Stars 7

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:11 AM

MAY 6TH: Stars (12-20) At Padres (9-22)
Nolan threw 6.2 shutout innings, Ruskin got the last out of the 7th and Willie Banks picked up a two inning save as we shut down the Padres. McReynolds had 3 hits and Gomez had 2 RBI.

I've decided to sit Dan Pasqua and see what Wes Chamberlain can do as my everyday right fielder.
Final Score: Stars 3 Padres 0

MAY 7TH: Stars (13-20) At Padres (9-23)
Mike Witt threw his best game of the year, 8 innings of 3 run ball. Wes Chamberlain had 3 hits in his first game as a starter but we lost in the 13th off an infield single from some jackhole named Dan Walters.
Final Score: Padres 4 Stars 3 (13 Innings)

MAY 8TH: Stars (13-21) At Padres (10-23)
Bud Black had another crazy performance, giving up only 2 unearned runs over 8.1 Innings. Butch Henry finished it out and paced by 3 hits a piece from McReynolds and Murray as well as homers from Gomez, Gagne and Murray we rolled to victory in the rubber game of the series.
Final Score: Stars 7 Padres 2

MAY 9TH: OFF DAY

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:11 AM

MAY 10TH: Stars (14-21) Vs Reds (22-12)
The Reds put a five spot up in the fourth inning highlighted by a 2 run homer from Joe Oliver and a 2 run double from Roberto Kelly off of Alex Fernandez. Jose Rijo kept us at bay most of the day and some late runs by us weren't enough. Goodwin had 3 hits and Chamberlain had a 2 run single.
Final Score: Reds 6 Stars 3

MAY 11TH: Stars (14-22) Vs Reds (23-12)
Tim Belcher pitched a one hit shutout and we jumped all over Larry Luebers to win it easy. Murray had a homer while Gagne, Murray, McReynolds and Spiers all had 2 hits. This was an impressive and much needed outing from Belcher.
Final Score: Stars 1 Reds 0

MAY 12TH: Stars (15-22) Vs Reds (23-13)
Nolan gave up five runs over 7.1 innings and John Thomson kept us at bay all day and Jeff Reardon closed it out. Eddie Murray had 2 hits.
Final Score: Reds 5 Stars 2

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:12 AM

We've been given an interesting trade offer. The Dodgers are offering up 20 year old LF prospect Todd Holandsworth, a 62/81 rated left handed hitter with good speed in exchange for Tim Belcher. There's no way I'm gonna be able to resign Belcher so this is a deal that I should be jumping all over but i'm not ready yet. I'll keep in the back of mind as we get closer to the trade deadline.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:12 AM

MAY 13TH: OFF DAY
I'm going to make a slightly radical change to my lineup starting tommorow. Leo Gomez, who has 7 home runs, will move into the 4th spot in my lineup between McReynolds and Murray. Chamberlain will hit 6th.

Also of note. Donovan Osborne, Steve Cook and Matt Miller have all been promoted to AAA. Those guys will be on the big league roster at some point this season it's just a matter of when a starter or two gets moved. Osborne and Cook both have major league experience, i'm just asking them to be patient. Osborne was immediately added to the 40 man roster and Blaise Iisley was released. Aaron Sele has been promoted to AA.

We're dropping our ticket prices another .20 cents, down to $4.80, a full .70 cents below league average.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:15 AM

MAY 14TH: Stars (15-23) Vs Padres (10-27)
Mike Witt got blasted again, this time for 8 runs in 4.2 innings. Only 2 of them were earned but make no mistake, he was not sharp at all. Jerald Clark had a 2 run homer, McGriff had 3 RBI. Eddie Murray had 3 hits for us.
Final Score: Padres 11 Stars 2

MAY 15TH: Stars (15-24) Vs Padres (11-27)
Bud Black went 6.2 and left with a 4-3 lead thanks in part to a 2 run homer from Pasqua. Ruskin and Pall closed it out as we eeked out a one run win. Goodwin had 2 more hits.
Final Score: Stars 4 Padres 3

MAY 16TH: Stars (16-24) Vs Padres (11-28)
Ughhh. Alex Fernandez vs Brian Tollberg is a game we should be able to win but instead we got stomped. Alex didn't get out of the fourth inning, our pen was no better and it was just a bad day all around. Goodwin had 3 more hits. McGriff and Santiago combined for 7 Padres hits.
Final Score: Padres 12 Stars 4

I'm moving Gomez back down to 5th in the order, I just like being able to go R/L/R with McReynolds, Murray and Gomez.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:15 AM

MAY 17TH: Stars (16-25) Vs Braves (22-18)
Well holy crap. Belcher and Banks combined on a one run, seven hitter, but the story was our offense. Good gravy. McReynolds and Murray each had 5 RBI, McReynolds had 5 hits. Goodwin had 4 hits and scored 4 runs. Gagne and Eusebio added 3 hits as we knocked Jason Schmidt and the Braves pen around to the tune of 24 hits and 18 runs. That'll do.
Final Score: Stars 18 Braves 1

MAY 18TH: Stars (17-25) Vs Braves (22-19)
The rematch between Ryan and Maddux saw a pitching duel into the sixth when thanks to a 2 out, 2 run single from Wes Chamberlain we finally broke through against Maddux. Chamberlain would add another RBI in the eight and Ryan would and the pen would make our runs stand as we won our 2nd in a row. Very nice.
Final Score: Stars 5 Braves 1

MAY 19TH: Stars (18-25) Vs Braves (22-20)
Sweet angel of the morning! Chamberlain and Murray had 2 hits a piece, Witt and Paul combined to give up just 2 runs and 8 hits and we eeeked out a win to complete our first series sweep ever. Is getting to .500 out of the question?
Final Score: Stars 3 Braves 2

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:16 AM

MAY 20TH: Stars (19-25) At Astros (25-20)
Such a heartbreaker. Black and Daryl Kile had a great matchup. Both men left after seven with the score tied 3-3. From there we were able to hang with them for 6 more innings until Abbott in his 3rd inning of work gave up the game winning hit to Eddie Taubansee who had also hit a 2 run homer earlier in the day. I hate losing but I was so proud of my bullpen today hanging in there inning for inning with the likes of Xavier Hernandez and Billy Wagner.
Final Score: Astros 4 Stars 3 (13 Innings)

MAY 21ST: Stars (19-26) At Astros (26-20)
Very impressive bounce back game for us as a team and Alex Fernandez. He threw a complete game, allowing just two runs and we were paced by a Kevin McReynolds homer and 2 RBI from Greg Gagne.
Final Score: Stars 4 Astros 2

MAY 22ND: Stars (20-26) At Astros (26-21)
A very tough loss as I left Belcher in an inning too long and it cost us. He gave up two eight inning runs to break a tie and help the Astros to victory. Gagne, McReynolds and Murray had 2 hits each and Biggio homered for the Astros.
Final Score: Astros 4 Stars 2

MAY 23RD: Stars (20-27) At Astros (27-21)
After a string of good starts Nolan got knocked around big time in the early going. He allowed 7 runs through the first three innings, including two 2 run homers from Eric Anthony. But we would not be deterred. Nolan settled down and gave up more runs for the next three innings as we strung hit after hit together off of Doug Drabek and tied the game at 7 after six innings.
And then in the top of the eighth, little Greg Gagne blasted a line drive 3 run shot that just cleared the fence. Our pen held the lead and we get out of Houston with a split and four really well played games. McReynolds had 4 hits and 3 RBI and Gagne had the aforementioned 3 run shot.
Final Score: Stars 11 Astros 7

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:16 AM

MAY 24TH: Stars (21-27) Vs Reds (30-17)
Not much to say about this one. John Smiley was dealing, Mike Witt was underwhelming and there is a reason they're in 1st place. We just didn't bring it today.
Final Score: Reds 5 Stars 1

MAY 25TH: Stars (21-28) Vs Reds (31-17)
Big win. We were able to get to Jose Rijo and Bud Black was just good enough to get it to the eigth were despite Don Pall allowing 2 inherited runners to score he was able to close out the game. McReynolds had a 3 run homer to pace us and Goodwin added 2 hits. A very nice win. Our attendance is hovering at just about 9,000 a game. I really wish it was better.
Final Score: Stars 5 Reds 4

MAY 26TH: Stars (22-28) Vs Reds (31-18)
Well lookee here. Alex Fernandez needed only 93 pitches en route to a shutout, Murray homered and he, Gagne, Naehring and Eusebio had multi hit games as we take 2 of 3 from the first place Reds. I really believe we can get to .500, I truly do.
Final Score: Stars 3 Reds 0

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:46 AM

MAY 27TH: Stars (23-28) At Astros (28-24)
Dag nabit. Belcher pitched well enough to win but Ruskin and Willis allowed four eigth inning runs and despite outhitting them 13-8 we still come up on the short end. Gagne had 3 hits and 2 runs scored in the loss.
Final Score: Astros 6 Stars 3

MAY 28TH: Stars (23-29) At Astros (29-24)
Nolan gave us 6 strong innings, allowing only two runs but Drabek and Wagner combined to totaly stymie our offense as we dropped a 2nd straight game. Jeff Bagwell had a solo shot.
Final Score: Astros 3 Stars 1

MAY 29TH: Stars (23-30) At Astros (30-24)
Very big bounce back game to salvage something from this series as Witt goes eight strong innings and we knock around Pete Harnisch. Gagne homered as he and Chamberlain chipped in 2 RBI each. Murray and Spiers each delivered 3 hits and we roll to a win.

We now head to New York to play the struggling Mets for four games as we end our stretch of nearly three straight weeks without a day off. It sure would be nice to put a beating on them and finish this month up with a big positive.
Final Score: Stars 7 Astros 2

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:47 AM

MAY 30TH: Stars (24-30) At Mets (20-33)
Well then, there was some beating up being done but it wasn't by us. They crushed us. Todd Hundley had a homer and 5 RBI, Tony Fernandez homered and they mashed out 17 hits, kicking around Bud Black and our bullpen. Just a really poor showing.
Final Score: Mets 12 Stars 2

MAY 31ST: Stars (24-31) At Mets (21-33)
Now this is more like it. Fernandez, Ruskin and Abbott combined to shut down the Mets and Steve Lake went 3-3 with 3 RBI as we got a pretty easy win over Sid Fernandez. Eddie Murray added a homer.
Final Score: Stars 6 Mets 2

JUNE 1ST: Stars (25-31) At Mets (21-34)
Tim Belcher did not have his best stuff, leaving after just 5.2 with us down 4-3, having at one point given up back to back homers to Hundley and Brogna. Our bullpen did a good job but we couldn't get anything off of their pen and they held on for the win. Eddie Murrays 3 hits were pretty much our lone bright spot.
Final Score: Mets 4 Stars 3

JUNE 2ND: Stars (25-32) At Mets (22-34)
Ughhh. Nolan left after six with us down 3-0. We put four on the board in the 7th inning by stringing a bunch of hits together. Don Pall, going for a two inning save, allowed the tieing run to score in the bottom of the 9th by throwing away a bouncer back to him by Jeromy Burnitz. Another error in the 10th allowed a runner in scoring position and they won it on a dribbler to Naehring that he couldn't make the play on, allowing the runner to score. I'm super frustrated right now.

JUNE 3RD: DAY OFF

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:54 AM

June 4th
1993 AMATEUR DRAFT

Code:

=================== First ROUND ====================
   0. Indians         Alex Rodriguez            (SS)
   1. Astros          Francisco Cordero         (P)
   2. Orioles         Vladimir Guerrero         (RF)
   3. Expos           Ron Belliard              (2B)
   4. Yankees         Rodrigo Lopez             (P)
   5. Reds            B.J. Ryan                 (P)
   6. Giants          Freddy Garcia             (P)
   7. Cubs            Eric Milton               (P)
   8. Mets            Torii Hunter              (CF)
   9. Phillies        Tim Hudson                (P)
  10. Angels          Hideki Okajima            (P)
  11. Royals          Mark Kotsay               (CF)
  12. Brewers         Steve Woodard             (P)
  13. Mariners        Matt LeCroy               (C)
  14. Red Sox         Jeff Suppan               (P)
  15. Tigers          Placido Polanco           (2B)
  16. Athletics       Geraldo Guzman            (P)
  17. Padres          Randy Winn                (CF)
  18. Cardinals       Damaso Marte              (P)
  19. Rangers         Alex Cabrera              (1B)
  20. White Sox       Rafael Betancourt         (P)
  21. Blue Jays       Doug Davis                (P)
  22. Dodgers         Morgan Ensberg            (3B)
  23. Pirates         Scott Rolen               (3B)
  24. Braves          Kenshin Kawakami          (P)
  25. Twins           Edgar Renteria            (SS)
  26. Stars           J.D. Drew                 (RF)
  27. Senators        Chris Carpenter           (P)

=================== Second ROUND ===================
  28. Indians         Jaret Wright              (P)
  29. Astros          Gabe Kapler               (CF)
  30. Orioles         Luis Castillo             (2B)
  31. Expos           Kevin Barker              (1B)
  32. Yankees         Dan Smith                 (P)
  33. Reds            Scott Randall             (P)
  34. Giants          Lee Gardner               (P)
  35. Cubs            Derrek Lee                (1B)
  36. Mets            David Ortiz               (1B)
  37. Phillies        Marcus Jones              (P)
  38. Angels          Jeff D'Amico              (P)
  39. Royals          Troy Brohawn              (P)
  40. Brewers         Stephen Randolph          (P)
  41. Mariners        Brian Fuentes             (P)
  42. Red Sox         Jin Ho Cho                (P)
  43. Tigers          Mark Brownson             (P)
  44. Athletics       Randy Choate              (P)
  45. Padres          Rod Barajas               (C)
  46. Cardinals       Carlos Guillen            (SS)
  47. Rangers         Eric Knott                (P)
  48. White Sox       Matt Wise                 (P)
  49. Blue Jays       Mike Lamb                 (3B)
  50. Dodgers         Richard Hidalgo           (RF)
  51. Pirates         Edgar Ramos               (P)
  52. Braves          Mark DeRosa               (3B)
  53. Twins           Steve Cox                 (1B)
  54. Stars           Fernando Tatis            (3B)
  55. Senators        Julio Lugo                (SS)

=================== Third ROUND ====================
  56. Indians         Paul Rigdon               (P)
  57. Astros          Seth Greisinger           (P)
  58. Orioles         Geronimo Gil              (C)
  59. Expos           Tony Fiore                (P)
  60. Yankees         Fernando Seguignol        (1B)
  61. Reds            Toby Hall                 (C)
  62. Giants          Bryan Corey               (P)
  63. Cubs            Joe Mays                  (P)
  64. Mets            Benj Sampson              (P)
  65. Phillies        Kiko Calero               (P)
  66. Angels          Erubiel Durazo            (1B)
  67. Royals          Livan Hernandez           (P)
  68. Brewers         Kevin Pickford            (P)
  69. Mariners        Scot Shields              (P)
  70. Red Sox         Shea Hillenbrand          (3B)
  71. Tigers          Juan Sosa                 (CF)
  72. Athletics       Mark L. Johnson           (C)
  73. Padres          Shawn Camp                (P)
  74. Cardinals       Mac Suzuki                (P)
  75. Rangers         Jeff Sparks               (P)
  76. White Sox       Neil Weber                (P)
  77. Blue Jays       Tony Mounce               (P)
  78. Dodgers         Brandon Puffer            (P)
  79. Pirates         Adrian Hernandez          (P)
  80. Braves          George Lombard            (CF)
  81. Twins           Hiroki Kuroda             (P)
  82. Stars           Ryan Rupe                 (P)
  83. Senators        Aquilino Lopez            (P)

=================== Fourth ROUND ===================
  84. Indians         Kane Davis                (P)
  85. Astros          Willis Roberts            (P)
  86. Orioles         Esteban Yan               (P)
  87. Expos           Horacio Estrada           (P)
  88. Yankees         Troy Mattes               (P)
  89. Reds            John Riedling             (P)
  90. Giants          Travis Lee                (1B)
  91. Cubs            Ryan Jensen               (P)
  92. Mets            Javier Valentin           (C)
  93. Phillies        Marco Scutaro             (SS)
  94. Angels          Jose Molina               (C)
  95. Royals          Ricky Pickett             (P)
  96. Brewers         David Eckstein            (SS)
  97. Mariners        Nate Field                (P)
  98. Red Sox         Brian Barkley             (P)
  99. Tigers          Tim Christman             (P)
 100. Athletics       Trevor Enders             (P)
 101. Padres          Steve Sparks              (P)
 102. Cardinals       Ken Cloude                (P)
 103. Rangers         Kerry Robinson            (LF)
 104. White Sox       Ken Huckaby               (C)
 105. Blue Jays       Randy Flores              (P)
 106. Dodgers         Daryle Ward               (1B)
 107. Pirates         Tom Jacquez               (P)
 108. Braves          John Leroy                (P)
 109. Twins           Russell Branyan           (3B)
 110. Stars           Mike Johnson              (P)
 111. Senators        Peter Munro               (P)

=================== Fifth ROUND ====================
 112. Indians         Brad Fullmer              (1B)
 113. Astros          Kazuo Matsui              (2B)
 114. Orioles         Chad Paronto              (P)
 115. Expos           Bartolome Fortunato       (P)
 116. Yankees         Pedro Feliz               (3B)
 117. Reds            Jim Chamblee              (3B)
 118. Giants          Rob Ryan                  (RF)
 119. Cubs            Bobby Smith               (3B)
 120. Mets            Jacque Jones              (RF)
 121. Phillies        Karim Garcia              (RF)
 122. Angels          Nelson Figueroa           (P)
 123. Royals          Angel Pena                (C)
 124. Brewers         Scott McClain             (1B)
 125. Mariners        Randall Simon             (1B)
 126. Red Sox         Michael Coleman           (CF)
 127. Tigers          Alan Newman               (P)
 128. Athletics       Roosevelt Brown           (LF)
 129. Padres          Matt Perisho              (P)
 130. Cardinals       Bucky Jacobsen            (1B)
 131. Rangers         Vladimir Nunez            (P)
 132. White Sox       Jose Nieves               (SS)
 133. Blue Jays       Rob Sasser                (1B)
 134. Dodgers         Jason Green               (P)
 135. Pirates         Edgard Clemente           (CF)
 136. Braves          Sam McConnell             (P)
 137. Twins           Clay Condrey              (P)
 138. Stars           Rolando Arrojo            (P)
 139. Senators        Jason Conti               (RF)

=================== Sixth ROUND ====================
 140. Indians         Miguel Mejia              (CF)
 141. Astros          Javier Cardona            (C)
 142. Orioles         Koji Uehara               (P)
 143. Expos           Santiago Perez            (SS)
 144. Yankees         Miguel Ojeda              (C)
 145. Reds            Alex Cora                 (SS)
 146. Giants          Josh Paul                 (C)
 147. Cubs            Chad Moeller              (C)
 148. Mets            Dan Perkins               (P)
 149. Phillies        Graham Koonce             (1B)
 150. Angels          Joe Dillon                (2B)
 151. Royals          Talmadge Nunnari          (1B)
 152. Brewers         Colin Porter              (RF)
 153. Mariners        Danny Klassen             (3B)
 154. Red Sox         Donnie Sadler             (2B)
 155. Tigers          Derrick Gibson            (RF)
 156. Athletics       Todd Sears                (1B)
 157. Padres          Jorge Toca                (1B)
 158. Cardinals       Luis Garcia               (CF)
 159. Rangers         Timo Perez                (CF)
 160. White Sox       Julio Zuleta              (1B)
 161. Blue Jays       Kelly Dransfeldt          (SS)
 162. Dodgers         Ricky Stone               (P)
 163. Pirates         Bill Ortega               (1B)
 164. Braves          Jorge Velandia            (2B)
 165. Twins           Ed Yarnall                (P)
 166. Stars           Ryan Bradley              (P)
 167. Senators        Andy Thompson             (LF)

Our Picks

Code:

JUNE 4TH: 1993 AMATEUR DRAFT
Round #1:    RF JD Drew        17    61/81
Round #2:    3B Fernando Tatis    17    52/83
Round #3:    SP Ryan Rupe        18    50/83
Round #4:    RP Mike Johnson        17    47/83
Round #5:    SP Rolando Arrojo    24    60/66
Round #6:    SP Ryan Bradley        17    48/80

Drew was the guy closest to being major league ready, not that it will be anytime soon but he's much further developed than any other position player who was available.

Tatis obviously has a lot of developing to do but I wanted position players early.

Rupe and the two relievers are obviously a few years away but hopefully we can mature them well in our system.

Arrojo was sort of a flier pick. He's developed but not a stud by any means, still he may be serviceable cheap talent for us soon.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:57 AM

MAY REPORT CARD

Record: 25-33, 6th Place, 10 Games Back

Code:

1993 Batting             Team    G   AVG    AB    H  2B  3B  HR   BB    K   SB  CS    R  RBI   SLG   OBP
Murray, Eddie             OKL   57  .359   223   80  15   4   8   23   25    3   0   36   39  .570  .419
McReynolds, Kevin         OKL   58  .329   219   72  15   0   2   18   24    3   3   29   42  .425  .375
Goodwin, Tom              OKL   52  .284   197   56  13   2   0   12   30    9   5   36   12  .371  .329
Gagne, Greg               OKL   53  .248   202   50   6   0   7   10   41    8   5   26   26  .381  .292
Gomez, Leo                OKL   55  .224   201   45   8   0   7   22   37    1   1   32   21  .368  .307
Naehring, Tim             OKL   48  .227   172   39   5   0   3   17   29    1   0   24   18  .308  .300
Eusebio, Tony             OKL   41  .215   144   31   6   0   1   10   21    0   0   12   10  .278  .269
Chamberlain, Wes          OKL   35  .274   113   31   5   0   0    4   17    1   2    9   12  .319  .303
Pasqua, Dan               OKL   43  .227   128   29   4   0   4   11   38    0   0   15   23  .352  .280
Spiers, Bill              OKL   32  .325    83   27   6   1   0    3   10    6   1   11   13  .422  .352
Lake, Steve               OKL   25  .288    73   21   5   1   0    0    6    0   1    7    9  .384  .293
Yelding, Eric             OKL   28  .333    48   16   1   0   0    0    3    1   4    7    6  .354  .327
Clark, Dave               OKL   21  .370    27   10   1   1   0    5    2    1   0    1    1  .481  .469
Varsho, Gary              OKL   13  .214    28    6   0   1   0    2    4    1   0    5    1  .286  .290
Neel, Troy                OKL    9  .091    11    1   0   0   0    0    2    0   0    1    0  .091  .091

Murray and McReynolds have just been crushing it. Goodwins average has been a pleasant surprise but his OBP is nowhere near what a leadoff hitter should be, still he's the best option we have. Gomez has provided some pop but little else. It's all or nothing with him. Chamberlain has been ok but hasn't lit the world on fire. Naehring is close to losing his job, Spiers can play an adaquete 2nd base and deserves a shot, his speed in the lineup will also be a plus.

Code:

1993 Pitching            Team     IP   ERA    G  GS   W   L  SV    K   BB   R/9
Black, Bud                OKL   82.2  3.05   12  12   5   2   0   43   26 11.43
Fernandez, Alex           OKL   82.0  3.40   12  12   5   4   0   56   19  9.88
Ryan, Nolan               OKL   68.0  4.37   11  11   2   5   0   63   29 13.50
Witt, Mike                OKL   64.0  4.78   11  11   4   4   0   33   22 15.47
Belcher, Tim              OKL   62.2  3.02    9   9   4   3   0   40   16  9.91
Abbott, Paul              OKL   34.1  5.24   19   0   0   3   0   20   15 14.42
Henry, Butch              OKL   28.1  6.04   19   1   2   2   0   21   15 19.69
Banks, Willie             OKL   27.0  2.33   21   0   1   0   1   21   12 13.33
Pall, Donn                OKL   20.1  4.87   19   0   0   3   7    9    6 13.28
Willis, Carl              OKL   20.1  5.31   20   0   0   3   0   11    5 13.72
Ruskin, Scott             OKL   17.1  4.67   21   0   1   4   0   11   10 14.02
Young, Curt               OKL   11.0  9.00    2   2   1   0   0    8    6 19.64

Our starting pitching has really settled in. The numbers may not suggest it but so has our bullpen. We had a good month off the rubber. The problem is that very few of these guys will be here in a month or two, let alone next year.

Finances
We've lost $1.3 Million total and only have $3.1 Million in cash left. I'm going to need to make some moves sooner rather than later to trim some payroll.

Summary
Quite the dichotomy. We've played very well, but we arn't going to contend. We have solid players but can't afford to sign them. As good as we've been nobody wants to come out and watch us. A guy like Belcher, only 31, is someone i'd love to resign, but it'll cost me way too much. Look for just about our entire starting staff to be moved in the coming months, it's just a matter of how long I want to play at a decent level.

On the offensive side, the earlier I move Murray the better it is to me financially but it will cripple the team offensively. I do not plan on calling Helton up this year as I want him to get a full 5 months in at AAA. McReynolds is intriguing in so much as he's signed through next year at just $700,000 and that's not a bad price to pay for someone producing like he is.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 06:58 AM

Around The League In May

The Cardinals and Phillies are a two team race in the NL East at this point while the Dodgers, Giants and Reds are tied for first in the NL West. The Orioles hold a 2 game lead on the Tigers and Yankees while The A's and White Sox have separated themselves from the pack in the AL West.

The only interesting trade of note saw the Astros send prospects Phil Nevin and Bobby Abreau to Milwaukee for RF Dante Bichette.

Cal Ripken missed most of may and will be out till early July with a separated shoulder but the Orioles have been hanging in without him.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 07:03 AM

Before I get started up again I want to note that it looks like I may have decreased injuries and injury severity a bit too much. In my first couple go around with mogul 12 the default seemed to be way too many injuries and I may have overcompensated. Instead of -20% I'll turn it down to -10% next season but i'm not messing with the settings till after the season.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:00 PM

JUNE 4TH: Stars (25-33) At Dodgers (33-21)
Before the game I make a lineup change. Bill Spiers is my new everyday 2B and he'll hit leadoff. Goodwin drops to the two spot and Gagne down to seventh.

Witt gave up 4 runs over 6 innings, including a 2 run homer to Tim Wallach. Ramon Martinez was good enough to keep us down as we lose another. Murray had 3 more hits and McReynolds had 2 RBI.
Final Score: Dodgers 6 Stars 4

JUNE 5TH: Stars (25-34) At Dodgers (34-21)
Oh boy. We played, and are playing, listlessly. Pedro Martinez shut us out and they pounded out 12 runs on us. Piazza homered, Offerman had 4 hits. Bud Black only went 4 innings. McReynolds had 2 hits for us.
Final Score: Dodgers 12 Stars 0

JUNE 6TH: Stars (25-35) At Dodgers (35-21)
So after 2 lifeless days we just explode on Kevin Gross and the Dodgers bullpen. Fernandez went 6 strong innings but the story was our offense as we pounded out 23 hits, 5 of which were from Spiers. Naehring and Gagne had 4 hits a piece and Goodwin knocked in 3 runs.
Final Score: Stars 12 Dodgers 4

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:00 PM

JUNE 7TH: Stars (26-35) Vs Braves (31-29)
A 3 run homer from Dan Pasqua broke up a pitching duel between Maddux and Belcher. Pall closed it out and we have bounced back nicely from the down stretch with two wins in a row.
Final Score: Stars 5 Braves 2

JUNE 8TH: Stars (27-35) Vs Braves (31-30)
Nolan Ryan went 8 strong innings, matching Glavine and thanks to a Leo Gomez homer he left after 8 tied 3-3. We got two runs off of Wohlers in the bottom of the 8th and Ruskin and Abbott closed out another strong win. McReynolds and Murray had 2 hits each.
Final Score: Stars 5 Braves 3

JUNE 9TH: Stars (28-35) Vs Braves (31-31)
Outside of a 5 run 3rd inning which featured a David Justice homer, Witt pitched ok. We scraped back from 5-0 down but couldn't quite get out of the hole as the Braves salvaged the final game of the series. Spiers had 2 hits.
Final Score: Braves 5 Stars 3

JUNE 10TH: Day Off
An interesting note. Eddie Murray at .353 leads the NL in hitting.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:01 PM

JUNE 11TH: Stars (28-36) At Giants (36-26)
A very tough extra inning loss. Black was aces again but so was John Burkett. They got the win off of Willis with a Darren Lewis RBI single in the bottom of the 11th.
Final Score: Giants 2 Stars 1 (11 Innings)

Interesting note, the Giants front office asked for a meeting with us about Tim Belcher, they offered us two middling prospects. We declined for now but it's interesting to know now that both the Dodgers and Giants are after Belchers services.

JUNE 12TH: Stars (28-37) At Giants (37-26)
Alex Fernandez and 7-0 Bill Swift battled to a 2-2 stalemate through 7 innings. The only blemish for Alex was a 2 run homer from Matt Williams. In the bottom of the ninth Williams hit his second homer of the game off of Willie Banks to give them another tight win. I'm dissapointed in the losses but we've played them so well.
Final Score: Giants 3 Stars 2

JUNE 13TH: Stars (28-38) At Giants (38-26)
Belcher labored and gave up 4 runs through just 5 innings, 3 of which came off of a Wil Clark homer. Dave Burba carried a no hitter into the seventh and a shutout into the ninth before Rod Beck closed out the sweep.
Final Score: Giants 4 Stars 1

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:01 PM

JUNE 14TH: Stars (28-39) Vs Dodgers (37-26)
Hoo boy. Nolan struggled, giving up six runs in just 5 innings. Then Henry and Banks proceeded to do even worse. When it was done they had 16 runs and 22 hits. Eric Davis with 5, Eric Karros with 4 and Tim Wallach with 3 RBI just crushed us. McReynolds had 3 hits for us.

Attendance was down to 6,600 and we're at our lowest point of the season right now.
Final Score: Dodgers 16 Stars 2

JUNE 15TH: Stars (28-40) Vs Dodgers (38-26)
A much needed strong outing from Mike Witt helped us stop our skid. Witt went 8 strong and Pall closed it out. Bill Spiers had 2 hits and 2 RBI in the win.
Final Score: Stars 4 Dodgers 2

JUNE 16TH: Stars (29-40) Vs Dodgers (38-27)
Pedro Martinez scattered 8 hits and Bud Black got knocked around early giving up a 2 run homer to Strawberry.
Final Score: Dodgers 5 Stars 0

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:01 PM

JUNE 17TH: Stars (29-41) At Giants (40-28)
Crap on a cracker. Alex Fernandez was not sharp but once again our pen got annahilated. They killed us, the less said the better but Martinez and McGee homered, Matt Williams had 3 RBI as they scored 15 friggin times. Murray had 3 hits, Spiers, Goodwin and McReynolds each had 2 hits but we couldn't score a damn run.
Final Score: Giants 15 Stars 0

JUNE 18TH: Stars (29-42) At Giants (41-28)
I was hoping for a bounce back game here but Tim Belcher was again sub par and Dave Burba was again looking like Sandy Koufax. Barry Bonds homered twice and knocked in 4 runs. We were limited to 3 hits, one of which was a Leo Gomez homer.
Final Score: Giants 7 Stars 1

JUNE 19TH: Stars (29-43) At Giants (42-28)
Finally. Nolan Ryan threw a complete game. Spiers had 4 hits and 4 runs scored. Goodwin had 3 RBI as we got to Osvaldo Fernandez to salvage a game and break our 3 game losing streak.

We head home for four games against the Phillies and it would be nice to start winning some games again.
Final Score: Stars 5 Giants 2

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:02 PM

JUNE 19TH: Trade

Code:

The Oklahoma City Stars Send,
1B Eddie Murray        37    79/79    $1.5M/2YRS
SS Neifi Perez        19    63/83    $120K/ARB95
RF Angel Echevarria    21    62/80    $4K/ARB95
SP Jamey Wright        18    57/79    $4K/ARB95
RP Jim Thobe        23    60/73    $10K/ARB95
RP Doug Nickle        18    51/81    $130K/ARB95

To The Oakland Athletics For,
SS Miguel Tejada    19    70/90    $4K/ARB96

We've been sending out some feelers for a while now on Murray and once we got the hint that the A's would be willing to part with Tejada we had to go in guns blazing.

The key part to this deal was that they wanted RP Matt Miller, a guy we see as a potential closer and someone we were unwilling to part with. We ended up having to give up both Neifi Perez and Angel Echevarria but we can deal with that. We shaved almost $2 Million dollars off of the payroll and got back a prized prospect who is both young and not too far away.

Tejada will go to rookie ball to finish the season. Todd Helton is added to the 40 man roster but will stay at AAA.
LF Troy Neel gets the call up and will split time at 1st base with Dan Pasqua.

While I really love this deal for our future it certainly kills our current offense. Chamberlain and Gomez will have to step up big time behind McReynolds.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:02 PM

JUNE 20TH: Stars (30-43) Vs Phillies (38-33)
Mike Witt didn't pitch bad per se, 3 runs over 6 innings but we had no offense at all against Danny Jackson as they beat us.
Final Score: Phillies 4 Stars 1

Mike Witt has some elbow tendinits and will miss a couple of weeks at least. SP Curt Young will be recalled to take his rotation spot.

JUNE 21ST: Stars (30-44) Vs Phillies (39-33)
Bud Black threw a complete game and we got just enough off of Ben Rivera to eek out a win. Goodwin had 2 RBI. Gomez and Chamberlain combined for 5 hits.
Final Score: Stars 3 Phillies 1

JUNE 22ND: Stars (31-44) Vs Phillies (39-34)
Alex Fernandez dissapointingly was outpitched by Jose DeLeon. Daulton homered for them and Chamberlain had 3 more hits for us, so that's something.
Final Score: Phillies 5 Stars 2

JUNE 23RD: Stars (31-45) Vs Phillies (40-34)
Christ. Belcher was beat up again. Kruk had 5 RBI and Hollins homered to pace them. Wes Chamberlain had 3 hits for the 3rd straight game, an amazing stretch. Unfortunately for us he's the only guy hitting.
Final Score: Phillies 10 Stars 2

JUNE 24TH: OFF DAY

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:03 PM

JUNE 24TH: Trade

Code:

The Oklahoma City Stars Send,
SS Greg Gagne        31    76/76    $810K/1YRS

To The Toronto Blue Jays For,
RP David Weathers    23    76/77    $130K/ARB93

I certainly didn't expect to start the firesale this early but we've been gauging interest in Gagne for a while now and the Blue Jays made us an offer we really couldn't refuse. Weathers has 8.65 ERA in 34 innings this year but he's got above average stuff and is someone we see as a possible closer candidate at best and a competant arm in the pen at worst. This leads us to our second trade of the day.

Code:

The Oklahoma City Stars Send,
RP     Carl Willis        32    73/73    $770K/1YRS

To The St. Louis Cardinals For,
C    Erik Pappas        27    69/69    $11K/ARB95

This deal was just to make room for Weathers in our pen, he'll assume Willis's role. All told these deals save us close to $1.5 Million so it was a good day all around.

Spiers is now the everyday SS with Naehring getting his 2nd base job back. 3B Pedro Castellano gets the call up to be on our bench.

Suicane75 · 06-06-2011, 11:04 PM

We take this opportunity to work out a few extensions with some of our players.

Extension: We ink Don Pall to a 4 year deal worth $480K per year. It's a $180K raise but he's been good enough that we feel we can rely on him wether he's the closer or not.

Extension: We strike a 4 year deal with Wes Chamberlain at $210K which is really a bargain. He may not ever be starter material but he's a solid 4th or 5th outfielder on the cheap.

Extension: This is a big one. We ink Bill Spiers to a 4 year deal worth $660K with a 5th year player option for $1 Million. Yes it's a lot of money but he's hitting .369 and was scheduled to hit arbitration in the offseason and that could of ended up costing us twice us much or losing him altogether if we couldn't afford it. He's fast with a good eye and makes contact. Moreover he can play SS, 2B and 3B very well. If we're gonna spend money, this is how we have to do it.

Extension: Lastly we give Paul Abbott 4 years at $320K. It's almost a $200K raise but I like what he's done, he's only 25 and he provides us with a guy who can start if needed.

Suicane75 · 06-07-2011, 01:13 AM

JUNE 25TH: Stars (31-46) At Braves (37-38)
Nolan Ryan threw 7 innings of 2 hit shutout ball and our pen was able to hold on to get the win. McReynolds had 2 hits and an RBI.
Final Score: Stars 3 Braves 2

Ya know what? Curt Young was scheduled to pitch tomorrow but there's really no reason to keep Donovan Osborne down in AAA at this point. We call him up to put him in the rotation and send Curt Young down to AAA.

JUNE 26TH: Stars (32-46) At Braves (37-39)
Donovan Osborne went 6 strong innings and Paul Abbott pitched the final 3 as led by 2 hits from Chamberlain and Naehring we won our 2nd straight.
Final Score: Stars 4 Braves 1

Post game we find out that Wes Chamberlain has a stress fracture in his foot. We send him to the DL and call up OF David Hulse. Dan Pasqua will move to RF and Troy Neel will be my everyday first basemen.

JUNE 27TH: Stars (33-46) At Braves (37-40)
Greg Maddux limited us to 3 hits and we commited 4 errors. You do the math. Black pitched well but not enough to overcome our adle minded defense.
Final Score: Braves 6 Stars 1

Suicane75 · 06-07-2011, 01:14 AM

JUNE 28TH: Stars (33-47) Vs Cubs (36-42)
Alex Fernandez gave up 4 runs in 5.2 innings, all of which came off the long ball, something he's had a problem with this year. He left down 4-3. Our bullpen was not good and the Cubs pulled away for the win. Spiers, Lake and Gomez had 2 hits a piece.
Final Score: Cubs 8 Stars 4

The Astros and Dodgers keep calling us about Tim Belcher but i'm still not ready to make a move yet.

JUNE 29TH: Stars (33-48) Vs Cubs (37-42)
Ughh. Belcher is not real good and our pen again lets up some late runs as the squeak by us. McReynolds had 3 hits, Goodwin had 2 RBI. Sosa homered for them. Our attendance is down to 5,500.
Final Score: Cubs 6 Stars 5

JUNE 30TH: Stars (33-49) Vs Cubs (38-42)
Nolan Ryan only went 4 innings and Jose Guzman pitched a shutout as we got swept. Everytime I think we're bouncing back we get slapped down.
Final Score: Cubs 7 Stars 0

Suicane75 · 06-07-2011, 01:14 AM

JULY 1ST: Stars (33-50) At Padres (27-54)
DAMMIT! We led 5-2 going into the 7th when Osborne tired, Henry proceeded to give the lead away as we dropped our 5th in a row. Naehring had 4 hits and McReynolds homered for us. Stillwell had 3 hits and 3 RBI to pace the Padres.
Final Score: Padres 8 Stars 6

JULY 2ND: Stars (33-51) At Padres (28-54)
This is more like it. Black was dominant. Naehring had 4 hits again and Pasqua had a homer and 3 RBI as we romped.
Final Score: Stars 11 Padres 2

JULY 3RD: Stars (34-51) At Padres (28-55)
Alex Fernandez pitched a gem going into the ninth where he gave up 4 runs including the game winning 2 out 3 run homer to Dan Walters, for the love of Pete. Spiers and Goodwin combined for 5 hits.
Final Score: Padres 5 Stars 3

JULY 4TH: OFF DAY

Suicane75 · 06-07-2011, 01:14 AM

JULY 4TH: Trade

Code:

The Oklahoma City Stars Send,
SP Mike Witt        32    79/79    $580K/2YRS
RP Billy Koch        18    66/81    $5K/ARB95

To The Philadelphia Phillies For,
SP Rafael Quirico    23    70/79    $5K/ARB96

This is a nice deal for us. Witt goes to a contender. Quirico has some really nice numbers, he's a finnese pitcher with good endurance and is still maturing. You can never have too many SP prospects. Billy Koch is not someone we wanted to get rid of but our bullpen has a lot of guys locked up and with potential for the next couple of years and it's not like he's a mega prospect so I'm ok with this deal.

In addition to this trade we send Willie Banks down to AAA and promote Milt Hill to take his spot in the bullpen. Hill is just better pitcher at this point.

06-03-2011, 12:03 AM	#7
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	Around The League The only offseason news of note after I entered the game was Texas sending Rafael Palmeiro to the Braves in exchange for RP Mike Stanton, 3B Vinny Castilla and SP David Nied. Last edited by Suicane75 : 06-03-2011 at 12:03 AM.

06-06-2011, 11:02 PM	#43
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	JUNE 19TH: Trade Code: The Oklahoma City Stars Send, 1B Eddie Murray 37 79/79 $1.5M/2YRS SS Neifi Perez 19 63/83 $120K/ARB95 RF Angel Echevarria 21 62/80 $4K/ARB95 SP Jamey Wright 18 57/79 $4K/ARB95 RP Jim Thobe 23 60/73 $10K/ARB95 RP Doug Nickle 18 51/81 $130K/ARB95 To The Oakland Athletics For, SS Miguel Tejada 19 70/90 $4K/ARB96 We've been sending out some feelers for a while now on Murray and once we got the hint that the A's would be willing to part with Tejada we had to go in guns blazing. The key part to this deal was that they wanted RP Matt Miller, a guy we see as a potential closer and someone we were unwilling to part with. We ended up having to give up both Neifi Perez and Angel Echevarria but we can deal with that. We shaved almost $2 Million dollars off of the payroll and got back a prized prospect who is both young and not too far away. Tejada will go to rookie ball to finish the season. Todd Helton is added to the 40 man roster but will stay at AAA. LF Troy Neel gets the call up and will split time at 1st base with Dan Pasqua. While I really love this deal for our future it certainly kills our current offense. Chamberlain and Gomez will have to step up big time behind McReynolds.

06-06-2011, 11:03 PM	#45
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	JUNE 24TH: Trade Code: The Oklahoma City Stars Send, SS Greg Gagne 31 76/76 $810K/1YRS To The Toronto Blue Jays For, RP David Weathers 23 76/77 $130K/ARB93 I certainly didn't expect to start the firesale this early but we've been gauging interest in Gagne for a while now and the Blue Jays made us an offer we really couldn't refuse. Weathers has 8.65 ERA in 34 innings this year but he's got above average stuff and is someone we see as a possible closer candidate at best and a competant arm in the pen at worst. This leads us to our second trade of the day. Code: The Oklahoma City Stars Send, RP Carl Willis 32 73/73 $770K/1YRS To The St. Louis Cardinals For, C Erik Pappas 27 69/69 $11K/ARB95 This deal was just to make room for Weathers in our pen, he'll assume Willis's role. All told these deals save us close to $1.5 Million so it was a good day all around. Spiers is now the everyday SS with Naehring getting his 2nd base job back. 3B Pedro Castellano gets the call up to be on our bench.

06-07-2011, 01:14 AM	#50
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	JULY 4TH: Trade Code: The Oklahoma City Stars Send, SP Mike Witt 32 79/79 $580K/2YRS RP Billy Koch 18 66/81 $5K/ARB95 To The Philadelphia Phillies For, SP Rafael Quirico 23 70/79 $5K/ARB96 This is a nice deal for us. Witt goes to a contender. Quirico has some really nice numbers, he's a finnese pitcher with good endurance and is still maturing. You can never have too many SP prospects. Billy Koch is not someone we wanted to get rid of but our bullpen has a lot of guys locked up and with potential for the next couple of years and it's not like he's a mega prospect so I'm ok with this deal. In addition to this trade we send Willie Banks down to AAA and promote Milt Hill to take his spot in the bullpen. Hill is just better pitcher at this point.

06-02-2011, 09:12 PM	#2
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	How I'll Play ------------------------- I'm trying to keep things as realistic as possible, so i've got AI trades reduced to low. I myself will try to keep from making too many trades or abusing the AI. BM does not have a 40 man roster but i'll make one each season and adhere to it in that any man I add will result in the demoted man being released. This helps me keep my prospects organized and stops me from using them willy nilly and starting their arbitration clocks. I've reduced Home Runs by 20% cause I don't wanna see a shitload of them like in the real world. I guess that's it. So up next is the expansion draft. You will likely be seeing a ton of draft day trades but that's to be expected.

06-02-2011, 09:28 PM	#4
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	Draft Day Deals ------------------------------- TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, SP Dennis Martinez 37 83/83 $3.6M/1YR To The New York Yankees For, LF Hideki Matsui 18 67/82 $4K/ARB95 While Matsui is not a great prospect he was the best offer we had on the table when we were set to make our draft pick. It's a solid deal for us. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, SP Mike Morgan 33 83/83 $2.7M/3YR SP Greg Harris 29 79/79 $410K/ARB93 To The Boston Red Sox For, SS Tim Naehring 26 78/81 $171K/ARB93 RP Ron Mayhay 21 64/76 $4K/ARB95 Really hoped the fish would be biting harder on Morgan but they weren't. What we got out of the deal was a solid if unspectacular guy who can play all around the infield and a prospect reliever, I can't complain with the money saved. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, CF Willie Wilson 37 75/75 $1.2M/2YRS 2B Chris Sexton 21 57/70 $4K/ARB95 To The Chicago Cubs For, 2B Eric Yelding 28 67/67 $192K/ARB93 C Steve Lake 36 73/73 $490K/1YRS Chicago offered us this deal before we were set to pick and we took it. It doesn't do much but it provides us with depth on the 40 man roster. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, RP Luther Hackman 18 49/71 $4K/ARB95 RP Juan Acevedo 22 57/74 $4K/ARB95 SP Mark Thompson 21 52/76 $4K/ARB95 RP Ryan Hawblitzel 21 60/75 $4K/ARB95 To The Toronto Blue Jays For, RP Billy Koch 18 66/81 $5K/ARB95 All these guys were in our farm system pre draft and I had a glut of pitchers so I figured i'd put a package together to try and get a decent prospect. Koch is by no means top tier but hopefully he can turn into something solid out of the pen in a few years. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, RP Jim Stoops 20 60/76 $4K/ARB95 RP Ron Mayhay 21 64/76 $4K/ARB95 SP Bryan Rekar 20 61/77 $130K/ARB95 To The Cincinnati Reds For, RP Scott Ruskin 29 75/75 $130K/ARB93 SP Eddie Priest 18 48/76 $4K/ARB95 Ruskin is a guy who can help us right away in the pen, something we needed very much. Priest and Rekar are pretty much a wash except we have more time to develop Priest. I'm fine with this deal. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, SP John Thomson 19 64/74 $130K/ARB95 RP Fred Rath 20 60/74 $4K/ARB95 To Cincinnati Reds For, RP Ross Powell 25 54/69 $4K/ARB95 RP Milt Hill 27 65/71 $32K/ARB94 RP Mo Sanford 26 65/71 $19K/ARB95 RP Chris Bushing 25 65/72 $10K/ARB95 CF Tommy Gregg 29 69/69 $190K/1YRS RF Gary Varsho 31 65/65 $80K/ARB93 This was nothing more than a deal to acquire filler for my 40 man roster so I wouldn't have to use any prospects in a pinch. All the guys acquired are pretty much set for AAA and emergency use only. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, RP Ross Powell 25 54/69 $4K/ARB95 To The Seattle Mariners For, C Jorge Brito 26 57/67 $10K/ARB95 We needed a catcher down at AAA, this gives us one. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, SP Cal Eldrad 25 75/88 $145K/ARB94 RP Mike Porzio 20 50/78 $4K/ARB95 To The Chicago White Sox For, SP Alex Fernandez 23 81/84 $145K/ARB93 Now this was a biggie. While Eldrad has slightly better potential, Fernandez is more developed and has much more endurance. Fernandez had a solid rookie season in Chicago last year and we see him as a guy we count on for many years to come. We immediatly ink Alex to a 5 year deal at $700K per year. I really like this deal. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, CF Andy Van Slyke 32 83/83 $4M/4YRS RP Roger Bailey 22 60/76 $5K/ARB95 To The Philadelpia Phillies For, RP Doug Nickle 18 51/81 $130K/ARB95 RF Wes Chamberlain 26 73/73 $78K/ARB93 We never intended to keep Van Slyke and his high salary and of all the deals out there this was the one we decided to go with. What this does is opens playing time in CF for Tom Goodwin and adds a youngish bench/platoon player with some potential in Chamberlain. Nickle is of course a long term prospect. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, RF Rob Deer 32 74/74 $1.4M/2YRS CF Darrin Jackson 30 76/76 $1.3M/2YRS SP Bryn Smith 37 82/82 $1.2M/1YRS SP Eddie Priest 18 48/76 $4K/ARB95 To The Oakland Athletics For, SP Curt Young 32 74/74 $320K/2YRS CF Eric Fox 29 69/71 $130K/ARB94 LF Troy Neel 27 72/78 $130K/ARB95 $100,000 This was simply a cost cutting deal. None of the players we got in return are anything more than borderline servicable major league players but Deer and Jackson were both reserves and Smith was a guy we could afford to move with our depth of starters, old starters, but starters none the less. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, 3B Terry Pendelton 32 77/77 $2.5M/1YRS LF Keith Mitchell 23 65/78 $23K/ARB94 To The Baltimore Orioles For, 3B Leo Gomez 27 73/73 $295K/ARB93 Another cost cutting move that gives us a servicable 3B for the season. We had to add a prospect to counter the salary Baltimore took but that's ok. TRADE Code: Oklahoma City Stars Send, 2B Scott Fletcher 34 76/76 $1.4M/1YRS 2B Jason Bates 22 53/72 $4K/ARB95 2B Chris Peterson 22 51/64 $4K/ARB95 C Brian Johnson 25 62/74 $7K/ARB95 To The Milwaukee Brewers For, SS Bill Spiers 26 76/78 $229K/1YRS Much like the previous deals this was simply a cost cutting maneuver.

06-02-2011, 09:32 PM	#5
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	The Aftermath ---------------------------- Budget concerns caused me to move a lot of guys I would have liked to keep. As I'll be trying to play a good deal of my games it sure would of been nice to have some veterans I was familiar with but I'll have to make do. My staff is fairly solid if fairly old but i'll get into that deeper in the upcoming season preview.

06-02-2011, 11:55 PM	#6
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	1993 Oklahoma City Stars Season Preview Code: LINEUP C- Tony Eusebio 25 71/76 $130K/ARB95 1B- Eddie Murray 37 79/79 $1.5M/2YRS 2B- Tim Naehring 26 78/81 $171K/ARB93 SS- Bill Spiers 26 76/78 $229K/1YRS 3B- Leo Gomez 27 73/73 $295K/ARB93 LF- Kevin McReynolds 33 77/77 $760K/2YRS CF- Tom Goodwin 24 72/76 $130K/ARB94 RF- Dan Pasqua 31 73/73 $480K/1YRS BENCH C- Steve Lake 36 73/73 $490K/1YRS SS- Greg Gagne 31 76/76 $810K/1YRS SS- Eric Yelding 28 67/67 $192K/1YRS LF- Troy Neel 27 72/78 $130K/ARB95 CF- Tommy Gregg 29 69/69 $190K/1YRS RF- Wes Chamblerlian 26 73/73 $130K/ARB93 Vs RHP Vs LHP 1. CF Tom Goodwin 1. 2B Tim Naehring 2. SS Bill Spiers 2. SS Greg Gagne 3. LF Kevin McReynolds 3. LF Kevin McReynolds 4. 1B Eddie Murray 4. 1B Eddie Murray 5. RF Dan Pasqua 5. RF Wes Chamberlain 6. 3B Leo Gomez 6. 3B Leo Gomez 7. C Tony Eusebio 7. C Steve Lake 8. 2B Tim Naehring 8. CF Tom Goodwin Heading into Spring Training the SS job was Gagnes, but the fact is that we have zero speed outside of Goodwin and Spiers so for now they will be 1-2 most days. The middle of our order should be able to produce decently if we have people on but the bottom third isn't gonna light the world on fire. We're probably gonna struggle to score runs with this team. Code: PITCHING STAFF SP- Bud Black 35 82/82 $910K/1YRS SP- Alex Fernandez 23 81/84 $700K/5YRS SP- Tim Belcher 31 81/81 $1.8M/1YRS SP- Nolan Ryan 46 81/81 $930K/1YRS SP- Mike Witt 32 79/79 $580K/2YRS CL- Don Pall 31 75/75 $310K/1YRS SE- Scott Ruskin 29 75/75 $130K/ARB93 SR- Carl Willis 32 73/73 $770K/1YRS SR- Butch Henry 24 72/77 $130K/ARB94 MR- Willie Banks 24 74/82 $130K/ARB94 LR- Paul Abbott 25 77/79 $130K/ARB93 I'm as please as possible with the rotation I have set. Tim Belcher has a strained oblique and will miss the first 2 weeks of the season but once all five starters are lined up I think we'll be solid. The pen is something I have no idea about. Henry, Banks and Abbott are all converted starters but have some potential while the top of our pen is veteran if not spectacular. Code: AAA C- Jorge Brito * 26 58/67 $10K/ARB95 2B- Craig Counsell * 22 64/74 $10K/ARB95 3B- Pedro Castellano * 23 61/65 $10K/ARB95 CF- Eric Fox * 29 69/71 $130K/ARB95 CF- Quinton McCracken * 23 60/68 $10K/ARB95 RF- Dave Clark * 30 69/69 $270K/1YRS RF- Gary Varsho * 31 65/65 $80K/1YRS SP- Hideo Nomo * 24 73/83 $7K/ARB95 SP- Curt Young * 32 74/74 $320K/2YRS SP- Jeff Ballard * 29 64/64 $150K/1YRS SP- Darrin Winston * 26 49/63 $150K/1YRS RP- Mo Sanford * 26 65/71 $19K/ARB95 RP- Chris Bushing * 25 65/72 $10K/ARB95 RP- Milt Hill * 27 65/71 $32K/ARB94 RP- Blaise Iisley * 28 50/61 $150K/1YRS AA 1B- Todd Helton 19 79/92 $120K/ARB95 CF- Doug Glanville 22 63/79 $7K/ARB95 SP- Donovan Osborne 23 72/81 $119K/ARB94 SP- Steve Cooke 23 71/83 $12K/ARB95 RP- Matt Miller 21 70/79 $119K/ARB95 RP- Jim Thobe 23 60/73 $10K/ARB95 A C- Tom Wilson 22 62/79 $5K/ARB95 SS- Neifi Perez 19 63/83 $120K/ARB95 LF- Hideki Matsui 18 67/82 $4K/ARB95 RF- Angel Echevarria 21 62/80 $4K/ARB95 SP- Aaron Sele 22 69/82 $120K/ARB95 SP- Joey Hamilton 22 64/89 $120K/ARB95 SP- Bobby Jones 20 57/79 $5K/ARB95 RP- Marcus Moore 22 63/79 $5K/ARB95 R SP- Jamey Wright 18 57/79 $4K/ARB95 RP- Billy Koch 18 66/81 $5K/ARB95 RP- Doug Nickle 18 51/81 $130K/ARB95 Outside of Nomo we have no real prospects at AAA to start the year, but we do have plenty of guys who can fill in due to poor performance or injury on the big club. Obviously Helton is the jewel in our system. I expect most of the guys in AA to get promoted to AAA at some point in the season save for maybe Glanville. These arn't elite prospects but they're close enough to think that they could be on the big team next year. Financials Tickets: $5.60 (League Average) Farm Ssytem: $3,300,000 (1st) Scouting: $3,250,000 (1st) Medical Staff: $2,700,000 (1st) I'm not dicking around with my expenditures, i'm gonna put as much money as possible into them to try and build my farm system and keep my boys healthy. Payroll Budget: $8.7 Million Payroll: $14.3 Million Cash: $4.5 Million My budget is a lot lower than I expected it to be so i'll have to be very careful. It's very likely that a few pricey veterans will be moved during the season so I'm not shitting myself yet but like I said, I have to very smart and not start hemorrhaging money. My 1993 Outlook Well we arn't good, but we arn't awful either. Lineup wise we're old or young and uninspiring and there really isn't much in the minors outside of Helton to get jazzed over for the immediate future. As far as our pitching is concerned we're solid but old and unlike the lineup we do have a dearth of arms in the minors who at least project out as solid pieces if not studs or stars. So what do I predict for this team? 70-75 wins is what I think we should get but I see no reason why we can't push to be a .500 team. We open with 3 games on the road and then our inaugural home opener will feature Nolan Ryan taking the hill for the first game ever at Century Stadium and I'm pretty damn jacked so let's get rolling.

06-03-2011, 12:44 AM	#8
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	APRIL 1ST: Stars (0-0) At Cubs (0-0) Alex Fernandez gave up just 2 runs over 6 innings but Jose Guzman shut us down, allowing just 7 hits. Goodwin had 2 hits including a single to lead off the game but he was caught stealing and save for 2 hits in the ninth inning we never really threatened. Bleh. Final Score: Cubs 2 Stars 0 APRIL 2ND: Stars (0-1) At Cubs (1-0) For the love of Pete. Steve Lake staked us to a 2-0 lead early with a 2 run double. Bud Black went 6 strong giving up only 2 runs and an Eric Yelding pinch hit RBI single put us up 3-2 in the 7th. Carl Willis pitched two masterful innings and Don Pall was an out away from securing our first ever win when Shawon Dunston cranked a 2 out, bottom of the ninth, 2 run homer that just cleared the wall and a leaping Kevin McReynolds. The gods are having a laugh at me. Final Score: Cubs 4 Stars 3 APRIL 3RD: Stars (0-2) At Cubs (2-0) Woohoo, our first win! Witt went 5 and gave up 5 runs but our offense finally woke up. Goodwin went 2-4 with 2 runs and 2 rbi. Murray knocked in 2 and Naehring added 2 hits as we got ahead and the bullpen came through, including Pall redeeming himself with his first save. Nice. Final Score: Stars 8 Cubs 6

06-03-2011, 12:57 AM	#9
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	Shuttin it down for the night, wanna be fresh and into it when Nolan christens Century Stadium. I don't think I've ever gone very far in my dynasties on here but I'm hoping my interest level stays high on this one because so far I'm immersed in it nicely. I will probably switch on and off between playing out and simming the games at least for the first couple of months but just so I don't get bored when there's nothing to play for I'll more than likely just sim a month at a time near the end of the season. It's all about trying to find the right balance.

06-03-2011, 11:12 AM	#10
RedHawk00 H.S. Freshman Team Join Date: Dec 2007	every once in a while i get an itch to fire up Baseball Mogul, it has not happened this season, good luck with the Stars.

06-03-2011, 11:44 AM	#11
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	APRIL 4TH: Stars (1-2) Vs Senators (1-2) Nolan Ryan went 5.1 and gave up 2 runs, he allowed a ton of baserunners but did fine enough. Bill Wegman shut us down until the bottom of the 8th when we scored 2 runs to tie the game. Unfortunately Willis and Ruskin could not hold the lead and we fell by a 4-3 score in our home opener. Tom Goodwin had two more hits, he and Eddie Murray are the only guys hitting for us right now. Attendance was only 8,000. Good golly. Maybe i'll hike down the tickets by 10 cents or so. Final Score: Senators 4 Stars 3 APRIL 5TH: Stars (1-3) Vs Senators (2-2) Well, Curt Young struggled mightily, giving up 7 runs in less than 5 innings. On the bright side, Dan Pasqua hit a 3 run homer, the first in team history, in the bottom of the first inning to keep us in the game. Down 7-3 we got to Jack Morris in the fifth inning as Murray blasted a two run shot and then Pasqua hit his 2nd dinger of the day, first back to back, nice. Our bullpen however would be the death of us as Carl Willis allowed five ninth inning runs to break a 9-9 tie. We scored 3 in the bottom frame but it wasn't enough. All told there were 36 hits and 7 errors. McReynolds, Eusebio and Murray had 3 hits, Pasqua had 2 homers and five RBI and it still wasn't enough. Attendance was down to 5,500. Crikey. I'm dropping ticket prices 30 cents and we'll see what happens tomorrow. Final Score: Senators 14 Stars 12 APRIL 6TH: Stars (1-4) Vs Senators (3-2) Alex Fernandez pitched 7 strong innings and left with a 2-1 lead. Abbott and Pall closed it out. Leo Gomez homered as we stop the skid and get back in the win column. Nice. Final Score: Stars 3 Senators 1 APRIL 7TH: Stars (2-4) Vs Senators (3-3) Bud Black gave up 6 runs over 5 innings and Charles Nagy held us at bay all day. Greg Gagne got the start at SS and homered. Goodwin had a 2 run double but we were never really in it. Pretty disheartened right now. Attendance the past two days has been around 7,000 and we're already $100,000 in the hole. Ooofah. Final Score: Senators 7 Stars 3 APRIL 8TH: Day Off

06-03-2011, 11:48 AM	#13
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	APRIL 9TH: Stars (2-5) At Reds (4-2) Son of a bitch! Mike Witt left after 7 with a 4-3 lead but Paul Abbott allowed a run in the 8th and the winner in the 9th. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Greg Gagne had a couple of steals and a Naehring had a 2 run double. This one hurts. Final Score: Reds 5 Stars 4 APRIL 10TH: Stars (2-6) At Reds (5-2) Despite 9 K's, Nolan got knocked around pretty good, giving up 9 runs in 6 innings. Eddie Murray had 3 hits but Jose Rijo was fine enough to keep us at bay. Final Score: Reds 13 Stars 4 APRIL 11TH: Stars (2-7) At Reds (6-2) Now this is what i'm talking about. McReynolds had 4 hits and 4 RBI, Gomez and Naehrng each homered and despite Curt Young not being real effective we still romped as we steamrolled John Thomson and Chris Hammond. Goodwin had 3 more hits. All our starters had at least 1 hit and we had 18 total. I'll take it. As we head home we have a couple of injury notes. Alex Fernandez has a calf strain and needs a couple of extra days rest. Rather than make any moves we'll give Butch Henry a spot start tomorrow. Bill Spiers also has a groin pull that's expected to keep him out a week. We're not gonna DL him though. Gagne will take over at SS, maybe permanently. We're also going to drop our ticket prices another 30 cents. We need to get people to come out to the ballpark damnit. Final Score: Stars 14 Reds 9

06-03-2011, 11:50 PM	#14
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	APRIL 12TH: Stars (3-7) Vs Giants (6-3) Butch Henry couldn't make it through five in his spot start and our worn out bullpen struggled following him. Wil Clark smashed a homer and John Burkett limited us. Gagne and Yelding has 2 hits a piece but the Giants cranked out 16 hits en route to an easy victory. We really need Bud Black to give us some innings tomorrow. On the bright side, attendance rose almost 3,000 with our ticket prices slashed. Final Score: Giants 7 Stars 2 APRIL 13TH: Stars (3-8) Vs Giants (7-3) What a game. A two run single from McReynolds put us up 2-1 and Bud Black held it into the ninth where I maybe tried to get too much out of him and he allowed a homer to Will Clark to tie the game. Willie Banks got us out of it tied. Then in the bottom of the ninth Leo Gomez blasted a run game winning homer. A very nice win. Transaction: Following the game I made the decision to send CF Tommy Gregg and LF Troy Neel down to AAA and call up Outfielders Dave Clark and Gary Varsho. I just like the intangibles those guys provide better as our bench is not very good. Final Score: Stars 4 Giants 2 APRIL 14TH: Stars (4-8) Vs Giants (7-4) Alex Fernandez threw 7 shutout innings, Eddie Murray blasted a two run homer and our pen made it stand as we win back to back games for the first time in franchise history. I'm pleased. Our attendance is not to where it's making us money but we've had 10k, 9k and 9.5k this series and I'm hoping it will slowly start rising. Final Score: Stars 5 Giants 1

06-04-2011, 11:38 PM	#15
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	APRIL 15TH: Stars (5-8) Vs Astros (5-7) The bad news, Mike Witt gave up 9 runs over 7.2 innings. The good news? He drove in 3 runs, Greg Gagne hit a 3 run homer and Tim Naehring had 4 hits as we beat up Daryl Kile, won 11-9 and Don Pall got the save. Gary Varsho got the start in RF today and that may continue as Dan Pasqua has not hit a lick yet. We've now won 3 in a row. Transaction: Tim Belcher is ready to come off the DL, he'll start in 2 days. Curt Young is being sent to AAA. Final Score: Stars 11 Astros 9 APRIL 16TH: Stars (6-8) Vs Astros (5-8) Grrrr. Nolan gave up one run over 7 innings and we trailed 2-0 in the eigth when Murray hit a two run double to tie it. Ruskin and Banks gave up four ninth inning runs though and our winning streak was stopped. Boo. Final Score: Astros 6 Stars 3 APRIL 17TH: Stars (6-9) Vs Astros (6-8) Tim Belcher came off the DL and threw a shutout, outdueling Shane Reynolds, sweet. With Fernandez & Belcher we have a really solid 1-2. Final Score: Stars 1 Astros 0 APRIL 18TH: Stars (7-9) Vs Astros (6-9) Bud Black threw 6 solid innings but we trailed 4-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. In the ninth we pieced together 3 straight singles and a sacrifice fly to tie it up off of Doug Drabek & Billy Wagner. It stayed that way till the bottom of the 12th when Greg Gagne blast a 2 out homer to give us the walkoff win as we take 3 of 4 from the Astros. Excellent. Final Score: Stars 5 Astros 4 (12 Innings)

06-04-2011, 11:39 PM	#16
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	APRIL 19TH: Stars (8-9) At Dodgers (9-6) Fernandez fell behind the Dodgers 3-0 thanks in part to solo homers by Eric Davis and Tim Wallach but we were able to come back and tie it at 3 in the top of the fifth off of Ramon Martinez in thanks to a 2 run double by Naehring. In the top of the ninth Leo Gomez led off with a double. Bill Spiers would pinch run and score on a wild pitch to give us the lead. In the bottom of the ninth Don Pall allowed the tieing run to score and then gave up a 2 out grand slam to Jose Offerman. Ooofah. What a bitch of a way to lose. Final Score: Dodgers 8 Stars 4 APRIL 20TH: Stars (8-10) At Dodgers (10-6) Mike Witt got lit up and we trailed 7-1 after 3 innings. We chipped away but couldn't make it back and fell 7-5. Leo Gomez hit his 5th homer of the season. Final Score: Dodgers 7 Stars 5 APRIL 21ST: Stars (8-11) At Dodgers (11-6) Nolan threw 6 solid innings but Candiotti stymied us. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth but Todd Worrell closed us out to complete the sweep. Damnit. Final Score: Dodgers 3 Stars 0

06-04-2011, 11:40 PM	#17
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	APRIL 22ND: Stars (8-12) Vs Expos (8-10) Gagne had another homer, we got 11 hits and Belcher and Pall combined to shut down the Expos as we got back in the win column. Final Score: Stars 6 Expos 4 APRIL 23RD: Stars (9-12) Vs Expos (8-11) Tied at 3-3 we exploded for five 7th inning runs including 2 run hits from Pasqua and Lake. Bud Black and our pen were solid as we won a big game against a very good Ken Hill. Pasqua had 3 hits. Final Score: Stars 8 Expos 3 APRIL 24TH: Stars (10-12) Vs Expos (8-12) Alex Fernandez had his first sub par outing giving up 4 runs over 7 innings. We would tie it in the top of the eight but the in the bottom frame the Expos would score 2 off of Paul Abbott and avert the sweep. Wil Cordero got us for 3 hits and 4 RBI. Tom Goodwin had 3 hits for us and Dan Pasqua had 2 RBI. Final Score: Expos 6 Stars 4 APRIL 25TH: OFF DAY

06-05-2011, 07:17 AM	#18
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	APRIL 26TH: Stars (10-13) At Braves (11-10) Mike Witt and Steve Avery each went 6 innings and each gave up 3 runs. Ruskin and Banks would falter however, giving up 2 eight inning runs. We got the tyeing run to 3rd in the ninth but came up just short. A real tough loss. Ron Gant homered for the Braves. Final Score: Braves 5 Stars 4 APRIL 27TH: Stars (10-14) At Braves (12-10) In a battle of legends, Nolan Ryan vs Greg Maddux, the young man won the day. Nolan only lasted 5 innings, giving up 5 runs in the process. Abbott and Henry were innefective in relief and we got routed. Final Score: Braves 10 Stars 2 APRIL 28TH: Stars (10-15) At Braves (13-10) How's this for a huge win. Tim Naehring leads the game off against Tom Glavine with a HR. From there on neither starter would surrender a run as both men throw complete games and we escape Atlanta with a victory to avoid the sweep. I'm pleased. Now it's on to Cincinnati to take on the first place Reds. Final Score: Stars 1 Braves 0

06-05-2011, 07:33 AM	#20
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	April Report Card Record: 11-17, 6th Place NL West, 8.5 Games Back. Code: 1993 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP Murray, Eddie OKL 29 .299 117 35 6 2 3 8 16 1 0 15 19 .462 .344 McReynolds, Kevin OKL 29 .320 103 33 7 0 0 11 11 0 2 12 14 .388 .379 Goodwin, Tom OKL 27 .282 103 29 10 2 0 5 16 6 3 18 9 .417 .321 Naehring, Tim OKL 26 .253 91 23 4 0 2 10 12 1 0 17 12 .363 .333 Gomez, Leo OKL 27 .245 94 23 2 0 5 12 16 0 0 14 13 .426 .345 Pasqua, Dan OKL 27 .226 84 19 2 0 3 6 22 0 0 11 16 .357 .266 Gagne, Greg OKL 25 .220 82 18 2 0 4 6 18 3 3 9 12 .390 .278 Eusebio, Tony OKL 21 .176 74 13 3 0 0 4 11 0 0 4 5 .216 .228 Spiers, Bill OKL 16 .273 44 12 3 0 0 1 5 4 0 9 6 .341 .289 Lake, Steve OKL 12 .265 34 9 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 5 4 .353 .286 Yelding, Eric OKL 15 .360 25 9 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 3 .400 .360 Chamberlain, Wes OKL 12 .290 31 9 1 0 0 2 3 0 0 5 1 .323 .333 Clark, Dave OKL 7 .444 9 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .778 .444 Gregg, Tommy OKL 3 .444 9 4 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 .667 .444 Varsho, Gary OKL 6 .167 12 2 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 3 1 .333 .286 Neel, Troy OKL 9 .091 11 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 .091 .091 The numbers pretty much speak for themselves and outside of Gagnes four home runs there arn't really many surprises. Eusebios struggles are bothering me a bit but he's our catcher so that's that. If Pasqua doesn't start hitting I could give Chamberlain a shot at an every day job but his ratings vs righties just arn't that good. We'll see. Code: 1993 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9 Black, Bud OKL 41.1 2.61 6 6 1 1 0 23 14 11.98 Fernandez, Alex OKL 39.2 3.86 6 6 2 2 0 32 9 10.89 Witt, Mike OKL 30.0 6.60 6 6 2 2 0 14 8 17.70 Ryan, Nolan OKL 29.0 5.59 5 5 0 3 0 27 14 14.59 Abbott, Paul OKL 22.1 6.85 13 0 0 2 0 14 10 14.51 Belcher, Tim OKL 20.0 3.15 3 3 2 1 0 10 4 9.00 Banks, Willie OKL 17.1 2.60 14 0 1 0 0 12 11 16.62 Henry, Butch OKL 16.1 5.51 10 1 1 1 0 11 9 18.73 Young, Curt OKL 11.0 9.00 2 2 1 0 0 8 6 19.64 Willis, Carl OKL 10.2 5.06 10 0 0 2 0 6 3 13.50 Pall, Donn OKL 8.2 9.35 9 0 0 2 4 4 1 15.58 Ruskin, Scott OKL 7.2 5.87 9 0 1 2 0 6 6 16.43 The glaring thing here is how awful our bullpen has been. Yikes. Outside of Willie Banks they've all been terrible. Bud Black has been a nice surprise but Ryan and Witt have been pretty bad. Finances We lost $630K in April which was less than I expected but I don't forsee our attendance getting better if we don't start winning. The only bright side is that a couple of big contracts will likely be moved near the trading deadline to help us cut some costs but we've got to be very careful not to go broke before the season is over. Minor Leagues All of our young pitchers at AA are doing very good work and are more than likely going to be promoted in a month or two. Hideo Nomo has struggled at AAA but i'm hoping he can turn it around. Todd Helton is tearing up AA and will more than likely get promoted to AAA very soon. Same goes for Matsui down at single A. Summary About what I expected. We've had some good stretches but the better teams have had their way with us. I'm hoping against hope that Black, Belcher and Fernandez can help us right the ship and get us closer to .500 at the end of May. Last edited by Suicane75 : 06-05-2011 at 07:58 AM.

06-05-2011, 07:39 AM	#21
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	Around The League In April The Pirates, Reds, Orioles and White Sox are your division leaders although none have huge leads at this point. Paul O'Neill leads the majors with a .419 average and Jim Thomes 10 homers set the pace. Ellis Burks 37 RBI and Ricky Hendersons 20 steals put them at the top of those leaderboards. Roger Clemens has 5 wins and 59 K's to lead all pitchers. There have been no notable major injuries so far (nothing more than a few weeks). There havn't been any trades. Last edited by Suicane75 : 06-05-2011 at 07:45 AM.

06-05-2011, 09:25 AM	#22
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	MAY 3RD: Trade Code: The Oklahoma City Stars Send, CF Eric Fox * 29 69/71 $130K/ARB95 CF Tommy Gregg 29 69/69 $190K/1YRS SP Jeff Ballard * 29 64/64 $150K/1YRS SP Darrin Winston * 26 49/63 $150K/1YRS RP Marcus Moore 22 63/79 $5K/ARB95 To The Texas Rangers For, RP Matt Whiteside * 25 65/72 $14K/ARB95 RP John Dettmer * 23 63/69 $5K/ARB95 CF David Hulse * 25 67/70 $12K/ARB95 This is something I should of done before the season started, no need to waste all that money on AAA players and this deal saved me close to $600,000. Whiteside goes to AAA but is a potential bullpen replacement. Dettmer goes to AA and Hulse goes to AAA. Helton is added to the 40 man roster and is promoted to AAA. It's a good deal, we had to give up a solid bullpen prospect but we needed to cut some salary and this was the only way to do it.

06-06-2011, 06:10 AM	#23
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	MAY 3RD: Stars (11-18) Vs Astros (15-14) Bud Black was dealing. He threw 8 shutout innings. Murray and Pasqua had RBI hits in the first inning off of Doug Drabek to put us in front, Tony Eusebio had an inside the park HR on the first weird bounce off our center field fence and Tom Goodwin had 3 hits as we got off the schnide in a nice way. Attendance was only 7,400. Our lack of fan support has been the major story throughout baseball over the first month of the season and it's making us look pretty damn bad. Final Score: Stars 4 Astros 0 MAY 4TH: Stars (12-18) Vs Astros (15-15) God dammit. Tim Naehring hit a 2 run homer and Alex Fernandez pitched 7 strong innings and left up 2-1. We led 3-1 going into the ninth. Pall allowed 2 runs and then a Naehring error allowed the go ahead run to score. Billy Wagner closed us out and we lose a heartbreaker. Final Score: Astros 4 Stars 3 MAY 5TH: Stars (12-19) Vs Astros (16-15) Here we go again. Belcher was solid enough, leaving after 6 innings with a 6-3 lead. Butch Henry would give it all away in the eighth but it wasn't all his fault as Naehring made a critical error for the 2nd game in a row. Biggio hit a 3 run triple in the inning. Leo Gomez hit a ninth inning homer but we came up a run short. Gagne had 3 hits. Final Score: Astros 8 Stars 7

06-06-2011, 06:11 AM	#24
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	MAY 6TH: Stars (12-20) At Padres (9-22) Nolan threw 6.2 shutout innings, Ruskin got the last out of the 7th and Willie Banks picked up a two inning save as we shut down the Padres. McReynolds had 3 hits and Gomez had 2 RBI. I've decided to sit Dan Pasqua and see what Wes Chamberlain can do as my everyday right fielder. Final Score: Stars 3 Padres 0 MAY 7TH: Stars (13-20) At Padres (9-23) Mike Witt threw his best game of the year, 8 innings of 3 run ball. Wes Chamberlain had 3 hits in his first game as a starter but we lost in the 13th off an infield single from some jackhole named Dan Walters. Final Score: Padres 4 Stars 3 (13 Innings) MAY 8TH: Stars (13-21) At Padres (10-23) Bud Black had another crazy performance, giving up only 2 unearned runs over 8.1 Innings. Butch Henry finished it out and paced by 3 hits a piece from McReynolds and Murray as well as homers from Gomez, Gagne and Murray we rolled to victory in the rubber game of the series. Final Score: Stars 7 Padres 2 MAY 9TH: OFF DAY

06-06-2011, 06:12 AM	#26
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	We've been given an interesting trade offer. The Dodgers are offering up 20 year old LF prospect Todd Holandsworth, a 62/81 rated left handed hitter with good speed in exchange for Tim Belcher. There's no way I'm gonna be able to resign Belcher so this is a deal that I should be jumping all over but i'm not ready yet. I'll keep in the back of mind as we get closer to the trade deadline.

06-06-2011, 06:15 AM	#28
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	MAY 14TH: Stars (15-23) Vs Padres (10-27) Mike Witt got blasted again, this time for 8 runs in 4.2 innings. Only 2 of them were earned but make no mistake, he was not sharp at all. Jerald Clark had a 2 run homer, McGriff had 3 RBI. Eddie Murray had 3 hits for us. Final Score: Padres 11 Stars 2 MAY 15TH: Stars (15-24) Vs Padres (11-27) Bud Black went 6.2 and left with a 4-3 lead thanks in part to a 2 run homer from Pasqua. Ruskin and Pall closed it out as we eeked out a one run win. Goodwin had 2 more hits. Final Score: Stars 4 Padres 3 MAY 16TH: Stars (16-24) Vs Padres (11-28) Ughhh. Alex Fernandez vs Brian Tollberg is a game we should be able to win but instead we got stomped. Alex didn't get out of the fourth inning, our pen was no better and it was just a bad day all around. Goodwin had 3 more hits. McGriff and Santiago combined for 7 Padres hits. Final Score: Padres 12 Stars 4 I'm moving Gomez back down to 5th in the order, I just like being able to go R/L/R with McReynolds, Murray and Gomez.

06-06-2011, 06:16 AM	#30
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	MAY 20TH: Stars (19-25) At Astros (25-20) Such a heartbreaker. Black and Daryl Kile had a great matchup. Both men left after seven with the score tied 3-3. From there we were able to hang with them for 6 more innings until Abbott in his 3rd inning of work gave up the game winning hit to Eddie Taubansee who had also hit a 2 run homer earlier in the day. I hate losing but I was so proud of my bullpen today hanging in there inning for inning with the likes of Xavier Hernandez and Billy Wagner. Final Score: Astros 4 Stars 3 (13 Innings) MAY 21ST: Stars (19-26) At Astros (26-20) Very impressive bounce back game for us as a team and Alex Fernandez. He threw a complete game, allowing just two runs and we were paced by a Kevin McReynolds homer and 2 RBI from Greg Gagne. Final Score: Stars 4 Astros 2 MAY 22ND: Stars (20-26) At Astros (26-21) A very tough loss as I left Belcher in an inning too long and it cost us. He gave up two eight inning runs to break a tie and help the Astros to victory. Gagne, McReynolds and Murray had 2 hits each and Biggio homered for the Astros. Final Score: Astros 4 Stars 2 MAY 23RD: Stars (20-27) At Astros (27-21) After a string of good starts Nolan got knocked around big time in the early going. He allowed 7 runs through the first three innings, including two 2 run homers from Eric Anthony. But we would not be deterred. Nolan settled down and gave up more runs for the next three innings as we strung hit after hit together off of Doug Drabek and tied the game at 7 after six innings. And then in the top of the eighth, little Greg Gagne blasted a line drive 3 run shot that just cleared the fence. Our pen held the lead and we get out of Houston with a split and four really well played games. McReynolds had 4 hits and 3 RBI and Gagne had the aforementioned 3 run shot. Final Score: Stars 11 Astros 7

06-06-2011, 06:46 AM	#32
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	MAY 27TH: Stars (23-28) At Astros (28-24) Dag nabit. Belcher pitched well enough to win but Ruskin and Willis allowed four eigth inning runs and despite outhitting them 13-8 we still come up on the short end. Gagne had 3 hits and 2 runs scored in the loss. Final Score: Astros 6 Stars 3 MAY 28TH: Stars (23-29) At Astros (29-24) Nolan gave us 6 strong innings, allowing only two runs but Drabek and Wagner combined to totaly stymie our offense as we dropped a 2nd straight game. Jeff Bagwell had a solo shot. Final Score: Astros 3 Stars 1 MAY 29TH: Stars (23-30) At Astros (30-24) Very big bounce back game to salvage something from this series as Witt goes eight strong innings and we knock around Pete Harnisch. Gagne homered as he and Chamberlain chipped in 2 RBI each. Murray and Spiers each delivered 3 hits and we roll to a win. We now head to New York to play the struggling Mets for four games as we end our stretch of nearly three straight weeks without a day off. It sure would be nice to put a beating on them and finish this month up with a big positive. Final Score: Stars 7 Astros 2

06-06-2011, 06:47 AM	#33
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	MAY 30TH: Stars (24-30) At Mets (20-33) Well then, there was some beating up being done but it wasn't by us. They crushed us. Todd Hundley had a homer and 5 RBI, Tony Fernandez homered and they mashed out 17 hits, kicking around Bud Black and our bullpen. Just a really poor showing. Final Score: Mets 12 Stars 2 MAY 31ST: Stars (24-31) At Mets (21-33) Now this is more like it. Fernandez, Ruskin and Abbott combined to shut down the Mets and Steve Lake went 3-3 with 3 RBI as we got a pretty easy win over Sid Fernandez. Eddie Murray added a homer. Final Score: Stars 6 Mets 2 JUNE 1ST: Stars (25-31) At Mets (21-34) Tim Belcher did not have his best stuff, leaving after just 5.2 with us down 4-3, having at one point given up back to back homers to Hundley and Brogna. Our bullpen did a good job but we couldn't get anything off of their pen and they held on for the win. Eddie Murrays 3 hits were pretty much our lone bright spot. Final Score: Mets 4 Stars 3 JUNE 2ND: Stars (25-32) At Mets (22-34) Ughhh. Nolan left after six with us down 3-0. We put four on the board in the 7th inning by stringing a bunch of hits together. Don Pall, going for a two inning save, allowed the tieing run to score in the bottom of the 9th by throwing away a bouncer back to him by Jeromy Burnitz. Another error in the 10th allowed a runner in scoring position and they won it on a dribbler to Naehring that he couldn't make the play on, allowing the runner to score. I'm super frustrated right now. JUNE 3RD: DAY OFF

06-06-2011, 06:57 AM	#35
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	MAY REPORT CARD Record: 25-33, 6th Place, 10 Games Back Code: 1993 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP Murray, Eddie OKL 57 .359 223 80 15 4 8 23 25 3 0 36 39 .570 .419 McReynolds, Kevin OKL 58 .329 219 72 15 0 2 18 24 3 3 29 42 .425 .375 Goodwin, Tom OKL 52 .284 197 56 13 2 0 12 30 9 5 36 12 .371 .329 Gagne, Greg OKL 53 .248 202 50 6 0 7 10 41 8 5 26 26 .381 .292 Gomez, Leo OKL 55 .224 201 45 8 0 7 22 37 1 1 32 21 .368 .307 Naehring, Tim OKL 48 .227 172 39 5 0 3 17 29 1 0 24 18 .308 .300 Eusebio, Tony OKL 41 .215 144 31 6 0 1 10 21 0 0 12 10 .278 .269 Chamberlain, Wes OKL 35 .274 113 31 5 0 0 4 17 1 2 9 12 .319 .303 Pasqua, Dan OKL 43 .227 128 29 4 0 4 11 38 0 0 15 23 .352 .280 Spiers, Bill OKL 32 .325 83 27 6 1 0 3 10 6 1 11 13 .422 .352 Lake, Steve OKL 25 .288 73 21 5 1 0 0 6 0 1 7 9 .384 .293 Yelding, Eric OKL 28 .333 48 16 1 0 0 0 3 1 4 7 6 .354 .327 Clark, Dave OKL 21 .370 27 10 1 1 0 5 2 1 0 1 1 .481 .469 Varsho, Gary OKL 13 .214 28 6 0 1 0 2 4 1 0 5 1 .286 .290 Neel, Troy OKL 9 .091 11 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 .091 .091 Murray and McReynolds have just been crushing it. Goodwins average has been a pleasant surprise but his OBP is nowhere near what a leadoff hitter should be, still he's the best option we have. Gomez has provided some pop but little else. It's all or nothing with him. Chamberlain has been ok but hasn't lit the world on fire. Naehring is close to losing his job, Spiers can play an adaquete 2nd base and deserves a shot, his speed in the lineup will also be a plus. Code: 1993 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9 Black, Bud OKL 82.2 3.05 12 12 5 2 0 43 26 11.43 Fernandez, Alex OKL 82.0 3.40 12 12 5 4 0 56 19 9.88 Ryan, Nolan OKL 68.0 4.37 11 11 2 5 0 63 29 13.50 Witt, Mike OKL 64.0 4.78 11 11 4 4 0 33 22 15.47 Belcher, Tim OKL 62.2 3.02 9 9 4 3 0 40 16 9.91 Abbott, Paul OKL 34.1 5.24 19 0 0 3 0 20 15 14.42 Henry, Butch OKL 28.1 6.04 19 1 2 2 0 21 15 19.69 Banks, Willie OKL 27.0 2.33 21 0 1 0 1 21 12 13.33 Pall, Donn OKL 20.1 4.87 19 0 0 3 7 9 6 13.28 Willis, Carl OKL 20.1 5.31 20 0 0 3 0 11 5 13.72 Ruskin, Scott OKL 17.1 4.67 21 0 1 4 0 11 10 14.02 Young, Curt OKL 11.0 9.00 2 2 1 0 0 8 6 19.64 Our starting pitching has really settled in. The numbers may not suggest it but so has our bullpen. We had a good month off the rubber. The problem is that very few of these guys will be here in a month or two, let alone next year. Finances We've lost $1.3 Million total and only have $3.1 Million in cash left. I'm going to need to make some moves sooner rather than later to trim some payroll. Summary Quite the dichotomy. We've played very well, but we arn't going to contend. We have solid players but can't afford to sign them. As good as we've been nobody wants to come out and watch us. A guy like Belcher, only 31, is someone i'd love to resign, but it'll cost me way too much. Look for just about our entire starting staff to be moved in the coming months, it's just a matter of how long I want to play at a decent level. On the offensive side, the earlier I move Murray the better it is to me financially but it will cripple the team offensively. I do not plan on calling Helton up this year as I want him to get a full 5 months in at AAA. McReynolds is intriguing in so much as he's signed through next year at just $700,000 and that's not a bad price to pay for someone producing like he is.

06-06-2011, 06:58 AM	#36
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	Around The League In May The Cardinals and Phillies are a two team race in the NL East at this point while the Dodgers, Giants and Reds are tied for first in the NL West. The Orioles hold a 2 game lead on the Tigers and Yankees while The A's and White Sox have separated themselves from the pack in the AL West. The only interesting trade of note saw the Astros send prospects Phil Nevin and Bobby Abreau to Milwaukee for RF Dante Bichette. Cal Ripken missed most of may and will be out till early July with a separated shoulder but the Orioles have been hanging in without him.

06-06-2011, 07:03 AM	#37
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	Before I get started up again I want to note that it looks like I may have decreased injuries and injury severity a bit too much. In my first couple go around with mogul 12 the default seemed to be way too many injuries and I may have overcompensated. Instead of -20% I'll turn it down to -10% next season but i'm not messing with the settings till after the season.

06-06-2011, 11:00 PM	#38
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	JUNE 4TH: Stars (25-33) At Dodgers (33-21) Before the game I make a lineup change. Bill Spiers is my new everyday 2B and he'll hit leadoff. Goodwin drops to the two spot and Gagne down to seventh. Witt gave up 4 runs over 6 innings, including a 2 run homer to Tim Wallach. Ramon Martinez was good enough to keep us down as we lose another. Murray had 3 more hits and McReynolds had 2 RBI. Final Score: Dodgers 6 Stars 4 JUNE 5TH: Stars (25-34) At Dodgers (34-21) Oh boy. We played, and are playing, listlessly. Pedro Martinez shut us out and they pounded out 12 runs on us. Piazza homered, Offerman had 4 hits. Bud Black only went 4 innings. McReynolds had 2 hits for us. Final Score: Dodgers 12 Stars 0 JUNE 6TH: Stars (25-35) At Dodgers (35-21) So after 2 lifeless days we just explode on Kevin Gross and the Dodgers bullpen. Fernandez went 6 strong innings but the story was our offense as we pounded out 23 hits, 5 of which were from Spiers. Naehring and Gagne had 4 hits a piece and Goodwin knocked in 3 runs. Final Score: Stars 12 Dodgers 4

06-06-2011, 11:01 PM	#40
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	JUNE 11TH: Stars (28-36) At Giants (36-26) A very tough extra inning loss. Black was aces again but so was John Burkett. They got the win off of Willis with a Darren Lewis RBI single in the bottom of the 11th. Final Score: Giants 2 Stars 1 (11 Innings) Interesting note, the Giants front office asked for a meeting with us about Tim Belcher, they offered us two middling prospects. We declined for now but it's interesting to know now that both the Dodgers and Giants are after Belchers services. JUNE 12TH: Stars (28-37) At Giants (37-26) Alex Fernandez and 7-0 Bill Swift battled to a 2-2 stalemate through 7 innings. The only blemish for Alex was a 2 run homer from Matt Williams. In the bottom of the ninth Williams hit his second homer of the game off of Willie Banks to give them another tight win. I'm dissapointed in the losses but we've played them so well. Final Score: Giants 3 Stars 2 JUNE 13TH: Stars (28-38) At Giants (38-26) Belcher labored and gave up 4 runs through just 5 innings, 3 of which came off of a Wil Clark homer. Dave Burba carried a no hitter into the seventh and a shutout into the ninth before Rod Beck closed out the sweep. Final Score: Giants 4 Stars 1

06-06-2011, 11:04 PM	#46
Suicane75 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NJ	We take this opportunity to work out a few extensions with some of our players. Extension: We ink Don Pall to a 4 year deal worth $480K per year. It's a $180K raise but he's been good enough that we feel we can rely on him wether he's the closer or not. Extension: We strike a 4 year deal with Wes Chamberlain at $210K which is really a bargain. He may not ever be starter material but he's a solid 4th or 5th outfielder on the cheap. Extension: This is a big one. We ink Bill Spiers to a 4 year deal worth $660K with a 5th year player option for $1 Million. Yes it's a lot of money but he's hitting .369 and was scheduled to hit arbitration in the offseason and that could of ended up costing us twice us much or losing him altogether if we couldn't afford it. He's fast with a good eye and makes contact. Moreover he can play SS, 2B and 3B very well. If we're gonna spend money, this is how we have to do it. Extension: Lastly we give Paul Abbott 4 years at $320K. It's almost a $200K raise but I like what he's done, he's only 25 and he provides us with a guy who can start if needed.